Gary S. track plan

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Nomad

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Sep 26, 2006
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Elks Plain, Washington
Hi everyone:wave:
Gary is away from the computer for the week, so I am helping with this. He wants to finish his last table but is stuck on a track plan. Here is a quick idea of what he wants. This is a crude rough of what Gary was thinking of that I did in XTRK. Squares are 12". Table is already built.

garytrackplan1.jpg


The top track is where his bridge is. That has to stay 4" from the inside edge. The little box is a support beam, so that cannot be moved. He has a building that is 6' long and 4" deep that has to go somewhere. He needs an interchange that is at least 4 tracks and 5 to 6' feet long. Also requires a runaround that is about 6 to 7' long. Other than that, all bets are off.
On the small part of the L Gary was thinking of an urban setting with smaller industries, since most of his are pretty big. That seems to be where he is stuck. Oh yeah, Gary time frame is the 70s. Personally, I am thinking of putting a diesel service area in the smaller area. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Loren
 
The yard needs a switching lead to avoid fouling the main while doing any yard work. Looks like it would be pretty easy to add on the inside of the lower curve.

my thoughts, your choices
 
It appears that only two of the four "interchange yard" tracks meet the criteria of 5-6 feet long. Moving the engine escape crossover further towards the "top" would do it.

Also lengthen the passing siding that the yard come off of. It is not quite 6 feet long either.

While I agree that a drill track is a good idea (as per Fred's suggestion), it is not mandatory to have one. You can creat all sorts of havoc fouling the main...! ;) :D

I assume that the exisiting building will go down the left side along that very long siding? It would be kind of interesting to try to incorporate the support beam (box) into the building itself to help hide it...

Jim - I don't follow your question...

Loren - which way does the track continue? I think I read it right in thinking it goes off the top of the diagram, but what about to the right off the bottom leg of the "L" shaped shelf?

Andrew
 
pgandw said:
The yard needs a switching lead to avoid fouling the main while doing any yard work. Looks like it would be pretty easy to add on the inside of the lower curve.

my thoughts, your choices
Click to expand...

Just add a right hand turnout at the lower end of the passing track to extend the main passing track as a spur. Even if the drill track is only half as long as a yard track, it will make multiple train operations possible while not making operations "too easy".
 
I was able to find a few minutes between my meeting today and tonight's dinner meeting to jump on the hotel computer.

Loren: Thank you for doing the drawing and thank you for starting this thread.:)

To answer some questions:

Loren: I had also thought of a diesel service area down at the bottom. But I have room for that over at the other interchange yard. I thought the lower L would be more interesting as a tight little urban industrial area. Alternatively, I saw a neat floor tile factory kitbash in an old Model Railroad Craftsman back issue that may be just the ticket. Multiple buildings with several spurs for covered hoppers and tank cars for incoming raw materials, and a spur for boxcars shipping out product.

Andrew: The engine escape can most likely be removed since all my trains will be arriving from the top of the diagram and will have to pull past the interchange and then back in. Plus, those couple of tracks could be lengthened a bit too. That should give me plenty of room for the number of cars I will handle in an operating session.

Andrew and Fred: The "yard" is really more of an interchange, I will pretend that cars are coming in from the top and being left there for my shortline to pick up and take to the industries. And the "main" isn't so much a main as just a track to get to the industries on the lower "L". So, no through-traffic on that track, so I feel a yard lead is not warranted, but am open to suggestions on this topic. With this info, does anyone see a major need for a yard lead?

Andrew: The 6 foot building will go on the left at the long spur. I also have considered incorporating the support column into the building... but the kitbashed structure is only 4" deep and the column is 5". don't know if I want to add on another 1" of roof that is 6 feet long!

Andrew: The track comes in from the top and dead ends on the right at the bottom of the "L".

Big Jim: I see what you are saying about the double crossover. That would let one of the lower tracks be used as a lead without having to go on the "main". Nice suggestion! But I'm still not convinced I need the lead.

Andrew: The run-around could be made longer by moving the switch further to the top.

All: I'm fairly happy with the upper section, but am completely open to any redesign of the whole thing.

Now, the lower L is where I am not sure how to get the best use out of that section. Any time you guys spend on this would be much appreciated.:)

Gary
 
Oh, BTW, the entire layout is a pure pont-to-point shortline that has 75 feet of total shelves. There is another interchange yard at the opposite end of the layout that is on the other side of the room.

Operations will basically be local freights getting cars from the interchanges for the industries and picking them up for return to the industries.
 
Guys, sorry I could not be here to answer questions sooner, but it has been a busy day. And tomorrow looks to be the same way.
Gary, glad you took over, thanks.

Loren
 
And I'm back on the hotel computer again but I should really be in bed... early morning meetings. Thanks again for doing the drawing and starting the thread.

I am anxious to start laying roadbed this weekend, so any suggestions would be much appreciated. Always helps to get a few differing opinions of what needs to be done, just to make sure that no possibility gets overlooked.

Gary
 
You really should not move that top switch just to extend the runaround a few inches. You should have a straight solid track before you enter the bridge. Lessen the chance of a derail going onto the bridge.
The problem I see going into the lower L is the curve. That eats up a lot of space.

Loren
 
I would still move that turnout for the passing siding (the one nearest the column) up a bit to lengthen the siding. There is plenty of room before the connection to the rest of the layout.

I would not remove the engine escape, since, well, you never know...! ;) :rolleyes:

*bing* light bulb went on - I understand about the double crossover, and I too think it is a great suggestion. It will allow the use of one of those lower sidings as a drill track too... Very clever! :thumb:

As for the lower section - what industries do you want to put in there? There is quite a bit of room for a number of smaller operations, or one big one.

Andrew
 
Andrew, thanks for your help. Gary is thinking of an urban industrial area, a lot of smaller industries with tracks going all over. Not a switching puzzle, just a crowded industrial area.

Loren
 
Take a look at Mike Hamer's track plan for numerous industries fit into a small "corner-ish": area. It operates well, and there is plenty of variety. There are a couple of reach issues though, so beware of those. The other main change you'd probably want to make (but not necessarily) is that a station may not be required at the end of the line.

You can see the area I am referring to in the "upper" part of his layout:
Mike

Andrew
 
Loren, that does look good with lots of switching opportunities. One thought concerning that little run-around track down at the bottom... what if I eliminated that and just used the big run-around by the interchange? This would do away with a couple switches and make the trackwork simpler.

What do yall think?
 
The way Loren has drawn it - it's not a run around, it's a diamond. But you could turn it into a runaround by substituting a slip switch. Whether or not that simplifies the trackwork is your call...! ;)

Whether or not it's "approriate" depends on how far away you imagine the industrial section to be from the yard. If it's only a few miles or less, use the "yard" runaround. If it's several miles or more, then a separate runaround would be more appropriate.

I have also sketched (not nearly as nice as Loren's XTrkCAD drawing) the changes suggested by bigjim (double crossover) and a few others.

I am not entirely sure about the industrial area, but I don't know what you have in mind (plus it's not my layout...! hamr). What sort of businesses are you thinking about adding?

Andrew
 

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I didn't even notice that was a diamond.:-? I do remember thinking, "those switches are awful close together":-D

I am envisioning the lower industrial area to be very close to the upper run-around. I guess it is a moot point since the lower run-around doesn't exist!

Well, I am pretty much liking what I see. I like Andrew's suggestion of moving that one switch up higher on the drawing. Thanks to everyone who helped. I will print out the diagram and study it tonight, and I want to start on roadbed tomorrow.

Now, if anyone sees other possibilities, I haven't glued anything yet.
 
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