Back in 1975, my dad and I built an HO scale version of plan 97 - Philadelphia & Reading - from this book. I just moved this layout into its third home. Every move takes its toll, so I have a bit of rebuilding to do. I was wondering if anyone else had built this layout (I found a video on YouTube where someone built it in N scale). Maybe we could compare notes. Thanks.
Wow, that is one of the more ambitious plans in there. A LOT of trackage. Can’t say I’ve ever seen one built, in any scale. I model the Reading, but more in an around the walls shelf type layout.
–Randy
I’d prefer a shelf layout now, but since this was a father & son project from 40 years ago, it has a lot of sentimental value. The track plan worked out OK when we built it, but some of the grades are too steep. I had to lower some of the highest track and raise some lower track to flatten it out a bit. The scenery was a big challenge. Much of the design in the plan just doesn’t work, and I’ve had to get creative. I’m sure if anyone else built this layout, they had the same problems, and I’d be interested in hearing how they solved them.
I’d be curious how many of the layouts in 101 track plans (besides specific plans of some club, manufacturer, or person - it has John Allen’s original G&D and we know THAT got built, plus a couple of club layouts, and that Ideal Models display layout) got built, period. I know there was an article not so long ago about someone who built the “If I had a Million” layout, although there is at least one other home layout that pretty much dwarfs that one, and has its own building in the same way - Ken McCorry’s.
Back over 20 years ago I had a small shelf switching layout where the one part was Apple Valley Junction from 101 Track Plans, the middle wall was a freelance design, and the third wall was planned to have Switchman’s Nightmare. Never got passed the L shaped two shelves before I moved and took it down. The Apple Creek part I gave to the club I belonged to (Lehigh and Keystone Valley) to use as a small ‘teaser’ layout to attract people to the main club display (which wasn’t where the one recently featured in MR is). There was another I had really wanted to build when i was a kid, I think it’s the first of the 6x10’s. We had always had nothing more than a 4x8 which was holiday season only, but my bedroom had, as I carefully measured, room for a 6x10 and plenty of space to walk aound all 4 sides. I redrew the plan and made a few changes, even planned the right side of it to be a mountain area with the 3 tracks passing through there at different levels, one through 2 short tunnels and a trestle, one with a viaduct of sorts, and the other completely in a tunnel. Never did build it, mostly because I was denied by everyone’s first SWMBO - Mom. She didn’t think I would have room (my bedroom was HUGE - something on the order of 20x18 or more).
–Randy
I would be curious to know what other problems (besides grades) you have found?
When I first looked at this book 6months ago, I noticed some concerning things about the layouts in the book. The most striking of which was approximately half (47-52, depending on how some are situated in the space) of them had a greater than 30" reach to the farthest track. Some of them (including 97) had a 30"+ reach to a yard ladder (assumming that the layout was built against one or more walls).
It is understandable that you are hesitant to tear down the layout you and your father built, but perhaps you could save a few of the more workable/favorite portions of the layout and work them into a new arround the walls plan? Also do you perhaps have children/grandchildren that might be interested in building a layout with you, maybe make some new memories? If the benchwork is in decent condition, maybe repurpose that into the new layout.
You could definitely work in some of the original buildings from the old layout/keep the others that dont fit into the new plan on a display shelf or something.
Just some food for thought.
The reach isn’t too bad if you treat it as an island with walk-around space on all sides. The pop-up hatches are in good locations, but the one at the end of the yards didn’t work out. We had the bench height set at 30", but it’s too hard for me to get under it anymore, so I just increased the height to 36" (and bought a reclining mechanics creeper to roll under it). Time will tell if the new height causes reach problems.
We closely followed the plan in putting the track up, but then had to modify the tracks to accommodate scenery. The worst scenery problems were between the upper mountain loop and the reversing loop around the yard. Building to the plan had a steep mountain jutting out of flat lands which was very unrealistic. When I moved it into its second home, I substituted a curved masonite wall between the loops to separate the scenes, and put photo backdrops on each side (mountains on the rural side and an industrial scene on the yard side). The 3 tracks looping around the yard are supposed to be hidden under the city of Philadelphia. By the time you give those tracks enough vertical clearance, you get city streets about 50 scale feet higher than the yard below. It’s a long trip down to the passenger platforms from the station! After the main line loops around the city, it goes up a very steep grade and over the yard throat to get into the mountains. That track is sandwiched between 2 flat tracks, so you have to build a long, skinny viaduct, and when you put a bridge over the yard throat, the free span needed is too long to be realistic. The space for the Schuylkill River is too narrow, and the dock feature doesn’t work, so I pulled it out. Instead of a river, the space is now a “wind gap” with a highway running through.
With 3 grand daughters, 2 nieces, and 2 nephews, so far there isn’t a model railroader in the bunch. We’ll see if that changes in time. &n
One thing to remember about 101 Track Plans is the it is OLD. Most of those plans appeared in MR before the mid-50’s, many way before that. Narrow shelf around the room design was RARE in those days. The “If I Had a Million” last plan may push on that mid 50’s date - I know it was originally a more in-depth article in MR, I forget exactly when it appeared but I do remember reading it as I worked my way through the whole 75 years collection. Some of the plans in the book date to the 30’s.
–Randy
I looked at the plan last night. There are great reach isuues there but the river scene must be fantastic to look at. The design is about 12’ across. I bet this layout could be split apart and have an operator isle added down the center along the yard end.
Do you have any photos at all? I would love to see anything you have of them.
Steve
Hey, Randy check out Ron Mei’s Sunset Route at
It is huge. Ron built a separate building for it and he spends 20 hours/week working on it. My
club goes there once a year for our monthly meeting and then we spend some time operating
with about another dozen or so modelers.
It’s also important to point out that this was the “spaghetti bowl” age of track planning where the emphasis was on fitting in the most track to allow for interesting train running. Over the last 40 years or so, thinking has shifted more toward scenic fidelity and building to support operations that realistically simulate the movement of trains over a transportation system.
Many of those old bowl of spaghetti layouts were to get a longer mainline for realistic operations. Scenic realism was sacrificed for operations. A constraint of the day was lack of satisfactory walk around operations so the operator had to see the train from a fixed point. Even today, if you want a long mainline in a modest space, then running the mainline twice through a scene may be your best bet. The latest MR (for May) has such a layout.
Paul
[quote user=“onempo”]
The reach isn’t too bad if you treat it as an island with walk-around space on all sides. The pop-up hatches are in good locations, but the one at the end of the yards didn’t work out. We had the bench height set at 30", but it’s too hard for me to get under it anymore, so I just increased the height to 36" (and bought a reclining mechanics creeper to roll under it). Time will tell if the new height causes reach problems.
We closely followed the plan in putting the track up, but then had to modify the tracks to accommodate scenery. The worst scenery problems were between the upper mountain loop and the reversing loop around the yard. Building to the plan had a steep mountain jutting out of flat lands which was very unrealistic. When I moved it into its second home, I substituted a curved masonite wall between the loops to separate the scenes, and put photo backdrops on each side (mountains on the rural side and an industrial scene on the yard side). The 3 tracks looping around the yard are supposed to be hidden under the city of Philadelphia. By the time you give those tracks enough vertical clearance, you get city streets about 50 scale feet higher than the yard below. It’s a long trip down to the passenger platforms from the station! After the main line loops around the city, it goes up a very steep grade and over the yard throat to get into the mountains. That track is sandwiched between 2 flat tracks, so you have to build a long, skinny viaduct, and when you put a bridge over the yard throat, the free span needed is too long to be realistic. The space for the Schuylkill River is too narrow, and the dock feature doesn’t work, so I pulled it out. Instead of a river, the space is now a “wind gap” with a highway running through.
With 3 grand daughters, 2 nieces, and 2 nephews, so far there isn’t a model railroader in the bunch. W
First printing was 1956, so probably spot on with the mid 50s. The concerning bit for me was that it is in its 29th printing as of 2014, with no editorial discussing the limitations/concerns/issues with some of the track plans. Yes it says you can modify them, but not everyone I know would think to make an island layout out of a layout depicted in the corner of a room.
Let’s see if this works…I linked to some photos of my layout on Flickr. There are 3 photos of the layout in its new home. I took them a couple weeks ago right after I bolted the sections back together. There are three other photos I took years ago as I was rebuilding the yard section after the move to its second home.
We moved around a lot when I was young, so dad had the foresight to build it in 7 sections that bolt together. The original scenery started with hydrocal over window screen, but that was difficult to build, so we switched to hard shell plaster. The plaster scenery was destroyed in the first move from my parents’ basement to mine, but the hydrocal survived. I replaced the destroyed scenery with rigid foam, making much of it modular so I could remove it for safe transport separate from moving the layout sections. I got the rebuild about half done before I had to move the layout again to its current home. Now, I have about a hundred wires to reconnect (with plug in connectors and barrier strips), and I have to reinstall the sectional track that bridges the joints between sections. Then I’ll put the modular scenery back on. As you see, it’s pretty stripped down right now. I thought if I could find someone who also built this layout, he might have some tips I could incorpoate into my rebuild. Now is the best time to make changes!
Let’s see if this works…I linked to some photos of my layout on Flickr. There are 3 photos of the layout in its new home. I took them a couple weeks ago right after I bolted the sections back together. There are three other photos I took years ago as I was rebuilding the yard section after the move to its second home.
We moved around a lot when I was young, so dad had the foresight to build it in 7 sections that bolt together. The original scenery started with hydrocal over window screen, but that was difficult to build, so we switched to hard shell plaster. The plaster scenery was destroyed in the first move from my parents’ basement to mine, but the hydrocal survived. I replaced the destroyed scenery with rigid foam, making much of it modular so I could remove it for safe transport separate from moving the layout sections. I got the rebuild about half done before I had to move the layout again to its current home. Now, I have about a hundred wires to reconnect (with plug in connectors and barrier strips), and I have to reinstall the sectional track that bridges the joints between sections. Then I’ll put the modular scenery back on. As you see, it’s pretty stripped down right now. I thought if I could find someone who also built this layout, he might have some tips I could incorpoate into my rebuild. Now is the best time to make changes!
Looks like the link didn’t work. The pictures of my layout are on Flickr - user one_mpo
It appears that you do not have downloads enabled. I believe that makes it impossible to have access to the links needed to post the photos here or elsewhere from Flickr.
But for those who are interested, here is the link to the page with your photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/7383285@N03/
For all the reasons you and other folks have noted (grades, access, etc.), I don’t know that anyone else has ever built this layout besides your family and (perhaps) George Allen, the fellow Linn Westcott designed it for initially.
Here’s a link to the YouTube video from the guy who built it in N scale.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tTBwqpSIch4
He posted a few videos of the layout 3-4 years ago. Trackwork only - no scenery.
I would bet that a lot of people built them with some modifications since everyone has their own givens and druthers as well as layout space. I’ve never attempted to build any of those layouts but I have taken design elements from some of them to incorporate into my much larger layout.
One of these years I plan to build a 4X8 Christmas layout and I am going to look at some of those plans as a possible starting point for that project.
Funny thing. I remember owning this book as a kid dreaming of my first layout. I designed a layout taking bits and pieces out of several layouts in the book and combining them into my Dream Layout. Many, many, years later, I’m getting back into the hobby and found this book again at my LHS. I’m amazed that it’s still in print, so I bought it again. I happen to like the design on the passenger terminal of #99 where the tracks split and form a loop under the platforms. I’d like to build a compressed version of that scene in the layout I’m planning, but I’m not sure if I have enough space for even a compressed version of it and still have room for a decent main line.