Stumbled onto this and thought it was interesting!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/us/03land.html?_r=2&hp&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
The down side is you will need to buy 240 AC locomotives and about 10100 coal cars to model 1 day’s business.
The up side is that is about ALL the rolling stock you’ll need.
Dave H.
Very small.
I’m sorry, but I’m not seeing the down side here…can you point that out to me again?
I see the motive power alone being one loco=$110, $26400. I got no clue on the gon cost, but this could get to be atleast 50k, probably more. There’s the downside, Phillip. Money.
Realistically, it would take a maximum of four unit trains, two loaded and two empty.
I’d give the prize for, “Easiest town in the world to model,” to Denver and Glacier, AK. Each consists of a post, with a suitably inscribed sign, next to otherwise unremarkable single track. (3 foot gauge track, at that - White Pass and Yukon.)
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
The writer likes purple prose, but I found the description of the working conditions and agreements interesting. Not too different from what I experienced when I was on the freight.
Mark.
Bill has 3 mainlines and 5 or 6 staging tracks that will each hold a full sized unit coal train and the real Bill pushes 70-80 trains through there at day. You might want more than 4 trains, considering you can have 8 trains in Bill at one time.
Here is a Terraserver shot of Bill, there are 5 trains in the picture:
http://terraserver-usa.com/image.aspx?T=1&S=10&Z=13&X=2393&Y=23932&W=1&qs=|Bill|WY|
Google Maps shows 4 empty trains in the yard and one load on the main.
Dave H.
I stand (somewhat) corrected.
Make that 4 UP units and 4 BNSF units. Plus a couple of ‘once in whenever’ peddlers for each - and a staging yard with more tracks than the visible diorama.
Unless, that is, you model in Z scale and have a full-size 747 hangar for a venue. In that case, all bets are off!
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with ten car coal units)
Packers#1,
I should have said that I meant that with 'tongue firmly planted in cheek".
If you want to be real serious then you still wouldn’t need all of those loco’s. As others have already suggested, it could be done with far less…maybe less loco’s then a lot of “normal” home layouts have!
Planning would be the key!
On the other side of the coin, if you’re a loco junky, this may be the perfect layout for you! [tup]
OK Chuck, maybe you’ve got me there, but you have to admit, Bill, WY. has to be a close second! [;)]
I don’t got the friggin’ money to be a loco junky. Besides, I was joking about those prices. A loco would be about 80-60, depending on what discount site you vist. Besides, I prefer switching out industries, but I do kinda like running a train around a wierdly shaped loop of track.
How about Horse Creek, WY:
Single track, single dirt road, and a handfull of structures (one of which is a post office; yes, Horse Creek has a zip code). Wyoming has plenty of these little communities, some have a lot of character.
I know of a similar motel in Thayer Missouri. While they are open to the general public, it is obvious they are gouging the BNSF with their rates for the crew change people that have to stay there.
If the railroads were smart they would invent some sort of a car where one “off-duty” crew could sleep while the other drove the train. Then when they reached this point the crews could simply switch places and keep the train going instead of stopping at a motel.
I’ll let you explain that plan to the train crew’s spouses and children and how they won’t see them but for a day or maybe two every week or so.
If you are smart you won’t try that.
Dave H.
Most motels significantly discount their rates for a guaranteed contract, such as railroads, airlines, and so on. From the traveler’s point of view, the trick is to get your company to contract with a reasonable place, and not the cheapest dump they can find (been there, done that).
Having experienced “dead heading”, as it is known in aviation, it is the pits for getting good performance from your crews. How well did you sleep on your last airplane or train ride? Not very well? How well do you think a crew who is trained to be alert for every unusual sound or motion sleeps while the train or airplane is in motion? Even on a family vacation on a sailboat, I don’t sleep well when anchored. I’m always being woken by a slight change of motion, and have to go up on deck to make sure everything is still OK (once a while it isn’t still OK!). On an airline at 36,000ft, I once woke to sense the power being cut way back to idle. I saw the spoilers deploy, and realized the pilots were diving for the deck due to some unknown emergency (turned out to be an electrical fire in the cockpit). How alert do you think crews are after hours of not really sleeping, and then having to take over for another crew?
And this doesn’t even consider the point about even more family separations.
All our transportation modes - trucking, railroads, airl