Central Railroad of Peru ... in an 8x8 island!

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

I’m looking to model the central standard gauge railroad of Peru c. 1930s that ran from Callaeo (the port of Lima) to Cerro de Pasco (a major copper mine and possibly an uranium mine in the 30s) and to Huancayo (a major yard). The prototype has a plethora of bridges and boasts some of the highest elevation that trains traverse anywhere. However, my wife has given me (graciously) the center 8’x8’ section of our basement (NOT the perimeter!) Moreover, I’ve got a support post near the middle, and the center of the east side of the 8x8 square is under the staircase.

So, I’ve come up with the following layout and I’m seeking suggestions for improvement (or simply just constructive criticism!):

Notes:

  • Since I’ll need to convey the elevation of the prototype, I’ve chosen a folded dog bone and hope to get somewhere in the order of 9 to 10" of height at one end of the dog bone with a max 3% grade at spots. The “access hatch” (and support post ) will be in the middle of the “western” mountain, but I plan to use a backdrop on the N & NE (towards Pampas) side of the access hatch allowing me to drop it when I need to reach inside to Pampas or Cerro de Pasco. Likewise, the east part of the layout (immediately past the mine Cerro de Pasco) will be a mountain that slopes up into the stairwell, hence, the tracks in the eastern 1.5 feet of the layout will all (sans the yard) be in tunnels.

  • The section of track marked “Loop Closure” (which completes the dog bone) would only be used when continuously running trains, i.e., during operations we’ll pretend that section of track doesn’t exist to provide a point-to-point (Pampas ↔ Callaeo) feel for the railroad.

  • In order to provide a reason to transport livestock (my daughter’s request), I’ve included the village of Pampas at the end of the lin

2

I always worry about reach when looking at layouts that are more than 2 feet from the edges. (The standard limit is 30 inches.) My own “island” layout is 5x12 feet, so the center line is just at that standard reach limit. I can deal with it, but it’s quite a stretch. Also, my layout is on the low side, to accomodate the roof line, which helps the reach issue.

Your foot-and-a-half square access hatch is pretty tight. Go get a big piece of cardboard from an appliance store, and cut a hatch that size in it. Can you get your shoulders up through it? If so, you’re a good deal thinner than I am. During construction, you’re going to spend hours with your torso stuck in that hatch, so you might think about making it a bit more roomy.

I’m glad to see someone doing this. In fact, I really hoped this would be a picture thread. This spectacular mountain scenery and “primitive,” old-time railroading is a great choice to make a really unique layout. Besides, where else can you use llamas on a train layout?

3

Heh. Yes, I did try the access-hatch “taped out” on the floor, and it was, uh … tight. So yes, the dimensions printed on the map are old, and the size now is almost 2’x2’ (albeit, hexagonal shaped). Note, since the eastern most tracks will be “under the mountain”, I luckily only need to reach as far as the mine from the access hatch. Oh, and the table height is much lower (32") than normal – necessary to get under the staircase. :frowning:

-aka

4

Exactly! Hence the addition of the village of Pampas.

I saw a picture on the Net of a livestock car carrying llamas … it was one of those “double takes” where you have to look again to make sure of what you just saw. I’ll have to try to find it again …

-aka

5

I travelled on the line from Cerro through El Fundicion, Junin, and on to La Oroya several times behind steamers in the 50’s using Cerro Mining Corporation’s company owned equipment. My father was the Asst Gen Superintendant of Concentrators for the company, which ran several operations scattered throught the high Andes.

I also took the FCCP trains from La Oroya, through Matucana, Juan Peni, and on to Lima several times. If you have not had the occasion, the stretch from San Mateo and through what is called El Infernillo (Hell), is something that one has to experience to believe. The line crosses the same gorge several times on trestles jammed into rocks, and the Rio Rimac rushes below. BTW, Rimac is a Quechua word that translates into El Hablador, or the Talker…this is because the torrent is so fierce it tumbles boulders on its bed and you can hear them cracking, crocking, and rumbing when you stand near the water’s edge.

Junin (who-NEEN) is the major centre on the pampa. Pampas is an anglicized version, since we say “fields”, or “woods”, pluralizing the term. Pampa does not need to be pluralized.

I am happy to see you model this railroad that was declared one of the 10 wonders of the modern world when it was scoped out by British engineers in the early 1900’s.

Edit- now that I have studied your plan a bit, I am worried about how you will operate this plan. Your ability to manage it all, with the difficult reaches, is a very serious problem…I think it is so serious that I will go ahead and label it a show stopper.

If you can post a bench plan with the trackplan lightly superimposed, I might be able to offer some guidance, but as you have the plan depicted, I feel you are in for major grief.

Sorry to be so blunt and negative,…

6

Hmm, the only “hard to reach” spot that I expected was the mining track at Cerro de Pasco? Note that the picture is on a 9x10 grid, but the table top will be 8x8 (extending out an additional foot at Callaeo.) Moreover, the low point (Callaeo) will only be 32" from the floor.

Knowing this, do you still think that the current layout will be difficult to manage?

-aka

7

I would recommend widening the access hatch to something like 26". If you are younger than about 50, in good health, and 5’9", 170 lbs, you might be okay with what you show, but things change…you know?

For me, though, it is the upper right, where you have your legend, that you will have difficulty. You may have to get “up” there more often than you’d hoped. and it won’t be from that upper right corner.

A very low bench top, 32", will help to an extent, but you may want to experiment with how long you can actually reach bent over such a height and still maintain your balance enought to perform extended periods of maintenance.

Just a thought.

This will be quite a challenge, and certainly interesting.

8

You might be interested to know that there was a coal mine at a place called Gollarisguisga (goyar-SKEE-skah) about one hour north of Cerro de Pasco, and coal trains ran through Cerro to the large smelter in La Oroya. The smelter there extracted copper, lead, zinc, cadmium, bismuth, antimony, gold, silver,…the list goes on. It probably still does this work.

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Selector: That’s good to know – I was certainly considering the possibility of putting La Oroya in, but now I’m thinking if I can find a way to get one more spur in (even a short one leading off track) I can put up a sign for Gollarisguisga’s coal facility!

-aka

10

Hi,

I really like the concept. There is nothing I like more than layouts with big scenery. That said, this is not my kind of layout. While I like big impressive scenery the part I don’t like is seeing trains running through it like ants in an ant farm. Let me suggest a different use of this 8 x 8 space that will give you plenty of opportunity for big scenery, more variety in what you can do , and have it look more like a railroad than a toy.

I would take your 8 feet and make a 30" wide “O” shaped square. That leaves you with a 36" square in the center. I would create 3 fantastic scenes on the edges with high backdrops so you can’t see the center. On the third side, I would also have a scene, but it would be blended with a staging yard so you can store variety of different trains to be run around the layout. You can still have all your industries and towns–the only difference is that your train only crosses your vision once in a scene like in the real world.

Anyway, that is what I would do.

11

Interesting. I was trying to maximize operational ability by putting as much track as I thought possible in an 8x8, but you’re suggesting a quite different approach. I’ll have to think about this … I can certainly see the benefit of an empty center.

-aka

12

It is what I did. Despite all the warnings about duckunders, lift-outs, and so on, I wanted what you see, and am not disappointed. It is true that I sometimes get a loud and jarring reminder that the layout is heavy and unyielding…and lower than I had guessed…, but I looooooooovvvee what I see standing in the middle of it all.

So, that is me you see smiling and nodding emphatically over Mouse’s shoulder.

13

I wasn’t quite clear. Your center isn’t exactly empty. That is where your staging area is. You don’t want to waste the 4th side on that. I was thinking about it more after I wrote the above. It would be very easy to stack two 1 wide ft staging yards that represent the two ends of your “world”. That gives your 2 ft of space to re-rail a car if you need to. That would give you about 12-16 trains to run through your operations without duplication.

14

Hi. I have a 3’x5’ HO “megapike” ([;)]) I wanted to do what you did. I think we all do. I wanted to get as much track as possible in. I was determined even to have an upper level continuous track. AND a turntable. There just is not enough room. And, so, we overdo it. I have cut out the turntable, there is really not room. Even a double loop mainline is practically to much.But I have it. I still struggle with the upper level. It “covers up” about half the lower level.I have changed it a few times, and may a few more. But I end up taking away, not adding.

SOmetimes, as our mothers told us, yet we did not believe…less is more.

15

Thanks all! You’ve convinced me that I need to go back to the drawing board … but first, I’m going to try and negotiate another foot or so from my wife! :slight_smile:

-aka

ps. I am, however, even more conviced that modeling the central railroad of Peru is worthwhile!

16

I recommended an article I wrote on another post. Before you start your plan take a look at these two articles.

A Beginner’s Guide to Layout Design"

What is Staging and Why do I need it?

17

Although I know nothing about Peru, your project sounds like an exciting one. I must agree with Galaxy about trying to get as much track in as possible. As I think about all the layouts I’'ve seen in the magazines, the ones I like the least have track or structure on every square inch. The really spectaculare ones have lots of open space. I made the same mistake on my living room floor layout - adding until there was no more space to. As I start my permanent layout later this year, it will have an entirely different look.r
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