The idea is to have a free lanced short line connected to the ATSF with desert scenery.
Dimensions: West 108 in/North 116 inches/East 144 inches, grid is 1 foot. The west, north and east sides are along the wall, and duck under the south side. Blue lines define the layout dimensions.
Minimum requirements: HO scale,…Continuous loop…Run two trains on the mainline at the same time with two operators…switcher in the yard.
DCC co ntrol with three power districts.
NW is a freight station, stock pens on the N side below the passing siding, S side is a cannery, and there will probably be a packing house (Swift’s most likely, served by the spurs on the east side just south of the Salt River) and the ATSF interchange track is off the second passing siding in the SW. I intend to run 4 axle diesels, shorter cars, and short trains (maximum about 7 cars, I think).
Comments are appreciated. Questions will be cheerfully answered.
Try swapping the locations of the engine facilities with the yard tracks. Having the yard closer to the edge will give them more length and wil make it a bit easier to uncouple cars.
If you’re operating from the pit, uncoupling will be difficult there in the SE leg without ducking under during an operating session.
Good ideas. I agree on the double ended yard track, but as it stands that would be difficult given the space. However, I am going to play with that yard based on the next comment and may be able to work one in. As for the N side, I will play with that as well.
I like that you have a well defined mainline with two sidings where a short train can pass another.
I am not too fond of the wide duckunder during operations. Would it be possible to extend the layout all the way down into the lower left corner, so all operator space will be inside the same (bigger) pit, with a narrow lift up, lift out or swing gate across the entrance to the area?
I am going to play with the swapping. Maybe locate the turntable at the extreme SE corner and feed the engined from the north, while moving the yards tracks to the west.
As for operating, I agree and thought of that, but if I am operating alone I intend to get a train going on the main line, and then stay outside and do whatever additional switching is necessary in that yard before ducking under. Then when the train returns, duck under and finish up outside. But, the whole concnetp still bears some thought.
The comment on “operating from the pit” is a good one, and could even be expanded. Are you planning to use ground throws, or will you be using electrically-operated turnouts? Do you plan on using a control panel to run those? All of this comes down to the duck-under and how much trouble that’s going to be while operating. I would seriously look into turning it into a drop-down or lift-up section on hinges, or perhaps a lift-off that removes completely.
When you talk about operating two trains on the loop, consider providing passing sidings located halfway around from each other. If you make them a bit longer, you can run a pair of trains in opposite directions and have meets. As you have it now, you’re pretty much limited to running both trains in the same direction, with one possibly overtaking the other for a pass, but that’s about it. If you join the stub siding at the lower right of the pit to the main line, that would give you a longer passing siding in a better location than the one in the lower left corner does.
Yes, I want a turntable because I want to run trains in different directions and don’t want to do the five finger turn around.
There is nothing sacred about the bridge, except that I want a bridge over the Salt River, since this layout is going to be the Maricopa & Salt River RR. The yard is the Maricopa yard. I will probably either move the bridge as suggested or move it to the west side just north of that turnout, which may require some additional work to ensure a straight piece of track before and after the bridge.
I like your other two ideas and will consider them as well. I would like to take this opportunity to indicate that if anyone is going to take the time to comment, I believe that it is encumbent on me to respond to all of you.
I agree with the comments on the duck under and have basically resigned to do it that way. It is not possible to extend the west side because of a door at 115 inches and the negotiations required to provide the 36 inch extension on the east side. I am sure that you all can appreciate the negotiating aspects of getting layout space.
Finally to respond to Mr. Beas…I would like to have meets if two trains are running, which stub are you referring to?
Alternatively you got me to thinking about turning the SW siding into the main and extending the SW portion of the main as a siding along the south side of the “new main” if there is enough room . I think that I can move the cannery area a little more to the north. it may mean reconfiguring the interchange, maybe move it to an improved yard in the SE.
Just south of the operating pit is a building denoted by two rectangles. Immediately south of that is the siding I was referring to. If you extend it to the right you could connect up to the main, north of the engine house in the original picture.
Another option. Again, going back to the original diagram.
Remove the engine house and turntable. Take either that same siding I mentioned in the previous post or the one below it, extend it across the main and curve it to the South, meeting up with the original lead into the turntable on the frog end of a turnout. This will form a reversing wye, so that you can turn your engines (and perhaps a few cars as well) without a turntable.
Mr. Beas…I understand which stub you are talking about right now. I am going to play with extending the siding. I also understand the turntable issue, but I was having major problems at one time fussing with a reversing wye and an auto reverser, hence the turntable. I have a degree in civil engineering and the only course that I almost flunked was the Intro to EE for non-EE majors. I am also thinking of negotiating another square foot at the extreme SE corner and plopping the turntable on there. Of course, if the negotiation is successful it is going to cost me…A LOT!
It sounds like you could operate the yard more like staging than anything else. When you say 'whatever additional switching is necessary in that yard" what is your plan? Its a small yard, with really only a few storage tracks. Are you planning on building and breaking trains there? I’m not sure the yard would be really big enough to make or break more than one train, and it sounds like you plan to operate at least two.
If it is just a staging yard for setting up trains before an operating session, having limited access while in the pit becomes less of a problem.
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