Illinois Central/Canadian National in N scale

[S Class]

now that is a plan, me likey.


When I was discussing the concrete plant I meant having an extra spur off the plasti-pak lead that could hold 2-4 cars, I'm not sure if you intend to ship aggregate or cement so it was up to you if you wanted it. I think now if you keep the yard at the right hand side it would just make that side of the plan look crowded if you did so I'll drop my suggestion.

[nscalemike]

Well, its been a few weeks of crazy around here.  Was pulled into a bathroom remodel project, then went on vacation for a week, then some landscaping before it gets cold, and no time for trains!  Only have been on RW a few times as well.  I have some time this week that I am going to try and make progress again, and might start framing up the benchwork for my branch line.  So, I believe when I last checked this was the latest plan:



I still think I like the plan, but I am worried I am cramping too much in a limited space?  The grid is 6" and intended to be a modern, urban area.  What does everyone think, is it a doable plan that will keep a solo operator busy for 45 minutes to an hour (or more)?  Or is there other ideas out there that might better suit my needs and my area constraints?  Let me know what you all think!

Thanks, Mike

[packers#1]

I actually think it's a pretty good balance with the large blank space between the yard and Plasti-pak facility, the transfer facility, and the two companies on the left.

[MichaelWinicki]

I actually think it's a pretty good balance with the large blank space between the yard and Plasti-pak facility, the transfer facility, and the two companies on the left.

Agreed.  I think it's great balance between track & scenery.

[nscalemike]

My worries on this branch line has caused me to develop another idea plan.  Maybe some of the problem is I don't know exactly what I want.  On one hand I do, modern with realistic industries in the midwest with switching opportunities to stay busy for a while.  On the other hand I don't, rural type area vs the gritty industrial type areas.  I want it to look good, as this is what is first seen when you walk into the room, so I need to find the good track to scenery ratio while at the same time paying attention to my operations.  Anyways, this is based off of MR's Wisconsin Southern branch they did a few years back.  I moved some things around and shrunk it to fit my area, but I think I included everything but 1 industry and the engine house.  The main difference is instead of a L shape I made it a U, and I moved the paper company and flipped it and I flipped the area where they joined into the MR&T, using the same connection through the back drop.



One big advantage to this is the diversity of the rolling stock versus the previous plan.  I can use my many ethanol tank cars, the paper company will have a varierty of cars (I think, don't know much about them) plus, I could change the industries on the right side if needed. 

Another reason behind the plan is the fact that the left leg either needs to rise about an 1"-2" higher or I need to stop it 16" short of the wall.  I don't want to stop short if I don't have to as 16" will provide for longer sidings etc.  So I think by seperating the branch and making the ethonal plant its own lead, I can rise a little bit early on, level off through the runaround, then rise the inch or so I need from the curved turnout to the start of the paper plant.

What do you guys think?  I'd love to hear back!

Thanks, Mike

[wazzou]

I'm not a plan Guru, however I do like the potential and non-linear look of the latest plan better.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

I like the track disappearing behind the industry at the top left.
I like how it's spaced out, yet there's a nice heavy industry to anchor the end.

The runaround on the right seems fine for the industry over there, but too short to for the paper plant on the left.
So unless engines are going to push all the cars all the way around, how about adding a long runaround to the main after the diverging route of the curved turnout.
The runaround could be on the left or right of the main, though left "fits" (unless you absolutely need that little siding right the in the middle).

Food for thought.

[Bendtracker1]

So unless engines are going to push all the cars all the way around, how about adding a long runaround to the main after the diverging route of the curved turnout.

Food for thought.

+1

[nscalemike]

Had a chance to think a little more on this, and really appreciate the feedback so far!  My original thought was to push back to the paper co, give me a good excuse to use a caboose in the modern era, plus, it will be a push move to get into the branch, so the trains will already be set up that way.  They do that on the branch here locally, which the original plan was based off of too, and its nice seeing a caboose once in a while still!  But, there is a nice area for a runaround, I put it in for this plan, what you think?  I dug out the old issues when this project layout was featured and I know that small siding was for something, but I couldn't figure out what, I think they spotted a tank car or two there. 

I put in a second hopper track for the ethanol plant, shortened the stubs by the LPG facility, and moved the grain elevator.  I also added some roads and a small business district.  I bent the benchwork in by the paper plant, but if I think of something to go in that area it can remain out.  (My workbench is under this branch line.)  Also, the two tracks by the paper plant, would they be used as a small yard for the facility?  I can't see the other industries storing cars there, as I will also have a small yard where the local begins at on the main.  If I make it an industry, I was thinking some sort of transloading facility and spreading the two tracks apart slightly.

New:


My ops thoughts on this would be two locals, one for the ethanol plant and one for the paper co.  Maybe a morning and afternoon, or every day for the paper and every other for the ethanol.  I need to research to find out loads in and out for the paper co.  It would arrive, push the cars all the way to the paper plant, then return with the cars for the right side, the elevator, the unknown industry, and the LPG.  I could either run around for the LPG, which I thought would only be serviced once a week or so, or, if I ran two engines, is putting the tank car in between them prototypical?  Drop the lead engine, push the tank into the side, then MU the two engines back together?  Once the switching is done here, it'll return to the paper plant, which will consist of the bulk of the work. When complete, it will leave all the way to the main.  Same thoughts for the ethanol plant. 

What you think?  I think I like this a little better, seems there is more to it but hopefully still not too crowded.

Thanks, Mike

[Philip H]

Mike,
This plan looks really good.  I think the track plan offers what you are looking for.

As to ops, given the volume of ethanol moving on rail these days, it would need to be a daily trun - perhaps ven twice a day if you want.  The paper mill could be daily or every other day; the LPG might be weekly, tacked on to one or the other of the turns.  It also looks like your yard area would allow for more then two tracks, which would be good if your ops tempo picks up.

What I don't see - probably because its not labeled - is where your interchange is.  that is, if you runa a daily ethanol turn, and a daily mill turn, and a twice a week local, where do cars going off layout physically exit?

[nscalemike]

Philip, thanks for the input!  I did forget to label that track.  It is the one the dead ends on the plan right above the LPG facility.  It actually doesn't dead end, rather goes through the back drop where it joins up with the main line.  I have a small yard for an interchange and this branch line just down from the branch line/main line junction.  That is where all the branch line traffic starts and ends at.

I could probably expand the yard by a track or two as well, especially if I run it more in line with the main.

Thanks,
Mike

[Bendtracker1]

  It also looks like your yard area would allow for more then two tracks, which would be good if your ops tempo picks up.

Mike, I agree with Philp on the size of the yard tracks, but...

A friend pointed something out to me when I was laying out my track plans.  I had thought "If two were good then four would be better".  He told me that if you make it too easy to shuffle cars around, then it might become boring, meaning there's no challenge.

A suggestion would be, leave the yard with two tracks and then as Philp said, IF the tempo picks up you can always add in a track or two if needed.
Get the basics down first, then play for awhile and you will soon find out if things will work or not.

Yes, the yard tracks could be used to put the cars that are ready to be picked up and put there out of the way while the crew is shuffling the new cars into place.

I have three tracks for my Riceland elevator/Mill and just those three tracks are a handful to operate.  With what I see at your Paper mill, it should keep the crews pretty busy.

As for placing a Ethanol tank between two locos, I doubt it.  When a full train of Ethanol comes through town what you normally see is a buffer car [ usually an empty grain hopper ] between the locos and the first tank car or between the last tank car and the DPU loco.
I'm assuming it's federal rule for safety.

[Dave Schneider]

With the paper plant you could designate one of the car storage tracks as a clean out track for incoming empties. Paper loading demands clean cars and this could add an extra switch move. Incoming cars go to get cleaned out, the clean cars are pulled and spotted for loading, and the full ones pulled. I would shy away from adding another unrelated industry by the paper plant. You will have a number of cars to sort out and the extra track will come in handy.

Paper making (like many industries) is a linear process so think about the correct order of things. Maybe a raw materials track (pulpwood or chips) sneaking behind/into the plant at the top of the plan would be good. If you don't want to do that you could bring unfinished pulp into the plant and ship finished paper at the bottom. Or you could do some intra-plant pulp movement using old heavily weathered boxcars. The Kalmbach Industries Book #2 has some nice descriptions of paper plants and the process. The bottom line is to figure out what kind of plant you are trying to model and then figure out a linear workflow for incoming ingredients and finished product.

Best wishes, Dave

[nscalemike]

Today I printed off the 1:1 scale track plan that I think I've settled on.  Really no changes except in the paper mill area, thanks to the great input from Pud!  I took the runaround track out for now as I don't see my operations using it much.  I intend to operate it for a while before anything gets attached for good, so if I find I need to move something or include an extra track or runaround I can work it in.  This is the final I believe:



I knew the empty bedroom in our house would come in handy sometime, and today it did.  I laid out the plan on the floor, stuck a few cars on it to get a better representation of it, and now I am much more excited about the possibilities!  Here's some shots:


overall


entering the branch from the main layout and the lpg facility


doubt it's going to be an elevator, but the two other industries and the runaround track on the right side


ethanol plant and the town area, my road turned out to be about the width of a 5 lane highway, so I should have plenty of room for scenery in here


the paper mill, a recycling plant manufacturing clean bright white paper.

Track and benchwork by the end of the week I hope! 

Mike

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I like it!