I'm getting kind of bored with my current layout plan. It's a good HCD design but I think my interests lay elsewhere. Looking for suggestions on a shelf or point to point layout roughly 12"-18" in depth and up to 7' in length encompassing the following, with a hearty dose of operations. Half of a three track interchange on the left side of the layout, doing double duty as an interchange and a yard to sort cars. A scenic piece, probably a bridge. A small town with a team track and depot. A brewery with three sidings on the right of the layout. Set in the northeast, sometime in the 1950s-1970s. For track inventory, I have Kato Unitrak. Lots of 20000 and 20010 straights, 20150 and 20140 curves, three 20203 switches, one 20202 switch, a 20220 switch, a 20221 switch, four 20048 buffers. Don't mind buying some more pieces. My current vague idea is that incoming trains are dumped into a three track interchange, to be hauled over a rickety bridge and up to town. There's small freight for the town needs, and a good bit for the brewery. Hoppers for grain, box cars for raw materials, tankers for corn syrup, and reefers for finished product. Empties and finished product are put back on the interchange to be picked up by the road engine. Motive power would be a GP7/9 and/or an end cab switcher.
I searched for "track plans, breweries" and got a Yahoo images site with dozens of pics, both prototype and model...and even a trackplan developed by Trainboard members (MC Fujiwara and Byron Henderson). As you find specific features or elements in proto or model track plans that you would like to incorporate on your new layout, let us know so we can suggest ideas or submit track plans that meet your needs. Roughly, how many of each of the 4 types of cars would you like to spot on each of the 3 brewery tracks? This will influence length of the sidings, realistic placement of loading/unloading doors, docks, platforms, and placement of buildings for ease of coupling/uncoupling). Do you want a relatively sparse track plan (no other sidings/places to spot cars besides in the brewery, on the team track, or on the interchange tracks), or a relatively dense track plan (4 or 5 additional sidings with multiple spotting options on most of them)? More sidings may require longer interchange tracks/larger interchange capacity, which might shorten the typical distance each car moves during an operating session. Some modelers don't mind origin and destination seeming to be very close together, because it is switching cars that appeals to them, not pulling cars from visible interchange tracks to the industrial area. Others want a longer pull before the switching, and they will arrange a tight loop at one end of their shelf to disappear from sight into staging on the back of the shelf (hidden from casual viewing behind low view blocks of building flats, tree flats, or hills, but visible to an operator when he or she leans a little forward over the shelf). What are your preferences regarding the inclusion of a loop to 1, 2, or 3 staging/interchange track(s) partially or totally hidden behind low view blocks? For a 20 inch deep shelf, it would be necessary to have a 9 inch radius curve into staging; however, if the shelf bulged from 20 inches out to 24 or 30 inches for the end 2 feet of a 6 or 7 foot long shelf, it would be possible to have an 11 to 14 inch radius loop to staging/interchange tracks.
This layout consisting of a pair of T-Trak modules is based on a large real-life brewery (extremely condensed) and was built with Unitrack to boot. It's a little longer and a little narrower when butted together than you describe, but it might give you some ideas of how much space things take. Best of luck with your layout.
Train length: using the brewery as an example, I would have one track capable of holding a pair of tankers. The second track would hold two to three grain hoppers. The biggest track would hold three to five box cars/reefers. I'd like the team track to hold four to five cars. I saw some interesting designs where they hide a pair of long sidings behind a scenic divider to spot trains for hauling in. I'm fine with a more sparse design. I see myself sitting down for a session, pulling a train onto the scene, shuffling cars into the brewery, picking up empties, and heading out again.
I am glad that it might be helpful. The client apparently operated with them a lot before moving and stating a home layout. As I note on the linked page, the two main lines are at the T-Trak standard, which is too close to use standard Unitrack #6s for the crossovers. The client used #4s and it worked for him, but if you aren't going for strictly T-Trak standards, I think it would be better to use #6s in the crossovers to reduce potential issues when shoving cars with truck-mounted couplers.
I have been using Peco large radius switches for my crossovers. I just nudge the tracks a light bit apart, and it works just fine.
#1 seems too deep for the space you've told us that you have in N scale #2 does not look like it can be switched easily because it lacks a runaround and the tail track for the switchback is quite short. There would be better choices in that much space. #3 is described in more detail on my site and was recommended to you in the second post by Dave H.
At this point in time, with the hobby giving me more stress than enjoyment, I think I'm going to sit out for a while. I will ponder over the ABL though.
if you go to my thread river belt harbour line in HO forum you can see my layout which was designed by MC Fujiwara
If I want to press forward with an earlier era, then I would have to sell off my current motive power. I've got a P42, a rake of Amfleet cars, an ES44AC, and a few box cars. There's nothing in the budget that would allow me to keep the current stuff and acquire something else in the next few months.
Something to consider is what the British modelers do a lot. You can build your visible area and make something like a traverser to store lots of complete trains that can be brought onto the layout. It's a good way to add variety to your operations as you can use more train cars and locos even if the actual modeled part is just a sleepy single track mainline. http://www.009.cd2.com/members/how_to/fiddleyards.htm
there was a really good thread by NorsemanJack (I think that was his name) on the way he build his shelves for his layout.. it was really good and he gave designs for his. It's about 7 or 8 years old but I think you can still find it found it http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?56720-Modular-Shelf-Layout-Construction
[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Georgia, Verdana]mjc205[/FONT] - Thanks! That link gave me a few great ideas for my upcoming layout. It won't be as fancy as I don't have the tools but
