New layout, ideas needed!

[ChadYelland]

Allright, i give up. i'm starting fresh, i'm thinking a layout of my home town and a few connecting small jerk water towns. here is a clip of the 1957 map, can 38 miles be fit into 38ft?? I'd like to do the stretch from my home town of Tisdale to the northern town of Nipawin. only problem is i may have to convert to CP rolling stock to be "authentic" , the end towns would be detailed, the little places may have a boxcar station and elevator... I think 1940-50 era. also see how the track bends at Nipawin and crosses the saskatchwan river, on one of the most unique bridges you'll ever see, allso there is a 500ft 100ft hight trestle just north of runciman, i have all the municipal maps showing rivers and the exact bends in the track. what do you all think? besides this line, i get to have the crossovers, and would like to hide a return track so i can make loops.

 

[ChadYelland]

heres the end towns, and since at Nipawin the tracks make a 90 bend, i could allways continue the layout at some point.

 

[ChadYelland]

ok hows this,, i could bend tisdale around the corner to gain more room???

 

[MilesWestern]

I like it. But didn't you want a loop for continous running? I like how well you compressed the tows, good work! Do you have any access to photos of the 1950's in that area?

 

[ChadYelland]

yes, i can find pics, my father has lived around here for 68yrs, hauled lots of grain to Runciman, do you think i can hide the return loop at the back or under the table??

 

[Triplex]

You're NOT going to be able to make wyes that small.

 

[yellowlynn]

I think this got your picture to size.

Lynn

 

[green_elite_cab]

Allright, i give up. i'm starting fresh, i'm thinking a layout of my home town and a few connecting small jerk water towns. here is a clip of the 1957 map, can 38 miles be fit into 38ft?? I'd like to do the stretch from my home town of Tisdale to the northern town of Nipawin. only problem is i may have to convert to CP rolling stock to be "authentic" , the end towns would be detailed, the little places may have a boxcar station and elevator... I think 1940-50 era. also see how the track bends at Nipawin and crosses the saskatchwan river, on one of the most unique bridges you'll ever see, allso there is a 500ft 100ft hight trestle just north of runciman, i have all the municipal maps showing rivers and the exact bends in the track. what do you all think? besides this line, i get to have the crossovers, and would like to hide a return track so i can make loops.

you'd have to selectively compress, but you can get the most important key sturctures in there.

Also, you don't need to convert all your rolling stock to CP. For example, my lcoal freight in NJ genrealy has Wisconsin Central, Central Vermont, SP, CN, , even a guilford terminal boxcars, all in the mix. you could have a Union Pacific Box car in the mix and it wouldn't make a difference at all.

then there are all the private owned cars that are all over the rails. you can run anything you want.

 

[green_elite_cab]

ok hows this,, i could bend tisdale around the corner to gain more room???

as was said, you won't be able to get wyes that small. each leg of the wye should be big enough to handle the longest set of locomotives ( an A-B-A set of F-7s, for example) as long as you have those yards to store the trains in while the locomotives turn, i don't think it will cause to much of an operations problem.

I think you had a good idea before, where one track was hidden in the back so you could have continuous run. you could even have a track go down to a stageing yard beneath the layout.

 

[60103]

Chad: the curves at the end of the layout look awfully small for HO.
I suspect the grain trains of the 40s and 50s would be very heavy on CPR boxcars. However, because of the war, there would be a variety of building styles; lots of outside braced (single sheathed) wood and metal (composite) cars, with a bunch of all metal cars. I wonder if the grain traffic got any new cars?
From a Member of Parliament (probably eastern)
The little birdies in the trees go "Tweet, tweet, tweet".
The little flowers in the spring smell sweet, sweet, sweet.
But the damnedest words I ever hear were "Wheat! wheat! wheat!"

 

[Ralph]

"I think this got your picture to size.

Lynn"


Nice work Lynn!
Ralph

 

[ChadYelland]

I hope you guys realise that that was free hand done in winpaint and other then the basic layout shape it does not represent actuall radius or track length. Oh, and i read in a horail magazine about Homasote?? track base construction, what is that in "canadian" no one up here knows what it is. I may not be a pro modeler but please give me credit not to make engine storage tracks shorter then the engine! 2 GP9's back to back will be about the longest, but if there back to back i have no need to turn them around, so my Hudson is the longest, and most likely it will be moguls or prairie steam if i get some. the thing is can you get 6 whistle stops in 38ft?

 

[ChadYelland]

The Nipawin bridge over the Saskatchewan river, may make a nice project in the future. its still in use so i can take pictures and possibly even measurements

 

[green_elite_cab]

I hope you guys realise that that was free hand done in winpaint and other then the basic layout shape it does not represent actuall radius or track length. Oh, and i read in a horail magazine about Homasote?? track base construction, what is that in "canadian" no one up here knows what it is. I may not be a pro modeler but please give me credit not to make engine storage tracks shorter then the engine! 2 GP9's back to back will be about the longest, but if there back to back i have no need to turn them around, so my Hudson is the longest, and most likely it will be moguls or prairie steam if i get some. the thing is can you get 6 whistle stops in 38ft?

Yes, but it still won't fit in scale. i could try to use a computer track planning thing to see if i could fit it in.

you are talking about Homosote. its like a wall board. its easy to cut and everything, but its an older technique, its alot of cutting and work though. i can't remember exactly what it is either, but i have it in a book. Have you considered Cork Roadbed by Midwest products? thats why my layout runs on, and its easy stuff, that works and looks great. Its already in scale, and ready to go. you just need to peal the halves apart, and orient them the right way, then use elmer's ( or any old white craft glue) to glue it down to whatever you are working on.

with a minimum of two 9 inch pieces, you can get your two GP9s to fit, and just about any other combination of 2 early diesels. you could fit a pair of SD40-2s on that.

if you add a 6 inch piece, you can fit an extra GP9 if you want to triple head. that might also allow for double headed steam, but i don't know. Its not that you can't fit a wye, (with your track plan, it would be a good idea to have atleast one) its just that we need to figure out, how can we fit it in?

 

[green_elite_cab]

The Nipawin bridge over the Saskatchewan river, my make a nice project in the future. its still in use so i can take pictures and possibly even measurements

thats an impressive bridge. that neat how the road goes under it. imgaine driveing a convertible with the top down under there while a train was going by? thats certainly an intersting expierence.

 

[Ralph]

Hi guys,
Homosote is a pressed paper fiber board. Its gray in appearance and can be found in 4X8 foot sheets at lumber yards and some hardware stores. It cuts easily with a jig saw but leaves a bit of a mess of fibers to clean up. Modelers like it for its sound absorbing quality and its texture that readily accepts track spikes. Its recommended that you seal the homosote by painting it with latex because the material is susceptible to expansion and contraction during humidity changes. There are companies that sell pre-cut roadbed out of homosote.
Ralph

 

[ChadYelland]

This magazine they used this homosote as the actual track base/support then stapled screen mesh to it to form the terrain around it, not just as grade and ballast, I will use the cork type for that. ya its quite the bridge, it used to have 2 way traffic below but now is one way with lights at each end. ppl walking to town used to walk or bike On Top! dad tried it once said he got out over the water and crawled back.

 

[60103]

Chad: most of my layout top is Homasote (note spelling). I like it. It's one of a few modelling materials that you can push a spike or small nail into and they stay. If I were doing handlaid track, I would definitely use it.
Getting it is a problem. Most places have never heard of it. Google it to get the manufacturer. or try this site. (Regret this site is not Canada friendly.) :cry: :curse:
I did one layout using 4" wide Homasote as roadbed and glued or whatever the scenery materials to the bottom or top as required.
I use it all by itself with no problems. but other people like a half-inch of plywood underneath.
When I needed some for my current layout, we phoned all the lumberyards in the yellow pages until we found one that stocked it.

 

[ChadYelland]

ya, i'll google it and see if i can find out more about homasote,, i think i had it right on the first post. the one i saw they used about 4 strips on edge so it could be curved and glued them together, looked neat, my first layout i used 2 inch pink styrofoam, on the entire sureface, but you have to glue the track down and im not 100% sure i like that,, not untill final Final setup

 

[Triplex]

the thing is can you get 6 whistle stops in 38ft?

I wouldn't try that even in N. That's only 6'4" per stop. In HO, 2 40' freight cars (appropriate for the transition era) or one passenger car will take up 12". Trains will regularly be in two towns at once.