Monday, 3 July 2023 So last month I moved to Virginia from my last assignment in Japan. I got back into model railroading while I was there and I’m heavily interested and invested in n scale (see my WC Waukesha Sub thread, which is on hiatus since I tore my small layout down that I built in Japan). But with all the things that come with raising a family, buying a house, fixing/maintaining it, and starting my new position at work, I’m discovering I’m more short on time than I was in Japan. And that’s before I try and reconnect with a bunch of college and Army friends who have ended up out here in Virginia as well. So I’ve realized that trying to fulfill my n scale dreams right now might be biting off too much. However, when I returned to the US I rediscovered a bunch of old HO scale rolling stock and track that had been in storage in various places for 20 years. This got me thinking that I could build a smaller HO scale switching layout using the mostly Tyco rolling stock and the Lifelike and Bachmann track I already have. It will also give me the opportunity to work with some HO structure kits (kitbashing and by the instructions) that I otherwise wouldn’t see in N. So while I’ll get back to building a basement-size, n scale modern proto-freelanced Wisconsin Central/Chicago Metra (North Central Service) layout in a few months once I’m settled, I decided to scratch the modeling itch (especially the scenery one…that one itches bad!) by making This is a freelanced, short line railroad. Setting is inspired by the Hunts Point neighborhood in South Bronx. I’ve never been there or have any connection to the area. For those in the real world today, it’s a little southeast of CSX’s Oak Point Yard. My understanding is that this was originally New Haven territory, then PC, then CR, now CSX. My era will be mid-1980s so I can run all the cheap rolling stock I have, which is appropriate for the era…I will eventually upgrade wheel-sets and couplers and weather them so they don’t look so toy like. This is also so I can have the right era for the Rapido caprice & impalas and a bunch of options by Brekina. Industries are going to be freelanced, but I’m going to go with a rail-served warehouse, scrapyard, and team track. There will be a couple of light industrial park buildings as well, but the centerpiece is below. The neighborhood had the dubious distinction of having an organic fertilizer plant in the area during the 1990s through 2010 or so. It took about 825 tons of sludge a day, mostly from human waste, and turned it into fertilizer pellets. So, of course I NEED to model this industry too-just going to exercise Rule 1 and have it run in the 1980s instead. I figure between the canal, parking lot, vacant lot, and scrapyard I’ve got a good mix of negative space and a few fun structures to build. Anyways-that’s the end of the explanation. Thoughts on the track plan are welcome-I’ve been reading a lot of Lance Mindheim’s books, so I tried to think like a prototype railroad-use as few turnouts and as little track as possible to get the job done. I used SCARM for the design. It’s a 120” x 80” shelf, with a small bump out along the back wall because the room has a weird corner thing there (I’m filling it with the canal because I want to learn how to model a water feature). I took an overhead and a 3D shot. Thanks for looking. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Nice switching plan! A few minor tweaks come to mind. Assume north is towards the canal end of the layout. I'd just as soon create a north-south stub siding for the inbound fertilizer components by rail. Trucks might have problems keeping up with raw materials for product leaving in railcars. I'd also consider a north siding behind the small businesses, with south connection to the north stub for the team track, passing through the vacant lot to and beyond a new crossover between this new siding and the north switch lead. This will create a run-around route for the locomotives to get around the railcars, and add more interest to the operations. The location of the fertilizer outbound dock may need to slide east so that cars on that curve (hanging over to the inside of the curve) can clear the dock edge. Fertilizer product could be in bags, requiring box cars, or bulk, requiring covered hoppers, or both. Making the loading shed tall enough that it could top-load hoppers inside would keep it ambiguous, divulged only by empty railcars you deliver. Incoming materials could include bags on pallets or spools (box cars), as well as raw materials via covered hoppers, or tank cars for liquids. Lots of opportunities for different car types serving this industry. The recycling yard screams for gondolas and perhaps flatcars (bundles of flattened autos?) Throw in some box cars for good measure, for smaller quantity materials. Of course including a wrecker delivering a junk car would fit too. I see lots of fun planning, building and running this layout!
[mention]BigJake [/mention] -Thanks for the feedback, I took it all. I think this is what you were suggesting for modifications to the track plan, and I appreciate the insight and suggestions regarding rolling stock-I was planning on having the shed at the fertilizer plant be high enough to service covered hoppers but I missed the mark on inbound traffic-too east to add a spur there too. Also picked up so HO scale vehicles and people. I’m going to have have some sort of “crime scene” scene play out near the canal or in the interiors of one of the small businesses near the canal.
I was actually thinking of a stub siding, parallel to the switching lead, to serve the backsides of the two small business centers. This would need a crossover right about where you added the top switch for the runaround. Without those opposite-point sidings, there is no need for the run-around. Otherwise, having all the industries' sidings served by switches pointing the same way (points towards the top left end of the tracks) makes everything easier to use, but also more boring to operate too. Adding opposite direction sidings forces spotting the cars somewhere the locomotive can run around them, to shove them onto their sidings. Obstacles can add operating interest. Think about how a fresh train with loaded cars is going to serve the industries that already have empties on their docks. The railcars are usually assembled in order at the yard, to maximize efficiency of switching the industries to be served. Of course, random placement of cars within the train can add operating interest too. Until "operating interest" becomes excessive tedium. The fertilizer company could use an overhead conveyor (enclosed) and/or piping/ducting to transfer incoming materials from the unloading shed to the factory building, while providing clearance for trucks on the roadway underneath, unless you dispense with that roadway and join the two buildings. Piping should encompass the storage tanks too.
lol Hauling a 48' produce trailer had my tractor cab ransacked at the Hunts Point Market upon seeking help after a deliberately set flat tire trap? IDK this was circa early 80's?
Well as some may have seen in the weekend update thread, I got shelves up. And that’s where “good ideas”, dreams, common sense, and some duct work all collided-strictly metaphorical, no holes actually put through duct work. First, I have to keep it to two HCDs at 80” long each. The little 40” expansion to one side can’t happen due to some duct work behind the wall. Didn’t puncture it, but it would mean a shortened track plan. Then, once the shelves were up, my desire to start my n scale layout increased dramatically and I realized that this HO scale layout was going to compete more for time and resources with it. And then I realized I had let this HO project exceed the intended scope. I first went down this road to set up a little layout that small children could play on with my old Tyco stuff. Minimize costs, use old stuff. I still need to scratch the scenery bug. I think the track plan is a good start for a freelanced n scale industrial park-the fertilizer plant is a must keep. I’d like to add more warehouses. But overall this whole thing is going to change, which I think this is a good thing. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
