Pennsylvania Railroad Juniata Division 2.0

[Chris333]

Sheeeeet you got tons of room.
Blob at top left. Blob bottom right. 4 track main all up/down the left wall and bottom left. Maybe a blob in the center of the left wall.

[Dave V]

Sheeeeet you got tons of room.
Blob at top left. Blob bottom right. 4 track main all up/down the left wall and bottom left. Maybe a blob in the center of the left wall.

I like it.  Where the staging tho, bruh?

[Chris333]

I knew it wouldn't be that easy 

[wcfn100]

So the biggest issue may be how you want it to operate.  Do you want 4 trains at once able to go roundy?

Can you connect the ends of the mainline and show what you're thinking?

1---------------5
2---------------6
3---------------7
4---------------8

Is it 1-5, 2-6 etc. like a racetrack or just a folded dog bone 1-4, 2-3, 5-8 etc? Or something else entirely?

Jason

[Dave V]

So the biggest issue may be how you want it to operate.  Do you want 4 trains at once able to go roundy?

Can you connect the ends of the mainline and show what you're thinking?

1---------------5
2---------------6
3---------------7
4---------------8

Is it 1-5, 2-6 etc. like a racetrack or just a folded dog bone 1-4, 2-3, 5-8 etc? Or something else entirely?

Jason

I like making trains go 'roundy.  The more the better, but two is the minimum.  The staging is really just for when I get bored of watching one train go 'roundy and want to see a different one go 'roundy for a while.

I'm a very simple man when it comes to operations.  Like "Simple Jack" simple...   

If we could go 1-5, 2-6, etc. in that space that'd be really awesome.  Might actually be more than I can handle the more I think of it.

1-4, 2-5 is probably more like it.

Remember, on the turnbacks and such I can always add an extended passing siding that looks like another main.   Also, starting in 1955, there were track reductions on the east end of the Middle Division so it went to 3 tracks in spots.

EDIT:  One thing I've been thinking about is how hawt @Chris333's drawer system is.  Considering how infrequently I swap out trains it might be a better use of space to have a pull drawer full of trains mounted in the fascia than lots of staging.  Hmm...  Keep a Kato re-railer nearby and I'm good to go.

[wcfn100]

If we could go 1-5, 2-6, etc. in that space that'd be really awesome.  Might actually be more than I can handle the more I think of it.

You could go with a simple phallic peninsula anchored at the bottom wall.  Sort of re-creating the JD but with 4 tracks and broader curves.


Jason

[Dave V]

You could go with a simple phallic peninsula anchored at the bottom wall.  Sort of re-creating the JD but with 4 tracks and broader curves.


Jason

So if @Ed Kapuscinski had the kidney I'd have the d!ck.     LOL.  Actually, yeah, I'm tracking.

[wcfn100]

So if @Ed Kapuscinski had the kidney I'd have the d!ck.     LOL.  Actually, yeah, I'm tracking.

LOL,  I just think to do the 4 track race track around the wall will require one of the two unwanted "H" words, helix or hidden track.  But maybe I just can't see it.  If you're okay with a folded dog bone with only two roundy trains at a time, then some options open up.


Jason

[Dave V]

LOL,  I just think to do the 4 track race track around the wall will require one of the two unwanted "H" words, helix or hidden track.  But maybe I just can't see it.  If you're okay with a folded dog bone with only two roundy trains at a time, then some options open up.


Jason

I am.

I could be really unimaginative and wedge in a 4 x 10 'roundy-round with 4 tracks.  Four trains independently sounds really cool but it could be stressful for a lone-wolf operator like me!

I'm good with two (or three) at a time.

You know @davefoxx Esq. offered this up years ago and while it recycles the current JD (I would replace that right side with a better arrangement) I think the bones are good.  You have to imagine the long side along the long wall.  It would have to be extended a bit and I could draw the 4 tracks together for a spell.  Also, the left side can be extended another 3+ feet.

[OldEastRR]

Two trains running continuously on two relatively short separate loops that run together mostly as 4-tracks will seem like 4 trains running continuously. If you had a whole basement 4 trains/4 tracks would look pretty good -- in this small a space they'd look like one of those old Lionel department store XMas layouts. However, both trains would need to be going the same direction to follow prototype train practice of RH running. But by controlling the speed of only one of them you could vary it to produce meets in opposite directions and passes in the same one according to correct Pennsy routing: E freight-passenger/ W passenger-freight tracks. right?
 

[Chris333]

Just a quickie. You have a lot of room really. I don't know how much staging you want, but you could use it as a yard and put your TT/roundhouse in the middle.

[Dave V]

Looking good Chris..

Okay guys, I slept on it last night and having many side-conversations with @Ed Kapuscinski I'm thinking I'm asking for entirely too much with entirely too little to give, so it's time to reconsider one of the givens.

RIVISED Givens

1)  It doesn't need to be the Middle Division.  Yup, there it is.  A four-track main, even in N scale, needs more space and staging than I'm able to provide or willing to scavenge.  DKS' most amazing kitbash of Lewistown can find itself on an N-track module as Ed recommends.
2)  It has to be any 2-track Pennsy line that was substantial enough to support M1bs and had some modicum of passenger service in the 1950s.  That is to say I still require two independent trains to operate.
EDIT:  Much preferred that it be a line in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.


Okay, candidate lines:

1)  Buffalo line...  Just about any part.  I'm most familiar with the part from Harrisburg to Northumberland, but Renovo looks hawt too.
2)  Monongahela line...  Don't know much about this one but I understand it was sexy with lots of coal traffic.
3)  Schuylkill Branch...  At least Philly to Reading part was substantial.  Coal traffic, electrified commuter service, lots of industrial stuff near Philly.
4)  Northern Central...  York to Harrisburg probably didn't see M1bs, but the part that ran as part of the Buffalo Line to Norry sure did.

Or, I could throw my Railwire card to the wind and do a series of vignettes that include some eastern electrified scenes and some west-of-Harrisburg scenes and just call it "Pennsy."

I just think that attempting to ham-first the full scale of the Middle Division into a tiny layout is exactly why I'm paralyzed with design fear.

[crrcoal]

You could even go farther west into Ohio or better yet Indiana.......

[Dave V]

You could even go farther west into Ohio or better yet Indiana.......

I could...  But I'm a Pennsylvania Guy.  So caveat to my caveat...  Keeping it in the Keystone State.

[Dave V]

Actually, the vignette idea is starting to win out.  Where I can double the two-track main on itself, it can be Middle Division.  It can be Lewistown.  Then the two-track parts can be who knows...  The A&S under wire, Sunbury on the Northern Central, etc.

The way to be non-committal and yet somewhat prototypical is to do prototype scenes that may not all tie together.  After all, I'm never gonna operate this layout per prototype, so who cares if a train jumps divisions between towns?