New design for the N scale WBTR, courtesy of Lt.Col Tony Hammes

[Soo]

For a awhile now I have been stuck with trying to come up with a plan. I really have not been going to all fourms,, just mainly hangin out at the trainboard.

Over there I met Mike Collier,, he drew up a massive under taking of a 3 level n scale empire,, that required about 150 turnouts,, and a wholeeeeeeeeeeeeeee bunch of flex track,, plan looks great.

I had lost all drive to do anything train related, as I have been working on a freinds layout,,, you name it, I did it. I recieved monetary compensation for it,, but still I was burnt out on model railroading.

So here comes Tony with this nice little plan,,,,,,,,, I have been thinking of around the walls concept,, never dawned on me to think out of the box.. Tony's "T" plan fit the bill.

The three level layout when have been great,, but maintence would kill me,, it would just be me working on it,, no help from a round robin group. Plus all the track required for the three level empire was going to require me to rob a federal gold depository.

This is the first or top level of the empire, that Mike Collier drew.

Second level,, as you can see there is plenty of ops.

Here is the staging level.

So here comes Tony with this nice little plan,,,,,,,,, I have been thinking of around the walls concept,, never dawned on me to think out of the box.. Tony's "T" plan fit the bill.

Tony shares this plan with me,,,, he drew using a pencil,,, ( yes I know,,,mr. obvious). I took it,, and added to my 3rd plan-it program... So now I can trace the plan with the software to see what will fit and what will not fit.

I had to resize the drawing in jpg format,, so I could get it to fit in the room I have drawn in 3rd Plan-it. The reason the resizing worked was,,, that Tony made a copy of the room drawing I posted and then he made the plan. So to resize it,, I just had to make the dimensions match.

So I have two images to share one is horizontal and one is verticle,, tell me what ya'll think.

The aisle ways in both images is 3',, which is plenty, I think. In the horizontal plan I can move my workbench to the top,,, and if there is going to be visable staging,, It can go right over the top of my workbench/computer desk.

Well there you have it,, so fire when ready..I am ready for all forms of input. Just one question,, when they say " fire at will",,,,, just who is Will and how did he make everyone angry at him??

Adios Wyatt

 

[UP2CSX]

Wyatt,
All I can say is that's one ambitious layout plan. If you have both the money and the time, have at it. I know it would take me the rest of my natural life and most of my life savings to do a railroad like you're proposing.

 

[Soo]

Jim,,, I am not going with the 3 level layout, too much maintence required.

Would be nice,, but just tooooooooooo much RR fer me. Unless I could build it in a clean room, with the track not ever getting dirty.

I am opting for the hand drawn plan,, I am converting it now to an actual CAD drawing. Thanx for your input

Adios Wyatt

 

[Soo]

Here is what I have so far,,,,,,,

I have changed some things from the original paper and pencil drawing. I put some more industry in,, created a backdrop to divide the penisula,, and moved of the helices.

Here is a 3d rendering..

Well there you have it,,,I can send anyone the 3pi file if you like so you can dabble with 3rd Plan-It.

Adios Wyatt

 

[UP2CSX]

Obviously you need to do something with that upper section since the yard is not going to work as it's laid out. The ladder is too small, you need a lot more crossovers, and you seem to have no cennection between some of the tracks and the rest of the layout. Once you fix those problems, it would make operatonsa lot easier of that yard was double-ended since you seem to have plenty of space to connect it back to the mainline.

It's also not clear to me what that big circle is on the lower left bottom and that checkerboard looking thing that seems to be extending off the end of the layout.

 

[Soo]

Jim,, the circle is a helix heading down to staging. The checkerboard thing is a elevator complex,,, if you look at the 3d,, you can see the circle spiraling down,, and the tall gray looking thingy is the elevator...

Mind you I am no where near being complete,,, the yard , is just some ideas I had,,, I am trying to make a pinwheel yard ladder as to get longer tracks. I plan on taking the main the same height as the helix,,, 4'10",,, raising the spurs and industrial sidings up a little,, to give clearance for the train in the helix.

Another thing about the elevator ( checkerboard). I made that as a group,, so I am able to insert the elevator at other places on the layout,, that is in need of a elevator complex,, as I can trim it down,, or make it bigger.

Out of the approx 600 freight cars that I own,, I would say 1/3 are covered hoppers for grain service.

I will have some further drawings tomorrow.

adios wyatt