Better Orientation

I really think this orientation works much better. It should make the Tower 55 crossing more substantial, and it does the roundhouse better justice. I'd maybe flip the entrance to Union station from near the helix to the left side of the layout to give better access and visibility to trains entering and departing the station. I'd also extend the Odessa siding to encompass that far right runaround. This will improve operations.

Thanks Greg. I was going to

Thanks Greg. I was going to do some more work in the Midland and Odessa area as you said. Move Odessa down more near, or somewhat into the loop and slide Midland to the left some so that there is a bit more distance from Ft Worth. It might not be a big deal since they are on opposite sides of the divider but I was just thinking it may need a little more room between them.

As for union station, this is the way it is in the prototype maps that I have. If I can make it work like this, I'd like to leave it. If I flip it around, then the KATY has no access to it. Right now the KATY can access the stub ended tracks while the T&P can access the thru tracks. The yard in the lower part of this map is actually on the east side of T55. There is a yard/freight warehouse on the west side of the passenger station as well like I have drawn in my layout.

I think you are on to

I think you are on to something with the version of the bottom deck. I am curious to see what you have down with the top deck.

Working

Well I've been doing some final teaks on this deck and have it about in final draft. I've decided to go with fast track #6 turnouts. I'm going this rout as it will be more cost effective in the long run to build my own turnouts. Plus it will be more fun. So I'm adjusting the turnouts on the layout to show as much.

I've also got my final design on the roundhouse and turntable and have now built the bench work for that module. It will be a 3' X 3' module. Now I just have to pick up some more Atlas round house buildings so that i can start construction. I'm going to use 5 of them which will give me 15 stalls. It will be placed very near the edge with the walls left off so that you can see inside and that it will give the "illusion" of a larger building.

I've done some basic layout on the second deck but it's not quite ready for prime time. I'll post it once I get some more work done on it. I'll update the original layout drawing in this thread with my latest one.

I think

I think you'll be happy with the Fast Tracks option. Just stick with it for the first few, watch the videos, and after the first 10 or so, you'll be happy you did as the cost per turnout plummets!

(PS - the plan looks good, although I'm not much of an expert in that area).

Historic Aerials updated Wichita Falls

I happen to go onto Historical Aerials site every once in awhile to see if they have anything new. Well, they do. They have some topographical maps of Wichita Falls from the 1950's through the '70s and '80s. The oldest one from the 1958 shows the location of the roundhouses along with the location of the refinery tracks at the MKT yard. Might want to look at them and see what you can pull from them.

http://www.historicaerials.com/

Fast tracks

I wandered into a LHS in Portland Oregon while up there working. The guy there told me about Fast Tracks and showed me the sight as well as walked me thru some of it. When I got back to my hotel, I spent a few days watching the videos and learning. I thought it would be a hard job and was intimidated some at doing it. But now that I've seen the videos and understand the process, I'm more inclined to push forward with the project. Should be fun.

As for the second deck, I only have a rough draft right now. I've been working on this drawing and doing some final tweaks in it so that i can at least start building something. I'm starting with the roundhouse area first. I did move Odessa farther into the curve to give some more room between the towns. I've replaced my orginial layout with the updated one.

Thanks for the link to the Wichita Falls area, I'll be sure to look thru it when I get a chance.

UPDATED

OK, I've updated the drawing once again. I think this is the final version unless someone has something I need to change.

The heavy wide black lines are roads based on the maps I have. The thin black lines across the layout are where I've divided it up into sections to build. My first section I'm building is the roundhouse. mainly because I want to set the roundhouse and then build off of that with my tracks. I'm also going to be building my own switches using the Fasttrack jigs.

Another change in direction

Well I'm finally home from my travels and have had some time to work on my layout/garage. I rearranged my garage cabinets and tools to make use of the walls to place the layout on a more permanent basis. But with doing this, I've come to the conclusion that I just can't make a double deck layout work in the confines and restrictions of the garage. So I've regulated myself to a single deck.

Also because of the restrictions within the garage, my track plan is going to change some. I'm working on a different layout design but still want to keep it loosely based on Fort Worth and the T&P and KATY lines.  My current thought is to do the layout of Fort Worth and all of the switching and have the mains go off and behind the layout as if they were headed of to distant towns. I hope to start drawing the design this week. I'll be using a lot of what I have already done.

Part of the issue as well is just the space within the garage. The current idea is to run along one wall, 18', across the back wall, 17 1/2', and have a turn at each end that will go to hidden track behind the layout. So basically a L shape layout. But I also want to try and incorporate a removable section on the back wall where I can install a island 16' long that will have main line/industries running on two sides with a divider down the middle. This would help complete the full Fort Worth scene. Without the "island", I can still run trains in a loop and have room to work in the garage on other projects.

But here are a few teaser pics of the roundhouse that I started and was in the original design.I'm still going to use it but it will now be in a corner of the permanent track. This pic is at viewing level.

Some locos.

I was just thinking that we hadn't heard from you in a while.

Crusty!

Welcome back! Sorry to hear you have to make such big changes to your plans. I think you had a life time layout designed there. Are you still wanting to keep it located in the DFW area? I was in Marshall, Texas this weekend for the 100th Annniversary of the T&P depot there.  You might find this area in the rolling hills to be of interest.  The depot sits in the middle of a wye. You can Google Earth it.

Currently BNSF diesels blast by there. Part of the yard is still there with UP diesels building up trains.  The depot is an active Amtrak station. You get to the station by an under the tracks pedestrian tunnel.

Marshall only exists because of the T&P.  There were huge railroad facilities there. The station has a museum inside too.  From your description above I could see a portion of those facilities on the island feeding into the wye.... Anyway I think you should explore the possibility.   There is a lot of history on this part of the T&P.  It just might meet your needs and fit on one deck.  Check your Sanborn map source.

Den

Hi Den

Yea, I've been kind of flying under the radar some. Now that work has returned home, I'm catching up on a bunch of Honey Do's. That and I've spent a lot of time redoing my garage, tools and working on one of my other hobbies, a 400 Gallon Salt Water Aquarium I have in my sun room.

I'd still like to keep the area around Fort Worth. I've got a few days away for work and so will be spending the extra time redoing my drawings for the layout. We'll see what falls out once I'm back at the drawing board.

The current thought from looking at the plan above is get rid of the lower half of the plan which was Midland/Odessa and shift everything else down, placing the roundhouse in the lower left corner. The upper side of the Island would then become the stock yards with a loop around to the hidden tracks in the upper left corner. There will be no layout on the upper wall. On the up side, the left wall is extended from 10' to 17 1/2', so there will be some extra scene/track between the upper island and the loop around.

Also the island will be extended out to at least 16', maybe even 18'. The T&P/KATY  T55 would be on the end of the island like I had in another revision of the plan.