A snapshot of the current plan for the Coquihalla Heritage Railway. The Hope subdivision will (eventually) occupy two rooms (15’x12’ and 30’x16’) and run around the crown-moulding-level of a third (15’x26’). With double levels and creative dog-boning, I’ve crammed in 456’ of mainline (not including two helices). Sounds like a lot, but I’m a greedy soul when it comes to trackage; I want more. Is there anything simple I’ve overlooked?
Oh yes, details, details. HO scale, focused on streamline passenger operations (with some industrial switching thrown in for poops and giggles), running DCC, point-to-point operation, starting in the 15x12 room, helix up to top level, out through and around the 15x26 (can’t go below 80" in there) and on into the 30x16, around the top level again, helix down to lower town/industrial/classification yard level, staging under both ends.
Gidday Stu, Just as well you said it !!! Good Grief Man, NOT enough real estate!!!
Enough to make a grown Bear cry into his beer. [:‘(] [:’(] [swg]
Seriously , while it may be frowned upon now-a-days in this enlightened age of track design, to have trackage running twice through the "same " scenery, (shock horror!!!), and taking into consideration that, for reach purposes you realistically do not want to have your furthermost track 36 inches from the front of your bench work, have you considered having split level tracks on the top level in your 15 x 12 and 30 x 16 rooms ??? Only another 146 feet, if I done my sums correctly.
Not sure how this would work especially as you also mention “creative dog boning” for following your train for operational purposes, but hey…
Well, I have posted this here recently, buy maybe you have not seen it yet. My railroad is about that long: Nine scale miles on the mane line, fourteen scale miles total. This run from the cab takes about 19 minutes. You will see most of my layout and some of my construction secrets. It seems to be similar to what you describe. Look at the “Back 40” that three deck arrangement along two walls. Also you may want to note the five decks lurking in the background as the train leaves the South Ferry station, which is a loop station where the train returns north to 242nd Street.
RICHHOTRAIN WROTE THE FOLLOWING POST AT SUN, OCT 28 2012 7:38 AM:
Given that it is double main line passenger train operations, I would make some provision for a continuous loop. Point to point could get old fast.
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That was the original plan. The reason i began to question it is one of operations. If one is trying to create a tiny prototypical railroad (at least from an ops point of view), would running trains unattended not fly in the face of everything you were trying to recreate? That’s what continuous loop means to me; trains running in the background as one or more people do other things in the room. Interesting when you’re sitting in a pizza house perhaps, but the operations part of me shudders to think of it. Single track with meets and sidings seems more prototypical, and more interesting from the viewpoint of frequent, opposed, and babysat trains.
And yes, there are reverse loops on both ends. Well, a loop on one and a wye on the other.
The other side of that is a bit of a dumb question: were streamline passenger services typically double-tracked mainlines?
Alright, I’ll add another dumb question, this one for Lion. Why the resistors across the rail joiners? That’s a technique I haven’t heard about before.
Well the LION’s trains are fully automated. I do not run trains, I run a railroad. A Subway System to be exact. I will have 8 trains running at one time, stopping at stations and all.
So I have about 11v dc on the tracks supplied by a 15 amp regulated power supply. The resistors slow the train down as it approaches the station, and a gap stops it. A timer closes a relay and the train continues, crossing mor resistors as it picks up speed.
Since this is a point to loop layout the opposite end of the train would be forward on each trip, so all of the cars are wired together (48 Wheel Pick-up). and thus the lead truck controls departing speed and the last truck controls the slowing speeds. The resistors are 5.1 Ω and are only 1/4 Watt. It has been determined that the overheating problems would not apply since there is no load on the resistors except for the few seconds that the train is actually passing.
A derailment over the resistors can be a problem since they will overheat and cause a fire, and the 5 amps that the short would draw would not even be noticed by my 15A regulated supply. I shall put automotive lamps in series with each section to draw that current off safely. I cannot use just one lamp protecting the whole layout becuase of all the locomotives in service at once.
Having played with trains for almost 60 years - in various scales and several layouts - I envy the space you have to at your disposal. I do have to ask… will you be the primary operator, or will there be a group of folks involved?
I suspect you are a “lone wolf” on this project, and if so, it appears like a layout this size could be a nightmare for one person to build, maintain, operate, and of course finance.
If you are truly serious about this endeavor, I urge you to give some serious thought to what you are contemplating. The maintenance alone could take up a large amount of time and effort and never end.
If you are simply doing some “armchair modeling”, dreaming about “some day” and/or “if I had a million”, then
that is something else again. Either way, I suggest you let us Forum folks know accordingly.
In any case, how about firing up the ol pizza oven and put together a thin crust, Italian sausage and mushroom - cut Chicago style!
The hang up here is “prototypical operations”. You have presented a very narrow foucus (streamlined passenger operations) without placing it in location or era so giving advice on how to operate “prototypically” is difficult.
You have to remember that depending on location and era, long haul streamlined passenger trains were rare to extremely rare in the prototypical scheme of things. Unless you are modeling someplace on the NEC, LAUPT, or around Chicago, you are only going to have two to four streamlined passenger trains (1 or 2 in each direction) a day. If that. Even if you do model a heavy passenger route, such as the PRR or the NYC in the 1940’s-1960’s, probably less than half of the trains would be “streamliners”, the rest would be conventional heavyweight equipment.
Therein lies the rub. If you are doing streamlined passenger trains they tend to be the highest class service so make the fewest stops.
If you have single track main you are back to a traffic levels where you have 2-4 trains a day.
[quote]
The other side of that is a bit of a dumb question: were streamline passenger services typically double-tracked mainlines?
RICHHOTRAIN WROTE THE FOLLOWING POST AT SUN, OCT 28 2012 7:38 AM:
This kind of thread always amuses me. The OP asks, Is there anything simple I’ve overlooked?
You make a few observations in response, trying to be helpful, and you get ripped.
Sorry, I thought that you were designing a layout for a neighborhood pizza parlor.
Rich
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Rich, Rich, I’m sorry, no rip intended, not in the least[:$]. I like continuous running; it’s where I’ve always gone in the past with layouts. Please don’t think I don’t appreciate the suggestion; I certainly do. I’m simply aiming to try something I haven’t done in the past.
MOBILMAN44 WROTE THE FOLLOWING POST AT MON, OCT 29 2012 4:40 AM:
I suspect you are a “lone wolf” on this project, and if so, it appears like a layout this size could be a nightmare for one person to build, maintain, operate, and of course finance.
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You’re right, this is a solo endeavour, though a very long term one of course. If this setup takes fifteen years to build (or longer), I’m alright with that. I have time.
Is it just armchair modeling? Partly, as the 30x16 room doesn’t exist yet (though the plans for it do). Not completely, though. The staging level in the 15x12 is mostly finished, though not much else will get built until the spring (the Christmas season being expensive and busy).
Maintenance doesn’t worry me. I’m a busy soul by nature and don’t mind having something else to bustle over.
Another fellow forum haunter (I forget who, I’m afraid) asked about era, setting and such. My era is modern, my setting is southern BC Fraser Canyon/Thompson River area. The excuse for running streamliners through here is a proto-freelance passenger railway, possibly started by some guy with deep pockets and a love for the luxurious passenger services of the past.
And I do feel this morning that I have not been sufficiently grateful to those who’ve offered help. Thank you to all, and I very much appreciate your sharing your knowledge with me!
If you are talking about “prototype” then you would have one set of equipment (at most 2) that would probably run each way once a day.
Unless your intent is some sort of tourist operation where they have 3 or 4 cars and run out 10 miles and back 10 miles 4-6 times a day. The rub there is that if you are doing that you don’t need a “real” streamliner. The need for diners, pullmans and baggage cars evaporates, all you need is a lounge car and a bunch of domes and coaches. Even then you would have at most 2 set of equipment (one meet) on the railroad at a time.
The alternative is to not worry about prototype, run a major urban area’s schedule with multiple trains and forget about prototype. Just pretend whatever major city you have is Vancouver and pretend you can support however may trains you want to run from whatever roads you want to run…
On the other hand if you are running lone wolf then it might be better to just plan on running one train.
I am reluctantly beginning to accept that while my heart may lie in hi-falutin’ passenger service, to have it set in the modern day I will have to have just a few trains of varnish mixed in with copious quantities of heavy freight. Not a bad thing that; there are grain, intermodal, coal, potash, ethanol, auto rack, and boxcar trains running through the area I’m focusing on. No lack of choice there, sure enough.
And I think the Bear was right off the get go. If I can’t be happy with 450’ of mainline I don’t need a hand cramming in more, I need a good smack on the back of the head…
Gidday Stu, No need for self inflicted violence, after all this is a family show, besides you’ll get no sympathy from me.[swg]
My opening comments in my first reply was not meant to “rain on your parade”, though if you’re anywhere near “Sandy” that’s probably not a great metaphor.
You, hopefully, will build YOUR MODEL RAILROAD to suit YOUR wants and desires. If that means “hi-falutin” passenger service in the modern era, well that"s up to YOU.
It’s extremely unlikely that from 8000 miles away I’m likely to drop in unannounced, so what you may or not wish to share with me and the rest is up to what you wish to post on the forum.
Just remember "Model Railroading is Fun", go have some. [:D]
