I redid the yard based on john Armstrongs plan for a model RR division point yard with both stub and double ended tracks, shown on page 26 of trackplanning for realistic operaton.
The ethanol plant will have extensive trackage (not yet shown) and generate 10+ tank cars a day, plus it would require about 10+ cvrd hoppers of corn each day. I don’t know if this balance is correct- I’ll have to see what the corn in/ethanol out ratio is. Couse, some grain is brought in by truck as well.
industries-
1- Cenntennial Mills (back wall only)
2- Brewery (back wall only)
3- Heritage Furniture (back wall only)
4- was planned to be Columbia Feed mill, but I think something such as the Powerhouse from DPM would be better suited to my era
5- Valley Growers assoc grain elevator
6- ADM elevator (elevators may swap poitions, undecided for now)
The area w/ the 6 industries is what I’ve been calling a branch line. Anyway, the branch will be extended by a foot or two.
The yard lead on the right will be extended and the left lead will most likely be eliminated and a crosover installed just before the left ladder.
I plan on eventually building a staging yard, but that won’t happen right away.
Each square is 1’. Mainline curves are 22". turnouts are Atlas snap-switches.
I’d like to thank those that have already given comments. My plan is really coming along and I think it’s much better than my original hand-drawn plan. I’ve really made progress and am finally close to start tracklaying. (gotta get more benchwork done first)
Looks good. I do not remember from earlier posts, is this a free standing layout you can walk all the way around? I like the yard better this way. There is a lot of space in the area labeled Ethonol plant, I assume this will hold a large complex industry model. I do applaud your investment of time and energy.
Only thing I would suggest is extending the right-hand yard lead further down the straight track before joining the main. It looks a bit short to be able to pull a whole cut of cars out on. The left lead looks plenty long.
Art, yes it is an island style. I always forget to mention that [banghead]. The only side I won’t have acess is behind the town of KAMPTON, which will be up against a wall. But, once more room is made in the basement the layout will be moved enough to fit a staging yard back there. Yes the ethanol plant will be large, maybe even a bit larger than the square I drew[:D]
Randy, I mentioned in my original post about making the right yard lead longer.
I’ve given my model RR a lot of thought this weekend, and I’m leaning t’wards 1968. Here’s the '68 plan
[img.nr]http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/314/layout081968version2qo.png[/img.nr]
advantages of '68 over '06
I already have some CGW motive power
It was Oelweins glory days as a RR town.
Plus, its a little piece of CGW in my basement.
disadvantages-
can’t exactly go our and railfan CGW
no IANR GP38-2s (except for using modelers license)
no modern covered hoppers
I’d also like to apologize for changing my mind so much.
Overall, you have a very nice layout for yard and industrial switching.
A few things you might want to consider:
If you’re modeling 1968, you ought to include a caboose track in your yard.
One thing I notice is that your yard area appears to have 4 tracks per foot of width. This works out to 2 1/2" centers. If you switch from snap switches to Atlas #4’s in the yard you should be able to get 2" centers for 6 tracks per foot of width.
Snap switches have an 18" radius through the diverging leg. If you use them every where, there’s not much point in having 22" radius curves. I would suggest you look at using Atlas #4’s (which are really 4 1/2’s) everywhere to take advantage of the 22" curves.
Consider modifying the Kampton switching district to have a run around track, otherwise you have to use the wye or run out of the yard with cars ahead and behind the locomotive. Same for the other switching district.
I don’t know what you are calling “modern”, (LT, LTA classes?) but I’m modeling 1961 and it seems that the change to what you would commonly see now happened about 1965, so maybe some more research would turn up something useful. (I know the PRR had what I’d call “modern-looking” covered hoppers - H45s - and the PRR did not exist past 1968. The AAR LT classes were in the 1961 ORER.) If you look out the window today you there are still plenty of flat sided, outside braced types (LO) running around, so I think you’d be OK.
Pfft! - That’s nuthin’. Have you seen all the changes to my layout that I’ve posted? [:)]
Kurt Laughlin
Paul, for '68 the caboose track will most likely be between the diesel shop and yard lead. I kinda hate to switch to #4s- I’ve already bought a lot of snap-switches. remember the curves are mainline, which will see 20+ car trains. I want to reduce string-lining. But the turnouts won’t be too much of a problem, I doubt. I do intend to use the wye for the Kampton local. The other district (haven’t named it yet) could use a runaround.
Kurt, I mean hoppers like this I know a few would’ve been out there in '68. But you often seen an entire train of PS hoppers in various roadnames on the IANR.
ereimer, that sounds more like it- I know it takes a lot more corn to make ethanol then you actually get. The corn in / ethanol out ratio is a lot higher on the corn side.
That looks similar to the PRR H47 series of 1965 - there had to be more than a few out there by '68. Maybe it’s not LTs that were uncommon in '68, but unit trains?
It looks pretty good.
I’m not an expert, but if the loco is leading the train into Kampton, there is no way for it to deliver cars to industries 2,3,4,5. By having parallel tracks into Kamption with maybe 2 crossovers, it would allow you to deliver the cars and have a switcher move them to the desired industry.
Ok. Here’s how the local freight would work kampton. It would be running clockwise on the main and pull up the bottom leg of the wye and switch 1 and 6. then it would back out onto the main, and run up unti it reaches the other leg of the wye. It would then back down the left leg w/ the setouts and run back up to add the pickups to the train, ect.
![http://img335.imageshack.us/img335/9393/layout082006yard18oq.png[/img.nr]](http://img335.imageshack.us/img335/9393/layout082006yard18oq.png%5B/img.nr%5D){kind=link}
![http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/314/layout081968version2qo.png[/img.nr]](http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/314/layout081968version2qo.png%5B/img.nr%5D){kind=link}