I am building a HO switching layout based on Scot Osterwill’s track plan,this is being made for a show later this year which is being organized by another forum that I am a member of, so I have a dead line in which to finish the layout. I have purchased a certain amount of s/hand stock, around 35 box vans and 6/7 different loco’s, most of the loco’s are either New York Central or Great Northern
My first question, as I am based in the UK, is would the two regions have run together and can somebody come uo with a area that my layout could have been based in.
this is, what Wikipedia says about the Great Northern Rairoad:
The Great Northern Railway (GN), running from Saint Paul, Minnesota to Seattle, Washington—more than 1,700 miles (2,736 km)—was the creation of the 19th century railroadtycoonJames J. Hill and was developed from the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. The Great Northern’s route was the northernmost transcontinental railroad route in the United States and was north of the Northern Pacific Railway route. The Great Northern Railway was also the train line with the deadliest avalanche in Washington history. At the site of the now non existant town of Wellington (later renamed Tye). The Great Northern was a privately funded transcontinental railroad, though some of its predecessor roads received land grants. It was one of the few transcontinental railroads to avoid receivership following the Panic of 1893.
As you can see, seeing NYC and GN locos on the same track most likely never happened .
If you check Wikipedia’s entry on the NY Central it merged into Penn Central in 1968. It shows a system map showing it went as far west as Illinois. No used GN diesels went to the NY Central and the GN didn’t buy any used power either. Pick one or the other line and go with it. If you have a switching layout you can operate with only one or two engines.
The Highland switching plan below, the only changes are adding an extra foot of track to two lines, and also a main line runs alony the front, to allow stock to run from one fiddle yard to the other, as we have a fiddle yard at each end of the main boards.
I though that was the most likely answer - I was just confused by the 6-7 engines and 35 pieces of rolling stock - sounds like a lot more than what you would need for Scot’s layout as is.
So you basically want to run a train past, stop to pick up cars from the storage tracks, drop off some new cars and then head on into the fiddle yard, and then have another engine come in from the fiddle yard to switch the industries afterwards?
Should work fine no matter which railroad provides the two engines at any given time.
You can alternate between running two NP engines or running two NYC engines, and between diesel engines and steam engines, or between one engine from NP and one Milwaukee Road engine or what have you.
I assume there will only be one engine on the visible part of layout at any given time, anyways?
I’m not up on my GN history, but some of the system maps I’ve seen show a link to Chicago via the CB&Q. Would the GN have rubbed shoulders with the NYC in Chicago? Or would the power seen in Chicago be CB&Q? Maybe a plausible alternate history for a Chicago connection be constructed, if such a thing follows your layout rules.
Walnut, New York Central and Great Northern (two of my favorites) never met, though there successors, Conrail and Burlington Northern would have in Chicago. But the kind of industrial trackage in the design would work anywhere in the US, and as others have said, you could use one set of engines or the other at a given time. Forgive me if I’m stating the obvious (but I don’t know exactly how much info you have access to in the UK), but freight cars roamed the entire US even if locos didn’t, so any cars are appropriate regardless of where you set the layout. If you stick to the original 40 foot lengths, you are largely talking about equipment before 1960. If you set it in the modern era, 50 foot would be more appropriate. Hope this helps. And do show us your results. cheers, Scot O.
Thank you guys for the help in trying to run both sets of loco’s at the same time, as you can guess, I am at a loss regarding a lot of the history about US regions and your rail systems, this layout was only going to be a switching/puzzle to start with, but it have develped into a layout that will be run at shows !!, which is scary, so if iyt’s okay some of the questions might seem simple, but they are questions that I expect to be asked, and I want to know the correct answers.
Did Conrail take over from New York Central ?
All box cars are 40 footers, and I have installed magnets under the track where Scot suggested to make the switching more fun !!, the layout is DCC, with all buildings at the moment being Walthers & DPM, I am in the process of building a couple of Timbleline wooden buildings at the moment, which are very fiddly compared to working with plastic.
I will post some images of the build and also further work
Many thanks to all that have helped with explaining the history of the two regions.
Two images below show that layout in it’s early stages, the first shows the complete swtiching area wjich is very close to the original plans, but with the extra main line added, the second shows the complete layout, with the main track leading into the two fiddle yards
The next image show the drainage ditch that runs along the whole of the front of the layout.
The next show the entrance to the right hand side fiddleyard.
I’m sorry that I haven’t shown any images og the layout, I was pushed for time regarding having the layout presentable for the show, and the fact that I also help run another forum ( uk based) I forgot I had started this thread…
The layout has moved on, it was shown at the show and went down well, but I have decided to incorparate it into a large double deck layout in my garage, more of that later.
In part of the new layout, I am building a industrial section, can you please help, are fences used to line the track side in heavy built up industrial areas ?
If so would they have been wire or wooden fences?
Thanks for any help, as living in the UK, I only have magazines or photo’s on which I can research this sort of problem.
