Trackplan at last. All comments Welcomed and Wanted.


GrandpaCoyote

Wiley Old Dog
Trackplan. All comments Welcomed and Wanted.[Updated as of 4/14/06]

[Updated as of 4/14/06 newest layout pic is further down the thread]


Hello Gang,

Well, if you have been wondering where the Old Coyote has been; I’ve been burning the midnight oil and using all my spare time on getting the track plan for the spare bedroom done. I have come up with this basic idea along with some filler to show possible places for route 66 and some buildings (just to give me an idea, you know).

The Layout is set in Arizona during 1953 along sections of the AT&SF line running along side Route 66; the mainline curves are all 26” radius and the switches are #6’s and #4’s. I sure would appreciate any and all comment, questions, criticisms, suggests, kibitzes, or any thing you fine folks would like to pass my way on this plan as this is my first finished plan and I’m still very out in the woods.

I know a lot of people post track plans and it can get to be a bore so I want to thank the brave souls that take the time to look and comment ahead of time.

BedPlan1.JPG



Thanks Gang!

Peace
Coyote
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Very nicely done Coyote! It looks like you are making the most out of the space you have.

You mentioned that the mainline curves are 26" - but I see a double tracked mainline. Is the 'inside' curve on each track pair going to be 24" [that's how it appears in your plan]? One thing to remember is that the car ends will overhang, so the tracks on those curves will need to be spaced farther apart than on a straight R.O.W.

A friend of mine got a scrap of homosote and test-nailed two adjacent curves to it, so he could see what type of overhang would occur BEFORE he finalized his track plan.

Keep us posted!
 
Just Curious. How much of the other plan have you brought here. Do you still have Canyon Diablo? What are your towns? Have you condensed it any?
 
Coyote should be a good layout but as Ken says watch the corners for overhanging trucks, you could set up a test section and then get two of your longest trucks or coaches and see if they will pass without colliding.
 
Looks good, Coyote and I like the wye at the peninsula.
FYI: I spaced my two mainlines at 2 3/4 - 3" ctr. at the curves and it handles passenger cars and articulates without taking the paint off of anything ;)

Noticing your buildings on the front edge makes me think that you may have a problem reaching over them for derails and etc. Be sure an keep their height low or your benchwork low.
 
CSX_road_slug said:
Very nicely done Coyote! It looks like you are making the most out of the space you have.

You mentioned that the mainline curves are 26" - but I see a double tracked mainline. Is the 'inside' curve on each track pair going to be 24" [that's how it appears in your plan]? One thing to remember is that the car ends will overhang, so the tracks on those curves will need to be spaced farther apart than on a straight R.O.W.

A friend of mine got a scrap of homosote and test-nailed two adjacent curves to it, so he could see what type of overhang would occur BEFORE he finalized his track plan.

Keep us posted!


CSX,

Orginialy the curves were 26" radii both inside and outside along the mainline. After getting your advice and some from other people, I made the outside mainline curves 28" radii and the inside mainline curves 26" and then tested the center spacing. Thank you for the advice it helped a lot. I'll be posted the improved plan tonight and hope you'll give me any more insight you might have. :)

Peace.

Coyote
 
SpaceMouse said:
Just Curious. How much of the other plan have you brought here. Do you still have Canyon Diablo? What are your towns? Have you condensed it any?


Chip,

Hello my friend. No I fear good old Canyon Diablo went the way of the wind just could not find any space for her. I scarped almost all the old ideas I had for the garage in terms of track work. I'm still trying to model the area between Holbrook and Flagstaff Az. but I've had to let go of my preconceptions to be able to lay any track that isnt tied up in too little trying to show too big.

Peace.

Coyote
 
SWEET alot of interest in that route, in various time periods. Looking forward to pictures as you build!
 
Steve B said:
Coyote should be a good layout but as Ken says watch the corners for overhanging trucks, you could set up a test section and then get two of your longest trucks or coaches and see if they will pass without colliding.[/QUOTE


Steve,

Thanks, good advice. Right now I'm testing most of it with the train running 3D option inside 3rd PlanIt. It helps out a lot being able to see the trains and rolling stock and run it at least virtualy. I've also been using 3PI's check tool for questionable trackage against my put in dimensions (line spacing, curve radii etc). Thanks again for the advice, I'll have the fixes up tonight. *crosses fingers*

Peace.

Coyote
 
RexHea said:
Looks good, Coyote and I like the wye at the peninsula.
FYI: I spaced my two mainlines at 2 3/4 - 3" ctr. at the curves and it handles passenger cars and articulates without taking the paint off of anything ;)

Noticing your buildings on the front edge makes me think that you may have a problem reaching over them for derails and etc. Be sure an keep their height low or your benchwork low.


Rex,

Thanks :) I've etended the track tail off the wye to help improve operations. I also scraped the building layouts for now they were mostly just place holders for me to judge with and you point about reaching over them is a good one that I'll be keeping in mind when I get back to putting them down again.

Peace.

Coyote
 
Update

Ok gang here is the newest version with a good deal of changes put in based off the good advice that you all have supplied.

Info: The layout is set in Arizona, 1953-54, alongside the AT&SF tracks running parallel with old route 66 in the regions between Holbrook and Flagstaff.

The outside mainline curve radii is 28” inside mainline curve radii is 26”, track centers should be good, leads to Wye curve radii are 26”.

I also decreased some switchbacks, added in run-arounds, lengthened track and added in some more crossovers.

I increased the length and decreased the width of the lift out section (which will hopefully actually be a “roll out” section)

I know the tracks are still parallel to the fascia. I’m still not sure how to solve that and not loose a lot of track but I’m working on it in my head.

No staging and honestly not sure how to add any. Any advice on that would be a god send.

I have applied no grades yet to the over all layout but there will be a few and they will be fairly gently and low, mostly just for visual look. Any advice on this would also be greatly welcomed.


BedPlan3.jpg

[In case the image won't enlarge you can see it at: http://mysite.verizon.net/coyote97/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/BedPlan3.jpg ]

Well that’s all I can think of though I’m sure I’ve left out something *chuckles*

Looking forward to hearing what you all think.

Peace.

Coyote
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Looking good, I liked Plan #1 in this thread more so, this one seems a tad more cramped, it seems like you'll have little or no room for buildings or scenery?
 
Do not forget to add an arrival/departure track and swith lead in your yards.
Avoid using the main line to do your switching.
I hope that this little tip may help you building a pleasant and good model railroad.

Constantin
 
Both plans rely heavily on switchbacks for industrial spurs, the newest one almost exclusively. While some layout designers use these liberally, switchbacks are studiously avoided wherever possible on the real railroad (and on good model designs, IMHO) because they are quite inefficient on the real railroad and tedious to work on the model. I wrote a little about this here:
http://www.modelrail.us/id16.html

I also don't understand the crossovers on the yard tracks on the left side of the plan. Since the yard tracks are so short already, runarounds would probably be better accomplished using the crossovers between the mains.

I know that you're not heavily into multi-person operations, but I think you'll find the lack of staging a frustration in the future as you want to rotate more trains through the visible scenes.

Good luck and have fun.

regards,

Byron
 
Byron, I just visited your web site and found it to be very informative and well done. Thank you for giving me another perspective in layout design. I haven't had a chance to absorb it all, but did have fun with the "Cherry Picking" article.:)
 
RexHea said:
Byron, I just visited your web site and found it to be very informative and well done. Thank you for giving me another perspective in layout design. I haven't had a chance to absorb it all, but did have fun with the "Cherry Picking" article.:)

Thanks, glad you found something useful. I've had lots of gracious positive comments about both the "Switchback" article and the "Cherry Picking" article, among others.

Regards,

Byron
 
Looks good! I agree with Byron about the crossovers in your yard tho. Also the crossovers on the main to the right of the yard may become redundant after awhile with the two at the top and bottom to use.
The leaf with the wye track could have buildings on the right side with a low relief scrap yard on the left to keep access.
Looks like lots of mainline running and switching to boot, right up my alley!
Rico
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm going to come out of left field and throw a curve... ;)

Have you given any thought to a double decker layout? Build something like what you have on the bottom, yard and switching etc.

Then, have a track that climbs up to an "around the walls layout" on the second level. Maybe just a single track on a shelf, a foot wide. Next to the track would be Route 66 and some buildings. Lots of wide open spaces etc.

The tricky part would be coming up with a way to turn trains around, but I have a couple ideas that might work if this sounds interesting at all.
 
I would advise rounding off those square corners. This will give more of an even feel in the corners. In my opinion, all corners should be rounded. All layouts need backdrops. Will yours cover the window? What is the elevation on the layout? I assume there is a duck under to get into the middle. It should be at least 48" high. If you are going to use a lift gate, it should be built with an angled deck. That is, angled so it can be lifted without having to spread the layout apart.

Bill
 
Hello Gang;

Many apologies for having not responded sooner, lot of stuff has been going on in life (sicknesses, visits from my son, some house remodeling work etc, etc.) and I got sort of swept away from here but I finally found the address again a little bit back and hoping to get caught up again soon.

I will try and respond to all the input that you all have kindly offered and will also try and post the latest version of the layout to see what the gang thinks :)
Looking forward to talking to you all again soon.

Peace.
Coyote
 



Back
Top