The new layout 2023

[Bruette]

I thought you might like that @Frenchie .

@rgeiter I'm loving all those cars!

 

[Frenchie]

Yes I appreciate Bruette, and, from across the pond, I wish to your family and yourself a merry Christmas and the best for 2026.
And also to all the forum members.

 

[rgeiter]

Another empty tub! Still more cars to go. I will need to build a coal yard somewhere. They will not fit in this yard.

The yard tracks will start to converge here. Most of the turnouts here will be curved to maximize the area. A car shop will also be built here. More pics to come later.

 

[BigGRacing]

That is a lot of cars!

 

[rgeiter]

Oh boy! The white turnouts are the Walthers and the photo copied turnouts are Peco. This is gonna hurt the wallet. I want to maximize the yard tracks as much as possible. Using all curved turnouts is the best way I came up with. What do you guys think? Any suggestions?

 

[KB02]

Came across a video a little while back where someone had 3D printed their own turnout and custom built it with flex track sections. Sure beat my method of PC Boards and acual wood ties pinned down on top of a photocopy.

Granted, having a 3D printer would be essential to the operation, so if you're looking to cut costs, it may not be the best option...

 

[ctclibby]

Oh boy! The white turnouts are the Walthers and the photo copied turnouts are Peco. This is gonna hurt the wallet. I want to maximize the yard tracks as much as possible. Using all curved turnouts is the best way I came up with. What do you guys think? Any suggestions?View attachment 252814View attachment 252815

Bob: Looks good to me and I just happen to like those curved turnouts in a plan. Even though the 1:1 does not use them as much as a MRR, seems like it adds more stuff and distance to the scene.

This is Harbor Island, Seattle. I was driving by on 15th Ave SW and had a ground perspective of that. From that perspective I could see that the tracks were not even close to being level, or in good shape; but thought "I need to do that".

That is not a classification yard, more for local storage and it is single ended.
I came up with curved stuff on the East end of one of my yards:

It is amazing what you can NOT do in 40ft and I actually *needed* some curved stuff. Inside 2 tracks are Main, next is yard lead then .. well you get the idea.
Keep it up! You will have fun with it.

L8r

 

[rgeiter]

Bob: Looks good to me and I just happen to like those curved turnouts in a plan. Even though the 1:1 does not use them as much as a MRR, seems like it adds more stuff and distance to the scene.

This is Harbor Island, Seattle. I was driving by on 15th Ave SW and had a ground perspective of that. From that perspective I could see that the tracks were not even close to being level, or in good shape; but thought "I need to do that".
View attachment 252847
That is not a classification yard, more for local storage and it is single ended.
I came up with curved stuff on the East end of one of my yards:
View attachment 252848

It is amazing what you can NOT do in 40ft and I actually *needed* some curved stuff. Inside 2 tracks are Main, next is yard lead then .. well you get the idea.
Keep it up! You will have fun with it.

L8r

I hear ya! Since this end of the yard won’t see much switching, I feel confident that the curved turnouts will work. Gonna play around with these switches a little more today. If I can incorporate some or most of my standard turnouts that I have and it looks good, I might go that route and save myself about $500. But it has to look good and symmetrical.

 

[rgeiter]

Finally got in the mood to do a little more work on the yard and also started the bridge construction over the yard lead. I’m content with the switch placement. Not as concentric as I would like but I can live with it. I do have to swap the last Peco and Walthers switches around. After looking at it, I can see there will be an issue with the curve.

Electrically, I have the yard booster tied into the others, works fine. Gotta run the buss wires and the drop about a hundred feeders! I did unintentionally create a dual use program track. ( the pic with the two CSX locos in it.) So I have that to wire too using a DPDT toggle. That’s everything for now.

Bob.

 

[Frenchie]

Finally got in the mood to do a little more work on the yard and also started the bridge construction over the yard lead. I’m content with the switch placement. Not as concentric as I would like but I can live with it. I do have to swap the last Peco and Walthers switches around. After looking at it, I can see there will be an issue with the curve.

Electrically, I have the yard booster tied into the others, works fine. Gotta run the buss wires and the drop about a hundred feeders! I did unintentionally create a dual use program track. ( the pic with the two CSX locos in it.) So I have that to wire too using a DPDT toggle. That’s everything for now.

Bob.
View attachment 255040View attachment 255041View attachment 255043View attachment 255048

Wow ! That's impressive work. Eventhough I don't have a big yard that looks to me very well planned.

 

[steelwheels]

@ Bob
"So I have that to wire too, using a DPDT toggle."

I plan to use the same trick for 2 different Digital control throttles. For the track power DCC &
DCS, and for a double-use program track.

This is a large layout; trying to get all of it wired at once will be a chore. I suggest you take a break now and then add a little scenery. Good to see it start to come to life as you move around it.

I hope you thought about attaching the drops to the track sections as you build, so the bus can just be strung & connected.

Ask me how I know that, no need.

Cheers,
Pep

 

[rgeiter]

I hope you thought about attaching the drops to the track sections as you build, so the bus can just be strung & connected.

Ask me how I know that, no need.

Cheers,
Pep

I did not. I didn’t even solder my track either. I needed to empty out a couple of tubs so, as soon as a yard track was laid, it was filled with cars. I’ll curse myself later!

I do that a lot!

 

[rgeiter]

Wow ! That's impressive work. Eventhough I don't have a big yard that looks to me very well planned.

We’ll use the word ”planned” loosely. I got lucky with a few of the switch placements. Photo copying the switches was a huge help. Gave me an idea on how many and which switches to buy. Only over bought by one. It’s a Peco switch so it will definitely get used. Love those Peco switches!

 

[Frenchie]

We’ll use the word ”planned” loosely. I got lucky with a few of the switch placements. Photo copying the switches was a huge help. Gave me an idea on how many and which switches to buy. Only over bought by one. It’s a Peco switch so it will definitely get used. Love those Peco switches!

I agree, even with good planning, scale drawings and so on, it's usually at the building step that changes or slight correction have to be
made.
When I drew my layout sections, I knew I wanted, for look and reliability, long transitions between straight track and curves, about one and a half
the length of my longest rail cars. This makes for roughly 46 cm (18 ") long transitions.
It isn't possible to draw that on paper, so I had to do the calculations on the plywood board before cutting the subroadbed.

I love Peco switches too, that's the only brand I have. I used Nr 8, 6 (minimum) and 7 curved, electrofrogs because I like their realistic
looking frogs.
Later on I also used three Nr 6 unifrogs, the drawback is the cut in the frog tip, I don't like it, nor the tiny hole which is obvious on
photos. I still have to plug them.

 

[rgeiter]

Well, the yard is done. All tracks laid. Today I’m going to run the buss wire and start dropping feeders. Main focus will be dropping feeders to all the turnouts first and then I will drop feeders for the tracks.

In the pics below there are 245 cars in the yard with one track still empty and one track contains an auto rack train. I’m guessing I could probably fit about 300 fifty foot cars in this yard. Not too shabby, except I have about three times that many cars.. Going to eventually look for ways to add some staging tracks but that’s way down the road.

Later, Bob

 

[Frenchie]

Well, the yard is done. All tracks laid. Today I’m going to run the buss wire and start dropping feeders. Main focus will be dropping feeders to all the turnouts first and then I will drop feeders for the tracks.

In the pics below there are 245 cars in the yard with one track still empty and one track contains an auto rack train. I’m guessing I could probably fit about 300 fifty foot cars in this yard. Not too shabby, except I have about three times that many cars.. Going to eventually look for ways to add some staging tracks but that’s way down the road.

Later, Bob
View attachment 255734
View attachment 255730View attachment 255732

For me it's the opposite, I don't have enough cars yet.

 

[rgeiter]

The bridge/viaduct or what ever you want to call it is done. I’m absolutely happy with it. I still need to add railings but that’s about it. On to the next bridge.

 

[Frenchie]

Beautiful bridge !

 

[rgeiter]

Had these made. Being delivered today.

 

[rgeiter]

Might be switching these out for plastic ones. Found some “Conrail blue” sheets, that when engraved, reveals white underneath. So I ordered some of that and will eventually get them done. But for now, here is one of the wood ones installed. Really nice for $5 each.