Bench work

  ​Thanks again folks,

jaydub

Why did you build . . .

. . . the benchwork before establishing what the track plan would be? It's like pouring a foundation, then asking an architect to design a house to fit it.

My m.o.

I always put the cart ahead of the horse.  I tried to draw several track plans and found out its not my forte. The best I could do was the continuous loop. I'm looking for help not to be reprimanded, I figured i could do it on the fly. I guess I got my order of operations in a tither.

Nice Challenge

Hi Jeff

Be prepared for more questions than answers

one  ANY RAIL track plan coming up

What is the thickness of the interior wall

Terence Boardman

Sorry if you felt . . .

. . . "reprimanded." Have you considered just tearing the benchwork down and starting over with a good layout design and track plan, rather than reversing the -- Dare I say it? -- "proper" order of things? 

Step 1 - Benchwork Mods

Jeff...Different approach to things, but challenges can be fun.  That being said, I was wondering if an important benchwork change is possible?  There seems to be a 16 inch pinch point that will make it nearly impossible over the long run to operate whatever railroad is constructed.  Can you find a way to widen the aisle to 24 inches at the narrowest?  Also, another question - can you pierce the shadow-box wall?  And then, the all important scale question - HO, N or ....?  Is there any 'must' have equipment to be run - locos (GP7 or..), max car length (40 ft, 50 ft, or ...)?  Era  (1950s, 1960s or...), geographic location, favorite prototype? 

Thanks

Rick

Scale?

What scale are you interested in?  I see this design just begging N scale! Given the fact that the bench work is already built, I would approach it from the "railroads" point of view.  If you are doing HO, then a double track mailine IMHO is not going to happen with this benchwork. I would start by looking at what is most important first, running trains or switching industries. Then design around that.  Like Paul said, it's hard to think of a track plan when the cart is before the horse so in this case, you have to approach it from the railroads point of view and lay track from point A to point B.   Where will the trains originate from?  Where will they go to?  Interchange? or another city?   You obviously have some sort of idea in your head of a track plan just by the way you built the benchwork!  Keep us posted.

In many instances the bench

In many instances the bench work, or layout foot print is designed to see what will fit in the available space. Aisles and turn back loops only fit in so many places so your idea although unconventional often takes place on paper at least in that order. By building the bench work there might be other good ideas that were not considered by you and will need to live with what you have I guess. That is not to be considered a reprimand just an observation.

Some other things to be considered for your space that will affect what can be put into it.

Your era.

Type of equipment.

Geographic area of the country.

Minimum radius that you can live with.

Right now it looks like you might be needing 24 inches with double track

Type of scenery desired.

Staging capabilities.

Favorite railroad(s).

Type of operations you like.

Can you live with a stub ended yard, just one set of turn outs.

Those are just a few things that might be helpful to provide to the folks you are asking for help.

One other thing you might wish to consider are the folks that actually design these things for a fee. Some of those guys post on here from time to time. Often they will take a unique approach to something and design a very interesting layout to fit your space, but they may have a much different bench work design than you have at this point. I am mentioning this because you may not have been aware of that option.

http://www.layoutvision.com

The link above is not working right now so to contact MC you might try sending a private message. I am not sure if he is still doing the design work or if his web site might just not be sending the right certificates to the web weenies that seem to keep messing up things for everyone.

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/25540

the link above goes to his blog and you might contact him via a private message if you want to.

Reason why modelers can't do track plans

Thanks for the input

 ​Thanks for the input guys, I model or would like to model BN in the 80's. I like 6 and 4 axle power, SD40's float my boat and HO is my scale. I built the foot print as such so I could have the continuous loop and figured I could fill in the rest as I go, not that easy hence the plea for some assistance.

I live in SE Montana a pretty rural area, have been checking around for awhile and clubs are non existent and not too many people seem to have an interest in the hobby. So i have to take the lone wolf approach to this and found out that I've hit the proverbial wall. I have read Lance M's books but have a hard time putting the info to use, along with a few other published works.

One of the hardest things for me(in SE MT) is that the rails are straight and there are no rail served industries here on the prairie. So I am very limited as to what I can use as reference.  Basically what I am after is the ability to sit and watch trains, and when the bug hits me I can go do some switching. I like to play....

I drew up this configuration as I felt it would give me the best use of the room. I have a bad back and bad knees so a duck under is out of the question, and really didn't want a lift out.

I had seen one gentlemans ad to draw up track plans, $600-$800 whew that is some cabbage and completely out of budget!

I am not afraid to tear it up and start over if someone can come up with a viable plan.....I have a boat load of Peco track and #6 turnouts.

Signed lost and dumbfounded

Interior wall

2x4 wall sandwiched in between 2 pieces of 1/2" drywall.

A what If

Used to be RR's served almost any town of size with fuel dealer ships, lumber yards, cattle pens, icing stations, and the list goes on.

So take those kind of industries and do a proto freelance theme. The towns are still there, so is the business but the time frame is now 1980+

A town in each blob and find a way to link in one or two staging yards to represent everywhere else.

Jack

One idea

Hi Jeff - Personally, I didn't see the pre-built benchwork as being a huge deal.  As others said, given the room's shape, you don't have a ton of options that fit with your wish list, and I think what you built could become a great layout for you.  The only issue I see with it is that you may be limiting your options for valleys, bridges, etc. due to the flat top, but I didn't properly account for those at first on my layout either, and it wasn't a huge deal to modify the benchwork after the fact to allow for some indulation.

With that said, here's a very basic layout plan that came to mind.  Except for the double track, which I believe would be an issue with your already tight radius in spots, I think it meets all the items on your wish list.  I wasn't very neat about keeping the right yard ladder inside the room, or keeping the staging yard parallel to the main, but both are easily corrected with the space you have.  The blue line is the backdrop.

By the way, this assumes that the area beneath your "interior wall" demarcation is accessible from the room below the drawing.  Is that true?

@Joe

Thank you Joe this looks to be a viable track plan, and believe it or not you came up with something similar to my own thoughts. This is my first layout so one might say I'm a little unsure of myself, hence asking for some help...ideas. I have full access to the 2' shelf in the opposing room so yes, you would be correct Joe. I could also kick the tight corner (the island) out a little further into the 31" aisle to open the radius a little more. I have also entertained thought of ditching the 1' foam and going with risers.

Track Plan #1

Hi Jeff

I have designed a simple one level track plan to suit the bench work you have already built,  I have not included all the yard track yet, I think a backdrop to split the layout with your Photo backdrops is a must as it will make the layout seem bigger and allow you to create a variety of different scenes / industries and bigger distance between the areas.

Bend radius is an issue in at least one area , if you want to modify your existing bench work I would widen the area marked X, balloon it out to get at least a 32 inch radius, knowing the type of trains you will be running, 25 inches is too sharp visually.

I have marked in your overall dimensions as best I could, Some measurements don't quite add up ? and have marked the bend radius also

The track is Peco code 83 and is modeled very accurately with the Anyrail program, #6 is minimum turnout and I have put #8 on the mainline , you wont regret them once you run a train on your mainline thru the #8s,      Area A could be for Oil loading ?  Area B a team track ?  Area C Diesel service facilities,  Area D the main Industrial area and yard ,  Area E for staging , Area F a Big old Bridge to create a great scene, ,Area G another Industry, possibly grain loading, and a Tunnel,   The staging area E has a curved turnout at one end to give the yard more length,

I will message you with my email so I can send you the full size plan and the ANY RAIL plan so you can modify as you see fit if you want to run with this

The other guys have highlighted many good points that you will no doubt be pondering and I'm sure there is many more good ideas coming your way and more ideas will be thrown at these track plans too I'm sure

Have Fun

Terence

Here's my doodling

I don't see the existing benchwork as an issue at all. I did some tinkering...

This uses only Peco Medium Radius turnouts. It may give you some ideas.

@Terence

Wow! I must admit i like it so far T. How much wider do I need to be on the balloon area? I thank you kindly Terence, I look forward to seeing more of your ideas.

@Bill

Another great idea Bill, wow what a great group of people here! I also thank you Bill for your time, feel free to add more if you like.

some small mods

Jeff,

Tell us what you like about the plans posted so far.
What fits with your ideas, what parts do you not like?

What kinds of industry would you like to model?
What kind of cars do you want to run?
Do you want hidden staging?

Here is my same plan but with the straightened up a bit.

31" aisle

Something I failed to mention earlier Jeff is that 31" aisle. You might want to check your local building codes to be sure you'd be compliant, because I'm pretty sure that many require a 36" minimum if you have to use it to reach your electrical panel. You'd also need that width if you had to pass through this area in order to replace large appliances, furnace or water heater components, etc.

@

Joe it is just a spare room in my man cave, no major components or breaker box.

Bill let me look things over a bit and ill give you my take on likes and dislikes.

I truly appreciate you guys taking the time to offer me some "constructive" help!

Don't kid youself....

We love doing the trackplan game around here, we just haven't gotten to do it for awhile!

Give it a few more days and see what all happens on this thread...  

Greatful...

Mr.Bill; I took a little more time looking things over. In general I think it is completely doable, from my POV....

One question I have: will a 22" radius allow for my 6 axles to look correct rounding the bend?

​PROS

1) long passing sidings

2) trailing and facing spurs

3) a nice split between trackage and scenic areas

I was hoping to keep the depth of the scenes kind of shallow, so what I see works.

​CONS

1) possibly a runaround track at the 17" pinch point and one at the grain elevator complex

It would seem IMHO that using the passing sidings as a runaround is feasible but would take some time, but may be correct... this I don't know.

Thanks again, JEFF

Why do I hear...

Dear MRHers, "The cry of BN in the 80s, with high prairie feel but more industries needed" scribes,

Why do I hear vague shout-outs to the "Camas Prairie" railroad in this situation?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camas_Prairie_Railroad

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=camas+prairie+railroad&safe=off&espv=2&biw=1366&bih=667&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwiPs4HAl5zMAhWBmpQKHWuqAnEQsAQIJQ

http://www.american-rails.com/csp.html

http://www.preservationidaho.org/blog/nancy-foster-renk/camas-prairie-railroad

http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?railroad=Camas%20Prairie

http://www.railpictures.net/showphotos.php?railroad=Camas%20Prairie%20Railnet

https://watcocompanies.com/our-services/rail-services/grn/

http://bridgehunter.com/category/railroad/camas-prairie-railroad/

Happy Modeelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr