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Interesting Track Plan, Castleville County Dream and design
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Prolific poster 8,806 posts railandsail Prolific poster 8,806 posts
railandsail

Interesting track plan of a layout that just appeared on ebay. There is a lot of train running possibilities on this relatively small layout (9.7 x  10.8).  Thought it might be interesting to post, and solicit comments. 
s%20900p.jpg 

Brian

1) First Ideas: Help Designing Dbl-Deck Plan in Dedicated Shed
2) Next Idea: Another Interesting Trackplan to Consider
3) Final Plan: Trans-Continental Connector
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railandsail Prolific poster 8,806 posts
railandsail

listing and owners description

https://www.ebay.com/itm/302585844473?ul_noapp=true
 

Quote:

I began this layout in 1995. I had a table layout, but the 1994 earthquake damaged it beyond repair. I decided to build a strong open frame layout with a hard shell. This approach aloud me to create mountains and valleys.
I am an electro-mechanical engineer by trade and have always liked trains. There is over 90 square feet of area and about 2.76 scale miles of track. There is a drawing of the layout in the gallery. My goal was to be as realistic as possible. I named the layout Castle County Railroad, but that name doesn't appear anywhere on the layout, so you are free to choose your own name.
There is a downtown area and plenty of industry. The downtown and the area around is lighted. (See Pictures)
I am retired now at 72, and it is too difficult for me to work on the layout.
My wish is that someone will continue to enjoy this layout as much as I did. There are some unfinished areas. The system was designed for block control, but today DCC is the popular train control. All the switches are working. I was in the process of converting some to slow motion switches using tiny servo motors.

There are a number of photos on that listing page. I've made an inquiry to possible obtain individual photos of those 'grouped photos'

Brian

1) First Ideas: Help Designing Dbl-Deck Plan in Dedicated Shed
2) Next Idea: Another Interesting Trackplan to Consider
3) Final Plan: Trans-Continental Connector
Reply 0
railandsail Prolific poster 8,806 posts
railandsail

opinion from another forum

Quote:

Lots of 18" radius. From the pictures it looks like thankfully he had access on at least some of the outside, because no way can you reach the top from within that operating pit. Not to mention I am 20 years younger than the seller and wouldn't be able to squeeze through that 15" space to even get in there.

 Zero operation, unless all you want to do is run mainline through trains. Is thre even a single siding anywhere besides the engine service?

 It looks nice, and it may run well, but I know I would quickly grow tired of it the way it is. I like switching too much. 

                            --Randy

Brian

1) First Ideas: Help Designing Dbl-Deck Plan in Dedicated Shed
2) Next Idea: Another Interesting Trackplan to Consider
3) Final Plan: Trans-Continental Connector
Reply 0
railandsail Prolific poster 8,806 posts
railandsail

Reply to Randy

I understand your criticism Randy, and agree with most of it. But lets see if I can offer another view point.

This is a relatively small layout ( only 9'7" wide x 10' long) into which he has tried to place a lot of mainline running. So of course there are going to be some small radiuses included, (many of our modern diesel loco models will be able to run these curves).

What caught my attention was the dbl tracks that would allow for running 2 separate trains at one time without interference with one another,...and if DCC was being used there could be at least 3 trains running simultaneously without interference. I've included this little sketch that denotes the 2 lines in yellow and blue hi-lite.

20tracks.jpg 

Note also that there is a LOT of double mainline that offers a lot of side-by-side, and opposing direction, passing situations. There are also provisions for those trains to turn around on their own tracks and run the opposite direction. So the comments about excessive trackage might take this into account.

There are a couple of other sidings for the sawmill,..did you see those? When I looked at some of the other open spots on the layout I thought I saw opportunities for other sidings that he had just not chosen to make?

When I first viewed this plan perhaps it was with a favorable stance of having proposed a similar double blob lower level shelf layout  myself,..

http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/sites/model-railroad-hobbyist.com/files/users/railandsail/Restrictive%20Power%20Blocks%20for%20Roundhouse%20loop%2C%20ps800%281%29.jpg


I thought, what if this plan was enlarged to 11x15. That extra 1.5 feet of width might allow a more generous radius to those 2 blobs, and a more generous aisle to squeeze thru to the center operating area. Then neck down that portion of the layout above the right had blob while still retaining his original plan ?

Granted those very wide(deep) 'shelfs' at the blob loops would be a problem to work over.

I guess I was seeing some similarities with my Anon & Muss style plan without that central peninsula.
 

Brian

1) First Ideas: Help Designing Dbl-Deck Plan in Dedicated Shed
2) Next Idea: Another Interesting Trackplan to Consider
3) Final Plan: Trans-Continental Connector
Reply 0
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