With the help of Riley Triggs; editor of the LDSIG journal - my N scale trackplan is 99 & 44/100% complete. He was great to work with and of course carried most of the freight on this project.
He came up with a track plan I’m really happy with. Some details (siding and town tracks, etc) will work themselves out as the layout is going together and I have the structures in-hand
Your switchbacks for the logging operation appear to drastically too short. To handle much more then an engine and a three or four cars. Perhaps this is what you’re aiming for.
Also, what is the purpose of what appears to be a randomly placed icing platform? What traffic do you have that requires being iced / re-iced?
It also seems that your logging interchange is a little too complex. One or two sidings, preferably double ended that allows a train to come in on the main, back it’s cars off on one side and then run around to pickup the other side should be all you need. If you need space to store empties then a pair of stub tracks could easily do that for you.
I just see a lot of extra “fluff” in the plan that doesn’t necessarily have any purpose other then just “being there”.
Interesting plan! … but I think you definitely need several staging tracks along that reversing loop in the lower-right-hand corner of the plan.
Mark
The logging trains will be short - a two-truck Shay plus 2-3 cars at most. The switchback leads were designed to handle that. I wanted to gain some elevation for the logging areas.
The logging interchange (as well as other details) is difficult to envision from the drawing - I hope to “flesh” the pic soon. The upper 2 stub sidings are for the log loads - the other siding headed SE is for an as-yet-to-be-determined industry. One of those TDB items - if it get too crowded; that can modified or removed.
The icing platform is for my fleet of billboard reefers. There’s a brewery planned as a “flat” and a fruit distributor as well along that set iof sidings just east of the divider.
I also have yet to draw in the bay/waterfront, trestle and short tunnel(s) on the east loop.
The two long stub track along the east wall are designed for staging; I’ve been experimenting with both single- and double-ended.
Kewl. I’m curious, what are the scenery contours under the logging switchbacks - especially around that bridge?
Regards,
Charlie
The logging branch is 4% grade (maybe a bit more if the Shay can handle it with 3 log cars) from the cutoff all the way to the top - that puts the elevation of the logging area at +6.5" at the camp.
The switchback tails are 0% of course. I’ll have more than 3" clearance under the little bridge - which may or may not be level. I hadn’t envisionedo the fine details of the branch yet.
I’d appreciate any and all scenic contour suggestions.
What would the ground contours be that the switchback track on the bridge would be built that way? I can’t really envision anything that would be natural looking (or maybe I’m just blind today?).
I think I’d recomment taking one of those switch backs out of there to reduce track crowding as it goes up the hill. That would give a bit more space for the scenic vistas (or land of stumps) spreading about such an area.
A shay shouldn’t have much problem with 3 log cars and even a 6% grade unless your logs of made out of lead {:->)
Reducing the elevation of the logging camp due to leaving out a switchback shouldn’t be much of a problem. There should still be enough vertical separation there to make it look very disjoint from the flat-land railroad below.
Regards,
Charlie Comstock
Charlie,
You make some very good points. I saw a trackplan with a short crossover bridge on a logging branch and tried to emulate.
I do like the general configuration of the switchback route and the bridge, but I’ll see about taking out one of the switchbacks as you suggest.
I’ll also experiment with the Shay on 6%.
Rick
PS - Check your PM
I’m curious about your freight house at the bottom center. It’s also labelled as a team track. Is this siding supposed to serve the freight house directly? The reason I ask is because that siding is basically the lead to the 2 smaller sidings above it. I don’t like to block access to a potential industry to be switched with another industry. It isn’t easy to have to potentially move other cars to gain access to where you want to be. This seems inefficient. That siding should really stay as it is with no industry to serve. That way you’ll never have it blocking access to the other sidings. If it is long enough that your engines don’t get that far down when switching the others, then it may not be an issue. It’s a bit hard to tell how things work without seeing them for real.
Fred - you’ve hit on another of my bugaboos - town tracks. I may add another lead dedicated for team track and freight house, but I don’t want to overcrowd. This is one of the items on the TBD list.
Any suggestions?