The Haywire HCD

[coosvalley]

Still going to be hard to use the curved siding for interchange, i.e. making pickups & setouts. Suggest that interchange be put on a straight part of the layout. Maybe off the siding on top. Have the interchange spur go to the left or right onto a staging tray which could also be the same as the ferry interchange.

While the switch is on the curve, most of spots where coupling/uncoupling would occur are straight, and 13R curves isn't too bad as long a passenger ops or modern intermodal isn't the goal. I'm guessing the 11R curve is mostly for ore jennies, which should work fine too..


I like the plan, but if it were mine to build, I'd ditch the interchange on the left, and the track it is connected to, as I think it won't add much operationally, and it won't be easy to blend it in scenically. However, without it it would be a great way to blend it all together, scenically, if that makes any sense..

The car ferry could be enough to feed this layout, and cassettes could keep things organized, while keeping the layout roster "fresh", and work well with your intended car ferry slip.

Just my 2cents...as long as you're going to build something, that's all that really counts!

[lajmdlr]

Suggest the builder(s) lay down a temporary 1/4 circle if flex track at the radii being discuss & try coupling & uncoupling cars of any length to be used to see if it can be done. Doubt it VERY MUCH because most couplers come with centering springs to keep them straight. If it can be done take a video To show how it was done.

[coosvalley]

Suggest the builder(s) lay down a temporary 1/4 circle if flex track at the radii being discuss & try coupling & uncoupling cars of any length to be used to see if it can be done. Doubt it VERY MUCH because most couplers come with centering springs to keep them straight. If it can be done take a video To show how it was done.

most of spots where coupling/uncoupling would occur are straight,

 

[lajmdlr]

What about on the left curved siding?

[kc9jts]

The interchange tracks will just be a cut of cars in and a cut out.  Their purpose is overhead traffic from the interchange to the car ferry.  The reason for including the diamond is that there was one there in real life and as someone who enjoys operations they had to stop there before crossing on every move.  That may seem cumbersome to some but the sort of thing I enjoy.  Or I may make it a signalized interlocking to satiate my interest in railroad signaling.

You’re correct that the 11R will be mostly ore jennies.

[coosvalley]

What about keeping the crossing, but ditching the curved track it's connected to, which also eliminates the need for that curved turnout?..My problem with it is that there's a duplicate track right next to it, and it would help avoid a spaghetti bowl on the end, which might look funny next to the industrial area. I just feel like it's very crowded, especially right there..But I'm not the builder!

I have a short section of 10R on my layout, and 50 foot cars with body mounts go through it with no derailments...

[lajmdlr]

To me that Xing is useless because there's nothing but a short piece of track on other side. It's only long enough to hold half a car at most. Is there room to add an extension?

[Chris333]

I would call the crossing scenery.

[kc9jts]

I would call the crossing scenery.

Bingo!

[DKS]

Personally, I've liked that part of the plan from the beginning, which is why I've never thought of removing it. I think it's a clever way to roll a lot of real-life elements into one compact and potentially useful feature, and I've not seen that kind of "out of the box" thinking very often. Let's see if it functions before condemning it.

[kc9jts]

Thinking about it a little.  I have plenty of Soo Line equipment that I could have a Soo train that stages on the interchange track and then swaps cars in the "yard".  Once done it does a run around and heads back to the interchange track.  At that point I simply flip the bills and I can then run the Soo train out the other end of the interchange track to the other city and swap cars there as well (at this point representing a different "train").  This would mitigate any potential issues switching on the curve.

[OldEastRR]

I would call the crossing scenery.

Right. And as such it need not be functional. Cut and fit pieces of track to make a dummy track crossing the live one. Use Plastruct T-beams to make a fake diamond. It's not a hard job. Besides being cheaper, you get to build a crossing angle of your choosing. Plus you can build the dummy track going through a curved track -- that kind of crossing is not available commercially anywhere in N.

[kc9jts]

Right. And as such it need not be functional. Cut and fit pieces of track to make a dummy track crossing the live one. Use Plastruct T-beams to make a fake diamond. It's not a hard job. Besides being cheaper, you get to build a crossing angle of your choosing. Plus you can build the dummy track going through a curved track -- that kind of crossing is not available commercially anywhere in N.

I honestly had not thought of that, thanks for the idea.

[OldEastRR]

For the fake crossing, no need to cut the rails of the live track. Build the rest of it like a real crossing.  Paint the rails black where the gaps would be for the intersecting dummy rails. Make sure the crossing rails of the branch don't touch the live rails. No shorts, gaps or special wiring that way.
And if you like lighted signals, you can install some at the junction, with the through track signals always slow-approach and the dummy track's always absolute stop. Again, it's easy to do by just hooking up LEDs to a power source w/o needing detection circuits and lots of electronics.  But it looks neat.

[kc9jts]

For the fake crossing, no need to cut the rails of the live track. Build the rest of it like a real crossing.  Paint the rails black where the gaps would be for the intersecting dummy rails. Make sure the crossing rails of the branch don't touch the live rails. No shorts, gaps or special wiring that way.
And if you like lighted signals, you can install some at the junction, with the through track signals always slow-approach and the dummy track's always absolute stop. Again, it's easy to do by just hooking up LEDs to a power source w/o needing detection circuits and lots of electronics.  But it looks neat.

“Slow approach” would be what aspect combination?