Split level?


R

Rigby

Member
On my layout, I want the ability to run trains into and out of staging on a continuous basis. I am modeling a branchline and the mainline interchange. So - trains come. Cars on and off. Local switcher moves them to and fro, etc.

I have been struggling with the ability to get from a staging level to the visible level within the space constraints I have. What about the following:

Imagine 7 foot square room. There is a one foot deep squared ring of layout shelf around the outside - you stand in the middle. The exception is the south wall, which is two feet deep. What if I doubled up the north leg so that the staging yard fit underneath. The south wall is half way in elevation between the north leg levels. Now I can go out of the staging and run on the order of 200 plus inches of track before I get back around to the top level on the north wall again. At 2%, that buys me 4" of head room between the staging yard and the top of the north leg. Am I missing something?
 
Sorry, Rigby, but I'm having difficuty visualizing what you are planning. How exactly do you get in the middle of this seven foot square? Are you saying that you'd build a 2% grade track that runs completely under the layout and then emerges onto the main layout? Assuming your staging yard is flat, you'd need to run this grade almost completely around the rest of the seven foot square before it emerged with about four feet left on the top of the layout. I guess it would work but I need to see a sketch at least before I can understand what you're trying to accomplish.
 
Man, I am really good at asking incomprehensible questions!

With regard to the loop: its really a "C" with a small gap. I will need to bridge it with liftout or hinge sections. There is no way to avoid it consist with using the room as a home office in addition to train room and getting continuous operation, which I'd like.

Let me try to explain myself again: Deem the staging yard level the baseline and call it zero inches. The second deck over the staging yard, where the mainline through the vignette interchanges with our branch line is 4" higher. That gives ~ 3.5 inch clearance in the staging yard to reach in and swipe misbehaving trains out- you couldn't put them in there very easily but you could rerail them elsewhere and drive them in. Then you can use the whole other three sides as a grade from the yard to the interchange. That would give you ~250 inches to climb the grade. If you set the wall opposite the staging yard/interchange at 2", It would wall nicely in between the opposite levels the the mainline climbing through the scene would look trenched, but not absurd.
 
Implicit in the foregoing is that shortly after the train reaches the top of the grade its going to cross a bridge into the interchange.
 
That's almost exactly what I'm talking about. The room is a bit smaller but the concept is exactly the same. The only difference I'd make is that the drop down would be two level and the staging would be hidden under rather than behind.
 
Of course it makes me ask what's the flaw?

In my design there would be less mainline trackage and more siding action, however.
 
There's no disasterous flaw. It was just a first draft of an idea that could probably use some fine tuning. The guy I designed that for was looking for some open running (so a twice around worked well) and also staging for a few fairily long trains. The on grade crossing was just something I thought was cool to add.

You could do your staging under if you want. 4" is too tight to get a hand in and rerail a car, but you could get your hand in and retrieve a car to be rerailed elsewhere.

I think with your idea you're going to find a two level drop leaf to be quite a challenge. You might do better to design a swing gate instead.
 
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I think that two level liftout is going to be a deal killer. Without that two feet on the bottom, you're going to run out of space for your grade before it reaches the liftout. Don't forget that you are going to have to provide a transition from the grade to cross the liftout that will eat up at least another foot or you're going to have mid-train uncouplings left and right as one car reaches the top of the grade while other cars are still climbing the grade.

Have you thought about a false backdrop that leaves you with about 9 inches to one foot clear in the back? If you use the radius of one corner, you'll hardly notice the lost space but you'll have enough room for a three or four track staging yard. You can have the staging track emerge from a tunnel, a cut, or even between two industrial buildings that hide the backdrop gap. I just think this has to be a better solution than a two level layout and trying to align a two level liftout every time you move it.
 
UP2CSX said:
Have you thought about a false backdrop that leaves you with about 9 inches to one foot clear in the back? If you use the radius of one corner, you'll hardly notice the lost space but you'll have enough room for a three or four track staging yard. You can have the staging track emerge from a tunnel, a cut, or even between two industrial buildings that hide the backdrop gap. I just think this has to be a better solution than a two level layout and trying to align a two level liftout every time you move it.
Click to expand...

Thats very similar to the plan I posted.
 
Yep. Thanks guys - giving up a corner is going to result in a much more reasonable layout. I will miss the longer mainline run, but I'll live. I may work toward automation to send the through freight and passenger trains out on schedule to simulate the long run they would have taken.
 
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