I’ve been an avid Santa Fe modeler for quite some time. I’ve built several small layouts (4x8 and smaller), as well as one 11x13 layout in Ohio. We just recently moved back to Colorado from Ohio and I lost the massive 22x25 layout space I had. The club out here has a massive mainline setup and allows for me to operate long 60+ car trains. However I still wanted to have even a small project at home to keep me busy. I managed to acquire the rights to build in our 8x12 Toolshed in the backyard. I decided to limit the layout to 7 1/2’ by 9’ to allow room for guests and some small furniture and memorabilia. I’m not the best CAD user in the world, but this is what I came up with. I put the layout in as a 7x9 and 18 inch wide shelves.
The layout is not based on any line in particular, only that it’s in northern Texas/Oklahoma. The line is a branch between the Santa Fe and the Union Pacific sometime in the 1970’s. The layout will be powered by a MRC Prodigy Express DCC system. I will be the sole operator and it has been designed with a single operator in mind. I wanted something that had continuous running so I could kick back and watch the trains go around when I wanted to, and I wanted it to have switching. So I decided on a Plan in which both Santa Fe and UP serve one town on a branch line, they will transfer cars at the town and perform switching on their own industry’s.
I used to have 18" radius curves on my older layouts, however, that got old fast with how unrealistic it looked to me. I set my minimum radius to 22" on this layout, with #6 switches on the “main” and #4’s in the town and staging yard. There will be a slight grade coming up on the interchange side of the layout and than down on the other.
Ok so here’s the plan. I most likely will not stick to it 100%, I’ve never been that kind of person, I form a general Idea and go from there. I
I did forget to add, the largest rolling stock that I will be operating will be 50’ boxcars. and the Motive power for both the UP and the Santa Fe consists of only GP7’s and GP9’s.
How high will the bottom of the benchwork and the layout surface be?
Where is your duckunder or liftout?
Tracks seem a little close to the outer edge/walls - might be an artefact of the way the track plan drawing tool has been used.
Why not put the yard between the mainline and aisle/pit? That way it will be easier to see what you have there - cars on the front tracks won’t obscure the clearance point of tracks further back.
By the way, the UP didn’t go to Texas or Oklahoma in the 1970’s. It only went as far south as Kansas. The lines in Oklahoma or Texas in the 1970’s would have been ATSF, MKT, MP, CRIP, Frisco, BN. The UP didn’t get to Texas until the 1985 merger with the MP.
now you are building along the walls, it could be an idea to use the walls for background industries. probably it is best to stay away a few inches from the wall, so you’ll have some space for scenery beyond the tracks.
I am not sure if you do need a dedicated drill track, yours is pretty short and doubles as a team track. A wee bit to much, lengthening the switch-lead along the main is quite possible however.
I prefer a bit of space between the staging area and the visible part of your empire, a road with buildings could be constructed to separate both. (or a backdrop if you prefer)
The lift-outs are giving a good entrance into the operating-pit; especially during the build it will prevent you of headache.
Steinjr: yes it will be operated from inside the pit, I’m thinking about putting the benchwork at about 5 feet up, so I can duck under it instead of crawl under it. The entrance would be on the left in this picture. The trackage just looks close because of the CAD, I have a little room to play with beyond that, plus I’m laying with solid flex track, So i can make adjustments like that easily.
I thought about that, but since the yard will be rarely used (mostly to store cars) and that the layout is only 18 inches deep, i decided to move it back so I could get longer yard tracks.
Paulus Jas: I could, but since I’m modeling out on the plains, I prefer smaller industrys and more rolling scenery. I really don’t even think I need a drill track, I know on the original layout, I switched the yard and never had to pull any cars out of the cement plant (the old drill track industry) to switch the yard.
There would be more space between the scenery and the staging on the final layout, that was just a quirk from using the CAD program. I intend to use a low backdrop to hide the staging yard. I have had some bad experiences with operating on layouts with liftouts so I’ll just use a duckunder.
dehusman: Huh, you know, thats right. forgot about that. I guess I’ll go with the MoPac for that instead. Still have plenty of Geeps to operate. I really don’t want to operate as a large city/division point.
Another location in Oklahoma is Enid, which has /had three railroads, Rock Island (now UP), Frisco (now BN) and the Santa Fe. All had yards, large grain elevator switching and all three went to Texas also. These railroads form the basis of my Santa Fe in Oklahoma, 1989 layout. Although the center is the town of Enid, with elevators, Champlin refinery and other industries, I also have Oklahoma City modeled (three deck railroad), and staging for the ATSF from the north, plus a couple of other end points.
Why are you going with fictional (other than the UP connection). There are tones of Santa Fe Branchlines in OK/TX. Off the top of my head I can think of the Shawnee Branch and the Lindsey Branch. These are in the Ardmore OK area. There are a bunch more around Amarillo.
Want to go north there is the Kiowa KS to Enid OK track that is pretty interesting?
Why UP? All the places I know the AT&SF meet the UP are in Missouri, Kansas, or Colorado (Denver specifically)
How about Dalhart, Tx. It is way up in the north of in the panhandle. The tracks are still in use and you “visit” Dalhart with Google and look at most of the tracks in detail. They have some nice grain elevators there.
