The Old Layout

I started building my layout in early 2010 and it started out as a modern Rock Island proto-lance that morphed into a mid-90s era SPSF proto-lance. Before embarking on my layout reduction, it was known as the SPSF Meadow Subdivision, based on a section of Rock Island track that ran southwest of Omaha. Here is the last photo tour of the layout:

https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/spsf-meadow-sub-another-layout-tour-12203940

Here is the old layout plan as it essentially looked just before I started cutting it down:

I would describe this as a medium or mid-size layout – it took up most of the basement (about 800 square feet), aside from some necessary house functions and my workshop. At this time, I was using NCE DCC and had the layout split into four districts to help keep the op session going if one district lost power. I had about 300 freight cars and maybe a dozen locomotives to support the layout.

Strategizing and Planning a Small Switching Layout

In the spring of 2017, I was a host layout in the annual Rocky Op event and had two sessions that worked pretty well. At that point, even though the layout was easy and routine to set up for sessions, I had this overarching feeling that the layout just seemed too big for me and I didn’t need that much real estate. I think I came to this realization partly because I had been working on this layout for seven years and felt like I wasn’t getting much done beyond trackwork, rolling stock, and some limited scenery/structures. I didn’t want the layout to be a huge time burden for me with my kids getting older and being more involved in their activities. As much as I enjoy model railroading, I have other priorities in my life, and I want it to stay as a hobby of mine and not more like a second job.

At the same time, my appreciation and interest for Lance Mindheim’s small switching layouts (I had just purchased the book, “How to Build a Switching Layout”) firmed my aspirations that I eventually wanted to go in this direction for my eventual next layout. While I felt that I had done a lot to simplify my SPSF concept over the years and make it easy to maintain, I still had the inspiration to have a much smaller layout that is even less complicated.

That’s when I was hit by an idea: why not do this now? I could salvage the best part of my layout, simplify my concept, and focus on my core prototype, which is a layout based on switching urban industries in the South Omaha area. I quickly started drawing up revised track plans and engaging helpful friends in advice. I feel that it is always important to bounce ideas off the model railroad community to make sure that what I am thinking of is grounded in reality. I could not have done this without the help of my friends Joe Atkinson, Matt Faruolo, Doug Midkiff, and Andrew Kersting, who all provided comments and suggestions with my new plans as I continued to develop and refine them. I was heavily influenced by this quote from John D. Rockefeller: “Don’t be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.” I was willing to give up what I had built with the SPSF Meadow Subdivision to try something even better and more to my liking.

With that, I created a list of pros and cons and crafted a few different track plans that all retained about one third of my original layout size, reducing the mainline run from about 200 feet to 75 feet. I dug into my small switching layout books, especially “How to Design a Small Switching Layout,” by Lance Mindheim and “Minimalist Model Railroading: Capturing the Essence of Railroading,” by Jim Spavins. These all preached to have a layout that is not crowded, only has 2-3 locations to focus on, has more open space in between locations, and is simple and easy to accomplish. I really liked Lance Mindheim’s suggestion to go through a checklist of items before starting a layout to figure out what is important for you to model and how much time you have to work on the layout – this is something I really should have done back in 2009-2010 before I initially started the layout. However, it’s probably good that I started on a layout that ended up being too big – if I started on a small layout, I would most likely still be yearning for that large dream empire layout!

The winning layout design kept the yard in South Omaha and the industries near the yard, created space between South Omaha and Bellevue, and kept the Papillion location with space between Bellevue and Papillion. I limited myself to ten industries and two of the locations had sidings for runaround moves. In my list of pros and cons, moving toward the small layout won out. I figured that this would set me back about two to three months, but if I wanted to have a layout that would last 10-15 years, this would be a huge time saver in the long term. Here is the layout plan that I started implementing in the summer of 2017:

Tearing out over half of my layout actually felt pretty good. With each piece of plywood and 2X4 that came out, it was a big relief, like a huge burden that was gradually coming off. The basement started opening up more so I could use the space for other things for our family and the remaining layout seemed a lot more achievable to me. I liked the idea to only keep what is essential to me and have something that is easy to completely take down if we were ever to move out of the house. And the revenue stream from selling off much of my equipment was very helpful.

I held my first op session for the new SPSF South Omaha Industrial Spur layout in September 2017 and it worked really well. My new layout utilized a crew of two people, true to a small switching layout operation, compared with a crew of five people with the old layout. I sold off a lot of freight cars and locomotives and was down to about seven locomotives and maybe 150 freight cars. With the smaller layout, less customers, and leaner rolling stock, the crew was able to focus more on the operations and the session took about three hours, down from my old sessions of four plus hours. I liked having just one local job on the layout, keeping operations very simple and easy to understand, compared to previous sessions that had a local, a grain run, three transfers, and a passenger train, which always seemed a bit much for a branch line.

However, once I started getting back into op sessions, I realized that there were still some refinements that I wanted to make to the layout. In early 2018, I started wondering what my ideal small switching layout would look like if I started from scratch. Just for fun, I drew a few track plans that would have only two locations and about seven customers to switch. These layout track plans were mostly based on having a more realistic SPSF prototype, located in Chicago or Kansas City, where the SP or SF actually ran. That got me thinking, that if I wanted to keep my model railroad based in Omaha (and I wanted to keep in Omaha, where I grew up, as my chief priority), I really should have a better prototype that doesn’t look so out of place. That gave me another idea: instead of focusing on the railroad (the SPSF in this case), I should focus on the railroad or industrial spur. That’s when the Stockyard Industrial Lead was born – named after a significant part in South Omaha’s history and still incorporating part of the old Rock Island in Bellevue. This industrial spur would naturally be operated by the Union Pacific. Being away from Omaha, I have grown more fond of the Union Pacific as it is not always in my face, it represents a big part of my early life as I got into trains, and the UP really did end up with a lot of the Rock Island.

At this time, I decided to implement these new ideas now, so I took the summer off from op sessions and hacked away at the layout a little more. As before, I consulted with my close friends before making any changes. I created a list of pros and cons for switching from the SPSF to the UP before proceeding (I would still have the SPSF as an interchange/haulage rights railroad in Omaha, so I could keep some of their cars). What helped the UP win out is sentimentality: the ability to use prototype photos for my modeling, and the strong connection to my childhood. The era is now 1989 so I can model a variety of UP paint schemes. I axed the Papillion location and removed the siding in South Omaha. The layout now has two primary locations, South Omaha and Bellevue (plus the South Omaha Yard, where the local job and its cars originate from), including a siding in Bellevue to reverse the train. There are seven customers and I am down to about 100 freight cars and four locomotives (with plans to increase this by three). I feel this narrows my focus even more on the small switching layout concept and should allow the operators to slow down their work during the op session and really enjoy the operations by taking their time to complete the work. I added a ProtoThrottle to the layout and got rid of my NCE Cab06 throttles. I think this will make the engineer position more fun and at the same level with the conductor position.

Here is the layout track plan as it currently looks today:

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An Overview of the Stockyard Industrial Lead

The layout is kind of an around-the-walls design with a bit of a U-shape curve at the end, just past the Bellevue location. I decided to leave the Papio Creek bridge in the layout to serve as an ending point, where the railroad would have cut off the track because of bridge damage after a flood. This has another advantage of preserving some storage under the layout. If I had to start from scratch, I would make this an around-the-walls U-shape layout and probably just support the layout with brackets. I’ll get there someday, when I can finish the walls and put in drop ceilings.

Here is the new yard office/dispatcher area, complete with Union Pacific and Omaha material from the late 1980s, another fun advantage of modeling a prototype.

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The layout runs down two walls and leaves the rest of the basement open for living space and other uses. The crew lounge has lots of space and next to the yard is information for the crew (such as the job description) and I still have my freight car storage drawers, which now have plenty of room.

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As I mentioned earlier, my locomotive roster is a fraction of what it was before. I reused three locomotives, including one that was originally SPSF. To get started, I decided to model four MP/UP locomotives, which I was able to find prototype photos of in the Omaha area: a Union Pacific (ex-MP) U23B in the most recent (for 1989) UP scheme, a Missouri Pacific B23-7 in the canary paint scheme, a Union Pacific (ex-MP) GP38-2 in the North Little Rock lettering paint scheme, and a Missouri Pacific (ex-Rock Island) GP38-2 in the Jenks dip blue paint scheme. I am working on adding an ex-MKT GP40 in green/yellow, a UP GP30, and an original UP GP38-2 to round out the variety of the UP roster in 1989. I operate with only one locomotive on the local job, so the engineer chooses whatever locomotive he/she wants to run at the op session. I will ultimately have three cabooses that the conductor can choose from. All locomotives have SoundTraxx Tsunami2 or Econami sound, LED lights, and are equipped with realistic momentum, which is tamed by the outstanding brake function on the ProtoThrottle.

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A Closer Look at the Stockyard Industrial Lead

Here is what the Stockyard Industrial Lead looks like after making my changes and ready for the next op session in about a week. We start at the South Omaha Yard, where the crew reports for duty. The yard is outside of the main UP yard in Council Bluffs. Motive power is staged here to switch the customers on this spur as well as a few other customers in South Omaha and Bellevue (off the layout) and the motive power runs to/from the CB yard to swap cars (outside of my op session). The crew gets to do a little yard switching to build their train and block it for the order of customers at the beginning of the session. The crew has a work order, which contains the switch list for all customers – I use JMRI Ops for this.

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There are five customers in South Omaha: the Millard Refrigerated cold storage, Darling International (tallow tank car spur and bone meal covered hopper spur), a transload/team track, City of Omaha sewer plant, and Van Waters and Rogers chemical company. The first three are typically switched first and the last two are then switched on the way back, based on the facing of the switch points. All of the customers are now real Union Pacific rail-served industries in South Omaha and Bellevue, another change that I made. I use blue flags to protect car movements (these are moved by the industry foreman, which is me) and I have real locks to serve as gates and boxes for specific car placement instructions at some industries.

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The open space between South Omaha and Bellevue provides some separation and a bit of open running for the crew. This is modeled after the real area along the Rock Island in Bellevue. The crossing here currently has flashing lights that are turned on and off by the crew and I am planning to have this automated by sensors eventually.

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Bellevue has two customers, Payless lumber and Wilson Concrete. There are a few abandoned and inactive spurs here, typical of a modern industrial park, two of which are used for off spot cars. This is where the local engines reverse around the train to head back to South Omaha.

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Conclusion

Thanks for joining me for this little layout tour and description of the process of both reducing the size of my layout and going with a slightly different prototype. I hope that I have helped some fellow modelers that might be considering similar changes, or perhaps are plotting your first layout and are looking for ideas or things to consider. You can check out more about my layout concept on my website or facebook page, links to which are in my signature. I have a layout welcome video linked from my website. Stay tuned for more updates on the Stockyard Industrial Lead that I will post here on MRH!

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Nice layout

Nice layout for one or two people.  I live in Omaha so like the theme of the final layout better than the first layout.

Excellent report

A very well written & interesting report on downsizing your layout, Eric, thank you.

Good timing, as I have recently gone through a similar process with my home layout. Lance Mindheim has been an inspiration for me too after reading all of his books on smaller switching layouts. I also felt that the layout was becoming a chore instead of a pleasure. I generally operate alone and was finding that I just did not need all the real estate to have a satisfying switching session of maybe 1-2 hours. And I was tiring of parts of the layout still being a Plywood Pacific.

I have regained my enthusiasm by reducing the layout size and spending time on finishing off what is left. I still have 7 or 8 industries to switch and operating at a more realistic speed has paid off too.

Nice to hear I am not the only one going in this direction!

John

Thanks for the comments

Dave - glad you like the layout theme.  It was always a challenge to present a realistic reason for the existence of the SPSF in Omaha... the Union Pacific is a much more natural fit.

John - I am happy to hear that you are going through a similar process and that this was helpful for you.  It's definitely important to fit the amount of time you have available with the scope of the work of the hobby.

Those little lockboxes

Where did you get/how did you make them, and what sort of information do you keep under lock and key in them?

"I have real locks to serve as gates and boxes for specific car placement instructions at some industries." just doesn't seem clear to me - how would a crew interact with them?

Also....

I see an article here - anyone else see an article here?

I do see that

Yes, I absolutely see an article here.  The information posted thus far has only whetted my appetite for a more in-depth write-up, with more pictures.  I'm watching the video right now...

Though I'm not sure I'd actually call it a "small switching layout" - dimension-wise, I think it's still larger than my entire basement.   

Jeff- I think you ignored a part of the lock box purpose

The blue-flag rule is that the person who Places a flag is the Only person authorized to remove it.. Thus the boxes are under Eric's Sole control.   And the crew would Not interact unless permitted by the key holder. 

I think his/her supervisor may also remove it.

(BTW, Eric... see my post   https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/whats-on-your-workbench-sep-2018-12210799 re a blue light - for nighttime markouts)  and someone here had a blue Flag model, to attach to the rails, as well

I didn't think the locks had anything to do with the blue flags

... the way I read it, they were both just part of working the industry.

To me it reads that the unlocking the locks is modeling having to climb down from the locomotive to unlock a gate, or to open a box for specific car placement instructions - I'm guessing that it means that he is deliberately leaving information on car placement off the JMRI generated switchlist and using the "locked box" to hold that additional info.

But I'm not positive, so I'm asking. It also looked like there was more than one type of lock appliance - gates get one type, boxes another?

Why not just go to Mr.

Why not just go to Mr. Miller's YouTube channel?  He explains all that stuff in his videos.  He demos the locks in one of his videos.

YouTube channel?

He should add that to his signature line...

Thanks, Eric, for posting

Thanks, Eric, for posting this about your new and improved railroad.

I really like your simple railroad which includes run around tracks at both end of it, no silly inglenook switching puzzels which are less than prototypical. I worked on quite a few short lines and while they didn't all have convenient run arounds to begin with, they eventually did. I also am a big, believer of less is more (space,track, sturctures and equipment) modeling, industries, which use various, car types and two man crews. On every short line I was on, at minimum we always had a conductor and engineer so each could concentrate on their separate duties. When modelers use only one person to handle both the throttle and switching they lose out on the fun time of two crew members working together to get a job done.

You have a great, improved railroad. Thanks, again for the great photos and story.

Barry

Door Locks

To help explain the door locks, I have two types on the layout and this is an idea that I got from Lance Mindheim's books.  The first type is to represent the gate - it has a padlock on it and the crew unlocks it and keeps it open while serving the customer, just like at a real industry.  The second type is a larger door and it will have a sticky note inside with instructions for the crew on how to place the cars, like at a specific door.  The work order will have a note for the crew to check the box for car placement.  The conductor has a set of keys to unlock the padlocks.

Hope that helps!  And I now have the link to my YouTube channel in my signature.

Also, I'd be happy to write more about the layout and do an article sometime.

Blue Flags

Peter is correct about the blue flags for the industries - they are removed by the person who set them there, which is the foreman at the industry, a job that I assume at the op session.  So the conductor talks to me and asks me to remove it, and then lets me know when they are done working the industry.  And thanks for the tip on the blue flags!  I would like to something that looks better, but put these in place for now so that the crew has an extra step for switching.

Barry - thanks for the comments, I agree with you on two-man crews.  I have thought about adding a third person as a brakeman (to handle the switches and other chores), but not sure if that would get too boring and that person might get in the way of the other two.  I agree about switching puzzles, I tried to design the industries and turnouts like a railroad would want it so it is simple to switch.  This also allows the crew to focus more on taking time to slowly switch the cars and not be in a rush.

Downsizing seems like the thing to do.

As John and Barry have stated, this may be the shove that pushes me over the edge?   Over the last year or so I've been contemplating much the same thing.  Not so much on reducing the physical size of the layout, but for sure with the Ops.  I do have a very large staging yard, that is a leftover from our clubs modular days so I just made use of it.  That can be ripped up and reduced to just a much smaller yard where my locals could work out of and maybe have enough extra tracks to hold a couple of freights.  I'm thinking of only having a few locals to work with and a couple of through freight, maybe?  I want to focus more on ops now than running trains.  Instead of having 6-8 crews, maybe only have no more than 3-4?

Lately I've been taking a second look at smaller layouts and how they operate them, ie: Joe Atkinson's IAIS (which I've had the pleasure to visit and play on) Tom's Georgia Northeastern and a host of others.  

Like many of us, when I was younger my eyes were glazed over with visions of large empires.  As I've grown up in the hobby, joined forums and seen what others have done, I think I've finally seen the light. 

Thanks for posting Eric.

Blue Flags

Technically, the railroad blue flag rule doesn't cover industries and doesn't cover unloading cars.  The industries know that a crew won't couple into cars with a blue flag on it so they "borrow" the railroad's signal, but really, the blue flag rule doesn't apply to what they are doing.

For example, the opening sentence of GCOR blue flag rule, 5.13 Blue Signal Protection of Workmen:

"This rule outlines the requirements for protecting RAILROAD workmen who are inspecting , testing, repairing, and servicing rolling equipment." (emphasis added).  Note it does not say anything about loading or unloading cars.

Workmen are defined as :  "RAILROAD EMPLOYEES assigned to inspect, test, repair, or service railroad rolling equipment or components...."  (emphasis added).  Note in both cases it specifically says the rule applies to railroad employees (but excludes train crews when working on their own train).  Guys loading or unloading the cars are not railroad employees.

So yes the industries use blue flags, but no they aren't using it in accordance with the blue flag rule, they aren't covered by the blue flag rule and the guys are the industry probably aren't complying with the blue flag rule.  The nice thing about that as a modeler is that you don't have to sweat the details.  

On the other hand, if you are in a railroad yard, there are a whole bunch of things that kick in on how the blue flags are supposed to be displayed (which you can of course choose to model or not.)

Re: Downsizing and Blue Flags

Allen - I am happy to hear your story and glad that I could be a source of some inspiration.  I think that's a good idea to start by reducing and simplifying the operations, that should add some realism and go a long way toward making things better.  I look forward to seeing how your changes go!

Dave - thanks for the info on the blue flags.  The railroad versus industry distinction is important, which is why I (acting for the customer) remove the flags for the railroad crew.  The main point here is to slow down the switching process a little and make the crew think before they just start switching cars.  It's an extra step to serve as a check-in with the industry, instead of just coming into the track quickly and starting to slam cars around.

Nice layout, however...

That is still a large layout , you have a 30 foot wall, my layout can fit on my dining room table...

Downsizing

Downsizing of course depends on what your interests are.  If you are primarily interested in switching and industrial work then downsizing or an ISL is perfect.  If you are interested in the 95% of railroad mileage that is not an industrial lead and the 80% of crews that aren't on switch engines or locals, then downsizing probably won't get you where you want to go.  Its a matter of what works best for you and what part of the elephant you want to grab.

Very nice

Very interesting post Eric!  It was fun to walk back through the steps of your railroad’s transformation and be reminded of how far you’ve come. 

Regarding the comments about your layout still not being small, i’d suggest that there’s more to size than physical dimensions. To me, simplicity and footprint play a big role in that equation as well. A 1’ deep shelf along a 32’ wall could be a very generous switching layout...cut from a single 4x8 sheet of plywood! How many of us would not consider a 4x8 to be a small layout?

I was encouraged that Allen referred to my railroad earlier in this thread as a “smaller switching layout” even though it occupies a space that’s 33’ square and has a 125’ mainline. Allen’s description is accurate, in my view. He gets the concept I have in mind, even though my operations include some mainline running and even UP coal trains. In terms of simplicity, scope, and maintenance burden, with 2 two-man crews serving 4 industries each (only two of which usually get switched by each crew) and 28 actively-used turnouts, my layout is smaller.