Still doodling track plans for the space I have allotted me, and I came up with one adapted from a plan from Iain Rice's book "Shelf Layouts for Model Railroads". It's an HO plan called "The Small Town on the Prairie", and it's designed to fit an 8x12 room. Since my space is 2 feet narrower and 6 inches shorter, I did a little fiddling & finagling, and came up with this: Scale-HO Space- 6x11 1/2 feet Track- code 83, with code 70 in sidings & spurs Track height- 54" above floor Minimum radius- 24" main, 22" sidings & spurs Location- southern Kansas Era- mid-1970s Railroad- St. Louis-San Francisco Ry. secondary main line Grade- 0% Scenery- typical of Kansas Prairie area, farmland Turnouts- manual control Power- standard DC, but considering DCC Trains- locals, one through freight This is not a final plan by any means- if I get good enough suggestions, I may use them. Comments?
Not sure which track is the main through Durum, but in either case it takes the diverging route through two turnouts. That would be unusual for the prototype.
Slow but sure. I just finished making a repair on the kitchen floor (took out a weak section of subflooring, added shored-up joists at the expense of a finger- that hammer really hurt!) and put in new subflooring. All the utilities are on, we're living in the house, so we're all under one roof. The room I have allocated me was an afterthought by some jakeleg contractor who knew diddly about building (I'm finding some of his foulups here & there all thru the dang house), and left a very weak floor. Once the remodel is largely over, I'll start on the layout room with a stronger floor & redo some of the wiring. Tad- I'm seriously considering getting back to HO with this layout. I have quite a bit of HO gear, and my eyes are starting to get a little weaker Stronger bifocals? Looks that way........gotta love aging S_R_N : The track closest to the wall in the Durum area is the main, and would only go through one diverging turnout, on the right side. While not usual, it does exist in real life here & there, and since this is a secondary main with the relatively low traffic levels, I don't see a problem.
OK, the turnout just to the right of that one looked like a diverging route too, but on closer inspection, I guess not.
Hi Bob Really like your plan for it's simplicity & great switching potential. But couldn't help doodling w/ your track plan. So added another spur at Durum for 1-2 more industries. At Fish Creek got rid of the switchback on right side. Is Fish Creek also an interchange point or staging or both? Any of the 3 spurs on my plan could be used for interchange. Also any of them could be used for loco storage/servicing. Also there's room here for some stub end yard tracks &/or switching spots. You've mentioned a thru freight to "get in the way" of the switch jobs. It could also be a mixed freight that has one pax car or even a caboose used for passengers. Maybe you could even have a doodlebug to do the same thing. Only know that's the way Santa Fe used to do so can't speak for the Frisco. A station at Durum could be nothing more than a picture on the wall/backdrop. Ditto Fish Creek.
Andy- I had been considering redoing the Flint Creek trackage, since that may be no more than a scenicked staging yard/interchange point. Looking at what you added, I may incorporate that. As for passenger service- it would work if I were to backdate the layout to the '40s, in which case all I need would be a doodlebug for passenger service and my Bachmann Spectrum Russian Decapod for freight (and, actually, it's a pretty good suggestion- thanks for mentioning it). However, since I'm running in the mid-70s, I'll be predominantly using my GP7s as local power. In Flint Creek, I have a Missouri Pacific interchange (I may switch over to Santa Fe) that serves as another industry of sorts. However, Frisco also ran mixed freights with a baggage car and a caboose (a la the train on the Clinton Subdivision in Missouri, and the local on the A&A sub in southeastern Oklahoma), as well as using doodlebugs (Hugo, OK was a good gathering place for these beasts on their runs on the A&A Sub) in several areas. At Durum, I have considered widening the space between the main & siding & adding a metal building a la what the Frisco did a lot of to replace closed agencies or decrepit older depots. I may also redo the tracks at the co-op to allow for more covered grain hoppers to be placed there- at least twice a year, the area I model would be busy with harvest of wheat and soybeans (BTW, durum is the name of a hardy wheat used for making pasta- the scientific name is Triticum turgidum, formerly T. durum. Probably not the species of wheat grown in the area I'm modeling, but the name lends itself well to the main commodity hauled, as well as the town name). S_R_N - no sweat, it's all good. And in case nobody said it yet, welcome to Trainboard.
Bob- So you have me curious- Is/was Durum actually a station on the Frisco? Or an appropriately imagineered name for a generic Frisco scene? I have a T-Trak module which carries the name "Grainburg." This is simply to describe it's setting, when completed. Boxcab E50
I like this plan. One idea more, what about a cassette staging instead of the lowest track. You can build your own and must not buy Produkte :angel: This can be an interchange track, too. Wolfgang
OK, after incorporating a pretty-darn-good suggestion, here's a revised version of the plan: I redid some of the turnouts on the interchange track at Flint Creek- this gives me yet another industry of sorts, as I can pick up & set out cars for the Santa Fe/MP local crews here. I also redid one of the Durum industrial spur a bit, but otherwise I left the trackage alone. In this plan, as in the Iain Rice trackplan from which I derived this, Flint Creek will be a scenicked staging yard where I can salt away a local, through freight, or whatever else I wish to put there (foreign-road train, perhaps?). Were I tempted to turn the clock back 20-30 years from where I want to be, I foresee a gas-electric used for whatever passenger service needed, plus a single diesel or small steamer as road power for freight trains. Since I have a Frisco Decapod as well as a couple of fully-striped black & yellow diesels, there's nothing to keep me from doing a little backdating, such as what Rick McClellan does with his HO scale Frisco Northern Division layout. I have a bunch of code 83 track left from a previous layout, but I'm also considering using more code 70 track for sidings and spurs to go with the light trackage seen on branchlines. Man, I gotta hurry up & get this darn house remodeling done already!!!!:tb-wink:
Bob There's nothing wrong w/ running equipment from different eras. Plan on running doing that w/ my LAJ layout. Starting out w/ '60s era ALCO S-2/4s then will go to CF7s, First ones will be Santa Fe's then get some LAJ CF7s. Will even use some structures from different eras in same spot. Ditto w/ freight cars from different eras.
I too have taken note of this shelf layout design and like it very much for the 7.5' x 13' room that I have available. Another good competing layout idea is the Heart of Georgia which is so very popular that it even has a blog! http://hogrr.blogspot.com/2009/11/welcome-to-heart-of-georgia-hog-layout.html As designed by Scott Perry, that one is 8' x 9' and calls itself the better beginner's HO layout. It is worth a look also. Rick
