2'x8' shelf layout in the works


A

AL1

Shortliner
Recently I have been trying to get back to building a model railroad on a 2'x8' piece of plywood. The idea was to build a portable, functional switching layout with wood I had available, and complete the whole project for under $400.

The attached plans are what I have so far. Drawn in XTrakCAD and decorated in MS Paint. The buildings are all by Pikestuff and Rix, accurately scaled from the dimensions available on their website, the RR HQ is going to be scratchbuilt. Turnouts are all #6, minimum curve radius is 36" and track will be code 70.

My current issue with the layout is the S curve located on the oil track, I put a 6" straight piece in there, and the curves on either side are 36 inch radius. Will that be sufficient to avoid problems?

Next, I cannot decide what to do with the green space up front. There is about 6" from the edge of the roadbed to the front of the board, which seems like a lot of wasted real estate. I would rather not block the view of the industrial park with anything located in the front, but do not want to leave it completely open either. Possible ideas from the prototype were an open engine facility or seed transload compete with an auger, either one would be located on a separate spur from the mainline of course.

In any case the design is roughly based on the Wiregrass Central RR, and this scene represents the industrial area of the western side of Enterprise, Ala. Since Atlas just released new GP38s with the WC paint scheme I wanted a fitting setting for them.. :D
 
I like it. I don't think the S curve will couse you much trouble be in a low speed switching area. I would also think about adding a single track in the front so you have another track for sorting cars. Just my 2cents.
 
Frank,

I like the plan

As Joe said, maybe another track down at the bottom to fill in some of that open space and to sort additional cars...

Another idea would be to add some scenery there. Maybe a small shallow creek or a drainage ditch that curves off before it gets to the railroad headquarters structure.
 
Too much wood available

AL1 said:
layout with wood I had available
Click to expand...

Plan looks good - I should reduce to something similar!

I have been spending my time making sawdust and trying to get rid of the wood available :)

Results so far -
1) an unusable garage that can't park either car
2) 4 partially complete corner modules
3) 1 partially complete module for a trestle
4) too much stuff in the room to get them up
5) a full garbage tote each week
6) another years worth of wood that must be good for something!
7) and still no idea when I will get these narrow (shelf) around the room modules in service!

,,, ken
 
I agree with Josh that the area would be suitable for storage/sorting track. Also possibly a road running parallel to the main would be another idea. Lower profile structures would also work in the forefront. Or as a last resort, reduce the depth of the layout from 24" to 20". I curious, is the fire department part of the peanut operation or just the township department?

Larry
 
In our area it's common to see an open graveled area with a siding being used to unload covered hoppers into trucks using an auger or piping; you could also model a lumber unload/reload using boxcars or centerbeams and a good-sized forklift.

Designating such an area as a team track would let you route all sorts of traffic in there.

It might require a crossing somewhere, but you could also drop a warehouse or manufacturer into the plowed field at top left.

If there's any room to the right or left, you can work in a couple staging tracks to move cars on and off the scenicked part of the railroad.

I kind of like Josh's idea of putting a drainage ditch or culvert along the front.

Have you looked at Lance Mindheim's pages?
 
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Glad you guys approve so far, I attached an updated version to this post..

Changes include adding the engine service area, I marked all of the parking lots, a dirt road, and gave the middle building a name; Airgas South. I am not sure exactly what they do, but that is approximately where they are located on the prototype. They will be located in the Pikestuff "General Contractor" building.

@Larry, all three buildings are detached and separate facilities. The fire department is not part of the industries, just a building to fill that space between the warehouse and road.

@Josh - a drainage ditch will be located on the other blank side left of the main road.

@everyone else, I tried working another road or houses into the plan, but there is not enough space for the detail I like to put into both of them. Unfortunately this is all the space I can use, so staging is out of the question, as is another full length siding.

Here is the prototype engine facility I keep rambling about;

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1533324

The auger setup I might end up putting in its place;

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1446145

And finally one of the Sessions mills my design is based around:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=1446144
 
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The auger setup could be added along the road across from the Airgas South building. Wouldn't be unusual at all to have spots for different customers along the same stretch of track.

I overlooked your mention of the 1:1 Wiregrass Central in the original post. Not only is it a great name, but you can run out and make photos of the area you plan to model. Definitely need to look at Lance Mindheim's approach, in this case.

Don't forget a state or county highway sign to "set" the location. Or a SunDrop Cola sign.
 
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I like it!
One thing... if you make that bottom spur face the opposite direction you'll add tons of operations to the layout.
 
I definetly agree with fliping the bottom siding to piont the other direction. You could then extend it across the highway and add another small industry or just suggestions that there is one there but off of the board.
 
Frank,

The addition of the sand tower and oil rack i think is a great idea! And the prototype you showed looks neat.

However, i think if you shortened that spur just a tad, and added another spur or even made that sand tower spur continue down the front of the layout, it would give you space and workable track area for a team track scene as Joe mentioned above with possibly a lumber boxcar or centerbeam, or unloading hoppers, flatcars, and just about any other type of rolling stock...
 
A couple of different directions of thought:

You could leave the front green space open. Many times we try to crowd too many tracks / industries into too small of an area or overcrowd our layouts with track, etc. If you went that way, you could put in a road paralleling the tracks (vary the elevation so it gives some visual interest) or model a pond or drainage ditch if you wanted a water feature.

Ok, going the other way, you could extend that new front spur and curve it off the edge of the layout to represent an interchange track - then you could "park" all kinds of cars there (as you could with a team track).

One of the coolest layouts I've seen was very similar to yours but had an industry in the "plowed field" area so not all the switchpoints faced the same way. The owner superdetailed it so it was (IMO) damn near museum quality. There's something to be said for keeping trackplans relatively simple.
 
Graham Line said:
I overlooked your mention of the 1:1 Wiregrass Central in the original post. Not only is it a great name, but you can run out and make photos of the area you plan to model. Definitely need to look at Lance Mindheim's approach, in this case.

Don't forget a state or county highway sign to "set" the location. Or a SunDrop Cola sign.
Click to expand...

Yes Lance Mindheim does awesome work, I always enjoy flipping through the photo galleries on his website. His attention to detail is amazing.. :cool:

Beachbum said:
A couple of different directions of thought:

You could leave the front green space open. Many times we try to crowd too many tracks / industries into too small of an area or overcrowd our layouts with track, etc. If you went that way, you could put in a road paralleling the tracks (vary the elevation so it gives some visual interest) or model a pond or drainage ditch if you wanted a water feature.
Click to expand...

That is what I was thinking.. Even adding the extra spur in the front seems to clutter it up a bit more than I would like..

Beachbum said:
Ok, going the other way, you could extend that new front spur and curve it off the edge of the layout to represent an interchange track - then you could "park" all kinds of cars there (as you could with a team track).
Click to expand...

That was actually part of the original plan, but as I moved to represent the prototype the idea was abandoned. Enterprise is a one railroad town unfortunately. If all else fails I could use the spur as simple car storage, every shortline stores cars for a little extra money, including this one.

Beachbum said:
One of the coolest layouts I've seen was very similar to yours but had an industry in the "plowed field" area so not all the switchpoints faced the same way. The owner superdetailed it so it was (IMO) damn near museum quality. There's something to be said for keeping trackplans relatively simple.
Click to expand...

That sounds awesome, and is what I hope to achieve - a small, portable, superdetailed layout where I can experiment with different modeling techniques and operate my small locomotive roster.

That being said I am going back to the drawing board and see if I can rearrange a few things that are bothering me about the current plan..
 
68 Camaro said:
AL1

Another person to check out is Kurt in Germany, who is modeling his version of Lance's "East Rail" layout. A much different approach to detail and layout essentials.

Larry

http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=169&hilit=kurt
Click to expand...

Wow, that is stunning! Amazing the details he puts into his structures..

I have brought an update to my shelf layout plans.. I added a road to the left side, flipped the service siding around so the access road to it is shorter, and made other very small changes. I would like to add a water tower somewhere to the front right, but I could not find a model I liked.

For extra fun, I attached three shots of the brand new Atlas locomotives that will be running on this layout.. Compared of course to these actual GP38ACs at Enterprise:

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=954305
http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=954306

Of course some of the details are incorrect, but still pretty good for an out of the box model.
 
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