my trackplan

[bigsteel]

hey guys,could you guys look at my trackplan.i wanted to know if i did anything wrong or not.it was made with XTRKcad.the room size is 10.5ft by 10.5ft with a wall on the left side and the top.half of it is rural landscape in a fictional ashton.the othe rhalf is the alkem steel mill ,which is also fictional.the track is code 100 with #6 minimum mainline turnouts with #4 minimums on the steel mill yard.the tracks lowest point on the table is 40in while its higest point is at the mine tipple in the bottom middle at 58in.all the structures arent on it in cluding the small mine near the entrance but i will update it.in the steel mill there is the blast furnace,BOF and rolling mill.ther is a second mine next to the entrace.the largest loco ill probably use is a 2-10-4 or something similar the largest deisel will be an E6.if you need any other info just ask.and any input is welcome good or bad.well here it is

 

[Jim Krause]

Hi bigsteel: A couple of questions. What is the dashed line at the upper right that leads into the long straight dashed line across the top of the layout? What are your minimum curve radii? Is the duckunder to the center of the layout fixed or will it be hinged? Oops, thats three questions. Better stop there.

 

[Collyn]

What is going in the area circled? It seems empty. As is i would not have that duckunder. It is too much of a pian and it doesn't seem to serve a purpose. If you want to keep it I would make it more useful and have it be a reversing loop like I put in the pic

 

[Triplex]

The area enclosed by an octagon? It looks like an operating pit.

 

[bigsteel]

the area that is circled is for the small mining town.the bridge will be hinged the minimum curve is 20in.oh and the dashed line at the top will be a staging yard.ill put the updated one up soon.

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[bigsteel]

this is my new updated plan,its still not finfished but its getting there.as for the reversing loop im still not sure about it yet.

 

[Russ Bellinis]

If you are going to run a minimum radius of 20 inches, you will need to reduce the size of steam engines you run. On a 20 inch radius, a 2-8-2 is probably the biggest steam engine that you could run, and some 2-8-2's might be too big. Unless you find one with blind drivers, I don't think any 10 coupled locomotive will work on your radius.

 

[bigsteel]

what are blind drivers.and that may be all i need.if i want to run my big 2-6-6-2 what radius would i need?and will my E6's in the mail work on 20's.if i cant run my big articulated its not a big problem.ill just keep it on my dads layout with his 24in minimum radius turns.

 

[TrainNut]

This might seem obvious to you but humor me... What kind of operations are you looking to achieve with this plan?

 

[bigsteel]

i wanted to have the kind of mountanous terrain of kentucky ohio and virginia but i also wanted a steel mill.so i split the layout to have a switching layout and a branchline feel of coal country.im interested in everything and wanted to make the most of my space

 

[bigsteel]

alright this is the updated plan and ive already started benchwork last night.so that is pretty much decided on.but heres the plan:

 

[Russ Bellinis]

what are blind drivers.and that may be all i need.if i want to run my big 2-6-6-2 what radius would i need?and will my E6's in the mail work on 20's.if i cant run my big articulated its not a big problem.ill just keep it on my dads layout with his 24in minimum radius turns.

Blind drivers are drivers without flanges. It is a common practice on models where they want to enable a big steam locomotive to run on a tight radius.

Is your 2-6-6-2 one of those Mantua Loggers? I believe those were made for 18 inch radius curves. Articualted steam will handle tighter radius than non articulated because the locomotive has a hinge in the middle.

The only way to see if your locomotives will work on your new layout, is to try them out when the layout has the track down.

 

[CNWman]

it looks like you have made a circle around that octigon hole-thingy. Personaly the reverse loop looked better but that's just me

 

[bigsteel]

my articulated is a C&O h-6.i got it from my dad and im pretty sure its a bachmann but im pretty sure im wrong lol.but its C&O's own style with the 'flying pumps' configuration.but until i lay track i dont know if itll work.and i was wondering,does my plan look like it would run OK .and also is my switching half look fine?and cnwman.it wouldnt let me do it saying it was too sharp.but ill probably do the reverse loop anyways.

 

[CNWman]

my articulated is a C&O h-6.i got it from my dad and im pretty sure its a bachmann but im pretty sure im wrong lol.but its C&O's own style with the 'flying pumps' configuration.but until i lay track i dont know if itll work.and i was wondering,does my plan look like it would run OK .and also is my switching half look fine?

I'm not really experienced in the hobby ( I don't even have a layout up yet ) but I'll put my $0.02 in. The switching looks great to me, but like I said, that loop arouind the pit seems odd. You would have to back the train out of that scene, while a reverse loop would send it straight back fowrds.

 

[bigsteel]

i AM going to have a reverse loop but it wouldnt let me do it , and i dont know why. but i am putting a reverse loop there

 

[TrainNut]

In other places, you have hidden track shown with a dashed line. On the top left side, where all of the trees are, is there supposed to be a tunnel there to connect the rest of the layout with that stray strand running vertically down the middle?

 

[bigsteel]

yes there is but my trees covered it up or something

 

[TrainNut]

It's been almost a month. Any progress?

 

[bigsteel]

Hey trainnut i guess you didnt see it moved to the "trackplanning forum".i pretty muched finished it and am starting to build the benchwork.if you want to see it go to the trackplanning forum and look for "im stuck on my layout".thanks for still responding to this though.