Major Track Plan Changes
October 28, 2012 by markpaulson
As always, double click on the track plan so it gets big enough to see what I’m talking about. I’m sure by this point you are as tired of reading about track plan changes as I am of making them. It feels like the process is one of endless sacrifice and compromise. I guess if it results in a layout that operates better, it will have all been worth it. I always anticipated changes when it came right down to building benchwork and laying track. I just didn’t think there would be this many. Why all the changes? As I explained in a previous post, allowing for the background lighting system in the plan cost me three inches on every wall. I never thought that would make all that much difference, but it does. Then, when I started to grid out the resin paper I had taped to the floor for the drywall and paint work, I discovered that somehow, I had failed to check the room dimensions, probably since before I built the low hip wall, because I was five inches off on the width and two inches off on the length of the room. The hip wall at the bottom of the plan, and drywall on all four walls would just about account for these errors. So, in addition to the major track re-alignment I wrote about in the post on horizon lighting, I was now faced with design alterations that would most certainly result in the loss of a number of features, as well as the contraction of the operating areas. There is now probably not room for more than three on the operating crew. To sum up: 1. The Little Dora Mine, and one of the Silverton Industries are gone. 2. The Stock Pens and the Icing Dock in Durango have switched places. 3. The Trolley passing track in Durango is gone. 4. The Micro-Engineering turnouts I am using are somewhat longer than the ones that Empire Express draws on the plan, but EE does have a larger one that more closely matches ME’s. To my surprise, replacing all of the shorter turnouts with longer ones did not create major problems. Turnouts are now labeled for left, right, curved and Y. 5. Sidings at Lower Cascade and Durango were already lost to the horizon lighting space; now Silverton siding is reduced to about three feet in length. 6. The rail-to-water log transfer bit the dust because there is no longer a convenient track from the lumber camp to the river. 7. The three large loops in the center of the room are now down to 22″ radius curves, which is absolutely as tight as I can go. 8. You may have noticed that the lift-out at Durango is gone; that may prove to be a plus.
Now for some positive news: All of Silverton is now closer to reach, and I figured out a way to do the staging yard without the two helices! I was trying to get down to 13 inches below the layout with the yard, but that required two large helices with nearly impossible grades in them. If I do it without the helices, I can still get down to about 8.25 inches, which I’m hoping will be enough reaching room. I have built helices, 25 years ago, in N-scale, but I wasn’t looking forward to building these.
Changing the plan means changing the schematic, so here is one-third of the new drawing.
Here is the middle third.
……..and here is the other end of the line.
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