Layout Critique - Part 3

91rioja

Member
Well 25 plans and a month and a half later, I think I have now gotten something that works for me. Here is the new and improved New River Valley Railroad. Here are some specifics.

It is going to be built in a 9'10" x 10'10" room in a kind of doughnut pattern. The operating pit will be in the center, it will have a duckunder, and I will be the only operator. The mainline has a minimum radius of 25" and No. 6 turnouts. The sidings have a minumum of 22" and No. 4 turnouts. I plan on using code 100 flex as much as possible. The layout will be an around the walls of no more than 2' deep.

The main points of interest:

Coal Mine - NRVRR is built on mining - bottom
Yet to be determined Industry - middle right side <-- Ideas anyone?
Loco Depot and Station on top right side of plan
Town on top left of plan
Small mining town to left of mine
Entire left side of plan open for whatever <-- Ideas anyone?

For those of you who wish to see where this started, you can check the first attempt here,
http://www.the-gauge.com/showthread.php?t=19063
and the next try here, http://www.the-gauge.com/showthread.php?t=19164

It has come a long way since I started this journey, and I think I have just found the right plan for my room. Comments and gotchas from the pros are welcomed. If the pic is too small, then you can see a larger one here, http://web.northstate.net/~chylton/NewRiverValleyRR-25.jpg

Thanks a bunch
Chris
 

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Russ Bellinis

Active Member
I notice that the layout of the coal mine spurs is different in the two plans. Which is correct? You have some passing sidings that would work for run around tracks, but you tie up the mainline to work the industries. Your yard at the top seems to allow only counter clockwise running, while all of your industrial tracks, the mine, and the small town need to be worked from a clockwise direction . The layout looks good, and I don't think anything I've sighted here is more than an easy fix.
 

91rioja

Member
Russ:

The previous posts that I made were just for background on this project; I thought it was interesting how far this has evolved since I created my first trackplan. As for the difference in the two plans, the plan posted in this thread is the current plan; you may be looking at a previous thread with an old plan. Unless I am missing something, this picture is the same as the current larger version on my web site.

As I am now looking at this, you are right. With the industry, I will be fouling the main, and the yard can only be worked from one side. This is just why I like the opinions of others who have been doing this for much longer than I have.

Thanks for the input, and I am now going back to the drawing board. Look for number 26 later.

Thanks
Chris
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
91rioja said:
Russ:

The previous posts that I made were just for background on this project; I thought it was interesting how far this has evolved since I created my first trackplan. As for the difference in the two plans, the plan posted in this thread is the current plan; you may be looking at a previous thread with an old plan. Unless I am missing something, this picture is the same as the current larger version on my web site.

As I am now looking at this, you are right. With the industry, I will be fouling the main, and the yard can only be worked from one side. This is just why I like the opinions of others who have been doing this for much longer than I have.

Thanks for the input, and I am now going back to the drawing board. Look for number 26 later.

Thanks
Chris
I just realized that I looked at the wrong link to see the bigger version of your layout is why I noticed the difference. Looking at your layout and your proposed area for a layout, I don't think you really have room for a double ended yard, and you don't have room for a balloon track to turn the trains around. Is this layout made to fill the room so that the back of the layout is up against walls?

If it is in a room where the layout is already up against the walls, you can turn the industrial tracks around and bring them off the inside of the curve in the upper right corner and down the right side of the layout. Eliminate the mountain from the upper left corner, and bring the siding in for the small town from that end. Then put the mountains where the coal mine is with the coal mine in the mountains. Run the mainline through a tunnell at the bottom of the layout and put the coal mine on top of the mountain that the mainline runs through. The entire mine complex would be on top of the mountain with the tipple over the main at the lower left corner. Where you have two switches to two tracks coming off the inside main at the lower left quadrant going to the mine, have only one switch to one track that would climb the mountain through a tunnel or up a draw to a switchback to the mine complex. The trian working the coal mine would come off the main at the lower left, go through a tunnel or up a draw past the mine and then back under the tipple. If your running diesel, you could put a run around at the switchback and run the locomotive around to bring the train back down the mountain. If you are running steam, you would back down the mountain to the mainline with the loads for delivery.
 

91rioja

Member
Russ,

The layout will be up against the walls. It is a rather small room, and I think that around the walls is the only way to work it. Right now, I have a 4x8 in the middle of the room; I can get to all sides of it, but it is just too small for what I want to do.

I'll look at your design comments. Thanks for them.

Chris
 

91rioja

Member
Glad you finally found it. I thought it was interseting to show the entire progress on this layout to everyone. Sometimes it is even amazinz to me just what I have laerned in a few short months.
 
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