I have been working on the benchwork design for the new layout and have come up with 2 designs.
So to start off here is the Famous Givens/Druthers
Railroad Name is unknown
Scale: HO
Prototype:
Era: Steam to diesel transition
Region: Mountainous
Railroad: Southern Pacific and Union Pacific
Space: 15 x 31 utilizing 2 decks.
Governing Rolling Stock: Coal and logging with a passenger run
Logging and Mining Operations
Typical operating Crew: 2
desired minimum radius 26"+.
desired normal train length
o 15+ cars
maximum acceptable mainline grade
o 2% but want to use a helper district so could go to 3.5%
primary track system? Flex
couplers/uncoupling system? By hand with magnet in future
DCC Control
are duckunders acceptable? NO
o Willingness to build liftout, hinged bridge or gate? If needed
acceptable distances between decks? 16" or so…
Number one has some peninsula sections that you could do some bigger scenes with if you wanted. The big drawback that I see with number one is that it looks like there are a couple of places that may be hard to reach, so you might have to put in an access hatch or two.
Number two has an isle way that I think is too long. But number two has good reach access from the isle way with no access hatches needed. Also, it has what appears to be a duck under or lift bridge by the red arrow.
By the way, UP coal mining was in the Hanna Basin in Wyoming, nowhere near the SP. If you want to haul something in hoppers, copper ore or some other ore would be more prototypical. Out of 50,000 freight cars the UP only had 4-5,000 hoppers. The SP in 1956 had virtually no hoppers whatsoever, only gondolas. Both roads were heavily slanted towards boxcars so choosing a boxcar industry would be more typical.
I dig it. What are the sidings for? Is this a mostly scenic R.R.? I like the simplicity of the plan. A lot of potential for industries, towns, or beautiful vistas.
hey man what program are you using to make those track plans?
anyway, if what you want is mainline running, mostly, you’ve got a good start with the 2nd plan. However, you NEED some passing tracks. Otherwise, you’re limited to being able to only run one train, or two in the same direction, which would be kind of weird given the size. The best place to put the passing tracks would be along the narrow walls.
Also, where you have labeled “Town,” you could do more to enhance your operational enjoyment. You might not realize it now, but once youve seen your trains traverse the layout 11 or 12 times, a sameness will set in because you can’t really do anything more. Anyway, I would suggest connecting the yard ladder to the loop in the upper left. This way, you could have mainline runs completely by-pass the town, enabling you to add some spurs and industries that could be switched without blocking the flow of mainline traffic.
You’re also going to want to rework your yard a bit. What is the point of your yard? Is it a division point where trains terminate and originate from? Either way, you’ll need to create a “yard lead” or “drill track” to allow a yard switcher to pull whole cuts of cars out in order for them the be sorted and classified. If you don’t want to connect the loops that would bypass Town, then you should make the drill track extend from the left side of the yard straight back, as you want to eliminate as many curves as possible when dealing with pushing and pulling long cuts of cars.
Put the town over near the staging entrance. It will provide a longer run for locals running from the yard to the town, plus the peninsula with a tracks on both sides will be harder to scenic with a town on it.
