The plan is based on the L-plan from the Atlas Customline Layouts book. I flipped it, cropped off the short leg, and adjusted it a little to fit the real Atlas switch and crossing angles. I also put the freight house tracks at a slight angle to give a 32-foot wide roadway between the tracks and the adjacent industry.
There grade is flat throughout except for slightly lower ballast under the sidings compared to the branch track. Topographically the top is supposed to be higher than the bottom edge. Coal Run will flow in the stream bed at center and disappear into the culvert under the interchange tracks. The large blank area at the bottom will slope down, representing the bank down to a curve of the Beaver River.
The layout represents a PRR branch running through Beaver Falls/ New Brighton PA in 1961. The industries are based on real ones in the area that I found in PRR records, Sanborn fire maps, and City directories from the period. I picked them to give a good variety of cars. The P&LE RR interchange mimics the connection at the P&LE COLLEGE yard. The siding names are based on PRR practice.
Valley Clay Products - Manufacturers of brick, roofing tile, and pipe. Incoming loadings are coal in hoppers. Outgoing loads are clay products in boxcars or on flats. (Clay is mined on-site.) Valley Clay No. 1 (2 - 3 car capacity) will probably be a coal trestle with a conveyor or something in the blank spot. It will also be available for loading products as needed. Valley Clay No. 2 (4 - 5 cars) will be the main product loading siding.
The 13th Avenue Switching Track is the runaround. It has a 4 car capacity.
The Freight Station and Public Track handles railway express, prod
The tail on the switchback (weatherproof varnish co) is only going to allow the locomotive (a short one) and one car at a time. No, 60 footers allowed here.
I presume the coal is used for firing ovens rather than oil. I would guess they would bring in other things to mix with the clay to make the various compounds needed for the different articles. Potash, gypsum, sands (silica), and even various liquids and reagents like hydrocloric or sulphuric acid (for etching).
I think that would be a mistake. Always more hoppers than gondolas in that time period. The only reason not would be if one of the local industries was something like a steel mill or junk yard.
I’ll just second the suggestion that the short swtching leads are a real concern. Many people would find that pretty tedious after a short time. Combined with the short runaround, it means that your really long tracks (like the P&LE interchange) will need to be pulled in several repetitive moves – unless I am missing something.
Because of the need for tracks on which to stash cars while making multiple runarounds, the useful capacity of the layout may be less than you calculate. Otherwise you may find yourself in a bit of switching gridlock that you might not find so fun.
Thanks, TZ, that’s exactly the type of feedback I was looking for. I set up this tail in the basement and you’re right, no 60 footers. No 40 footers either. In fact, with only 10 inches in the clear, I’d be lucky to be able to switch an ore jenny with a Porter 25-tonner. . .
The original layout was 11 feet wide. I trimmed it at both ends to fit 10 feet and didn’t notice the severly truncated tail. Originally it was 18 inches plus an inch on the switch. Ideally, I’d like room to handle an RS-2 + 2x 50 footers, which comes out to 22-1/8 inches over couplers (measured with my old AHM and Tyco stuff), or 20-3/4 at the practical but albeit unrealistic minimum. I figure most ops will involve a SW1200 class loco with 40 ft boxes and 53 foot gons, (I reckon about 19 inches, max) so a tail that fits the RS group ought to work.
I played around and stretched the plan to 11 and 12 feet. (If it comes to it, I can get one car plus a loco on the original layout if I shift it over about 3 inches, and for that single siding I’ll live with it if it comes to doing that or not having a layout at all.) The 11 footer pretty much just adds space on the right side. I was able then to tilt the excavator track a little so that I can add a building at the end for the siding to go into. The 12 footer is actually quite a bit nicer (for increasing the length by 20%, it had better be!) With the extra space I was able extend the tail, tilt the excavator track, lengthen the runaround by 1 50 foot car, increase the spacing between the station and Valley Clay so the paving isn’t right against the VC siding RoW, and - if I want - add a 1 car switch off VC No. 2 that leads to the coal trestle at or off the upper left, freeing up VC 1 and 2 for other ship
Byron, you mentioned leads (plural). As far as I can see the WV siding is the only one that doesn’t allow the full capacity (or full practical capacity) to be switched. Am I missing something?
I figure that each siding will have to switched separately, taking one to three cars in/out of each. The runaround and interchange lead are pretty centrally located, so it’s not like you’d have to back track 5 miles to do the RA. I think you get it, and that’s my plan.
I listed capacity as a way of report siding length. My figgerin’ was that at the start there would be 4 - 8 cars on the sidings and (1) the interchange would be empty, or (2) there would be 4 - 6 cars on one of the interchange tracks. The loco would come up from Conway either pulling 4 - 6 cars (1) or alone (2). Switching would ensue. At the end there would be new cars at the sidings and some combination of cars in the interchange and being dragged/pushed back to Conway. Does that seem reasonable?
Yes, I know. I just happen to have this layout (sort of - it is in a storage unit at the moment). I also mirrored it, but I didn’t cut it down I added a front “main line” track passing by all the industry.
I consider any track one must use to switch another track a lead, at least for that action. From that stanpoint, i see a few places where it seems like you’ll be making multiple passes to work one track or industry.
I may not understand exaclty what you plan, but it seems like you’re thinking of swtiching one track, doing some sorting and stashing, then switching the next track, sorting and stashing, etc. If that seems like fun, great. Some others have found that pattern repetitive and tedious.
The real-life railroad is generally set up so that the crew can pull all the cars, sort the outbounds from the “go-backs” (cars not loaded or unloaded yet), then spot everything with the new inbound cars. That’s not always possible in our too-short model railroad, of course, but there are probably configurations that would allow more efficient switching and thus would be more prototypical (and some modelers might find more interesting).
You might end up with fewer spurs, but there are other ways to make industry switching interesting in a prototypical fashion. http://www.modelrail.us/id33.html
But everything is a trade-off, so you have to choose what suits you best. If you’re happy with what you’ve got, have fun!
