Yes, the Canton Division is now on Layout Plan 10. With that being said, for once I do not have a computer generated track plan. Most of this plan is in my head and I am tweaking as I go. 99% of the plan is figured out already. Canton Division Layout Plan 10: The new plan is GREATLY simplified compared to my earlier layout plans. I am going with the less is more concept as part of my collection downsizing which is almost complete by the way. So far I have sold over $7500 of my collection since March 2007. But back to the layout plan. The layout will be single level with no real staging. there will be a storage shelf under the layout where the lower level was to be in earlier plans. So, car swaps and train swaps will require 050 operations. Much of the new track plan is now single track with a couple of passing sidings. Focus of operation is now more towards a shared branch line between BNSF and CP. UP is no longer part of the Canton Divison layout. Canton will now be a small town as opposed to a large city. I have not 100% figured out how the town will be built....I am working on it. Here are the main industries and features of the layout 1. Butler Paper - this industry was spared from my Ebay sell off. 2. Grain Elevator 3. Flour Mill 4. Feed Mill (maybe) 5. Coal Power Plant - River with dual rail bridge crossing - Lots of Woods, Ponds and lakes - wilderness area of layout where the coal power plant will be -track will have very little if any elevation changes. Other Details: I sold my Digitrax Radio Super Chief in March. I now have a Digitrax Zepher on order. I downgraded my DCC setup due the fact that the layout is now much smaller than planned, I now only own 9 locomotives and enough rolling stock for only two trains. If needed, I can always expand on the Zepher system but I do not forsee a need for a major expansion for many years to come. Such an expansion would not be needed until the garage with train room is built and a new layout is started....5-10 years away. Operations: Simple one person in mind operations. Local trains will pick up and drop off cars from the paper mill, Grain Elevator, the feed mill and flour mill. Butler Paper has it's own switcher to handle woodchip cars, boxcars, pulpwood cars, and tank cars. The grain elevator and flour mill are often handled by a BNSF (BN) MD15 swicther. Local trains will often assist in switching duties as well. A 25 car BNSF unit coal train powered by two SD70 MAC locos also uses this line to feed the coal power plant downline from Canton. during the next few weeks, I plan to create a layout plan....I will also be posting some pics soon as time permits. Between college, family, work, and other........downsizing the layout was the best decision I have made for my hobby.
Hello Matt, even without a printed layout: This sounds like an achievable plan that offers lots of operation potential and fun. The only thin that would worry me some id the lack of staging: Where do the trains go once their run is complete? I would not want to take out a coal drag 050 style.. Any chnace for a few hidden tracks? You want to include woods and ponds: Maybe a hill that hides a few tracks? From my personal experience even a few tracks enhance the operation significantly. I squeezed 3 staging tracks under a row of houses: They became extremely valuble for any operating session, as they offer spece for 3 inbound and 3 outbound trains, so they support 6 train movements during our 4 hour sessions!! Here is the original scene, with the NP "Prairie Line" crossing Pacific Avenue in Tacoma, heading to South Tacoma.. Maybe you can find a place even in your simplified version of the Canton Divison for some hidden staging... Cheers Dirk
Hello Matt, I agree that less is more but if you quote me I'll deny it. 25 cars and 2 locos is about 10 feet. Will you be able to accomodate that?
Thanks for the feedback everyone. The plan was to use the old 0-5-0 method for staging (using a large portion of the former lower level for staging). However, I also was toying with the idea of including staging to be located either in my "rural" area where there is elevated areas and staging could be hidden under the hills. Or staging in the "town" area behind buildings or the backdrop. I guess I might be able to do both. Development will be slowing down a bit again as I just spent $$ on a Digitrax Zeypher, Track (more turnouts), and buildings (Kits and a couple of used built buildings). I still need more turnouts and because I have a strong preferance to Kato Unitrack....the track is expensive thus development is slow. Long story short.....The Canton Divison may be at this stage for quite some time. Not all bad though. Between work and college.....I am a busy beaver and I have allot of buildings to build. RIght now I have about 8 DPM kits to build, finish a Walthers Valley Growers grain elevator, start the walthers sunrise feed mill kit, a Lifelike police station, and finish the silos to my large grain elevator. And oh yeah detailing another attempt at a Burger King (first kit did not fair so well in shipping about a year ago). Here are some photos of what has been down....this is still a evolving process. The current track plan does resemble many of the track plans of previously posted designs. I guess that makes sense since it is the same benchwork http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/showgallery.php/cat/1537
Just looked at your pics. Very nice indeed. I would pull the elevator a few inches forward and construct a medium-hight veiw block (like a backdrop, but just 1 foot high), hiding 2 or 3 tracks behind it. Use the elevators and buildings, trees, senery, hills to blend the layout against this viewblock, and presto, hidden staging... Cheers Dirk
You may want to consider hidden, but not covered, staging areas. I like Dirk's suggestion of putting some staging or storage behind the elevator...very long space... and using viewblocks of buildings, low hills, and trees would give you full access for cleaning (and even some 050 action if you felt it was needed). Pics of viewblocks on my layout There are 2 hidden tracks behind the Edwards Power Plant coal storage, the settling ponds, and the TPW Keokuk staging, and a single mainline hidden behind the trees beyond the Luria Brothers' metal shredding facility. You could also use Kenneth Anthony's idea of making the staging fully visible and thinking of the staging area toward the back of the shelf as being another railroad's yard in the area but separated from the mainline which passes toward the front of the shelf. I had originally planned to have some covered staging areas on my own layout, but have mostly stayed away from the idea because cleaning track and preparing trains for running around the layout is so much easier without it. Will you be connecting the lower level to the upper level with track so you can use it for staging trains instead of just for storing them? Or were the complex benchwork and helix between levels the first items to go when you decided to go with this improved/simplified track plan? From the pics, it looks like you've done a great job of reducing your Spaghetti Bowl Factor. This plan looks like it will have lots more scenery (hills/rivers/trees/highways) than the older plan. Will there be a river under that truss bridge and down the center of that shelf?
Matt - This is fantastic! Was it a kit or from scratch? Can you give us an idea of how you built it? Oh, and since you have had so many revisions aren't you glad you went with Unitrak? I ripped up my orriginal and was able to reuse every last piece. I thank PSG for that.
Thanks for the kind words. These are stock walthers kits. One is the ADM grain elvator (one of three that I own...this one I built, one is partially built, and one I bought). and the Walthers grain silo expansio kit that still needs to be completed. (roof and paint)
Yes the plan was scaled down considerably. And yes the helix and lower levels were the first thing to be axed when the plan was simplified. In fact much of the track for the helix has been sold on Ebay. I will not be entertaining the idea of multilevel again until the monster layout is built in the future garage....several years from now. I really like the idea of using staging behind "Elevator Row" (my current nickname for the elevators and mills area....despite the fact that there is an older elevator near downtown). "Elevator Row" is the end of town on the layout. The shelf area where the coal power plant and small yard is located is indeed wilderness / rural with hills and yes a river. Two areas where I could use some advice for the river area: 1. I was planning on having a small road run along side of the river on the left side past the power plant and under the double truss bridge. Would it look odd to have a road and small river pass under the same bridge. 2. Speaking of the double truss bridge....it is 9 3/4" long and is actually too long for the benchwork. Lead tracks on both sides are pushed to the edge of the benchwork. Before I decided to elevate this area, there was about 5" of straight track here. I am thinking of using a double tracked thru girder bridge that is 7 5/16" long. would a thru girder bridge look ok here.....or should I scrap the bridge for this area all together and have the river cut right by the support column?
OH yeah....3rd option 3. The river could cut right near the support column and a smaller lower bridge could be used to cross the small road near the front of the is photo.
Matt, I like what you have done with it. Keep the pics comming. BTW found out that school is hard to stay awake in.
LOL I have a tougher time staying awake at my JOB!!!! (Insert drama music here) It gets pretty slow at my work at times. And like you burning the extra midnight oil for work family/friends and school and our train adiction ....yeah the fuel tank runs low sometimes. I will post more pics as I take them.....progess goes in spurts
Matt, I think it would be perfectly OK to have the bridge span the road and a (small) river. Road developments in the earlier days followed the rivewrs: The cars could do any curvature, so a river was a "natural" pathway fopr roads. So you will find a lot of places where road and river runb parallel. So if a railroad spans a river, they would also need to cross the road. Depending on the width of the river / road they would have used any combination of spans as appropriate. On our model railroads we typically use short bridges (available space being the driver), so one short bridge is OK for river and road. I would try to kkep the truss bridge (as it looks cool when a train sneaks through it), but a short girder would do as well. Cheers Dirk
That is what I was thinking as well but was not sure if this was a common practice or not (one bridge over (small) river and road). What I have in mind was a small two lane road next to a small river/almost a creek that will flow into a small lake. The river will widen some on the other side of the lake where it will pass under a single track truss bridge. This is where the railroad will pass over the small two lane road and small river: This is where the railroad will cross the wider portion of the river on the other side of the lake (yet to be named). I still have allot to do in the "rural" area of the layout. 1. I have to decide where the lake will be and how large. 2. Install the elevated land and sand to grade where needed. 3. Decide if any structures will be in this area. I am thinking of a house or two in the Rural Area. The rural area will have many many trees installed in the future.
a few random thoughts... One bridge over the road and stream would be fine. I know I've seen it, but I don't remember where. I'd recommend camouflaging the column with a building or mountain or something. The less noticeable the better. Running a stream or road by it will only draw attention to it. I noticed that your yard is coming off an incline. While this may make backing a train into the yard easier, the danger of a run away car could cause a calamity or two.
Yes that nasty support column will be "reduced" with some hills. I wont be able to hide it 100%. I am planning on a good sized hill with some very very large trees I am in the process of rebuilding that yard (waiting on more track). However, there will still be an incline. I figure I will build it, use it for awhile and if issues do arrise, I will have no choice but to redesign / rebuild it at that time. I have thought of maybe elevating the yard but that will still cause elevation issues. I think that it is an evil I may have to live with.
Matt, you may want to reorient your yard so that the throat is not on a grade or you will have nothing but problems with your cuts of loads/empties sliding back against the stub end of your tracks. It will be one thing to always have a loco attached, but cuts alone, headache city. M
I will have to certainly experiment with this. And I agree, I am not crazy about the current design. But to reverse the yard raises issues with track configuration on the other end. It is something I will have to certainly experiment with. I am trying to figure out the fiscal end of things right now . I would like to compelte & install the track plan this year and have all of my existing roster of locos DCC equiped. I am a heck of allot closer to a operating layout now than I was at the beginning of this year so I cant complain too much For track I am planning on purchasing / installing the following which should bring me very close to a completed track plan. 4 #4 LH Kato Turnouts 1 #4 RH Kato Turnout 2 #6 LH Kato Turnouts about 20 sections of 9 3/4" (this is an educated guess) I plan to add bumbpers on all spurs as well but I am not 100% sure just how many spurs I will end up with when everything is said and done. I am also using the Kato termial unijoiners.....I know they are pricey but they work so awesome On the DCC side of things I have five locos left to convert to DCC. I am looking seriously at those new MRC drop in sound decoders for the SD70MACS and AC4400/s So progress will slow in the planing & construction arena. again until probably sometime this fall.
I wouldnt reverse it unless no other option, instead create a crossover that extends to in/out tracks already laid out (just move it back to the level area). then move your yard throat off the grade and perhaps even extend the yard tracks all the way down to the building you have set up (could even use that buildings service track as a run around). It would require a lead track at that end and not sure you have the space, but aything would be preferable to the throat on the grade. Only if you dont have the room at that end would I experiment with flopping the throat to the opposite side. M
