Interesting!

Look forward to seeing progress. Used Google Maps to follow your plan and am impressed with scenic choices. Are you going to put a single span (instead of two) across the river? Just curious.

Good luck!

Adjust for Space

There are actually three spans over the Iowa River. A low-trestle, a lattice truss bridge, and a through truss. Space limitations left me with room to model two, so I chose the trestle and one of the trusses. I felt including the trestle approach would serve as a better transition to the river from Highway 6, instead of going from road right to river. The latter smacks of model railroad.

James

Very nice…

…James!  Now, hurry up and get building so I can operate asap.

(Oops, you could say the same thing to me.)

Too Bad No Room for CRIP Museum and Former Station

Would have made a great scenic element!

Nice

I'm a big fan of the around the walls with the middle clear.  That is what I'm doing as well.  The railroad really doesn't take up much space with 18-24" shelves along the wall.

Good, Bad, & Ugly

The GB&U (lol - sounds like the name of my layout!)

I really like the around the walls idea and the mix of industrial with rural scenic elements. This will be fun to watch and you should enjoy operating the branch. 

My limited knowledge of this line and area is Bad but I wondered about the turnout labeled RH Switch on the section below. This clearly is a link to the IAIS but the mainline then goes on to another RH and over the bridge? Would this have been common? Curious minds ...

Ugly? Well nothing is ugly as that is the eye of the beholder but, always a but, that viewblock over the liftout seems awkward and forced. 

Perhaps the backdrop could be placed a few inches in front of that wall and allow a long semi-hidden staging track? 

I think it is a thing of beauty

Well done. To me it looks more like a slice of real life than a plan crammed with an unrealistic amount of railroad.

I doff my old John Deere cap to you sir. It's going to be an absolute blast to build and photograph.

The Hill Track

Hi Neil,

The mix of urban and rural was one of the appeals of modeling the Hills Line. On the Grimes Line it was mostly light commercial. This should give me a bit more variety.

Turnout orientations are a match to the prototype. There's no true main line since it's all running track. However, the CIC and IAIS would use the west (inside) track for interchange and the east (outside) track for movement. Google Maps shots to back that statement up included.

 
North end of Maiden Lane Interchange with Hill Track

 
South End of Maiden Lane Interchange and Highland Avenue

 
North End of Maiden Lane showing CIC cars spotted for interchange to IAIS on West track.

As for the view block... awkward? Sure. That's due to the limitations of the space. Forced? I don't think so. The two lift-outs are positioned where there is long stretches of prototype that will be un-modeled. Think of the layout as a series of connected vignettes instead of one continuous scene. The view block just helps reinforce the Hill Track going "thataway", per the prototype. My thought is a 2 inch tall piece that just blocks trains from view but is otherwise very accessible, and removable with the lift-out.

I also don't feel there's a need for a long hidden staging track to support train lengths that aren't needed and aren't supported by the rest of the layout. Besides, long hidden staging tracks behind backdrops tend to develop issues on their own that I'd rather avoid.

James

Excellent Description

"Think of the layout as a series of connected vignettes instead of one continuous scene."

Excellent description of what we do in modeling (by necessity due to limited space)...in my case to include scenes from first (West Bottoms Kansas City Missouri) to the last (Lawrence Kansas) about 40 miles in about 142 feet of "mainline" track.

Hopefully in my case, each if the vignettes (or LDEs as Tony Koester would call them) will then be accurate both scenically and operationally  as your plan appears to be.

Looking forward to following along as you progress.

The Linked Up Logger

Ian Rice had a plan in one of his books titled "The Linked up Logger", which was basically a series of separate vignettes connected by unscenicked lift-outs. That's my inspiration.

James

Vignettes

Thanks James. My profound ignorance has been “edumacated” with the help of real world visual aides. Seriously, this looks great and I am looking forward to following along. 

BTW The viewblock makes much more sense as a shallow fence or barrier rather than what is pictured as a backdrop height obstacle. 

As someone who was inspired

As someone who was inspired by your Grimes Line, I'm quite eager to see how the Hills Line pans out.  The IAIS isn't my railroad, but I might eventually pick up a locomotive or two as 'run-through power' tribute.

Since I'm a beginner looking to avoid my own first mistakes, I'm curious what you've learned from the Grimes Line and intend to do better in the new layout.

I do a lot of business in

I do a lot of business in Iowa City. I have always been interested in this line. You have done an excellent job capturing the look of this line. I'll be watching this one. 

Socratic paradox

For the record, I'm still a beginner... and not just because I only have 11 turnouts in this new plan (cough).

My hope for this layout is to have notable improvement in three areas: photo backdrops, foreground scenery (especially trees), and the transition between said foreground and background. I learned a lot from the Grimes Line, but will continue to learn from this group and others over the years. All that I know is that I know nothing.

James

where's my cookie?

Check's in the Mail

Congrats Scott! You win the grand prize of 25 dollars (payable in ten yearly installments of 2.50 each) for correctly predicting my next layout.

Again pulling lessons from the Grimes Line, I was content with sessions that served two of the three industries on the line, usually Beisser Lumber and CB&I. Stutsman on the Hills Line has the benefit of multiple car spots for multiple car types, so I can see that taking a bit of time and offering a lot of variety.

If needed, I could always reactivate Nagel Lumber and spot a carload or two on the spur. I've got more than enough centerbeam flats left over. But know that I'm going for quality of movements over quantity. Two industries, along with the multitude of procedures required to properly pull and place cars topped off by the trappings of a former interurban line with its sharp curves, tight clearances, and numerous grade crossings should be a lot of fun.

From the clearance point of the turnout to the end of the lift-out, the Hill Track as designed will hold a single geep and five 60 foot cars. That's more than enough for both the prototype and the model.

James

Sorry to a buzz kill...

That electrical panel should have a 36" deep X 30" wide clearance in front of it, otherwise you are likely violating residential building code. Double check with local authorities. Having any sort of lift out beyond that could get you in trouble as well for blocking it. (Something thin and removed most of the time might keep you out of trouble.) Sorry to be a buzz kill, I'm an architect.

Had you considered a peninsula from the bottom wall? I'm trying to consider ways that would extend the run. It looks like a quality design otherwise.

Really like the separate design elements

Is that in his book titled "Small, Smart & Practical Track Plans (Model Railroading)" ? Sounds like I need to add that to my reading list.

Clearance

You're not a buzzkill, Sean. You're bringing your knowledge to the discussion.

For permanent installations you're absolutely correct. We definitely have the correct width, and then some, in front of the panel.

As for depth, I need to shorten the Hills section to give me the required clearance. That shouldn't be an issue.

The lift-out itself is based on a design that I used for the Grimes Line and consists of a 2x4 with a masonite top. You can see it in place in the back of the following photo:

And in better detail:

Again, all lift-outs and plug-in extensions will only be in place when running trains. None will have any form of scenery. In sticking with the vignettes concept, the lift-outs are designed to serve as separations between the scenes. In essence, they shouldn't be ignored.

Peninsulas would greatly add length to the run. But the same desire for clearance led to the around-the-walls only plan. Since we have to walk through this space to get between the laundry room and the rest of the house, and we're trying to use this space for other functions along with model railroading, I wanted to keep the center of the room open. Again, a lesson learned from the Grimes Line... which had two separate peninsulas.

James

I think, with the busy family

I think, with the busy family life you now have, James, you made the right decision to model something familiar and simple. I worked short lines where we definitely only moved a 6-12 cars a day and it took us all of eight hours to handle all the work. One of them, the former MN&S, High line was basically an "L" shaped railroad with trolley grades (1-2%) between city blocks and probably some of the worst track conditions possible (15-20% cross level on tangent track). It was always a joy to put the engine away in it's "pen" (fenced location on a little used spur with just enough clearance between the industry fence and our "main track" clearance, to hold our SW1500 and office/shoving platform/business car/caboose) and go home knowing once again we had safely made it from one end of the nine mile line to the other without derailing. 

I am always humored when modelers want to build an engine house and yard before even adding industries on their railroads when in reality these only come as a result of making or saving money...not for comfort or scenic reasons. Running short line railroads is all about learning to do more with less. 

Your new railroad, James will have plenty of opportunties for operation and great scenery without all the big challenges and responsibilities of a large layout and in a comfortable location. 

Looking forward to your progress.

​Barry

Less is More

Thanks Barry. One of the big ah-ha moments for me in model railroading was just how little railroads actually have and use when it comes to track, structures, and other right of way materials.

As model railroaders we have no problem adding an extra spur or another locomotive to our layouts. It fits the mold of modeling as a hobby, and it one of the reasons people get into this hobby in the first place. But it can also serve as a barrier for entry into the hobby. Especially if the mindset of "I have to have x amount of stuff before I can start" creeps hold.

If we took the time to actually study real railroads at the micro-level, we'd see a lot of cool stuff being done on very little. Case in point, today's CRANDIC spots a locomotive, out in the open at Hills, to serve the line.

There's no engine house or gate or yard office. Just some material for the loco and slug to park on to soak up oil and enough space to park a car the crew drives in on. There's not one of us that are designing, building, or operating a model railroad, that couldn't model this exact scene in AnyTown, USA, with little to no effort involved.

James

That is cool, James!

I love the vignette you just spoke about. Small switcher with a slug parked on the line. 

This is exactly the type of railroading I like, too. A diminutive engine moving just a few cars. Love it. 

I hope that very engine with its slug will be an option for you.

Current Operator

So is the CRANDIC operating the line post 2016? 

~Tim

Lease Details

Correct Tim. The original lease agreement ran from 2012 to 2016 for the Iowa Interstate to run the line. Once it expired the CRANDIC took control back from the IAIS.

The original agreement was a result the 2008 floods, which severely damaged most of the CIC's line from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City, including the collapse of the CIC's bridge over the Cedar River. Since there was going to be significant work needed on the line, and the customer base was... shall we say... less than robust, the CRANDIC was willing to turn over the line to the Iowa Interstate until the flood mitigation work was complete.

For those that are interested, here are both STB decisions concerning the lease:

Lease Agreement

Lease Termination

James