The New Nickelcreek Southern RR

[asab501]

This is an update of the Nickelcreek Southern RR. Due to work, home projects and other commitments, work has only proceeded as far as the benchwork construction. However, upon assembling the benchwork and preliminary drawing of the track on the benchwork, I have concluded that the design would have several areas that reachability would be a problem.

So out came the research books and magazines. As I kept researching for the right plan, I kept coming back to one I always liked for its simple design and operational capabilities. It was designed by Robert Nicholson and published in Model Railroader's 48 Top Notch Track Plans (The Iowa Central). Even though it was done in S scale, I decided to adapt it to N scale. So I fired up the computer and RTS and now I have my plan. For those who have this book, you can check out the plan on pages 84-86.

His plan was designed for point-to-loop operation, with continuous running possible via the connecting track at what he called Breda Jct and I am calling Marie Jct for my granddaughter. Also the towns have been renamed Elizabethtown (for another granddaughter), Charlestown (for me), Nickelcreek (for the founder of my railroad) and Susanville (for my wife). I will try to stay close to Robert's history and operations outlined in his plan. It would be too long to restate here, so if you have the book you will know what I am planning and it will also help me narrow my era, something I had planned to do for a long time. According to the author of the plan, he never built it, so this should be fun.

Attached are two images for those who may not remember my original idea. The first is the old plan:

Second image is the new plan:

As always comments are welcome.

Thanks,
Charles

 

[screwysquirrel]

your plan

I'm sort of curious why the two largish yards to the side of the loop part of the layout?


Why not make the second yard another return loop, if you have a space?

 

[asab501]

screwysquirrel,

The center penisula represents the yard at West Susanville and the lower penisula represents Downtown Susanville where several industries will be represented with wall flats. A typical day on the railroad will require the yard engine at West Susanville to begin rounding up cars for the westbound train.

This will require several trips to downtown as various connecting roads make deliveries and industries call for cars to be pulled, spotted, and reset. Cars for the outbound train are brought back to West Susanville several times and lined up for departure in the yard.

 

[shamus]

Hi Charles,
I prefer the top plan as it gives far more space for scenics, the bottom plan although looks okay, might at some stage cause problems in the wiring because of the reverse loop and wye. If on the other hand you do that plan and need help with the wiring, I will help you with it.
shamus

 

[asab501]

Shamus,

Thanks for the offer. I really want the layout to be DCC this time and I will be the first to admit I am not the "genius" when it comes to the wiring. I do understand the basics and can wire those simple aspects but it seems the more I read on special considerations such as wye's and reverse loops, the more confused I become. I'm sure sometimes I'm reading more into it than it really is.


I plan on doing this in phases with the first phase to be the loop portion of the plan so at least I can get up and running. The yard at West Susanville and the downtown Susanville penisulas will be over a course of time.

I would be happy to send you the Atlas Right Track .ral file if you wish. Just let me know.

Thanks again for the offer.

 

[railohio]

I recognize that plan... It was published in Model Railroader in 1993 as the "Iowa Central" or something like that. Cool plan, I always liked it. Nice to see someone using those conceptual articles.

 

[asab501]

Thanks Brian. Yes, it is "The Iowa Central, Class 1 operation on a simple S scale layout" published by MR. I always liked it and the plan kept coming back to me, so I said why not in N scale. I think that it is going to be fun to bring it to life.

 

[brakie]

Nice looking layout and one that looks like a transportation system.. Nice choice!

 

[60103]

Charles:
for wiring, your plan has one reverse loop and one wye. You will need 2 DCC reverse modules.
The reverse loop will have to include the track from Charlestown (just past the frog) to Marie Jct. and should include enough track beyond that for one train length. This is so that the back of the train doesn't set the loop one way while the front sets it the other.
I think the other reverse section should include the lower switch of the wye at West Susanville and the entire lower peninsula of Downtown Susanville. Gaps to go anywhere convenient on the two wye legs.

 

[asab501]

David:

Thanks for the info on wiring the loop and the wye. I have filed this info for the future when I get to the wiring portion. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[Ralph]

I like your second plan because it seems to provide a lot of operating potential. You could have one train continously running while working the industries from the yard with another. It looks good for two person operation as well if you want to include some one else in the fun. I came close to using a similar design but my layout room isn't wide enough to accomodate the two penninsulas so I turned it into a long u shaped dogbone. Looking forward to watching things develop!
Ralph

 

[CN1]

It looks good to me.

I do like your first plan better because you do have "continuous operations" on the whole lenght of the layout. It does not seems so on the second one.

There's lots of switching potential on the 2nd plan, so I like that part too.

Realy, it's up to you. What do you like?

My layout is based on a combination of both: Continous operations (semi-folded-dogbone) and switching operations (3 yards) on 2 level.