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Track Plans for North American Layouts


trisonic
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Another American based switching layout. A guy in another forum (modelrailroadforums.com) posted a link to an industry park in Liverpool, New York state: http://binged.it/KU6nud

 

I tried to preserve the look and feel of the place in H0 scale in 11 feet x 20" of layout, with 36" of cassette at the end:

 

crossroads01.jpg

 

The main cheat was adding a transload track at the left, so there would be two facing spurs at that end, instead of just one, making switching a little easier (since it makes it possible to pull a car and then spot a new car before taking the pulled car back towards the cassette.

 

Smile,

Stein

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Yet another North American track plan - this time based on the Bush Terminal Railroad in Brooklyn, New York. You can see the original here: http://members.train...indloco/bt.html

 

This is the H0 scale track plan, which was drawn to fit a specific footprint going around one outside corner and one inside corner:

Edit: new rendering, to better show tracks

1st_avenue-clearer.jpg

 

Smile,

Stein

Edited by steinjr
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A very similar concept to one I've had in my head for a while, with viewing from west side of the 1st Avenue yard. (for some reason my mind keeps thinking that there is water on this side of the yard, despite the fact that there are some huge warehouses between it and the water!) I like the fact that you have included this spur http://members.train...wastesiding.jpg

I can't help feeling you have missed a trick by not having any tracks going into warehouses at right angles , which I feel is a distinctive feature, but does take up space, and also by not including this trackwork anywhere http://g.co/maps/pfh76

Depending on period you could also have the unloading dock in the yard for unloading subway cars from flat cars http://members.train...grampaerial.jpg

Edited by Talltim
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Stein, For some reason the last plan did not come out very well. Some lines missing and/or "broken". Can you try again?

 

Changed the image some - how does it look now?

 

A very similar concept to one I've had in my head for a while, with viewing from west side of the 1st Avenue yard. (for some reason my mind keeps thinking that there is water on this side of the yard, despite the fact that there are some huge warehouses between it and the water!) I like the fact that you have included this spur http://members.train...wastesiding.jpg

 

 

Can't take credit for that specific siding - it was in a track plan I commented on, suggesting that to get the look and feel of Bush terminal, you need a bit of yard, and preferably also a tracks running into a narrow alley in a C shaped loft building.

 

I can't help feeling you have missed a trick by not having any tracks going into warehouses at right angles , which I feel is a distinctive feature, but does take up space,

 

I tried to include it. The only two places where it seems possible is on the two shorter peninsulas (peninsulae?) - I made a sketch for one possible solution for one of the two - where the car float is in the main plan:

 

c-loft.jpg

 

 

Scenically, it would look great, but operationally, having the carfloat and the track to the Brooklyn Army Terminal has more play value.

 

I also tried sketching a float yard more like at New York Dock's Fulton terminal :

fulton-dock.jpg

 

Having a yard down there would allow more of the main part of the layout to be used for lofts and street running instead of a yard. But I just like the first street yard better.

 

 

and also by not including this trackwork anywhere http://g.co/maps/pfh76

Depending on period you could also have the unloading dock in the yard for unloading subway cars from flat cars http://members.train...grampaerial.jpg

 

Love them both, but not sure where they could have been worked into the plan in a good way.

 

Smile,

Stein

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Stein, Yes by a factor of 100!

 

lakeview770 - Do you have permission to post that layout plan????????? I'm sure it is copyright controlled................If not please delete it and post a link to it instead...

 

Cheers, Pete.

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I think you did right to prioritise the car float, it's the raison d'être for the yard. I'm tempted to have a go myself now, using the same room constraints you have

 

Go for it - I'd love to see your representation of the look and feel of Brooklyn waterfront railroading - it is a fascinating theme.

 

Btw - this is not a plan for myself, just something I doodled for a discussion about a track plan over on the Model Railroad Hobbyist web forum.

 

Smile,

Stein

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I've recently been able to find an article published by Model Railroader, the August 1960 issue, on an American shortline I have been trying to research for some time. The railroad is The Branford Steam Rail Road, in Branford Ct. It was named this because Branford allready had an Electric Railroad and they wanted to distinguish between it. The line is a whole 6 miles long operated as a point to point between the Tilcon trap rock stone quarry in North Branford and a water terminal off of Juniper point on the Long Island Sound.

 

The original motive power was provided by two 0-4-0 Vulcan tank engines, at least one of which is now located at Steam Town USA National Historic Park. In the 1960's motive power moved to three GE 44 toners, which I am pretty sure are still being used today.

 

My wife is from East Haven/New Haven Ct and her brother lives in Branford so this is how I found this little gem. Of course neither of them know much about it other than the train hauls rock from the quarry to the sound The line still has an interchange with what was once the New Haven Rail road just North of their Pine Orchard yard. This yard is basically the end of the line other than the water terminal facilities. They run 12 hopper car trains between the quarry yard and the Pine Orchard yard with one loco serving the quarry, one serving the Pine Orchard yard/Water Terminal and one road locomotive.

 

I can scan the article from MR if anyone would like to help me design an HO model of this. I'm not sure about the UK copyright laws so I don't want to get the site in any trouble. Unfortunatly I have zero design skills so even something as straight forward as a 6 mile long railroad throws me a curve.

 

Tom

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I've recently been able to find an article published by Model Railroader, the August 1960 issue, on an American shortline I have been trying to research for some time. The railroad is The Branford Steam Rail Road, in Branford Ct. It was named this because Branford allready had an Electric Railroad and they wanted to distinguish between it. The line is a whole 6 miles long operated as a point to point between the Tilcon trap rock stone quarry in North Branford and a water terminal off of Juniper point on the Long Island Sound.

 

The original motive power was provided by two 0-4-0 Vulcan tank engines, at least one of which is now located at Steam Town USA National Historic Park. In the 1960's motive power moved to three GE 44 toners, which I am pretty sure are still being used today.

 

My wife is from East Haven/New Haven Ct and her brother lives in Branford so this is how I found this little gem. Of course neither of them know much about it other than the train hauls rock from the quarry to the sound The line still has an interchange with what was once the New Haven Rail road just North of their Pine Orchard yard. This yard is basically the end of the line other than the water terminal facilities. They run 12 hopper car trains between the quarry yard and the Pine Orchard yard with one loco serving the quarry, one serving the Pine Orchard yard/Water Terminal and one road locomotive.

 

I can scan the article from MR if anyone would like to help me design an HO model of this. I'm not sure about the UK copyright laws so I don't want to get the site in any trouble. Unfortunatly I have zero design skills so even something as straight forward as a 6 mile long railroad throws me a curve.

 

 

Hi Tom --

 

If I remember correctly, you found in another thread that a 1250 foot long industrial park near Fredricksburg too long for what space you were able to/willing to use - it would take about 14 feet uncompressed in H0 scale, and you wanted to do it in less than 8 feet in H0 scale, while you were not willing to do much compression, since you thought it made things look too different from the prototype.

 

Six miles of track is about 25 times as long as those 1250 feet for your last layout planning attempt. Clearly, trying to model six miles instead of 1/5th of a mile in the same layout space means more compression/more selection, not less.

 

How much space do you intend to use for this new layout idea, and how much selection and compression are you willing to apply?

 

Smile,

Stein

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Perhaps one way around compression of a chosen subject is to do it full size but in a series of vignettes. That is you model the parts you want to model as opposed to the whole - then you can have a small series of them using theatre type scenic windows.

Does this make sense?

 

Best, Pete.

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No I realize it would need to be compressed, to do it in N scale inch for inch would take 200 feet. I model in HO so compression would be absolutley necessary. Just a rough estimate but if I reduced the size of a train from 12 40 ft hoppers to 8... It may be possible to do the quarry/yard in an 8 foot space. Have a small length of mainline representing the whole and then have another scene representing the Pine Orchard yard/interchange/terminal. The last two parts I have no idea how to do. Perhaps it could end up as a "U" shaped layout.

 

Perhaps one way around compression of a chosen subject is to do it full size but in a series of vignettes. That is you model the parts you want to model as opposed to the whole - then you can have a small series of them using theatre type scenic windows.

Does this make sense?

 

Best, Pete.

 

 

As Pete says this was my thinking though the term vignettes is better than what I was trying to say. I find this to be a near perfect railroad as it is so compact yet gives you the chance to do real-life operations. Compression is just a fact of life unless you want to model on the molecular scale. The Fredericksburg industrial park is interesting due to being right here for me to see, however it just doesn't seem to me now after seeing what plans could come out of it that it would make much sense as a model.

 

I do have the article scanned if anyone wants to see the railroad as it is, I just don't know where I can post it.... photo bucket appears not to take pdf files.

 

Tom

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I do have the article scanned if anyone wants to see the railroad as it is, I just don't know where I can post it.... photo bucket appears not to take pdf files.

 

Tom

I'd very seriously suggest that you don't post the article ANYWHERE on the interwebbythingie - MRR take their copyright VERY seriously, and you may well find a large and aggressive damages and legal costs claim heading your way! They have, after all, just put out their complete back issues on a DVD set. Much better safe than sorry!

Edited by shortliner
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For the Branford Steam Railroad, I would just look at what is there today. Rock hoppers are short - also in modern times.

 

North Branford end: http://binged.it/L26WBz

Yard at Pleasant Point Road: http://binged.it/L275VB

One way goes to the Barge Terminal at Juniper Point: http://binged.it/L7NFEe

The other way to an Interchange point with the Providence and Worcester RR (a couple of tracks off the North-East corridor)?: http://binged.it/L7ZFWg

 

Edit: BTW, Tom - you still haven't told us how much space you are actually planning to use for this layout, on how that space fits into the room where you want to build your layout.

 

Smile

Stein

Edited by steinjr
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  • 1 month later...

Hi all, I just joined here today. It's fun to see so many names from other places around the web that I recognise here.

Anyway, I found this thread and had a good look through it, as I'm looking to build a couple of modules that are based on the NMRA-BR modules (in turn based on the RS tower module concept). I am an NMRA-BR member and when I can (which is not often enough) I attend the local meets in Plymouth. The modules I've designed so far are a set of largely scenic boards with a 'story'. These were designed to eventually join up with other boards by the Plymouth and RS Tower guys, to provide a little scenic length and distance between other yard type boards. However, I am away from home a lot, and have another 'semi-permanent' base now, so perhaps it would be fun to redesign them and provide myself with two boards that can be a little bit more 'stand alone' and provide me with some building and switching fun while away.

 

Anyway, I thought to share the scenic boards here first. In the mean time I'll be drawing some inspiration from the trackplans already posted here.

 

Cheers , Koos post-16101-0-20480500-1341509637_thumb.png

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Just out of curiosity, the note says you swapped a #8 for a #6 switch, any particular reason why?

yes, it being on a 'main line' , and the only switch there, I wanted one that looked great and realistic, and provides smooth running for the trains.

Hence going for the #8.

 

Koos

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I haven't spent all my time trawling around "shortlines" in the North East (or even in New Jersey - there are craploads!) Most shortlines now specify No. 8 's as the minimum switch. They are not all the same length, however. I'm going to be using Shinohara Code 70 No. 8 switches on my "new" diorama - they look so beautiful...

 

Best, Pete.

Edited by trisonic
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