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Winston-Salem Southbound Series: Transfer a track plan
Very good video! Thanks for showing the nuts and bolts of how trackplans are transferred to tabletop.
It was amazing that you managed to get frog angles like 6.5 (and curved at that) scaled almost exactly on the plan so it fit on the tabletop when drawn up 1 to 1. Maybe you’ll show us how you scale down a turnout to fit on a plan as well as scaling it up like you just did.
I betcha if you’d transferred the scale plane to a full size paper plan, it would overlay on your inked in lines just about exactly. Congratulations!
Exactly what I needed David! Thanks.
Are you going to add the track plan on here or will it be in an upcoming issue of MR?
Excellent ideas - I especially like the hint of marking the exact location of the first/final tie on a switch so you can re-place (place again, NOT exchange) the turnout/switch in the exact same position.
This is a PERFECT example of “good enough is good enough”. I might also point out that we (model railroaders) happen to do things mostly backwards - we don’t “build” our track to service the building; we position our buildings so they are served by the track.
Now, having said that, I would think that the second most important switch/turnout on the layout would be the righthand #5 located between the lefthand #5 and the curved turnout/switch. MY reasoning for this is this - the divergent track of that switch must lineup with the divergent track of the mainline switch which thus determines the location of the lefthand #5 and the curved turnout. Granted, the 20" requirement at the other end of the layout is important, but almost every other piece of track depends on the location of the righthand #5 turnout being place correctly.
Thanks for this video. Because I it, I now have a better understanding of how to lay a track plan out. Thanks.
I really like the way David is showing us how to build a model railway all the way. Very informative and entertaining I must say. Being from the Netherlands I do not know of any equivalent over here nor in the UK or Germany, the two mainstream model railway countries here in Europe. I am truly enjoying this series. Keep up the good work David!
Thanks David and MRVP crew for making a practical video that is easy to follow and useful at the same time. It’s about time that a video like this came out.
Great video David on laying out the layout plan. The grid is a good idea for transferring the drawing to the base plane, one question about the turnouts, what did you use to draw the curved turnouts? A circle template or some pre-made curved turnout template?
This is a very useful video. I do most of this but do not extend the centerlines by dotting between the ties, good tip! It would be nice to see you complete the actual track and see if any minor adjustments are needed when the track is connected. I think that this video will be useful to a lot of people.
I was fortunate to be able to use a large plotter to print my track plan full size. What did not occur to me until I placed the print on the sub roadbed was that I had to either transfer my plan to the plywood or place the roadbed and track over the plan! In either case, the track still doesn’t fit perfectly and adjustments with the pieces are necessary. Thanks for showing us your way!
David, great video for new modelers and old guys like me. The final layout would be a great part of a larger layout that would keep a couple of operators busy for a whole evening session. This is just the right size layout to begin-its doable. I look forward to an operating session on it.
This was a very useful tutorial from David about how to transfer a fairly complex bit of trackwork planning to the benchwork; I did something similar for the one spot on my layout where the trackwork was similarly “busy” and needed to be just right. Fortunately I too had used graph paper. I did find it necessary to start to label all my lines and dots and marks however particularly if my work was interrupted over a span of days.
It may seem obvious to experienced modelers but sometimes when you need to start fudging and fussing with the location of turnouts and such (such as to get that mandatory 20 inch switch lead David talks about), it is worth remembering that a turnout is not a sacred untouchable relic but within reason (and more or less as a last resort) can be cut and trimmed to better fit a situation.
Hi Dave,
thanks for the explanation of laying out the track. It looked like you had a couple if spots where you had about 1/2 inch between turnouts. Did you move the turnouts so they joined up, or are you going to use short pieces of track to join them?
Russell
Does this same principal apply if using an open grid type bench work compared to have a plywood sub roadbed?
Hello everyone. Here’s a few answers to some of your questions:
Russell, yes, in the really short spans between turnouts, I did cinch them up to reduce the amount of short fitter sections needed.
John, since we’ve modeled the end of the branch, it would make perfect sense to work backward down the line for a larger layout. In fact, the branch really had a forked end. I’ve modeled the east fork. The west fork had a foundry, several cotton mills, and a few other small industries on it, making it a great counter-part to the east fork. You could set the layout as an L shape, wrapping a staging yard behind one side or the other to represent the rest of the branch line to the south.
Greg. Yes, open grid benchwork can be laid out the same way. In fact I’ve done that by laying cardboard on top of the grid to layout the track, then used the cardboard to make cutting templates for the plywood sub roadbed.
Gus, curved turnouts are typically sold with the curve radii listed (at least Walthers does that). You can simply draw the diverging curves from the point rails. It’s not 100% accurate, but it is close enough to get you rolling until you have the actual track pieces to work with.
Brendan, yes, we will have a PDF of the WSS plan at some point later this summer. We just have to get the art department to draw it up. Hopefully Ben’s scan of the plan used in the video will tide you over until then.
There’s plenty more to come on the WSS project. As always, thank you all for watching MRVP!
David
Very informative. You use basically the same techniques I use. It’s nice for a refresher though. I just tore down my SM&Q railroad for a move. I will build a new layout with new materials in my new house. David, you visited my layout a few years ago when visiting the SER convention in Memphis. Thanks for the tips.
Very educational and helpful. What did you use for the turnout template on your paper plan? Thanks for another great video David.