Good morning everyone, So since I was last active here, I have undergone a few relocations and out of necessity liquidated all of my MRR gear. I now reside about 150 miles from where I grew up in Western Kansas. For those who love diversification in their Fallen Flag operations, few areas rival it, as I can drive less than two hours and cross retained or removed right of ways of at least five fallen Class I lines. The town I now live in, Goodland, was once the home of a significant Rock Island facility, servicing the Rocky Mountain Limited (and in the Diesel era the Rocket) before it split into two consists at Limon, with part heading to Denver over UP trackage, and the other dropping down to interface with D&RGW at Colorado Springs. My challenge is this: Because I love the idea of modeling local rails, I have an opportunity to add into the mix the other thing I've always wanted to do, model the western half of the Plainville Branch of the UP, which I spent enough time railfanning while in training pants that at one point, a crew stopped just for a photo op for the three-year old that waved at them whenever they went thru (that particular day it was a special, running a snow plow to Colby before winter set it... snow plow, a couple of locos and thus ended the "train.") Essentially in this neck of the woods, east of Colby, the Rock Island ran thru the northern tier of counties, the Plainville Branch through the second, and the KP runs to this day through the third tier of counties all the way to the state line. My opportunity is that I can theoretically model two different point-to-points, one of the Rock Island terminating in Goodland, and the other the Plainville Branch's west end (gradually working my way east as time permits to include a little boy waving at the passing trains in my home town.) Although likely to be an extensive expenditure of time and resources, neither of these should be excessively challenging, were it not for the quasi-interchange at Colby. The image here shows the Google Map of this intersection, except that it isn't. The east-west track is the current remainder of the Plainville Branch. The north-south is actually the northern end of the Colby-Oakley joiner, connecting the Plainville back into the KP tracks. The northern progression of the track (which is obscured in spots in the wider shot) heads to the north end of town, where it swings east to plug into the Rock's line heading towards Phillipsburg. My perpetual headache is this: How do I model a right-angle crossing when there are turnouts located on three of the legs, particularly when the southern one has two turnouts? I would normally cite artistic license for something like this, particularly given my largely theoretical knowledge of the mechancial side of MRR, but this particular interchange is so...unique?..wierd?...awesome?...that it seems a shame to omit it. I love the concept that this prototype location gives me an opportunity to connect two effectively seperate layouts if for no other reason than to add a layer of depth to operations (presuming this project gets that far before an F-5 Wife levels the entire region.) Plus when adding in the showmanship aspects, being able to point to specific structures along the trackage and relate full-prototypical backstories to people who don't remember the heritage we once enjoyed. So I suppose the question (after a case of naratim verbosim worthy of a 13 year old cheerleader) is this. How do I build this without excessive amounts of advanced techniques, such as scratch building turnouts?
I can see where you would have interest in such a scene. Was there once an interlocking tower controlling this? How much space do you have available? You will likely need to compress somewhat.
I am ecstatic to report that available space, for the first time in my memory, is not a concern. Our 2BR rental has a full basement to which my hobby has been banished, but because we are jockeying into position for permanency and acreage, any layout I work on will be semi-permanent and modular in nature (I envision a multi-phasic project done geographically with phantom trackage exiting each stage to permit future expansion.) Of course, compression is always an issue in this hobby, so no surprise there. My current working theory is that I might try to build Colby and Goodland separately as switching layouts, as Goodland was a major point on the Rock (they dozed out the turntable earlier this year.) Colby, particularly if I can do this cloverleaf thing justice, should make for a more complex puzzle. Eventually, I'll start fleshing out additional sections of the Plainville Branch and work east. If space (yeah right) was not a concern, my "idealized" concept would be to run the UP down one wall, the Rock down the other, and connect the two layouts at Colby, essentially creating a point where, just like prototypes, two completely separate entities are able to exchange freight. But again, I am mostly in the dreaming phase at this point.
I am surprised by the statement that "this particular interchange is so...unique?..wierd?...awesome?..." Seems an awful lot like a crossing and junction that occurred where I grew up in Houston. I grew up SURROUNDED by trains. I once designed an HO layout which my little brother built, a condensed version with an oval on a 4x8 table. One end had a dummy crossing on each corner representing crossing of GH&H and East Belt at one corner and East Belt and Magnolia Branch other corner. End turnback curve was disguised as the two curved connections between lines. Other end of layout was a simple turnback curve. Harrisburg Boulevard ran down the middle of the layout and the layout was called “Harrisburg Boulevard Tracks” to have same initials as real Houston Belt and Terminal. The layout had the lumber company and some business buildings from Harrisburg Blvd but no model of our home. Sorry I do not the photo of my brother's layout scanned or uploaded anywhere, nor a track plan. I have also designed an N scale section as part of a big dream layout. The HB&T East Belt double track would be part of the main route around the layout, much of which would be an 18” to 24” shelf, but it would widen to four feet or so for crossing and dummy junctions with Magnolia Branch. Junction angle was actually 72 degrees, but I made it 60 to use a commercially-available crossing. Lumber company would have to be worked with spur coming off East Belt, not Magnolia Branch as prototype. The front of the wide section would end just about at 65th street but it could include my house and Dad’s sheet metal shop in back of the house and neighbor houses. The curved connection could be use to visibly stage a short train. Not what you are trying to model, but you might twist an idea from it.
Pretty nice graphics Ken. I guess the root of my question lies in how to replicate the track pattern in question using available track pieces (i.e. I am terrified at the idea of trying to teach myself to scratch build switches.) This will be my first attempt at "permanent" track placement since the oval that sat on a sheet of plywood behind my bed circa 1978 or 1979. From my very unseasoned perspective, I see two potential solutions. 1) Peco makes what they reference as an asymmetrical three way turnout very similar to the prototype stacked switches in the southern edge of the photo. The other option is to stack them myself, and try to master custom fitting flex-track to make the curves joining the E-W and N-S sections. Trying to figure out how to wire them terrifies me only slightly less than the idea of scratch building something to work here. I've been trying to trouble shoot this piece using the Atlas Track planning software, but have yet to manage to complete more than one of the side arcs. What seems to be killing me is the quasi-algebraic word problem: A pair of turnouts with a section of curved tracks connect two lines which are perpendicular. Therefore, since 2x+y=90 degrees, solve for x and y. Since I can't seem to figure out how much arc the turnouts represent, I can't solve the equation. :facepalm:
Being a model railroad, you can fudge a bit. Using short tangents as needed, etc. It will still come out looking quite nice. Do you have any track on hand? If so, you can always lay it out on a floor, and chalk in lines to find the best radius. Don't over think this and scare yourself away.
Unfortunately, in a need to fund a transcontinental relocation (FL to KS) last summer, we sold practically everything we owned. If I were to dig through everything we've got, I might randomly find a handful of used rail joiners or a small packet of track nails, but that is it. I've been cyberdoodling with the track planning software and managed to get one curve to connect (although the crossover doesn't want to align very well. The software is Atlas, and therefore my radii and lengths are limited, but I think I might be able to figure this out once I gain a more comprehensive understanding of the descriptive terminology. On the upside, my mission this morning was to avoid the cloverleaf, and so I have a fairly decent plan going for the points west.
I was not sure from your captured GoogleEarth image about the switchwork on the south leg of the junction. So I noted down the coordinates, went direct to GoogleEarth and blew it up larger than your capture allowed. It looked like the south leg does NOT require special custom-built switchwork. It could be duplicated extremely closely with a fairly simple modification of existing stock track pieces: right and left-hand turnouts and 90 degree crossing. Or it could be approximated "good enough" for most of us with no special work at all except bending and cutting plain flextrack to fit. A blowup of the south switchwork shows that the frog of the right-hand turnout does NOT cross any portion of the moveable switch-rails of the left-hand turnout. The close-but-not-overlapping switches could be modeled "simply" by cutting off part of each turnout that does NOT include moving parts or one rail crossing another. [Disclosure: I say "simply." I have seen trimming stock CROSSING pieces as a solution in Atlas basic track planning books, but have not actually done it. And I have seen many Model Railroader articles that involve trimming turnouts to fit special situations.] Anyway, the straight diverging leg of the right-hand turnout could be cut one or two ties past the frog where the curved diverging leg crosses the stock rail. Turnouts usually have an inch or two of length beyond the frog which is not actually part of the frog or the moving switchpoints, which (depending on brand, how it is wired and constructed, etc) can be omitted. You may (don't know for sure without seeing your turnouts) also be able to cut a little off the single end of the left-hand turnout, clear of the moving points. Doing this pretty much gives the impression of that south leg. Would take me some time to capture pix of a turnout, draw modifications in Photoshop and upload it to railimages, I have to go cook dinner for my loving wife.
I notice your comment " the crossover doesn't want to align very well...I might be able to figure this out once I gain a more comprehensive understanding of the descriptive terminology." I didn't see what I think of as a crossover in the track arrangement you described. In modeling and trackplanning, "crossover" usually refers to a track that connects two parallel tracks, and usually it is a connection that keeps the train going in the same direction but on a different track. On this track plan, where the double track main on the left end goes into the staging yard at the top, there is a crossover at the left end of the staging yard. A crossing is where one track (or more) crosses another, whether or not they connect. There is a crossing of a single track over double track at about a 120 angle in the lower left corner of the plan. It represents where a Santa Fe branch from Ottawa, Kansas going north to Baldwin and beyond crossed the double-track ATSF mainline at Ottawa Junction, location of an unusual structure that was both an interlocking tower and depot in one building. I think some mftr made an HO kit for it. At the lower right corner of the plan is a 90 degree crossing. It is supposed to "look like" the ATSF branch crossing of a Missouri Pacific line with a connection to the MoPac. In actuality, all the Santa Fe trains need to go around the curve to go to staging because the crossing is a dummy, Doesn't really go anywhere. Neither does the Ottawa Junction crossing!
Another example of a crossover. There is a crossover from the mainline between the switching lead and the other yard tracks, to allow a switcher with a cut of cars to stay out of the way while a train crosses to enter or leave the yard. Now at the bottom of this blimp's eye view of a 2 x 3 foot Navy blimp base railroad, there is what LOOKS LIKE a crossover between parallel tracks. But it is actually just spurs going off in different directions, one to the right and inside the loop, and one toward the left and outside the loop. I don't know if anyone would call this a real crossover or not...
Yep, you busted me. My vocabulary is terrible when it comes to MRR. In the course of this discussion, I have had to make a conscious effort not to use the term "switches" in discussing the feature. I am happy to say that my time today (probably 4+ hours fighting with the software I've been experimenting on) I finally managed to coerce it to cut flextrack to fit, and have managed to get a fairly good representation of the CROSSING with associated turnaround trackage complete. And then I went a little bit nuts. Not only did I manage to complete a passably prototypical track plan for Colby, but I went ahead and ran track west and built out a fair representation of Goodland as well. The bulk image is too big to upload, so I'll see if I can break it into pieces (which I'll have to do eventually anyway) and post it tomorrow.
So here is the cropped version of the Colby section of the layout. The Rock Island runs along the north side of town, with a single turnout sending traffic south thru town and into the crossing pictured, both in R/L and in the theoretical Devourer of Basements layout. In both scenarios, the small siding on the east side of the junction services the sale barn, and as I understand it was the originating point for the once-a-week "Cattleman's Special," running livestock to Salina for further shipment to the yards in Kansas City. The western trackage includes a pair of sidings for crossloading grain from an elevator, and the theoretical industry/transfer yard to the south. As mentioned earlier, I haven't yet had a chance to go digging for archival data, but as I understand it, both anecdotally and in a theoretical sense, although Oakley is the end of the line, Colby was where the trains stopped, and a yard engine hauled as needed the extra 20 miles. From what I can tell (again, Google Earth) it appears there is a traditional turning Wye at Oakley that opens onto a passing track so that larger segments of cars could be hauled south and spotted for inclusion with through freight. This makes for an interesting opportunity for a staging and turning area, particularly, for example, if my projects explode into a small storefront or museum sometime in the future.
Oh Boy.... Because I realized someone would probably ask about it, I pulled the theoretical plans back up and looked at the dimensions. Just the image I posted above is going to run about 2'x14.5'.... the whole shebang is closer to 21' long... looks like I'm gonna need to either switch to Z scale, or do some rearranging, or maybe some editing...
Your Xover is really your mainline. it just looks like a Xover but all it's doing is making a connection to complete the oval. Also there's no siding to do any real switching.
My trackplan is basically an effort to build out a module-type unit that incorporates the "cloverleaf" track junction. The main purpose in posting what I have was to show that I had an "ah ha" moment and had figured out how to lay that piece of the line. As I envision the overall project, the cloverleaf module will probably be #2 west to east, with a more extensive yard scene in #1, #3 commencing with the Colby stockyards, and probably doing a county per module thereafter. Out here the major towns are always about 30 miles apart as 30 miles is a good day via quadripedal conveyance. That would take me to the Branch's namesake town by Mod #5. The line parallels a river for a good ways and there are a lot of curves IRL to adjust for terrain changes, so down one wall and around the corner seems a reasonable concept. If I ever get to the point of modeling on to Salina, I may just end up with a U-shaped layout with a Severe Thunderspouse Warning in perpetuity for western Kansas.
