After traveling 3500 miles to our new home we are settling in and I finally get a good look at the space available for my new railroad. I was able to drive through Beatty, Rhyolite, Goldfield and Tonopah and get a better feel for the area. If you haven’t been to the Mining Museum and Park in Tonopah, it is worth the trip. You are able to walk inside a number of hoist buildings and tipples. Very interesting!
Anyway this is the latest plan. Beatty was the division point for both the Las Vegas and Tonopah RR coming up from the south from Las Vegas and the T&T came up from the south from Ludlow California. The tracks crossed in the Amargosa Narrows and their yards were right next to each other in Beatty. the T&T/ Bullfrog Goldfield RR (great name for a railroad) approached Rhyolite from the south, the LV&T came in from the north. Rhyolite is about 7 miles from Beatty. The LV&T depot is still standing in Rhyolite. My yard in Rhyolite has a run-around track while the prototype backed trains up the wye in Bullfrog. I managed to fit wyes in both ends which is what the prototype used to turn engines, the nearest turntable was in Goldfield. I plan on using small engines like the Spectrum 4-6-0s with vanderbilt tenders. If you have never seen David Myrick’s books Railroads of Nevada, it is worth reading. The second volume covers all of these mining area shortlines.
As it turns out, the middle of the room will need to be used for other purposes, so a 2 foot-wide shelf, around the room is all I get. Let me know what you think of this plan. It is better to correct mistakes now than after the wood is cut and the track laid. - Nevin
I presume the blue tracks across the top are meant to be staging (?) If so, they offer the possibility of installing a low-profile elevator for access to another level - and possible expansion to Goldfield and Tonopah.
The ‘visible’ track has the open, uncluttered look I would expect in the area you’re modeling. Short lines built to support precious metal mining operations had no need or use for the puzzle palace switchwork found in the Northeast (or Japan)
Looks good. One thing I might suggest is to perhaps make the LV&T line a real interchange. That is, connect the two segments…the track in the yard for interchange and the mainline around the bend. Then “hide” the rest of the LV&T track behind a hill or thick forest for example, and finally end up in that blue staging area.
This would give you much more operation posibilities, hence more fun.
I don’t know if this would be a useful consideration for you, but if it were possible to tighten your two corner curves on the main where you have your wyes, since you are running smaller engines and could get away with somewhat tighter curves,…do you think you might want to turn an entire train once or twice? I approve heartily of your idea of two wyes…good for you for thinking in those terms, and for getting them in…but they appear to be small. If you can afford the time to play around a bit and get another couple of car lengths onto that back segment in each case, you might be able to turn a short passenger train…very prototypical.
Just a thought. You could add a gusset of sorts to those inner corners to provide the real estate…they don’t have to be 18" because that will really force you to reach back there. Maybe 12"?
What is the switchback going into the corner in Beatty for? Industires?
You have obviously never been to this part of the country. [}:)] I think to make the working interchange idea work it would almost take a 2nd level or really sacrifice the scenery, or do you mean using the same two staging tracks for both railroads?
Yes, the same blue staging tracks would be used by both railroads. He may need to add at least one more track, but for a 16 inch shelf, that should not be much of a sacrifice to scenery.
To clarify: LV&T tracks are in purple. Blue represents staging tracks coming up from Ludlow Ca. on the T&T. Black track is the T&T. The “switchback” isn’t really a switchback but represents part of the LV&T yard in Beatty. The track that connects with the black track represents the interchange track between the LV&T and T&T (BG RR) yards. The two yards were parallel with only a short distance between them The engine house belonged to the LV&T and came off of the interchange track. Despite being in competition, the two railroads clearly cooperated in many ways. After the LV&T was shut down by the USRA in 1918, The T&T assumed most of their yard in Beatty including the engine house and depot.
I tried turning the LV&T tracks into a working interchange with the LV&T tracks connecting with the staging area (blue) to represent Las Vegas staging, but there isn’t enough room in Beatty to do it justice. My plan is to have a cut of cars waiting on the interchange track for the T&T to pick up and take to either Rhyolite or Ludlow.
Even today, the nearest tree in probably in Las Vegas (or Mt. Charleston) and those trees in LV require constant watering to keep alive. It isn’t called the gateway to Death Valley for nothing. I plan on having water cars as that was the only water supply available was from the railroad. Fortunately there are lots of rocks, hills and mountains that are prefect for hiding staging yards. - Nevin
The area behind the staging tracks is actually an alcove with a window. It is about 2 feet wide and I plan on a duck under so that someone can access the staging area as a fiddle yard for operations.
Tell me about your Amargosa RR. Do you have a track plan? - Nevin
Had a chance to look more closely at your track plan. Between Gold Center Junction and Bullfrog there is a long spur that serves what looks like a large milll building. If this was a siding with switches at both end It would be a good meeting point for two trains, one from Beatty and one from Rhyolite.
This would allow you and a friend to be able to operate together. I would put in a spur for the Mill building behind the siding. (for me if the choice is between track or scenery track wins) If scenery is more important just have the mill shut down when operating with a group. That way the siding will be clear of cars. When you operate by yourself cars on the siding won’t bother anyone.
The Amargosa RR just sort of happened.It is in about a 14’ x 17’ room with peninsulas down hallways and into another room. It started as a 4’ x 6’ in one corner and just grew from there. It is about a 90’ dogbone that is operated as if it is point to point.The era is post war to 1955. It is primairly a switching railroad with three towns. It can keep 5 people busy.It is not based on any prototype track layouts.
I originally had it running from Red Mountain California to Dumont Dunes. Traffic patterns and connecting railroads just did not work out. Between Goldfield and Beatty Nevada worked much better.
I have just about worn out my copies of Railroads of Nevada & Eastern California. A big thank you to David Myrick. Also thank you to you Nevin for sharing your ideas. They are a insperation.
It still can be. Nothing says two trains can’t pass on a single ended siding - especially in this era. Also nothing says they couldn’t move cars out of the way to pass - sort of a dead-head saw-by.
Here is the latest version of the T&T. I expanded the Bullfrog area and the Beatty area to 30 inches wide. This allowed me to add more LV&T track to give a better idea of the prototype and expand the Ludlow staging area to 3 tracks. I was able to add a siding at Gold Center that would allow meets. Let me know what you think. - Nevin
Probably irrelevant but I think I liked the industry track arrangement in Gold Center Junction better in the original. Don’t know if it is really the arrangement, or maybe the proximity of the passing siding just makes it have a different character.
Had a chance to study your plan Nevin. The passing track in the corner ties Amargosa Narrows and Bullfrog together. I would make the Bullfrog Mill Spur into a passing track. Put the spur for the mill behind the passing track. That way Amargosa Narrows and Bullfrog will be seperate areas.
I want to hate your design but I can’t. I have some familiarity with the area that you are modelling and when I read your original post, and looked at your design, a flood of memories about Nevada and that part of the state between Carson and Las Vegas, all of them good and positive, were triggered in my mind from many years ago. And it is still pretty much untamed, I suspect. I would only suggest really high mountains in the backdrop, if you are going to use one, so as to really bring out the majesty, grandeur and starkness of the Great Basin.
Hope you have fun building and running your layout.
I’ll post the latest version of the T&T as soon as I get it on Photobucket. I’ve been working on other ideas too. I spent the day in Virginia City. The V&T is going to get a careful look before I start building anything. If you haven’t been to VC, it is worth the trip. - Nevin
