We’ve decided on a layout. It’s the Quaker State Eastern RR from Linn wescott’s 101 Track Plans. It’s on page 20 for those of who have the book. If you do have the book, please help me with a question. I am going to make two changes. I am going to seperate the outside loop from the main line on the left side so that I can have a long way to work on a grade for the Shay logging run. This plan in my book, is not marked with any grades. I would like recommendations on figuring a good grade for a Shay, so that it will come back down to zero by the time the loop ties back into the main line on the right side, by Gaptown. That is where I will make the second change. I want to connect two turnouts against each other so that I will have two complete loops of track, because I like to run trains with a minimum of switching…although I WANT some switching on the Shay route, and may add to it about where Oliver is located on the top. Thank you in advance for any help, and thank you all for your help and support this far. It means a lot.
By my calculations that give you about 8 feet to get up as high as you want to go and 8 feet to get back down.
Since 8 feet is almost 100 inches, if you make an even grade up and then back down the height in inches of the summit will also be just slightly under the grade. For example if the track on the logging loop achieve an elevation of 4 inches near Pennston it would be a 4.16% grade (4 divided by 96). If you make the elevation 6" the grade would be 6.25% (6 divided by 96). Be careful not to make a vertical “kink” at the summit. I mean you don’t want two 6% grades meeting without a distance of level track in between!
Clockwise I think I would begin gently out of Rosemary Hill and then increase the gradient gradually.
Counter clockwise I think I would put a spur at Oliver that climbed at an even steeper rate to a switch back cutting back across the “shay loop” track to a logging area in the upper right hand corner. That would probably eliminate the possiblity of the river they show on the plan.
You know …
If you change the two yard tracks in Prosemarry Hill to come off the main line loop instead of the shay loop you would gain another three feet to use for making grade, at the expense of making those tracks shorter. Or I suppose you could just have these two tracks elevated higher than the two on the other loop.
That’s a good idea. I don’t need a yard that long anyway. I’m car poor anyhow. Could you explain this in terms a six year old could understand? That’s about my railroad mentality right now. “Counter clockwise I think I would put a spur at Oliver that climbed at an even steeper rate to a switch back cutting back across the “shay loop” track to a logging area in the upper right hand corner. That would probably eliminate the possiblity of the river they show on the plan.” Thanks very much for your input.
Please rethink this, those track plans we’re drawn up nearly 60 years ago and there dredfully outdated and a beast to operate.
Ian rice’s books have some of the best trackplans MR publishes.
I’ll give it a look. But hey, I’m running locomotives that were run 60 plus years ago. They were beastly to run, too. I’m going to run what I feel comfortable with. If it’s a 60 year old plan, so be it. If it’s something else, I’ll do that, too. I did a search on Ian Rice, and there is nowhere near as much on him as there is Linn Wescott…whatever that means. I respect Linn’s work a lot. He was a very close personal friend of my grandfather, and got me interested in model railroading when I was a child. That said, I completely agree with your accessment. I know the hobby has come a long way. I intend to look at every avenue before I lay any track. Do you have any sources for Ian Rice’s plans?
I guess your negative response is a no on knowing any sources for Ian Rice’s layouts.
MR published at least two of his books. They are availible on this site as well as throught the normal channels like eBay. I was really impressed with what he did in small spaces.
One more thing. I tried to put one of the 101 plans onto paper. It was a shelf layout that was supposed to be 6" by 8 feet. By the time I got all the turnouts in place–all #4’s, the layout was 10inches by 12 feet.
So if you use one of these plans runn it through a software program to see if it still fits with today’s materials.
Thanks. I’ll do that. What I’ll likely end up doing is making the track plan myself. That’s usually what I end up doing when I have any doubts, is just do it myself.
They say a picture is worth a bunch of words. Here is sort of what I was thinking. All told there is not a lot of room to work with here.
click the picture for a better view.
I didn’t bother to finish connecting the “shay loop” since it was irrelevent to the question. But I wish I would have now, because the switchback lead termination looks like the incomplete loop. Oh well… Nor did I make your desired modifications to the connections right hand side.
They were never intended to be built with sectional track, it even addresses that issue in the opening Q&A. As someone said, this was written many years ago when almost everything was hand built.
is this design a center control pit design?
looks like fun
as chip said test it on a software program first
have fun!
Wow, thanks! What do I owe you?
Iain Rice … i found 60 entries for him in the index at the top of this page , his biggest ‘article’ is the 8 part series on his Roque Bluffs layout , starting in the october 2003 model railroader . his books are …
http://store.yahoo.net/kalmbachcatalog/12229.html
and
http://store.yahoo.net/kalmbachcatalog/12245.html
i highly recommend both books , especially for us space-challenged people
you almost have to build a Linn Wescott design , anything else would be disrespectful ! [:D]
I kinda feel that way. I really didn’t know him. I barely remember him. I never saw any of his work, but I do remember how passionate he was about ME finding MY passion for something. My grandfather was a print man. He became aquainted with Westscott while working at a small print shop a LOOOONG time ago in Wilmington, NC. I don’t even know the whole story. I just know they were good friends, and do remember meeting him maybe three times, tops. I’ll never forget him for sure.
Hi Rob, did you abandon your idea of the L shaped against the wall dogbone style layout?
Jarrell
I really don’t know yet. My wife has told me I can have the spare bedroom. It’s only like 9.5 x 9.5. Since I was possibly going to be in a smaller space, I was looking at different options. But the more I look at the shop the better it looks.
It’s inevitable. Someone else’s plan is never perfect. The best you can hope for is hand grenade close.