New layout & new to this site

[Kane76]

Hello all!

Not new to the hobby- but new to the site.

I stumbled upon this site while looking for ideas and read through a bunch of posts. I was totally impressed with how helpful the members were and so decided to join.

Anyway... I am looking at building an L shaped layout later this year sometime. I am looking at something in the range of 4x8 with a 4x2 leaf. I had always liked the flow of the MRR Magazine's Kitty Hawk Central and will likely use a similar track plan.

However, I am going to adapt it for the plains of Indiana as opposed to the coastal plains.  I think it could work well- either way, they both have plains, rivers, lakes, and girder crossings.

[Kane76]

Here's a loose picture of what I am thinking...

All the photos were from the web (RailPictures.net)- not mine. I included them to highlight a variety of scenes and scenarios found on the prototype.

Couple of things to point out...

• I removed some of the switches to accommodate changes needed for a longer bridge, a tunnel, and lots of trees.
• The colors are loosely used to indicate terrain and foliage... there would be lots of green grass and medium gray ballast.
• Trees would be a mix of deciduous and pines and have lots of grass & weeds.
• Buildings are representative of occupying space- I wouldn't use the same ones from KHC.
• Rolling stock I'd use would be a mix of freight cars- no unit trains.
• Added a track for additional rail cars on the extension
• The purpose of the leaf would be to highlight the prairie / flat lands of Indiana while the main portion simulates the rolling hills along the southwest portion of the state & the Bloomington area

[davefoxx]

This will be fun to follow.  I'm building my N scale layout based on the Kitty Hawk Central's sister layout, the Seaboard Central.  I like what you have done to the plan to make it suit your interests.  Perhaps one suggestion would be to put a wye rather than a right hand turnout at top left in your plan, to give a little room between the track that goes into a tunnel and one that doesn't.  Otherwise, it will be tough to build the hillside in there without it being a sheer cliff.

DFF

[Kane76]

This will be fun to follow.  I'm building my N scale layout based on the Kitty Hawk Central's sister layout, the Seaboard Central.  I like what you have done to the plan to make it suit your interests.  Perhaps one suggestion would be to put a wye rather than a right hand turnout at top left in your plan, to give a little room between the track that goes into a tunnel and one that doesn't.  Otherwise, it will be tough to build the hillside in there without it being a sheer cliff.

DFF

Thanks Dave- that's a really good suggestion!



I just got two Athearn INRD GP-38s in the last couple of days- 3805 & 3805. Wow- I think I picked up the only two available right now... they're discontinued.

So, things are starting to come together!

[conrailthomas519]

It would also be really cool if you can acquire the leasing unit (lower right hand side photo).

[lajmdlr]

The bridge across your water is not really believable because any RR would just move the tracks to go around it. Besides bridges are VERY EXPENSIVE . A bridge crossing a river would be more believable. If you had a scenic divider length wise on the layout the river could "disappear" into that. Also you wouldn't be looking at both sides of the layout all the time.
 
Where is your MR going to be located? Knowing that will tell you what kinds of topography & vegetation is there.

What kind of room is your MR going to be in? Can you go around the walls, i.e. does our layout have to be roundy round? Think about going around the walls as you can have more industries to spot. You can still go roundy round for loco break-ins but it can be "hidden" easily. Or your tracks can limb up so your MR is run point to point. You could also have 2' -4' peninsulas come off for more switching.

[davefoxx]

Unfortunately, y'all may be wasting your breath.  It would appear that Kane76 has only posted three times to TRW, which are in this thread, and he has not been online here since March 2014.  Too bad.  I hope he's okay, because he was in and out of TRW in less than three weeks.

DFF