Thanks for all your kind comments
I am still grappling with the intricacies of operation so I appreciate the "rail fan" layout more than some other might. This one seems like it is going to have a lot of great scenes to run trains through.
That's certainly the goal for this design. I would encourage you not to give up on understanding operation, though. Few of us will ever have this kind of space, and operation adds a lot of "play value" per square foot to our more-modest spaces.
I'm looking forward to more of your articles as well. That plan sounds eerily similar to the kind of concept I was thinking for my "big" layout that I hope to some day build. I won't likely ever have that kind of space, though.
No substitute for cubic feet (or meters, in this case). But it's interesting to note that even this space was not enough for everything the client would have liked to include. We model railroaders always seem to want 20% more than the space we have, no matter what that space may be.
The next layout article for MRH (if the editorial team agrees) is a near polar opposite of this layout in size, locale, and focus.
This is a great integration of some of my favorite rainfan locations. It looks like a good exercise for CTC running. You could even have a turf war between SP and SF dispatching centers (put the dispatchers in separate rooms with tin cans and waxed string for communication.
Of course, in real life, the SP controlled all traffic from Kern Junction to Mojave, so battling dispatchers would not be protoypical over this stretch. CTC signals would be nice scenic element, but probably not high on the client's wish list for this casual "model railfan" approach.
Thought #1: My favorite spot in the Tehachapi's is not so much the loop, but the siding just south (SP direction) of Keene. Just enough room for most trains, and not a tangent piece of track in the bunch; and all squeezed in with the creek and the town. I wonder if you could adjust the run in the Tunnel #1 area to get that siding in. That would allow operational relief for what caused the additional tracks at Caliente.
You're probably thinking of Marcel, just SP Timetable east (compass southeast) of the loop. It is a neat railfan spot. Marcel was originally in the plan when it was all-Tehachapi, but was lost when we added all the other locales. Because of the design length of the trains, the siding would be way too long (no pun intended) to squeeze in between The Loop and Caliente. Unlike the typical HO layout design that puts in a 5-foot-long siding and calls it "good", a layout like this demands some real thought in terms of balancing train lengths, staging capacities, and distances between towns.
It makes me want to cry.. all that space.. all that time.. all that money.. and nary a waybill in sight..
Truly this hobby encompasses multiple approaches to the enjoyment of it.
So true -- and that's one of the things that I enjoy about designing layouts for others: seeing layout spaces and concepts through others' eyes. I never would have devoted this much space (if I had it) to a railfan-only layout -- but it was fun to think about it.
