Comment: NY, Kittatinny & Western layout in Oct06 MR

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
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I just got my October MR and there is a layout visit article to a layout that deserves more analysis and comment that the magazine article space allows. Bernie Halloran’s , KITTATINNY AND WESTERN layout in October MR is one with many interesting features that were not emphasized or explained. I feel the most appropriate place for online discussions of layouts that appear in Model Railroader magazine is here in the trains.com/ Model Railroader/ “layouts” forum.

MULTIPLE USE OF HELIX SPACE

Helixes (“helices”?) take up a lot of room while allowing more use of vertical space. The NYK&W uses a few inches more horizontal room (space on the “plan view” footprint) than the minimum helix but it makes FOUR uses of that space….

  1. The helix itself, which appears to raise the mainline approximately 3 to 4 inches elevation between on the lower line and Hainesburg on higher level trackage.

(I wanted to quote a specific elevation change but there is some ambiguity about the layout plan as drawn in the magazine. The plan view shows 54 ¾” elevation at the middle of and 58 ¾” at the passing siding just east of Haines

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OK, I will look forward to it.

You guys in the States get your mags a bit sooner then we do out here.[:(]

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Continuing analysis/discussion of New York, Kittatinny & Western layout

POINT-TO-POINT WITH ASYMMETRICAL BALANCE

As I read the plan, the NY, “Kitty” & Western appears to be a true point-to-point layout, with no way to start on a train and let it run unattended. A train will eventually arrive at the end of the track and have to be stopped or ******! I think of this as usually the most realistic way to build and operate a layout. My own personal preference is to design a layout for realistic point-to-point operation as the first priority, and then as a lesser priority, provide for some inconspicuous way to allow continuous loop running for testing, engine break-in, exhibits, lazy days etc. IF that can be done without making the layout look like a pointless “loop the loop”.

The “Kitty” not only has an actual point-to-point schematic squeezed into a medium-large but not unlimited space. It also has a strong sense of direction to underscore the message that trains are going somewhere particular. Although the track runs around the walls of a room, trains continue in the same direction vis-à-vis the viewpoint of an operator in the central aisle until they disappear off the scene into hidden staging. The turnback curve at the east/ lower end of the mainline turns the direction back around so that east end staging can be directly under west end staging, but that turnback is hidde

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Very interesting analysis, Ken. It gave me some ideas to think about and also made me realize I have an industry in the wrong town.

I have a grain elevator in a town surrounded by hills and mountains. Where is the grain coming from, a mine? Probably not. So I will be relocating the elevator to another town that makes more sense.

Anyone else stop to consider what industries should be in which town?

Tom

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The third thing I find interesting and instructive on the “Kitty” layout (what Tony Koester calls “learning points”) is the variety of features in the four different “towns”.

What is a town? (on a model railroad, that is…)

A town to the geography or census bureau is an inhabited place with homes, businesses etc. A town on a model railroad is more like a “station” on a railroad as defined by the rulebook, a named operating point.

We modelers often give a town name to

  • places with a passenger or freight depot–
  • yards
  • passing sidings
  • industry locations large and small

What is interesting here is the different mix of features and scale of-- oops, “scale” is the word we use to define modeling proportions, such as HO, O, N, etc. I guess what I mean is the MAGNITUDE of different industries. Some layouts might have one of each kind of industry, each with room for one car. On the “Kitty”, industries come in different sizes (as far as their traffic capacity).

Sparta Junction has NO industries unless you count railroad supplies, fuel etc as an “industry”.

Andover has 5 different industries, three with car capacities of about 3 cars, one with room for 6 and one with room for 8.

Hainesburg has 3 businesses with room for 1 or 2 cars each, and one with a spur for 3 or 4.

Ogdensburg’s NJ Zinc can originate an entire train at one time.

This implys three different kinds of switching going on in the three “towns”.

All four have some provision for passing siding, but those provisions are somewhat unequal with a long long siding at Ogdensburg. But Ogdensburg does NOT have a passenger station as do the 3 other locations.

Notice that there are TWO different Borden’s facilities in different towns. I wonder if one ships to the other, or if a car is half-loaded at one point and filled the rest of the

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leighant ,

One year later, you get a reply. Bad form on my part. Thanks for noticing what I worked into the layout. Yes, the art department did a wonderful job on the trackplan, but did make a few tiny mistakes. Old John Armstrong knew how to work things out. The reverted loop worked fine, even backing full-lenth passenger cars with diaphrams. There were two side-bars with the article that MR didn’t use. One of place names, the other on using the “helper district” to fiddle engines and cabosses on the upper, or west end. You caught on. More later.

Bernie

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leighant,

You really picked up the operating scheme. Yes. The article was at MR for three years, during which time it was scheduled for one of the annual pubs with the sidebars and more diagrams for switching at the west end. Above the entry duck-under is a “helper district” when a pair of A-A diesels sat and a few electromag uncouplers to allow the west-bound engines to cut off, cut off the caboose, and the “waiting” A-A pushers would take on the end of the train, becoming the new “east-bound” which would then tag on its caboose and back into the upper staging, waiting to be dispatched back east, another day. It worked okay, because of all the other action available from other staging.

Bernie

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leighant,

Yup. You got more of it just right. The “long long siding at Ogdensburg” was part of the helper district trick, so another train could head east while the west-bound train was being ‘reversed.’ There is a station at the far, far end of Ogdensburg. The Borden’s plants both ship milk products east, to metropolitan New Jersey, the densly populated part. Towns are diffent, and in a small space, variety is important. Thanks for noticing.

Bernie