Old Pulmans and new layout

[maczimb]

I just came across these five old passenger cars today in an antique store.
They are made of wood and the detail is fantastic. The owner of the store used to be a train buff, he says these are from the 40's era???
I will have to fit couplers to them and do a bit of paint touch up but otherwise they are in great shape.
My wife has taken them away from me and says she will wrap them and put them under the tree!!!! BOO HOO
I have also attached a copy of my proposed layout, which I intend to start on after Christmas.
I have a way to go with my camera skills but hopefully the layout is clear enough for you guys to get the gist of it.
It is 192" long and 96" wide at it's widest point.
The top right corner has the main at an elevation of 4", whilst the secondary line drops down to an elevation of 0" and passes through a tunnel, note the dotted line!
Lower right is to be the industrial area, what type of industry ???
Left end is to be the marshaling yard.
At no pojnt will I have more than a 30" reach.
The maximum grade will be about 2 1/2 percent, shouldn't be a problem as I don't intend to run long trains.
All the information that I used when designing this, was gathered from your input. Thanks a bunch.
Your comments would be appreciated.
I hope I have got this right, I'm somewhat lacking in posting skills also
Mac

 

[GN.2-6-8-0]

I.d guess the pullmans are old Walther's wood and metal kits from back in the day

 

[UP2CSX]

I'd guess that they are older Walthers cars also. They were made into the 60's so I'm not sure how old they really are. The dust certainly gives them the look of being stored away for a long time.

Your layout plan is well done but it has way too much track for the space. What is your idea for this layout in terms of prototype, time era, part of the country, and why the railroad exists? That will help you look at your track plan and see how many track you need to serve the needs of the railroad rather than having as many tracks as possible. It also looks like you have a lot of switches on curves, which is not a good idea. Curved switches are much more prone to derailments, not to mention the extra cost. You could, for example, flip-flop the village and the industry section and service the industries from a switch coming off the straight section on the right side. It's not clear what that inner loop in the present industry section serves.

What is the purpose of the three tracks at the top of the layout? I can see the fourth serves as a yard lead but I can't figure why you need the other three. You have plenty of space to bring that track out of the mountain and connect it to a single main line with a short passing siding and lose that entire loop around the yard.

The yard it self needs at least one crossover in the middle of the yard so your switcher doesn't get trapped behind a cut of cars. A runaround track at the top of the yard would be more useful than what appears to be a useless track that's there now. You'd also have more space of a yard by getting rid of that inner loop that goes around the yard an pick up a team track for behind the station by using the track that now connects to that loop and straightening it out so it runs behind the station parallel to the main.

Sorry, Mac, I don't mean to pile it on you but all layout plans go through numerous revisions. You've got a good start be recognizing where your grades are and keeping them with reasonable limits. You now need to see just how much track you really need and how much could be devoted to things other than the train going round and round.

 

[maczimb]

Track

Well thanks (I think) Jim, your criticism is well taken, I will adopt some of your suggestions.
I was hoping for input from a few more guys.
Spent several hours repairing a little, cheap steam loco yesterday, don't know what brand, picked it up at a garage sale for a few bucks.
My first try was successful until I ran it in reverse, all the linkage fell of, I guess the previous owner had attempted to repair it and forgot to tighten all the screws.
Boy! one needs good eyesight and many small hands, all those tiny screws holding in place all those tiny piston rods and linkages. Got the thing running smooth as silk eventually.
Who says it never rains in Arizona, it rained all day yesterday and looks like more of the same today.
Mac

 

[Cjcrescent]

Actually Jim, Walthers made their metal sided passenger cars until at least 1980. I think they stopped making them when the dies finally wore out. Although the kits remained basically unchanged for most of the life of the kit, (they did changed over to a plastic roof the last few years), the boxes changed several times. I remember seeing a kit from the 40's and IIRC this box was blue with gold trim, with Walthers in gold. The majority of their kits then came in a white box with blue stripes, and in their last incarnation, it was an orange box with a picture of a layout on it. I have several of the last two.

 

[UP2CSX]

CJ, I knew they were produced up until the late 60's but I didn't realize it was all the way up to 1980. I do remember them switch to a plastic roof though, now that you mention it. I was out of the obby by then but thought that would have made life so much easier than all the carving and sanding on those old wood roofs. It looks like Mac's cars have the earlier wood roofs based on the inconsistent curves down towards the car ends.

Mac, other guys will chime in here but, being a week before Christmas, many members are traveling or out fighting the mobs in the malls. Sounds like you must be pretty good with small parts if you managed to get that linkage put back together and get the engine running smoothly. That is a weird storm you guys have been getting, with rain down south and snow in Vegas. It's supposed to get here Sunday so we'll what surprises it has in store for us.