The silence is deafening...

I posted this plan a week ago, and no one has commented on any aspect of it.  Is it that bad?  Too boring?  Unrealistic?  I highly doubt that I hit the nail on the head the very first time.  If something is lacking or unclear in my write-up, please let me know.

I am just finishing up the walls and will be ready for benchwork shortly.  I really want to be done with playing with CAD software and starting to lay some track and playing with the real thing.

Thanks,

Ryan

Typical train length?

I don't see anything referencing typical train length. That's a major constraint to any design and should be core component used to build a workable design.

Do you know clearly what a typical train length is for through trains and locals? How many trains will be on the layout at a time?

Train length and traffic

Joe,

The average train length will be 10'.  This should be the equivalent to 2 engines, 15 cars, and a caboose.  

According to my time table, between Noon and 5 PM there were 3 Passenger and 2 Freights Westbound and 2 Passenger and 2 Freights Eastbound (All through trains).  Based on the size of the layout, I would think that there would typically be 1EB and 1WB train on the layout at a time.  The locals would only run when there is only a through train scheduled in one direction.

The 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM trains would have station stops at all the towns on the line.

Is this what you were looking for?

Ryan

Yes, that helps

Based on the train length of 10' then it looks like the only place 2 trains could meet would be at the turnback loop midway around the layout. The passing sidings at the other two towns are too short and will clog the main when the local is in town doing switching - unless you plan on making the locals a LOT shorter.

Proper passing sidings and run-arounds to suipport the anticipated traffic levels are a common oversight on beginner track plans. That's why I consider having ops experience to be an essential to good layout planning.

With ops experience, those lines on a track plan each now has a purpose. Without ops experience, they're just lines - not a recipe for a successful layout, I'm afraid.

Lack of Ops Experience

Joe,

Thanks for your thoughts.  Unfortunately, I do lack Ops Experience.  I also understand what you are saying.  It wasn't until I played the traffic pattern through my head that I saw what you pointed out.  I think that I can shift things around a little to gain a second passing siding and bring the track diagram closer to the prototype.  The diagrams that I included with the original post are prototypical.

More to come!

Ryan

Simulating Ops on a Track Plan

XTrakCAD (free software) allows you to run trains on the track plan. That helped me a lot with issues such as siding number and length. Simulating switching jobs was educational as I experimented with industry track arrangements. At one point I had a dozen trains operating in various positions on the layout. The exercise really helped visualize how the layout would function whereas paper and pencil showed only what the layout looked like.

Track plans and operational experience

I found several points here interesting.  I'm planning a layout that represents a small, end-of-the line short line (S&NC) in an area where I grew up.  The comments here I initially thought wouldn't apply, because there WERE no through trains, to speak of; mostly switching and train assembly, and one train in and out to the rest of the world.  Thinking back 35 years, however, I recall that multiple trains moving simultaneously still need to be considered.  Local switching to industries occurred while the local was assembled in the yard at the end of the line and then dragged out of town when it was ready.  There actually were sidings that had to hold trains, and sometimes cars were spotted there during switching to await the arrival of the local, so they could be gathered up for the trip to the rest of the world.  Obviously, I (like every other model railroader) will have to deal with selective compression, and compressing a siding until it only holds three or four cars won't be of much use.  I have photos of typical locals that only consisted of 10 or 12 cars, a couple of F7s and a caboose, so workable sidings can certainly be incorporated.

To rblundon:  Consider the possibility, painful as it could be, that when you actually begin laying out the plan in full scale on your bench work, you may look at a siding or spur and decide, "That's just not long enough!"  (And after all, deciding to change it when it still just a line is better than modifications after the track is laid!)

Good luck, and keep progress reports coming!

Rog

I have a feeling you won't be

I have a feeling you won't be happy trying to recreate your hometown without the double track main that was a big feature of your chosen time frame.  Complicating things is the fact that the 1:1 scale arrangement is pretty much straight through those towns. 

A double track main, big time railroad isn't easy to recreate, and make it look plausible in a normal home layout space.  Secondary mains and branch lines offer something more manageable.  A couple of towns even had loops into the downtown area, and wyes off the main to get to the downtown area.  There are also more curves, so wrapping the track around the turnbacks and such gets a bit easier as well.  Train frequency and length are usually less, so the patrol can get its work done without having to clear up every couple of moves. 

If you can get onto Flickr, check out this fellow's stream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14488898@N02/ His dad worked for the MILW, and the family house was in the Oconomowoc area.  He took many shots of the area, giving a pretty complete overview of the place in the late 1970s - early 1980s.  Quite a few shots show the patrol locked into the clear so the main lines trains can fly through. 

Operations

It appears the only place you will have to meet is the un-named siding at the Carnation plant.  Every place else looks to be too short.  This could be a problem if the local is out there, since if its switch Hartland it pretty well has everything sewed up.

Ironically the one place that isn't named is really the most important point.  Since the other two places don't have sidings for meeting and passing trains, they might not even be on the dispatcher's train sheet or CTC panel (if its CTC).

I would slide Oconomowoc down to the left as much as possible.  The local working there will be fouling the one passing siding.

You might also consider making the local a true local and have it run from staging to staging.  That would give you the opportunity to run another train.  Make it double daily service.  Every day the railroad runs one eastbound and one westbound local from one end of the subdivision to the other.  Then the next day the locals come back.

Changes Coming...

Thanks for all the great comments!  I am almost done with a revision that is closer to my original plan, yet a much less complicated.  I hope to post the new plan this weekend.

Ryan

Those Pictures are priceless

Mike,

Dan's pictures are incredible.  If you wouldn't mind passing along his email offline I'd like to get in touch with him.  Much appreciated!

Ryan