After the move to Las Vegas, the modules of my Tonopah and Tidewater sat in storage while I tried to figure out how I could fit a 14x14 railroad into a 10x16 space. I finally got a version that I think works. It depicts the Bullfrog Goldfield RR from Rhyolite to Goldfield. The Tonopah & Tidewater and the Las Vegas & Tonopah took turns owning the BG RR so running their equipment on it is ok. Let me know what you think of the design and if there are any obvious operations flaws.
I would HIGHLY recommend notching the benchwork at Goldfield so the door can be opened at LEAST 3/4s the way, It gets very VERY inconvenient when the door doesnt open enough to allow to get reasonable sized things in or out, personally I would give up a little staging there to have better access.
If your grid is one foot to the square, your sketch is larger than your 10’x16’, more like 11 1/3’x 16’. If you have the room, no problem.
You have nice wide aisles, if you operate alone most of the time you could easily fatten either the penninsula or right side about 6" to give you more layout surface.
The turntable looks crowded into the corner. Problem, I see to moving it out a little by widening the shelf is that you would effect the radius of your curves. Not sure how that would work out. I take it you are using it to turn locos as well as put them into the shop.
I wish my reduced space was 10’ wide, gives more options than the 8’ I ended up with.
Just my initial thoughts.
Have fun,
Richard
In addition to the door issue, the track arrangement at Goldfield does not seem to have the same functionality as the rest of the layout. The only runaround is at the back, not accessible to the main, and seems to be aimed at providing an engine “release” rather than assisting switching. The lack of a drill track means the main will be completely tied up with any Goldfield operations (this may be what you want).
The runaround at Bonnie Claire is quite a bit shorter than at the other towns, which could impact usable train length. Don’t know if that was intentional or not.
Without knowing the planned operating scheme for the layout, it’s pretty difficult to tell how well the track arrangement will work.
my thoughts, your choices
Fred W
Thanks to everyone for there suggestions. Notching the edge of Goldfield so that the door can open wider is veyr easy and is a very good suggestion. It is wider than 10 feet. One advantage that I have is that the modules are complete and I can move them around the room like dominos although I prefer using Cadrail to to do the heavy lifting.
Goldfield was essentially designed as staging area for the layout. Since I posted this, I’ve found a map that shows the actual tracks of the BGRR yard in goldfield. It wasn’t very big. I’ve redesigned it to fit closer to the prototype. The turntable is where it is because that is where the current hole in the pink styrofoam is. There was only one turntable in all of central/southern Nevada and that was on the T&G yard in Goldfield. Everyone else used wyes to turn engines. Having a turntable there is modeler’s license but I may remove it and plug the hole. I may use a cassette to turn engines instead.
Needless, to say, railroading in the Nevada desert 100 years ago was a very informal affair with only 1-2 trains each day each way. (There are also stories about everyone operation the train being under the influence of alcohol.) I plan on operations sessions that are probably faster paced than the protoype but with only 4 mixed trains each direction and lots of switching but a lot less alcohol.
Thanks for the suggestions. I’ll post a new version of the Goldfield yard when I get a chance. - Nevin
Just a couple thoughts. I’m partial to broad curves. Yours look to be in the 18 - 24" range. That’s a lot tighter than I’d prefer, but it’s probably OK for the small equipment used in your era. As for the door, have you considered replacing the swinging door with an accordion-style folding door? That might give you maximum entry space. Of course, there may be limiting factors that I don’t know about.
Tom
Yes, a redesign of the Goldfield area is probably needed.
Personally, I would just not have a runaround at all in Bonnie Clair. Switch one industry with one train on its way to Rhyolite, and switch the other industry with the next train back to Goldfield.
Here is the latest version:
[/URL]
The plan looks pretty good to me, knotching the door is a good idea. My biggest objection is that you didn’t get to Death Valley Junction, so that we could pass freight and passengers back and forth. Have fun, make changes when you think YOU need them, that’s what the hobbie is all about.