Help me fill in a blank! (please)


Yard_Duty

Yard_Duty

Member
So I've picked out a track plan, (I think) for my layout. I found it in MRP 2009. It was 6X15 originally, but I split it to fit around the walls of my layout room. Laugh all you want, but I can't for the life of me figure out what to do with the extra space. I know what I want, (Metal recycler, empty gons in, loads out). but I can't seem to make it look right with the main line and all. You guys take some stabs at it and see what you can come up with. Oh the two spurs up in the top right are not essential.
Thanks in advance!

BEFORE:
PRB.png


AFTER:
PRBmodified.png
 
Wow, with that kind of room you wouldn't be sorry if you made another loop and have continuous running, either with a duckunder or swingbridge.
Nothing like switching when there's a train running by at the same time. (keeps you on your toes!)
I think once you get to building it the ideas will be non stop.
 
well what era and are you going to model and what region?
personally id make it a walk in layout, build like an island sort of thing in the middle
 
Littlefoot14 said:
well what era and are you going to model and what region?
personally id make it a walk in layout, build like an island sort of thing in the middle
Click to expand...

Modern day CSX branch line. Well I was thinking about having it come on around for a continuous run, but I'll likely be the only one ever running it, so it's not high on my list of wants. Also, I want to kind of keep the center of the room open, but I'm not dead set on that if someone has some ideas! :D
 
I suggest the following. Move the whole section on the right side (as is) down to the bottom. Next, extend the road that leads from the freight house (top left) all the way to the wall. Then put a tree line to the right of this road. Now you've icreased and sectioned off the area between the trees and the river for a new industry or 2.

I've attached a really crumby picture that might help.


Kerry
 
How about an actual town in that space? I really hate most of the MR track plans because almost everything is industrial building flats with as many tracks jammed in that will fit. All those plants need workers and workers need a place to live and shop. Town and city scenes give you a chance to add a lot of non-railroad interest to the layout as well. Non-MR's will not be impressed by how cool all the spurs and crossing tracks look but they'll be fascinated by things like working traffic lights, working gates and crossing flashers, streets, buildings, signs, and mini-scenes of people going about their daily lives.
 
Some good ideas. Jim, I actually thought of that. Make that whole "new" section a small town and have the mainline (it curves sharply downward now) just run through at the back, re-joining at the river bridge. This plan actually is a built, running model railroad, modeled after a union pacific branch. Looks very nice in the photos. I love industrial, well, semi industrial switching. I remember when I was a kid, hearing the local switching all the tobacco warehouses and supply houses downtown. You could hear that 645, Usually a seaboard system MP15AC, notch up for miles! And the cars slamming together in the yard at night when it was quiet. My dad worked at Seaboard System as a brakeman/switchman when I was young, and I remember riding with my mom to carry him to the CO here in Rocky Mount yard to work. Wow I really went way off there for a minute! Memory flood I guess. Anything else you see that might help?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Layout real estate and what to do with it has never been a problem for me. I eat it up as fast as I build it. I would eat up twice as much if I could. So on one hand I say build it, and they will come!
However, since you must be one of these organized individuals who insist on having a plan to work from and since you are asking for ideas, I'll toss some out. I'm of like mind with Jim on the town idea. Nice thing is that you can lay it out and complete it years after, at youe leasure. Another possibility would be a waterfront, river, lake, something wet. This would take more planning up front but could introduce marine industries and features and the ever popular bridge or two. You could even add a boat! I would delete the small river off to the right if I went this way. Seeing how you opened up the plan this new area is realy a nice spot for a scenic highlight. Just my two cents worth.
 
Ummmm, ok! Some random thoughts and I've not had any coffee yet so I can't vouch for their sanity:

People have been advocating lately a higher scenery to track ratio which is more realistic unless you're in the middle of a yard, so I think Jim made a good suggestion about putting a town in the blank space. Maybe have the mainline run BEHIND the bldgs so the trains are hidden for a bit - might make the run seem longer.

A BIG river crossing? That would be a chance to build a nicely detailed bridge. Any ravines in the area you model?

Could be a good spot for a huge (by model standards) industry - papermill, steelmill, refinery, auto plant, grain elevator / flour mill, etc. That would become a main focal point for the RR.

I'd open up the currently hidden staging and run a track around the lower left corner to open staging, with or without a continuous run connection. Even if you have a workbench in that space, you could have staging tracks above it. Hide the tracks with hinged panels if you want (like a kitchen cabinet door but they would open vertically instead of horizontally).

Cool plan even in original form! Keep us posted on what you decide to do.
 
Personally I like Jim's idea of the small town. I think that alot of the track plans are just too cluttered with switches and industries. Sometimes you need to make it simpler to make it better if you know what I mean. My $.02
 
I don't know if this is an idea of what to do with the space, or more of a general comment. I would not extend the industrial tracks across the back of the new area. I would terminat them on the left about the same length they were. The Butler Frozen food tracks could be extended back into that corner from the right.

OR

I would switch the main track to the back and put the industrial tracks in the front where they are easier to reach. Butler tracks could still be modified or an additional industry added from the right side.
 
So this is what I'm thinking. Very crude, but thats with a small town, typical main street in a town that was originally just a railroad stop. Lots of those here. Then a wooded area in the back corner. Still VERY open about this area yet...

PRBmodifiedagain.png
 
Agreed on the passing siding idea.

Also, assuming that grid is 1', which it appears to be, you might be able to fit a peninsula into the middle space. Not one that includes a loop, but rather one that simply extends your mainline run. The idea would be to have this area mainly scenic, but if you want you could add a couple countryside industries, such as a grain elevator or something of that sort.
The town that you have could become a junction town, and you could add a small station, or a dilapidated one that is never used anymore, if you don't want to bother adding passenger operations.
 
If you had a track heading off into the wooded area you could model an interchange complete with a dummy crossing.
 
Now we're getting somewhere. :) Cram those buildings in right next to each other in the downtown. Most small towns tried to give the illusion of size and prosperity by having all the buildings next to one another, even if the downtown was two blocks long. Vary the size from one to three stories. Have the tracks run behind town with a cross street that runs at right angles to the main street and crosses the tracks. That's perfect spot for a small flag stop type station. Almost every town had some sort of passenger station, just because the citizens drove the railroad nuts until they built something. Depending on your era, it can be anything from open and operating to boarded up and dilapidated. A lot of towns converted to the old station to other uses too, like housing the chamber of the commerce.

Make your cross street continue into the backdrop so it looks like the citizens can leave town somehow. If your downtown is built right, it will serve as a nice view block between the hills on the right and the industrial area on the right.

Now, if you want to try something that really looks cool, locate a small industry right at the base of the hills, just at the end of downtown. Extend that stub spur so it runs right down the middle of main street to access the industry. Street running is another one of those things not commonly seen on layouts but it was very common in real life, especially if your back story is that it's the remnants of an old interurban line. What I like about urban area modeling is that you can detail it from the time you put up the first building until the day you die. There are only so many trees you can add to a hillside but towns have an almost infinite number of things going on that can be made into mini-scenes everywhere.
 
I like it a lot. You've combined some really nice elements with the town. Having the main line run down the main street allows you to use a flat as your passenger station, tying up traffic real good while the train loads and unloads. The street running also introduces a permanent slow order that will make operations more interesting. The warehouse district will look really neat if you add a switch and extra track so at least one of the warehouses is serviced by a track that runs under cover of the warehouse or even a stub track that enter the warehose through a rollup door. Think about the concept of using brick streets for the main street and warehouse district, since they were common, and brick or cobblestone streets are still common in many cities today. Most people still have a nostaligic feeling for brick streets. Of course, since I have brick streets on my layout, I'm prejudiced. :)

I think you'll find this town section of the layout will provide you with a lot of inspiration and many hours of enjoyment.
 
I should've taken a little more time to draw. I plan on putting the warehouses right at carside, with car height, roll-up doors, like this.
warehouse_door_in_rain.jpg

The brick streets is an idea. Reminds me of Wilmington, NC, former home of the Wilmington & Weldon railroad, which was eventually swallowed up by the ACL. Many of the waterfront district's streets are still brick. Google some old Wilmington, NC photos and it'll be hard to find one without at least a railcar in it. Not sure if I have the skill for that, though.
 
Randy, Walthers makes a brick street system that greatly simplifies this. They also made a street track insert system that made it really easy to add street running but, for reasons that escape me, they retired the kit. You can still find it on-line, at e-bay, and at some hobby shops.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top