looking for ideas for a n scale prototype switching layout . i have about 8 x 10 area in a corner in the attic , i would like to model some of the local railroad here with maybe lumber mill,paper mill,plywood mill maybe a quarry on a coastal plain
Search for Google Earth images of the area, and choose the portions of the actual line that you want to model. You will probably have to selectively compress some, in not most, of them to fit the space you have available. But if it's prototype you want, there's probably no better way to go about it.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Wilm...lina&cid=9824864017830169505&t=h&z=15&iwloc=A Here's a google map for the Wilmington Terminal Railroad, while not a industry you showed above specifically, it does contain a lot of dock switching.
How do you selectively compress? Also is there a way to highlight railroads on goggle maps? Sent from my XT901 using Tapatalk
With "selective compression" the idea is to take a building, and/or scene, and rather than model it true to scale, make certain portions smaller, while retaining the overall look. For example; let's say a building has 10 windows along one wall, with 6 feet between them each. Maybe you'd model only 8 windows, with 4 scale feet between each of them. Thus making the model slight shorter, in scale, than the actual building. But it would still retain the basic shape as the prototype, with the doors and windows, etc. in their proper locations. Or you might take a prototype rail siding and make it shorter, to fit the available space that you have. But retain the general appearance of that prototype siding. does nay of that make sense to you?
Yes it does so I am thinking about modeling CLNA in east Carolina I just model some of the industries in they surrounding and put the yard on other end. Sent from my XT901 using Tapatalk
living a couple years on the east Carolina coastal plain while in grad school I experienced the longest stretches of straight track I have ever saw location will necessitates straights, be that for the best or not. oh, and a lot of unprotected crossings on the back roads! looking forward to your layout and what you do with it. Gary
Well I'm new at it so who know what will happen. Thought I might put a port city on one end then some industries and switch yard with team track for either NS or CSX. But would welcome any ideas Sent from my XT901 using Tapatalk
Starski: A google search for Carolina Coastal Lines led me to: a map -- http://www.mlrail.com/CLNAMap.htm information about the subdivisions -- http://www.mlrail.com/CLNATimetable.htm customers served and commodities shipped by rail -- http://www.mlrail.com/CLNACust.htm Bing Maps show a railroad main running west from near the Community Center in Belhaven to a wye with a north-south railroad main near Pinetown, but there are no yards shown nor sidings to individual industries. Using satellite view in Google Maps, I started near the fire house, depot(?), team tracks, and loading ramps in Belhaven and found about a dozen sidings and 3-4 abandoned sidings along the main to Pinetown (and the interchange/wye with CSX). Using street view, it was possible to identify some of the businesses, but google-searching the customers listed in the link above may give you street addresses to help identify which businesses used the other sidings. To develop a track plan for a switching layout showing portions of the CLNA from Belhaven to Pinetown, you can develop a list of the particular landscape features (hills, woods, rivers), buildings, or industries you want to include by switching back and forth between satellite and street views. Obviously, you can't model everything on an 8x10 L-shaped footprint, but you can pick out signature features/industries that capture the "flavor" of the CLNA...perhaps modeling Belhaven and Pantigo features at the right (east) end, the 2 industries north and south of Swindell Rd, the big curve to the west in the middle (near the corner of the L?), the 2 sidings for Coastal Carolina Cotton Gin and Crop Production Services near Pilley Ave and Terra Ceia Rd, and the interchange tracks and part of the wye near Pinetown at the left (west) end of the layout. As an alternative for modeling the wye and interchange at Pinetown, you could represent the wye and interchange with 2 staging tracks hidden at the back of the west end (Pinetown end) of the shelf behind easily removed tree flats or foam hills and loop the track 180 degrees counterclockwise to become visible at the left front corner of the shelf, and then model 1 or 2 of the sidings along Ripp Highway. Operations with such a track plan could entail starting with 10 to 15 cars at the Pinetown interchange/staging, picking up and setting out cars along the way to Belhaven, and then returning to the interchange/staging tracks at Pinetown. If you create view breaks where the tracks are partially or fully hidden behind trees or hills or where scenes are separated by rivers/creeks, you will foster the illusion that the train is covering more ground than if the tracks are always visible. For what it's worth...On my own layout, I've used street-view pics to guide my modeling of signature features, buildings, or industries in numerous places along my ROW. In the pic below, you can see Google street view pics of some buildings near the actual IC Decatur Yard that I used to help me figure out which buildings and roads I wanted to model behind the Decatur Yard on my layout. I printed and cut them out and used them as mock-ups to find the most appealing combinations and best placements.
thanks dave for your ideas this might be a good place to start at belhaven to pinetown. at first i was thinking of starting at domtar on the sound in plymouth on one end loosely model back to wilson for a yard but maybe i could evenally add that on to the belhaven
Well look like summer got here, so I will be checking in from time to time but no time for model trains so I'll just dream till fall . You all have a good summer. Sent from my XT901 using Tapatalk
