Here is the plan I've finally decided upon for my N scale Tonto & Sudinero RR, a freelanced Arizona Short Line linking the Santa Fe mainline in the north with the Southern Pacific in the south. The layout will be centered upon the fictional town of Rio Verde and its surroundings. The T&S (nicknamed the "Tired & Slow" by locals along the line) is divided into North and South divisions and Rio Verde depicts the division point somewhere in the wilds of central Arizona. Drawn with XTrackCad I have a 3'x8' space in a corner to work with and have tried hard to find the right balance of track, line-side industries and scenery to fill it with. Arizona has so much spectacular scenery that it is very tempting to fill every available inch with loops of track and improbable bridges spanning majestic canyons. Indeed, earlier versions of the plan included lots of engineering gymnastics that real railroads would have avoided like the plague. Fortunately, an old issue of Model Railroader came to my rescue with a story on the Carolina Central, an N scale project railroad that first ran back in December 1996. I'm sure that many N scalers will remember this 28"x80" layout built on a hollow core door. In a nut shell, the plan had a small town with a passing siding, an interchange and a couple of line-side industries on one side and one long passing siding on the other side, hidden by hills, that acted as a staging yard. I took one look at this plan and suddenly realized that a slightly larger version of it would be perfect for what I wanted for the T&S. I increased the layout footprint to 36"x96", broadened the minimum radius from 9 3/4" to 12 1/2" with easements and changed all of the mainline turnouts from #4s to #7s. I also added a couple more sidings and an engine service track with an 80' turntable. The plan is designed for Atlas C55 track. I used sectional track on the plan because it is much easier with XTrackCad. The actual layout will be built using flex track. On the plan, trains traveling clockwise are considered Northbound while counterclockwise runs are Southbound. The T&S is set in the early 1950s and steam power is still the rule in these parts. Motive power consists of mostly second hand equipment purchased from the "Big Roads." Moguls, Ten-Wheelers, Consolidations and Mikes handle the daily North and Southbound mixed trains. The Moguls and 4-6-0's show a distinctive Espey heritage while the Connies and Mikes have a definite Santa Fe flavor. Operation consists of running trains from the North and South staging tracks into Rio Verde where crews and sometimes motive power is swapped and the local industries are switched. There are seven freight car "destinations" in Rio Verde, including an interchange with the (factual) Verde Valley Railroad. The interchange acts as a sort of universal industry in that just about any kind of car can be set out or picked up there, but the primary traffic is copper from the Jerome mines being shipped North to the Santa Fe. The scenery will be classic central Arizona canyon and mesa country with the famous red rock cliffs of the Mogollon Rim acting as the scenic divider hiding the staging tracks. Another scenic highlight will be the Verde River Canyon, crossed in the foreground with a Central Valley Pratt Truss on the main, and with a wooden trestle and pony truss combo on the mining branchline. Hope you guys enjoy the plan and my (lengthy) description. Any questions, comments or critiques are most welcome.
The plan looks fun, and I would reconsider one thing....the Bachmann 2-8-0 can be made into a SP loco, and the MDC/Athearn 2-8-0 can make a AT&SF loco....why not consider both? This is AT&SF 664, stuffed and mounted at Travel Town, in Griffith Park, down the street from the Los Angeles Zoo
Well, the 2-8-0 is my favorite type of engine so I have no problem having an SP Connie too :tb-biggrin: Right now I'm planning on turning the new B'mann ten-wheeler into an SP steamer similar to this: It will most likely be the switcher at Rio Verde. I might drop the headlight down and give it a Vandy tender to make it a little more modern. I was planning to use the B'mann 2-8-0 for my Santa Fe "heritage," but I could see using the earlier MDC 2-8-0 as well.
Updated Plan Here is an updated version of the plan that I colored in Photoshop. It gives a better idea of the scenery I have in mind.
I'll second (or third or fourth, even!) that I like your design. Nice operations and good scenery potential. I'm fighting the same kind of battle with my HCD layout.
Very solid plan with enough to keep you busy in a smaller layout. My only suggestion would be to look at reversing the switchback to the main switching area. I would try to come directly off the main to the bulk of the industries and the turntable, then use the switchback to service the mine. Otherwise you might not have enough lead space to bring a train in off the main for switching. Food for thought.
I like the plan and the "historical" background. Very nice! Operationally - will you be running this as a point - to - point? and then when you feel like it "roundy round"? Just wondering.
Yes, that's the plan exactly. Operation will be as a point to point short-line with the area modeled as the central layover/division point. But sometimes I just like to stick the ol' throttle and let 'em roll through the pretty scenery and this plan lets me do that too Also, since it connects with the ATSF in the north and the Espey in the south, you just might see some trains from those roads exercising "trackage rights" every now and then Thank you! The benchwork is already about done. I'll be posting a progress thread over in the N scale forum pretty soon. Yeah, I see that too. I really like the fluid look of the design right now so I'm a bit reluctant to mess with it. Also, I like using the mine branch as the switching lead since it keeps the main clear if I want to go roundy-round and do some switching at the same time . In typical short-line fashion, trains will be fairly short on the T&S so the length of the switching lead shouldn't be too much of a problem. One thing that does bother me a bit though is having the turntable lead off of the switchback - makes for sort of a funky arrangement if I'm swapping and turning motive power off of the main. Not unheard of, but a bit inconvenient. I might go back into XTrackCad and flip that switchback like you suggest to see how it looks.
Thanks. That's why I decided to go beyond the "door." Having the space for something just a little bigger can make a huge difference in the operating potential of a plan. After all, 8' is only 16" longer than a standard 36"x80" HCD - big enough for a nice balance of scenery and trains but still small enough to be reasonably portable.
I am also reluctant to mess with this too much. I think you have a lot of interesting things going on here, and all in a manageable space. Thanks for indicating what the topography is doing on that later plan. It helps with the understanding. With your hills as little mini view blockers you can get some nice individual scenes out of this whole thing. I have one reservation about the plan, and that is that all your freight locomotives will eventually be coming right through your passenger depot area on the passenger boarding track to get other places. I would be tempted to bring the track that comes from the mine down a little more sharply once it crosses the Rio Verde and have it catch the mainline before the passenger depot siding OR bring it behind the depot and have it join into the "loop" a little to the right of the depot. Then again, this depot would probably be something on the order of a couple short passenger trains a day, so maybe having the freight come through there isn't such a bad thing. Looking great! Adam
If that! By this point in the T&S's "history" (1954 or so) passenger operations are down to an old coach and combine tacked onto the end of the daily freights with a passenger special running extra every now and then if demand warrants. The Super Chief ain't comin' this away Here are a few photos of the region I'm modeling for those who might be unfamiliar with this part of Arizona. Most of these are from the Verde Canyon Railroad. Thanks for the great feedback all!
In that case, I think my concern is moot. The passing freights will give the dozen or so passengers at the depot something to watch. This is a great track plan!
I would still highly recommend killing that switch back. For about 9 years, an entire yard on my fathers layout which was accessible only by a switchback remained inactive for over 99% of the time. Last year over Christmas I finally tore up and removed the switch back, giving the yard direct access, now it's Dad's favorite switching spot. The issue with switch backs are, though they sound fun, they are highly repetitive and are really annoying! So annoying that by the 2nd day of operating them you already hate them. (By 'you' I mean most people I've talked with/observed/read about). Regarding the point about round running while switching. You can still do that with out the switch back.
Imagine a Northbound (Clockwise) passenger train enters the depot, making the last stop before turning back and heading South (counterclockwise). Count the number of moves required with and without the switch back to get the loco from the head of the passenger train facing Northbound, into the turntable to reverse, and back out to the head of the passenger train facing Southbound. We'll assume in both cases, the passenger cars do not restrict access, except for that final run-around move. With switchback: Train arrives and stops. Engine decouples. Engine proceeds forward clear of the switchback turnout Engine stop Reverse turnout to diverge Engine reverses into turntable Engine stop Turn engine 180. Engine reverses clear of the switchback turnout Engine stop Align turnout to normal Engine proceeds forward clear of passing siding turnout Engine stop Align passenger siding turnout to normal Engine reverses clear of north (bottom left) passing siding turnout on mainline Stop engine Align passing siding to normal Engine proceeds forward clear of south (top right) passing siding turnout on mainline Engine stop Reverse turnout to diverge Engine reverses to couple with passenger car. Engine stop Train proceeds forward to next destination 23 moves Without switchback: Train arrives and stops. Engine decouples. Engine proceeds forward clear of first turnout on passing siding Engine stop Reverse turnout to diverge Engine reverses into turntable Engine stop Turn engine 180. Engine reverses clear of north (bottom left) passing siding turnout on mainline Stop engine Align passing siding to normal Engine proceeds forward clear of south (top right) passing siding turnout on mainline Engine stop Reverse turnout to diverge Engine reverses to couple with passenger car. Engine stop Train proceeds forward to next destination 17 moves 17 moves without the switchback is enough work already. We dont need 5 extra steps each time we reverse a train. This would also apply when a train arrives with freight for the stock pens and any stub on the inside right.
I really like your trackplan and how you resisted the urge to fill every inch with track. Looks like it will be a fun layout.
