For some time I have searched for a possible track plan that would give me both some freight operations, but also a lot of passenger train run time and stub terminal operations. In the January 2011 MR, I read with great interest the article by Stan Sweatt on pages 72-74 with a plan. Something close to this plan would fit nicely in my 16’ x 24’ building, roughly 325.5 sq feet inside.
What has me stumped is the point that MR has yet to post this plan to the “Track Plan Database”. My question is, was this plan just a spec type of a layout yet to be constructed? Mr. Sweatt writes in his article from a some what future or possible perspective making me think the layout was never built.
That is correct. This plan is just that, a plan. Not a plan of a layout, but of a track plan FOR a layout that could be built. Either by him or someone else.
MR frequently publishes track plans that have not been built. It is like when you day dream about a layout plan that you may find interesting and draw it out on paper, but you don’t build it.
Plans like this are meant to inspire the modeler and give them ideas. They are not necessarily published to say to the modeler “Look, here is a plan that will work for you, go and build it.”
IMHO, I think one could do better in this space with a mix of passenger and freight traffic. To me, there are a number of access and track arrangement concerns with the plan, as with many “theoretical” plans. Others found it less problematic.
Your comments are good and I can agree. Byron’s post seems to fit rather well, in that what got my attention to this particular plan was the stub terminal. Since I do model the Southern and the line from Chattanooga to Oakdale of the CNO&TP, my plan to use the Chattanooga Terminal as a basis works, and I would modify the published plan to give me more freight operations. I would also utilize an helix to mover operations from the main level to a second deck.