The Kansas & Colorado Ry. Co.

[Hector_A]

I am currently building a new layout from scratch in HO scale. The general arrangement is inspired in a plan by Robert Schleicher which was published in Model Railroading magazine November/December 1983. The original was for a 9 x 8 ft.room. I attach a .pdf files of the whole article.

 

Since my available space was slightly larger (10 x 8 ft.) I modified several areas. The door is narrower and there is a sewage pipe (from an upstairs bathroom) near to it that had to be taken on account. The original staging was linear and required a lot of hidden turnouts, so I toyed with the idea of using a traverser instead. As I am a retired surveying engineer and have been using CAD since 1985 the logical step was getting down to draw the whole thing. I enclose a .pdf of the final layout to better illustrate its three levels.

 

There are, as always, household compromises to be taken care of. This is a spare room used for out-of-season clothing storage, so I settled down to build storage as the foundation for the layout. It was agreed that 1m20 high closets were adequate for the purpose and I ended with a 61cm deep closet along the 3m long wall for clothes plus two narrower ones roughly 35cm deep along the shorter walls for odds and ends (shoes, et al). I recently built a fourth closet 61cm deep and 85cm wide to enclose the sewage pipe and provide additional needed storage space. The left corner was left bare to provide access to return loops at the each end of the circuit. The closets have an MDF top, 18mm thick.

 

The attached .pdf file should make it clear the above arrangement as well as the track layout for the three levels. The walls are coloured in magenta and the base closets in red. The main line is blue with the green sections being easements and all remaining track is black. With a few exceptions, minimum radius is 22" (54cm). BTW, Uruguay is metric and current is 220V.

There are two bridges crossing the entrance. The lower one is single track and drops down. The upper has two tracks and lifts up. With the bridges in place the layout is operated loop to loop. There is a return track at the upper left corner that allows out and back operation from the main station if the bridges are disabled.

 

Subroadbed in hidden areas is 12mm thick plywood, 8cm wide for single track, with a 6mm thick, 4cm wide cork roadbed. since I have no access from below, wiring for the staging level will be on top of the subroadbed along the sides of the cork roadbed. This is no big deal since this level will be completely hidden from view. The remaining 6cm wide subroadbed will be screwed to risers attached to the top of the closets. In this case I can place wiring on the underside.

 

At the present time, all the subroadbed and roadbed for the lower and transition levels has been installed. The traverser is finished and operative. There is comfortable access to manipulate it and the mechanical indexing system is installed and works perfectly. Since it will be also hidden there is a simple mechanism to select the proper track coupled to the indexing system. A removable section above provides emergency access to all six tracks. This section is a modified Timesaver and could be eventually operated elsewhere by unplugging the Digitrax DCS210+ Command Station/Booster and its power supply.

K+C_Layout_Small_tray-22R+TS-Final.pdf Schleicher-1.pdf Schleicher-2.pdf Schleicher-3.pdf

[stivesnick]

Hi 

 

Interesting track plan and some great woodwork so far. Looking forward to seeing updates.

 

Nick