Rebuilding the Puddington Valley - A Plan ?

[93cram]

Thx Dave,

I assumed you all were pretending to write poorly, shouldn't I ?  ;D

[Puddington]

Ok; so here's the requested photo's and we need a warning.......

THE SPACE IS A MESS; THIS COULD INJURE YOUR EYES, PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK........................

Here's the overhead of the Samuel Ridge in it's current state of disrepair................



The room...hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..

To the left, aginst the wall that the Samuel Ridge will live...........



Yes; it's my workshop and book library................

another view hard to the left by the freezer...................



Emptying the room may take longer than building the damn layout.............



This is looking in the door; the water heater can't be moved; it's new and must by Ontario code be 36" from the heating unit.....don't ask me why............

Ok David...........I can't imagine this helped but here it is mate.....many thanks !

[Puddington]

Mike,

Sorry if this has been addressed in your first post (my understanding of English is limited :-[), but how will the hidden 3 tracks
staging yard be accessed ?
Looks like a fun layout to operate BTW, with good switching opportunities to boot, beside those roaring passengers runs 

There are entrances on either end for the staging tracks. I plan to NOT cover the top of the staging; instead I will have the scenic wall in front be tall enough to provide a "block". The top will be open and I will place mirrors so I can see the turn outs, and use lit push buttons for the turn outs...........

[Puddington]

What do you have? It would be good to know so the plan can be tailored to your supply.

All main line switches are # 7's; the curved turnouts are "whatever Atlas made"; yard and branchline are # 5's because no passenger cars will go through.................

[Puddington]

If it were me I'd flip it the layout horizontally in the picture. Your biggest obstacle is your hot water heater and it's in the most inconvenient space. On the thumb you only have 30" of space while your water heater appears to be 36".
The S.

The "bulb" (as I call it) can be expanded - I'd like a 33" radus curve for passenger op's....................

[Puddington]

What are you planning on for operations? Having the paper mill leads so close to the tunnel portal could make shifting cars slightly more difficult. You may also wish to include a run around at the mill yard, because spotting cars on one of those sidings would require running all the way to Puddington Station to get it on the correct end of the locomotive.
You may also consider moving the top mainline in the mountain area to follow the hidden staging tracks. I just perceive a mountainous area as either a tightly packed double track, or a single track, and that the rear mainline may detract from the scene.

Interesting ideas; Op's, per say will be limited to wayfreight and switching - the passenger consists will go "roundy round"......... with a few stops when I have a full JD in hand...(LOL)

The idea of hiding the second main in the mountian is intersting.... a thought !

I think, when I see a true scale plan, I can back up or re-design the right hand area near the mill to move the tunnel back so switching can happen at the mill; or a complete re-design might be in order......can you expand on the run around idea ?

Many thanks for the comments !

[Guilford Guy]

I don't know if it would fit necessarily, but if you could either build the yard on that curve and have the siding closest to the main, connecting to the mainline, you could run around the necessary cars to be spotted on that facing point siding.

[Puddington]

I don't know if it would fit necessarily, but if you could either build the yard on that curve and have the siding closest to the main, connecting to the mainline, you could run around the necessary cars to be spotted on that facing point siding.

Ok; you lost me........use small words........(Tee hee)

[Guilford Guy]

I'll use pictures instead!
The 2 sidings I threw in there probably wont be necessary because the original yard track is much longer now.

[DKS]

All main line switches are # 7's; the curved turnouts are "whatever Atlas made"; yard and branchline are # 5's because no passenger cars will go through.................

No, I mean what are the swiches you have on hand already? You said you had 32 switches. Makes no sense to design a plan that doesn't at least make an attempt to use them.

[wm3798]

I like it.  As noted elsewhere, I'd try to sneak a single track lead behind the water heater to reach an "off stage" yard on the right side of the room for car storage and an additional destination for thru trains.  It might cost you one shelf of the book case, but it will be well worth it.

Lee

[DKS]

The original layout looks like Code 80. Is that correct?

[Puddington]

No, I mean what are the swiches you have on hand already? You said you had 32 switches. Makes no sense to design a plan that doesn't at least make an attempt to use them.

I have # 5's and # 7's on hand - 7 of each RH and LH, plus 4 curved turnouts in each RH and LH

5 RH = 7
5 LH = 7
7 RH = 7
7 LH = 7
plus 8 curved.... I guess my math was off..........

LOL

[Puddington]

The original layout looks like Code 80. Is that correct?

Yes; it will be replaced with code 55.

[Puddington]

I'll use pictures instead!
The 2 sidings I threw in there probably wont be necessary because the original yard track is much longer now.

Got it.... the more tracks in the mill, the better I always say....the crowded look is very realistic....and heaven knows I've been in a few mills.....