I am in the planning stages of a Frisco switching layout that models a spur into the small town of Fyan, MO. While the real town of Fyan disappeared in the late 1800s, on my layout the town survived. I will be modeling the late 1960s to early 1970s. Here is my current layout plan, which will run along two walls of my home office. The layout is 13'2" x 7' (my available space). Traffic comes in from the mainline at the southwest corner of the image. The runaround is so that the local switcher can separate outbound traffic before delivering it to the eastbound and westbound trains on the Frisco mainline. Your thoughts and suggestions regarding the plan are appreciated! And in case you're interested, here is a recent photo of a cornerstone in a building from Mountain Grove, MO, one of the few remnants of the real Fyan. The cornerstone reads, "Lots 9-10, Block 8, Fyan. That's the BNSF to the left in the photo.
Making one or two of the spurs trailing point would make operation more challenging, although this is a matter of choice. The plan provides nice operating possibilities as it is. The other thing I would do is to add another curve at the lower left corner so either fixed or removable staging could be attached there.
I like the changes. The idea of a removable staging track would add quite a bit for operations. I did that on the first version of the Port of Catoosa layout. The roads add good interest to the scene, they will definitely give you the opportunity to do some neat things with your scenery. I’m looking forward to seeing you progress. see you soon buddy, Dale
bem1492, good to see another Frisco fan. What scale are you going to work with? My N scale Boston Mountains Sub Division layout is based from Ft Smith to Winslow Arkansas on Frisco's Central Division. The time era is 1948 to 1952 so i can run steam and first generation diesels. Looking forward to seeing your layout come together. Edit: added N scale. Joe
Another Frisco fan here. I really like your plan. Enough operation possibilities to get your fix and plenty of real estate for structures and scenery. I was about to take down my little Frisco layout (1915ish HO branch line) but I think I’ll leave one section up for display/operating. Thanks for the inspiration!
Dale & Tom: Following your suggestions, I created a variant of the plan with a curve and a removable staging module. (I am using anyrail, and it makes changes easy.) In this version, the bridge is curved and crosses the creek and the creek road.
I like it Blayne. Another thought, this does not change the track plan. The coal/gravel spur, could you build the scenery on a removable base? Then you could build an extra scene the same shape of that one, then do a bulk fuel distributor on it. That would allow you to create further interest with a change of scene and the types of cars needed to switch the layout. This would work unless you plan to have a trestle there to unload as a bottom dump. That could even be overcome with planning. From an operational standpoint it will be fun to switch and there is plenty of opportunity for killer scenery. I think it will be a blast to build. Dale
I like the removable scenery idea, Dale. It would give me opportunity to bring different cars onto the layout than might otherwise be there.
Looks good. The interchangeable industries are an excellent idea and the trailing point spur lends additional complexity to the switching.
Blayne, I'm going to have three areas with interchangeable industries on my Boston Mountains Sub Division layout. On module 04 there will be a grain mill or ice house, module 06 a stock yard or oil depot and module 08 a coal mine or sawmill. The bases are match cut so each location has identical foot print, I used 1/4 inch Birch plywood. Having interchangeable industries gives you more variety when operating, each industry requires a different type of railcar. Joe
Blayne, you can see photos of my progress on the Boston Mountains Sub Division thread. I have about 16 feet of the mainline installed, there will be 33 feet of mainline when complete a scale mile for N scale. My last four projects are the Frisco Arkansas River Bridge near Ft Smith Arkansas, a stock yard, oil depot loading platform and a ice house loading platform. The layout goes from Ft Smith to Winslow with several industries. Joe
Fantastic start Blayne! I like the way you have allowed for wiring to pass through the bulkheads. That will certainly keep things clean and neat underneath the layout! What rail height are you planning on?
My current layout is about 46" to the rail tops. That height worked well for me, so I'll probably do the same on the new layout.