Hi Andrew, Your more than welcome to look at my layout pictures, '
http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/photos/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=3979 ', that I've posted on the forum here. My layout is still in the construction stage so there isn't much to see other than track work and a few Old Pines I made up many years back for a former layout. To help you understand the how the track work lays, the inner line is the low line and as it climbs 9"s up on the left it then becomes the upper main line which some of my pictures show. I have new pictures I need to get uploaded to Photo Bucket but my new cell or the provider has something screwed up so I'm not getting a signal to call out.
Being that I knew I wanted to model a rural rail line around the turn of the century that was somewhat down trodden I only have one main line that will serve about 4 to 5 different little communities. I might even stop now and then at the HoBo camps to drop off some old supplies? Like I said down trodden so revenue is not the greatest but as chief Engineer I have a soft spot for the Bo's as I used to be one, at least from the modeling standpoint!
I have the old original plan there I created using the Atlas Right Track program, just to give me an idea of what I wanted to do using 20 inch radius's for most curves as I'm hand laying all my track using Railcraft Weathered code 70 rail for the single main line with passing sidings and spurs being code 55. I'm also building all my own switches thanks to the help of my old friend Mark Raymond - an SP Engineer from back in the 1980's from Fresno, Calif. Most of the switches are built using code 70 but will probably be using code 55 for the logging area once I get to that point. That will be an incline again 9"s higher than the Ridgecrest area which is on the Left as the track divides at the Horseshoe Meadow Station then continues on to the Whiskey Switch which a siding built along a rock cliff and where the name developed due to the fact most of the workers found a good shot of Whiskey helped to steady their nerves when laying the rail!
The plan as drawn was changed almost immediately once I started doing bench work in one half of my garage as I could see that the long side needed to have the the two little towns flopped to fit in better. It's always easy to fit things in looking through the minds-eye but a different story usually when you get to laying rail. A good thing to keep in mind. The program Scarm available free on the forum can probably be useful to know what will fit and what won't? As I want to have operation be part of the plan I keep making changes as I see they might become advantageous, kind of like a work in progress you might say.
What started out as an L shape soon evolved into a shallow U as I had the old 5'x9' layout consuming the majority of one half of the double car garage on the West end of my home and the other quarter of the inner garage near that garage door being taken up with my old Dark Room that was converted into something else but both garage doors are closed off, the entire garage is finished off inside too with a ceiling and insulated at least to some extent. Anyway, I got to looking at things and realized that once the old layout was dismantled I'd have a lot more lumber to use as well as a lot more space to build and around the wall, free standing layout. So what I wound up with is very similar to what the plan shows as best it can. So it's a folded dog bone that I walk into the middle of. The track work is about 2/3 done as I have three more tables to build to complete the basic table work. Progress is being made but slowly.
Andrew, I hope this gives you a bit more understanding of my layout. Feel free to ask any questions you want too.
