Missouri Pacific: Central Division: Hoxie Subdivision: Jacksonville branch

[MichaelT]

Greetings!

It's been awhile but I'm back in the saddle and starting to work on a new layout. After a number of starts and stops, changing layout rooms a few times, and some frustration and time mismanagement thrown in, I have finally settled down a bit and have started working on a new N scale layout. After reading through a number of reports and posts and picking up on the prototype (somewhat) theme, I've done that and picked the branch line that is in my hometown, but backdating it some 40 years to when it was owned and operated by the Missouri Pacific Railroad. This little branch is only 2.8 miles long, but during the mid seventies had somewhere between 8 - 12 online customers, plus one team track for other businesses in town.

A majority of the structures are still standing, and the AKMD (Arkansas Midland Rairoad) is trying to lease or sell these buildings to gain more online business. The AKMD operates the JAX branchline these days. What this layout (I'm hoping) does is two fold. It gives me a somewhat prototypical branchline to operate, plus having the peninsula in the middle of the room gives me the space to setup a continuous run option for those evenings when I just want to run a train and watch. They are pretty much separated from each other, but the loop still has a number of rail customers and a small holding yard if I want to just operate the loop.

I'm going to install c55 Atlas flex and turnouts on this layout, looking forward to getting that on the foam soon. I have about 75% of the benchwork in place and hope to have the rest screwed in this weekend.

There's nothing really fancy about this little layout, but I feel it will be interesting enough to operate with a good mix of rolling stock for the online customers.

Power will be Digitrax DCC;
Locomotive power currently is; (2) GP38-2's, (1) GP15, (1) MP15DC, and (1) GP18. I'm on the lookout for an MP GP7 (if anyone has one they want to part with).
Rolling stock will be 60' or less in length for the most part.

Online customers are:

A printing paper and box manufacturer
An industrial fan manufacturer
A pet nutrition chemicals plant
A company that makes all sorts of plastic bottles and containers
An aluminum housing vent company (pretty big complex)
A company that makes lawnmower blades and decks
A cement company
A kitchen cookware manufacturer
Two rows of warehouses (3 each side) that store different electrical companies inventory
plus another couple of warehouses that store inventory for the vent company above
A team track

There are a couple I've forgotten and my notes are at home.

Below is a first rough draft of the track plan..and it is really rough.



I was going to use an HCD for the loop peninsula, but cheated and built a 36" wide frame out of 1x4 cribbing.

In the future I'm going to build an HO around three walls shelf switching layout above this layout, about 18" or so up...but for the next number of months I'm going to concentrate on getting this layout running and getting some more research done on the branch.

michael

[DKS]

Off to a good start--at least you know what you want to do. Just curious, why cheat and build a frame when you can get 36-inch wide HCDs? And if you were going to cheat anyway, why not go a tad larger, maybe even make a blob at the end of the peninsula so the return loop can be a broader radius? (The shelf along the left could be narrowed to compensate.) One other observation... the tracks along the edges of the peninsula look mighty close to the edges of the layout.

[MichaelWinicki]

Very interesting track plan.

If there is some way of either shifting trackage over in the top section of the layout and/or making the legs of the "Y" (or at least one of them) a little sharper, you could make that "Y" operational... At least be able to turn a locomotive or a caboose (if you use one).

[DKS]

If there is some way of either shifting trackage over in the top section of the layout and/or making the legs of the "Y" (or at least one of them) a little sharper, you could make that "Y" operational... At least be able to turn a locomotive or a caboose (if you use one).

Easy-peasy.

[MichaelT]

Off to a good start--at least you know what you want to do. Just curious, why cheat and build a frame when you can get 36-inch wide HCDs? And if you were going to cheat anyway, why not go a tad larger, maybe even make a blob at the end of the peninsula so the return loop can be a broader radius? (The shelf along the left could be narrowed to compensate.) One other observation... the tracks along the edges of the peninsula look mighty close to the edges of the layout.

Well David, it is a "rough" draft...I was hoping you'd see it and consider tinkering with it a bit...LOL

I've priced HCD's around here, and our local Lowes and HD don't have an ample supply of seconds or scratch and dent doors. I've heard from a couple of the lumber associates at Lowes here that if they have a ding in them, they send them back to the distributor for credit. Building frames from 1x is less expensive than purchasing the doors, and I'm putting them on some metal shelving that I have already in the room.

The tracks are a little close but again it's just a quick draft, I wanted to get something on paper to start working with and massage here and there.

As far as making the loop larger? Knowing some of the guys who would come and operate with me, and taking into consideration their size, I don't want to make the aisles inaccessabile for them...I know that sounds harsh, but it's reality. I'll see how much room I can get and consider it.

Very interesting track plan.

If there is some way of either shifting trackage over in the top section of the layout and/or making the legs of the "Y" (or at least one of them) a little sharper, you could make that "Y" operational... At least be able to turn a locomotive or a caboose (if you use one).

Thanks, it's a start at least...I'm TERRIBLE with track planning...and I mean TERRIBLE!!

As far as the Y, I tried down to 12" radius and it still was too close to the wall to turn an engine, so for now I've left it disconnected at the northwest corner (left side on picture) and installed the small holding yard in the closet. The disconnected leg of the wye will give me a space to hold a few cars for storage or something like that.

Ok, saw your change and I might can do that with the flex...wasn't using the flex option in the first draft...but I'll look at it this weekend.

[MichaelT]

Easy-peasy.

David you keep that up, then you'll have to design me a way to get 12" in height and then I can take the line back around the walls above, and take the mainline into the Jenks yard in North Little Rock!!

[MichaelWinicki]

Outstanding David!

Not only does an operational "Y" improve the plan, but I think the trackage through that area (the way Dave changed it) will look more interesting and less symmetrical.

[MichaelT]

To be honest though, I don't want to get too crazy with this for now. I believe one of my past problems has been getting an abundance of ideas and then I get hesitant at my ability to pull them off, which leads to getting away from the projects altogether. I've started and torn down way too many layouts in the last few years to suit me...lol

That may be one of the reasons I thought to stick with a 36" loop, to keep it nominal to start with and work on the rest of the industrial line and not spaghetti bowl the whole thing. I've stopped myself a number of times from buying this engine or that engine, even with the great sales that our local LHS has on a monthly basis, because it would damage the budget and just add "stuff".

Along with that though, I do want a workable layout and I'm quite motivated with the thought of building this little bit of my hometown. It really doesn't have any famous history, it's not a train watcher's "dream site"...these days the Arkansas Midland services the online customers three days a week, and there are only two or three customers, and mainly just tankers to Univar and another chemical company next to Univar.

As much as I'd love to model Little Rock to St. Louis, I really don't think I have the space, and I know I don't have the budget to get close to what would be needed. I'm guessing that I'm trying to keep the reigns pulled back so I don't get well ahead of myself again....hope that makes sense?

[MichaelWinicki]

Hey Michael, I know what you're saying...

But the way you've got your plan laided it doesn't look to be overly complicated.

32 switches (give or take) and probably relatively flat.

Probably wouldn't take long to get the main laid.

[DKS]

I decided to take a break and listen to a little music. I put on my favorite Vaughan-Williams concerto, and did some high-speed track planning while it played. When the music ended, I uploaded the file. It is meant purely to stimulate discussion; it is, after all, only 45 minutes or so of fiddling--

[MichaelT]

I decided to take a break and listen to a little music. I put on my favorite Vaughan-Williams concerto, and did some high-speed track planning while it played. When the music ended, I uploaded the file. It is meant purely to stimulate discussion; it is, after all, only 45 minutes or so of fiddling--

Dave,

While that looks amazing, I'd really rather stay away from the bedroom door; to put the optional flip up down I'd have to close the bedroom door, close the closet door, and put another hole in the closet. I'm already putting one hole in the closet to put the small staging yard in it, and I'd rather not put another hole on it.

I remember you working on another layout plan for me some time ago, it was pretty much a G shape, with the loop around right next to the door, and then in the northwest corner of the room where I took the second closet out. I'm wondering if I shouldn't revisit that plan and work from the two blobs, one at each end. Whatcha think??

[C855B]

Notice that he also gave you 2 feet of operator aisle on the left side in the newest version. When I saw your first one I thought, "Quite a squeeze, there. Must be skinny." 

[DKS]

Sorry to have "violated" some of the space constraints; I wasn't clear about the landscape.

So, is this the other plan to which you refer?

[MichaelT]

Yeah, sorry I didn't mention that about the closet. It is an option, just not one that I want to tackle right now.

The Hoxie sub plan does offer some advantages, taking the door and closet completely out of play. I'm going to print that one out again and look it over for awhile tonight and tomorrow some, sit in the room and envision it, and see what comes out of that.

Thanks for posting that one again!

[MichaelT]

Somewhat related, I picked up and installed a decoder in my Atlas GP15; so now my DCC engines are;

GP38-2  #850  w/ sound
GP38-2  #855
MP15DC #1541
GP15     #1635
GP9       #6414

I'm not going to put decoders in the FA1, FB1, in fact they are probably going into the sales bin.