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Track Plans for North American Layouts


trisonic
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Depends what type of trains you want to run. General freight trains can contain cars from almost any North American railroad. Autoracks seem to be pooled - a train of racks can have cars from 10 or 12 railroads. Grain trains would usually be made up mostly of cars from CN and their subsidiary roads - IC, GT etc. Other unit trains (coal, sulphur etc.) are usually private-owner cars. 

 

 

 

In N America the majority of the cars are owned and operated by Trailer Train (TTX).   The railroads own the racks.  That's why the rack will say UP or BNSF or NS, but the car has ETTX reporting marks.  The number of racks are assigned by TTX based on the traffic the railroad has.

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Good point that; use N to get a more spacious feel, not to cram in more track.

 

Certainly the way I'd do it.. a step towards the railway in the landscape/cityscape. I built up a healthy collection of American N scale, was mostly focussing on Vermont Railway re engines. For freight stock I tended to grab stuff that was vaguely 'North East ' ish.. don't know that was particularly prototypical. there's so much on tinternet though to give you an idea (even just Youtube and railpictures). For me I gave up on N and stuck with HO because of a fairly 'gut' feeling. I just preferred the weight and feel of HO. And at the time, sound was coming in and prohibitively expensive in N. Ultimately, there is no right way - do what you want and don't waste too much time trying to decide on stuff.. best way to learn if something works, or if it appeals, is to get stuck in and try it out!

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I've picked up a few N scale stock and little bit of track just to set something up a run a loco, definitely thinking HO might be better. The track is just so fiddly unless your using Kato. Is HO track much nicer to work with ?

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I've picked up a few N scale stock and little bit of track just to set something up a run a loco, definitely thinking HO might be better. The track is just so fiddly unless your using Kato. Is HO track much nicer to work with ?

For HO Hattons sells the Peco Code 83 line of North American (Canada, Mexico and US prototype) track. As easy as Peco OO track to work with.

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  • 6 months later...

A problem I'm having in tying to design my On30 layout is finding original depot track plans for a location from around the 1900/20s time. Unlike in the UK, where you have track plans for most stations published, I just can't find anything on USA stuff. Can anybody point me in the right direction?

 

Cheers,

 

Mike

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  • RMweb Gold

They use some in the States called Sanborn maps but I'm not sure how far they go back. Photo sources for your chosen Railroad or a similar themed one are probably the easiest source to piece together prototype ones.

Other sources would be the On30 or HOn3 annuals that Paul at EDM Models stocks over here. They feature many layouts that might help give an idea of typical NG layouts.

Paul Scoles Pelican Bay was a lovely layout based in the 1800's and you might find more useful help here on the Railroad line fora http://www.railroad-line.com/discussion/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=18660&whichpage=2

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Where in the country are you setting your layout and/or which railroad/s are you basing it on?

As Paul says the Sanbourn maps are the best bet, these were produced from 1867 for fire insurance purposes, believe it or not and are available online.

For example this is the Rockhill Furnace, PA depot of the East Broad Top dated Sept 1911

https://collection1.libraries.psu.edu/cdm/compoundobject/collection/maps1/id/22498/rec/18 (click on sheet 2 at the right)

Edited by Talltim
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Does anybody visit this thread any more to help answer questions, or is it DEAD?

 

Part of the problem is question was rather vague considering the size of the US and what exactly you were looking for.

 

As mentioned by others the Sanborn Fire Insurance maps can be a good source, while some are online they can also be found in University library collections, local museums, and other various places.

 

You can also check out the historical society for the railroad you are interested in (if it exists), or the archives if the railroad still exists.

 

With more specific info there may even be books to be recommended, though you may need a different forum to get that sort of info.

 

Facebook can also be a good source, there are a lot of groups on Facebook dedicated to certain railroads, or certain areas of the country.

 

Failing all of that, joining a general oriented group on Facebook (like say Model Rail Radio) where a wide variety of model railroaders follow things and asking there might be more conductive to an answer.

Edited by Gerald Henriksen
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 With more specific info there may even be books to be recommended, though you may need a different forum to get that sort of info.

 

As Gerald says. I have books on several narrow gauge railroads in western US states, and I know some have depot layouts in them. However, being several thousand miles away from those books at the moment, I can't be sure which do and which don't.

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Does anybody visit this thread any more to help answer questions, or is it DEAD?

My thought relating to the question was that as US railroading was/is very much a "no nonsense" affair - NG lines even more so, they'd lay whatever track is required at a given location, no more or less, & there wouldn't really be a "typical" Depot trackplan, even for a given Company, never mind more generally.

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More suited to Freight than Passenger, you could try SPINS, CLICS and ZTS - these were freight siding allocations - You can find some on-line, but they are also available (at a price!) on Ebay. As oters have said, you need to have some idea about where you are setting your RR. The USA is a huge area, and different companies had their own styles.

Edited by shortliner
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Hi all, and thanks now for your many replies and suggestion. As I said originally, I'm wanting to build a layout in On30. Now I know it's not a prototypical gauge for American Railroads, but it offers the easiest options for obtaining ready to tun stock in narrow gauge.

 

Being, for many years a dyed in the wool British GWR railway modeller in O gauge, I wanted to try something different, and having bought several Bachmann On30 locos and stock, wanted something to run them on.

 

At first, I was thinking of pure Logging Lines, however, this would limit what I wanted to portray. Then I was thinking along the lines of a connection depot, between logging line and common carrier. It's all new to me, in the American sense of railways.

 

I think I've found, in a book, something that would give me lots of ideas for a layout, and includes track plans for many places along the route. The ET&WNC route looks perfect for me, includes mine and ore work and logging connections, something that ticks all the boxes for me.

 

The book I was looking to buy is, "Blue Ridge Stemwinder". I was wondering if anybody has this, and can give me any feedback on it, before I buy it?

 

Thanks again guys for you input.

Mike

 

 
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  • RMweb Gold

Sorry no knowledge of the book but by choosing the Tweetsie you can at least have accurate locos as the 4-6-0 is an ET&WNC prototype :)

The 2016 On30 annual has a 10 page article on it's freight stock too.

Edited by PaulRhB
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Mike - if you are looking for books on logging/mining roads, it may be worth looking at http://www.railpub.com/ - a US dealer in second-hand publications. You have to add shipping to the cost so htat needs to be taken into consideration. They email an update every month on what is available, and I have found the owner to be a good guy, and very helpful. I got my copy of "Mixed Train Daily" through him

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While not Narrow gauge, Ian Wilson's books on the Canadian National include track plans and time tables for the towns he's writing about.

If you're at all interested in the Canadian National, his books NEED to be on your shelf.  I have many (but not all) of them, and they rate 5 stars IMHO.

http://ianwilsonauthor.com/canadianbranchline

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Thanks Shortliner & Mike, I'll make sure I look your suggestions up. But, I have a feeling that I'm set on he Tweetsie, so I'm looking for inspiration on something in that area, even if it's not a prototype depot, but something that will give me the general idea for a "Might have been" spur off of the line.

 

Mike

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This is a list that has been compiled of Sanborn Fire Maps for Tennesse, some of the areas your interest travelled through might be available:

 

http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/EART/sanbul_TN.html

 

Unfortunately while some of the Sanborn maps are available online a lot still remain in library/museum type collections and require a physical visit which is problematic when your not local.

 

Also, a word of advise about Sanborn maps in general - yes, they can be a good source of info but they are not like traditional maps.  Due to their purpose (fire insurance) they focused on buildings, more often when close to each other, so a map for town / city A won't necessarily cover all of A but rather they maps may appear "chopped up" as they only cover parts of A.  Thus a map of A can sometimes actually totally omit the railway if the railway was on the outskirts of town or otherwise didn't have a bunch of buildings close to each other.

 

In other words, for anyone researching Sanborn maps, it can be worth checking to see if they actually cover what you are interested in before investing a lot of time/money into looking at them.

 

[Edit]

 

They are also quite big, hence even a smaller city can be covered by multiple maps.  This is because being interested in buildings they were big enough so details of the buildings could be noted - type of construction, etc. which would influence insurance costs.

Edited by Gerald Henriksen
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Gent's, I have another question for you. Where the hell can I buy correct Decals to letter up my ET&WNC cars and loco's? Is there any UK retailers that might have them or is it something I will have to try and find from a US retailer?

I've tried looking online, but can't seem to find any company that sells them in O gauge for On30.

 

Your help would be appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Mike

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  • RMweb Gold

None I know of here and probably rare over there. You could always get them made up by someone if they aren't available if you find the photos and match the font.

Probably worth starting a separate topic on it or it will get lost in this thread with other posts.

Railroad Line Forum is probably your best bet for that info.

http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=69

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Gent's, I have another question for you. Where the hell can I buy correct Decals to letter up my ET&WNC cars and loco's? Is there any UK retailers that might have them or is it something I will have to try and find from a US retailer?

I've tried looking online, but can't seem to find any company that sells them in O gauge for On30.

 

Your help would be appreciated.

 

Cheers,

Mike

.  

Deerfield River Laser has kits to covert Bachmann On30 coaches into ET&WNC coaches.

 

http://www.deerfieldriverlaser.com/TweetsieCarsSides.html

 

You might try contacting him to see where he would suggest.  (and might want to get a few of the kits in the process)  I have a few of his kits (for the EBT) and they're very nice.

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None I know of here and probably rare over there. You could always get them made up by someone if they aren't available if you find the photos and match the font. 
Probably worth starting a separate topic on it or it will get lost in this thread with other posts. 
Railroad Line Forum is probably your best bet for that info. 
http://www.railroad-...asp?FORUM_ID=69

 

Paul, thanks. for some reason I can't log into the site. Says my user name or email is already used, but I'll keep trying.

 

Deerfield River Laser has kits to covert Bachmann On30 coaches into ET&WNC coaches.

http://www.deerfield...eCarsSides.html

You might try contacting him to see where he would suggest.  (and might want to get a few of the kits in the process)  I have a few of his kits (for the EBT) and they're very nice.

 

Mike, I'll give them a try for sure. This is all good information to a newby to On30 and American railroads.

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