Great idea

Looks like an interesting and attainable project. Keep us posted. Regarding a delay because of your job situation -- unless finances are really really critical, I'd suggest getting started on this. [People who know me are now rolling on the floor, doubled up with laughter]   The problem-solving and attention needed by a project like this can do wonders for your personal outlook.

Magazine Features.

Hi, I don’t know if you are aware or not but Keith Jordan’s ‘patch’ is featured in Great model Railroads 2012 and was also featured in Model Railroad Planning 2011, just thought you might be interested.

Magazine Features

I have the Model Railroad Planning issue and I'll have to pick up the Great Model Railroad 2012. Thanks for thinking of it though.

Kris

No problem.

No problem, it’s all inspiration and ideas to work off which we can never get enough of.

A suggestion for the connection at the curved turnout.

I don't think you can get a curved section of track with the correct radius for a joiner track, so I would install 4 brass screws into the door under the rails at the end of the door and at the edge of the main bench work where the curved turnout comes off the main bench.  Solder the rails to the 4 screws, and then cut the rails between the 2 sets of screws.  The screws will hold the rails in alignment if the door section is properly aligned.  I think you can get pin and bushing alignment jigs from Rocklers or other wood working supply companies to provide consistant, correct alignment of the door when you install it into the bench work.  One other thing, when the door is to be stored under the bench work for any extended period of time, get a section of aluminum angle and cut two pieces long enough to cover the rails on both the door and the track at the side of the bench work, and screw them in place to protect the rails at the edge of the bench work.  It only take one bump of those rail ends to break loose the solder and kink the rails.

Cassette Transition

That is a great idea! Should work like a charm and I already have some aluminum angle brackets to boot!

Thanks

One more thing about the aluminum angle.

If you want to run the main part of the layout with the cassette stored, glue or "pop" rivet some styrene to the aluminum angle used on the main layout for an insulator.  That way the aluminum angle won't short out the main lay out but will be there to protect the rails.  If you also glue a piece of styrene angle to the edge of the aluminum at the top over the rails, it will keep loco wheels from shorting if the turnout should accidently get thrown and cause the locomotive to run up against the angle.

Curved joint alignment

I like the idea of the brass screws. But I think you will have to prebend the curved track to avoid a "kink" at the joint. I had this problem when I was making a crossing where one track was curved. When the track was cut it tried to straighten out until I started over with prebent rails.

pete

I guess I wasn't as clear as I should have been, Pete.

You are not soldering two separate pieces of track to the 4 brass screws.  It is one piece of flex track with ties removed where the screws would be.  You test lay the flex to locate the position of the screws, remove the track, install the screws, install the track with appropriate ties removed and solder the track to the screws while it is still one piece.  After the track is soldered to all four screws, and spiked down as needed, you can then cut the gap for the disconnect.

Curved Transition to Cassett

Thanks for clarifying. I had already figured that I should get everything soldered into place before I cut the rails. But it definitely needed to be pointed out for other people that might have the same issue. Again thanks for the advice. I'll probably follow some other advice and go ahead and get started on the layout now rather than waiting for the job situation to clear up. It will give me something to concentrate on.

Kris

ATSF 'Patch' District

Thanks for showing a simplified version/interpretation of the Patch.  A certain broad-circulation magazine carried a more complex version that is a) too much for my skills and budget;b) typically over-tracked, even for an industrial district switching layout.

Oops, I moved two inches, I guess it's time to fill out paperwork, go for a crew meal, change engines and deem myself to be on a combo interchange/RIP track.  Your plan gives blessed room to breathe, gives the eye a chance to behold different buildings (whether flat, semi-flat, or full 3-D), and enjoy the rolling stock.  Soldier on.

ATSF "Patch" District

Its hard to take credit for doing anything more than just copying what was actually done. Its really just an LDE and I have enough space to make it work. It is comments like this that get me on board with getting construction started sooner rather than later.

Running "The Patch"

This last weekend I found out that my trackplan done with anyrail can be exported as a trainplayer file. I spent a couple of hours running it through its paces and I'm pretty happy with how its working. Trainplayer didn't like the peco three way switch so I had to drop that out to make it work. So I couldn't switch the "Nabisco" siding. The only thing I discovered that I might mess around with is the tracks at the far right end could stand to be a bit longer, so I'm thinking of sliding turnouts to the right a bit to get some extra room at that end of the layout.

There are some interesting spots to stash cars around the layout that are not readily apparent until you actually begin switching. I started with 7 cars spotted on the layout and brought in 7 more to be spotted. All told it took about an hour to switch things around and pull out 7 empties. I'm thinking that the switching 10 in and 10 out would be about the maximum and that would be overloading the staging tracks on the cassette which can only really handle 6 and 7 cars.

So far so good!

Sounds good.

Having driven around that area a lot when I used to work in that part of the city, I doubt if the Santa Fe ran trains much longer than 6 or 7 cars through those industries.  Even today, you will see long trains running through the city and snaking through alleys on the mainlines, but industrial switching districts will seldom if ever see a long train.