A few years ago I receveid whith my MRP a little attached magazine whith some sketch of planning and also it include a plan of a small harbor layout by Iain Rice.
The small plan which was stenciled whith colors “a la Iain Rice” featured a thruss bridge crossing over the channel entry of a small port whith the line slowly going down to the small town port along the edge of the layout. A track on the edge serve a small coal facility.
The track turn back around the port bassin whith some industry.
I think it was published around 2005 but not sure; unfortunately I can found the small attached magazine.
This little layout could be the opportunity to build a module where the port and small town will be a connected branch line.
Thanks for the answer but it’s not this plan; the track comes from a hill a cross over the entry channel of the harbor through a thruss bridge, than go down slowly along the edge of the layout and along the small channel to arrive in the small town where it turn back around the port bassin.
Indeed, Marc, I also recall the exact trackplan you speak of. Unfortunately, I think it only appeared in one of the Kalmbach layout planning books and in that flier, not in MR itself. So, even if someone can come up with a layout name for it, it may be difficult to locate the trackplan anywhere on-line. I just had a quick look through some of my archieved trackplan literature and couldn’t locate the design article in question.
Might be “Coalport, Maryland, 1941” from Ian Rice’s book “Small, Smart and Practical Track Plans”.
Teardrop shaped layout within a 5x9 foot footprint, with the wide end of the teardrop on the right. Coal dock along the dockside, small carfloat in the background, single staging cassette along the wall on the left.
Other Ian Rice harbor plans are “Gulfport and Yarde” (in several versions) and “Roque Bluffs” - probably a lot more, too
must have been the Loleta & Mad River. From a cassette hidden in a hill on the right the railroad crosses the harbour on a high bridge and the makes almost a full circle with all kind of little rail/marine scenes.
From a captains POV a very bad designed layout. Way too narrow waterways with a sharp 180 degree turn. Nice for a rowing boat with a fisher, not so nice for larger commercial craft. But a cute little railroad; can be found in Model Railroad Planning 2002. Beside an extension of the LMR, The Chesapeake Harbour Belt is also featured.
Was it called the “Loleta & Mad River”? The layout if 4’ x 8’ and basically wraps around an inner harbor. The supplement, if this is the correct one, is entitled “8 Great Track Plans for small spaces” and features 8 plans by Ian Rice of various sizes. If this is it I’m looking at it, I found it last week while searching for something else entirely in the attic. Let me know who wants it and if I can figure out how to scan it I’ll be more than happy to scan it for you and e mail it.
It does sound a bit like the 4X8 HO Loleta and Mad River plan, which was originally in Model Railroad Planning 2002. The original design calls for a 4% grade through a roughly 16 1/2" radius curve – pretty stout! This layout had an ore dock along the water. The main track winds in a large s-curve around the water.
If they are sold out at Kalmbach, back issues of this and many other magazines may be found at Railpub.
It was also published in the 8 Great Track Plans for Small Spaces supplement that’s been included with a number of different special issues. (There’s only one plan by Iain Rice in that supplement, by the way.) If you contact Kalmbach, they might be able to provide you with a copy of the supplement, since it’s been used mutliple times with different issues.
Edit: After re-reading the Original Poster’s request, though, it does also sound a bit like the 5X9 Coalport design from the Small, Smart, and Practical Track Plans book. This has the bridge over the improbably tight harbor mouth and a coal trestle. The track is bacially a “teardrop” around the water.
It sounds like the ones I am looking for, I just remenber the line coming from a hill, passing on a thruss bridge above the channel entry of the harbour, going down along the channel whith a little spur whith a small coal facility along this track( a small steam loco whith cars was stenciled on this coal track), and reaching the small town and wrappping around the small harbour bassin.
It’s like a track making a small helix but fully scenicked.
You never said what your interest in this particular plan (Loleta and Mad River) is. The full article was in the 2002 Model Railroad Planning - that was the issue that concentrated on 4x8 plans. I’m a huge fan of Iain Rice plans - but ready to build they are generally not. Using the Loleta & Mad River as an example:
one tends to assume 18" radius unless otherwise specified on an HO 4x8 track plan. That assumption would be wrong here. The 210 degree turn around the fishing harbor is about 16.5" radius - on a 4% grade. It’s going to be pretty limiting as to locomotives and rolling stock that will work.
train length is also limited by the staging siding, which might be 3ft between clearance points of the turnout. That gives you 4 40ft cars, small engine, and caboose. Which is probably an appropriate train size to the rest of the layout - anything else would be overwhelming.
the layout is designed to be placed into a corner with a backdrop on the back side and right end, according to Iain’s sketches. This creates real access issues for stuff in the back of the layout. My view is that the layout - if built as designed - will need to either roll out of the corner, or need to have an access aisle behind it. And the backdrop is going to have to be easily removed.
if built up high near eye level - which would be great to view the harbor scenes - the coaling pier and incline up to the bridge block the view from the front of the fishing village. IMHO, the fishing village would normally be the most attractive scene of the layout, but views of it are blocked, and it is 3.5 feet back from the front viewpoint. Only the left end has a reasonable view of the fishing village. If the layout is lowered to get a front view of the fishing village, the illusion of separate scenes is going to be destroyed as you helicopter over the layout.
The most recent edition of Model Railroad Planning included a 16-page supplementary booklet that reprinted, among other things, Iain Rice’s article, “Expandable track plans.” This article include’s Iain’s plan for an HO layout called the Gulfport, Yarde & Industry, showing how the layout can start on a 12-foot shelf and expand to a size of 15 x 20 feet. This article originally appeared in the 2006 edition of MRP, pages 22-25.
I know you thought it was from a few years ago, but this is the only Iain Rice article we’ve ever re-published in an MRP supplement. I know that because I’ve worked on every one of them.
An excellent recommendation, Fred. “Straightening” the layout doesn’t reduce operational opportunities (the schematic is still point-to-point and is not continuous) and greatly improves realism, access, buildability, and operational reliability.
I have now the plan in hand and after a nearly full day research I was able to find in my “archives” the small folder attached to MRP were the plans was featured.
I have tried to build this layout and I wholeheartedly agree! The visual of the bridge in the center is great, but you can’t see the fishing village except from the end of the layout. The curve and grade combination is okay, but even with a system to easily move the layout away from the wall, it’s horrible to work on.
The engine house needed a completely custom handlaid curved turnout.
I’ve recently dismantled it because of the access and sight line problems constantly bothered me.
As several folks have pointed out, unfolding it into an L sounds like a very good idea. I may try that in the future.
A great looking plan on paper, but good luck trying to build it!
Hello, in fact I didn’t have build the layout following Ian Rice pla, however, I have keep the long run whith the bridge over the entrance of the port.
My layout is build as a double deck railroad whith a upper line and a lower line, but they are build on the same layout as a simple deck.
The track is coming from my “Upper” track line and run to the “Lower” track line and come to a small town called Port Elisabeth; here come the inspiration of the Rice plan, whith the approach going over the entrance of the port, following the shore and interchange whith the lower line at the town of port Elisabeth.
This line is called the Elisabeth branch and allow some train coming from the mountain to go to the lower point of the layout on the “lower” line.
I have use as the rule for my Nscale layout no curves under 17.5"
