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Early Stage of layout planning Dream and design
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New member 16 posts bhaugen New member 16 posts
bhaugen

I am posting up a layout plan that is in the early stages of developement.  The room I have is in the basement and is currently used to store household stuff, mostly stuff we boxed up and moved from our previous house 1.5 years ago.  I have to do some wiring, lighting and sheetrock, along with going through and removing some stuff before I can start building a railroad.  In the meantime I am starting some planning, while I sort out and make room. 

I am going for modeling the 1950's Milwaukee Road in my home town area of Milan MN and Montevideo MN.  Montevideo was on the main line for the Milwaukee going west and had a roundhouse and yard, along with many ag related industries, mostly grain elevators.  Along with that my Grandfather was roundhouse foreman there. 

I plan on making 2 or 3 levels in this layout.  The Helix in the lower right is for either going up or down depending on wether this is a lower or upper level.  Still undecided on that as of yet.  For a 2nd level I am not sure of what direction to go there yet.  I am either going west (dakotas/montana) or east (twin cities).

Let me know what you think so far. 

Brent

 

 
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LKandO Prolific poster 3,839 posts
LKandO

Try to keep turnouts out of

Try to keep turnouts out of the helix. Can be done but not desirable.

Alan

All the details:  http://www.LKOrailroad.com        Just the highlights:  MRH blog

When I was a kid... no wait, I still do that. HO, 28x32, double deck, 1969, RailPro
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BOK Prolific poster 1,120 posts
BOK

Looks like a nice simple

Looks like a nice simple layout to start with and along with simple midwest scenery should make a nice layout. As i recall there were also some other small town industries in Montevideo like oil dist, lumber yard, and a cannery? This of course depends on the era modeled but still in operation in the 1950s.

I am sure you are aware of the Milwaukee Road Historical Society who publish a great quarterly magazine and who frequently include airiel photos of Milwaukee Road towns and facilities including Montevideo.

Best of luck and please keep us posted on your progress.

Barry
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bhaugen New member 16 posts
bhaugen

Milwaukee Road Historical Society

I am a member of the society already.  There is some good information in the magazine.

I am still doing some research on what was in the area in the 50's.  I have been collecting some arial pics and maps from the time period.  I originally was going to do a double track main, but the 2nd track was tore up in '46. After playing around a little with the layout, a single track main is going to be easier to work with. 

One challenge I am having is to find Farm equipment that is accurate.  I have some of the John Deere stuff that athearn made a few years ago, but I would like some other equipment.  I have found GHQ pewter models, but looking for some more brands and models.  Woodland Scenes makes some stuff, but it is not accurate.  I have a bunch of 1/64th stuff, maybe sometime in the future I can figure how to 3d scan and 3d print some of them.

 

keep in coming Brent

 
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bhaugen New member 16 posts
bhaugen

Turnouts

Thanks.  I guess that makes sense now that I think about it. 
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David Husman dave1905 MRH Author 9,793 posts
David Husman dave1905

Changes

The yard lead needs to be two or three times as long if you want to switch clear of the main track.

Five foot diameter helix, 16" separation, 62+ ft. of run.  There are no sidings on this level so you have a VERY long run before opposing trains can meet.

Dave Husman

Visit my website :  https://wnbranch.com/

Blog index:  Dave Husman Blog Index
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bhaugen New member 16 posts
bhaugen

yard lead

Are you talking about the side of the yard opposite of the roundhouse? I have thought about more siding, but also I intend on making the second level also. I was thinking on increasing the length of the wye and make that into a siding.
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