How to fill this space?

[Specter3]

NS in Ashville. Branch of the main north of the yard runs along river st down to a current single customer that receives covered hoppers.  Street running, next to street running, river, mountain against the backdrop that helps with 3d to 2d transition. There are many existing buildings that had service in the past if you want more than one customer.

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Vid I shot of this line about 5 years ago.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

That's a good point.

Have you guys seen this channel? I love this guy's layout:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVzesp-vSkPafa5gDiN2XVg

[ednadolski]

To bring this back to your question, there's a ton of potential in the area. Stitching a few cherry-picked industries (most are simple spurs) would make for a great modern industrial shelf layout. There's a large variety of car types, power (SD-40N rebuilds, GP-60's, -38's, -40's -15's, modern toasters) and structures to keep things interesting, along with the stunning river/bluff scenery as seen in Ryan's post. I agree with Gary about Proto 87, I believe it would allow for the best operations mechanically and would have the best display quality when the room is being used for other purposes.

Lucas

Wow @milw12 that's one of the most intense posts I've seen in quite a while - thanks for sharing!   It's going to take me a little time to absorb that, but lots of great potential for sure

I couldn't help pondering a plan after my last post, so here's a 10 minute thrash plan on how I would attack this:



N scale because that's my comfort zone, but I scaled the length accordingly. A runaround for sorting cars, I avoided any cassettes or off-scene staging, I didn't feel it was necessary.

Thanks for adding that, it does help to anchor all of the proto info.   Is that a 24" grid?

Ed

[ednadolski]

Three layouts - one in each scale - on separate shelves.

Actually that's quite tempting, but candidly I do need to be careful about taking on more than I can finish.  Over the years I've dabbled in a number of different things, and so I've learned a thing or two, but that's also left me with a long trail of abandoned & unfinished projects.  So for now it's about my trying to stay more focused.

Ed

[ednadolski]

Have you guys seen this channel? I love this guy's layout:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVzesp-vSkPafa5gDiN2XVg

This one is some nice work too:  https://www.facebook.com/sebastien.georges.1650

Ed

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This one is some nice work too:  https://www.facebook.com/sebastien.georges.1650

Ed

Oh yeah, that's hot.

That reminds me, have you seen Thomas Klimonski's Georgia Northeastern?

https://www.youtube.com/user/ThomasKlimoski

[milw12]

Wow @milw12 that's one of the most intense posts I've seen in quite a while - thanks for sharing!   It's going to take me a little time to absorb that, but lots of great potential for sure

Thanks for adding that, it does help to anchor all of the proto info.   Is that a 24" grid?

Ed

Ed, I think chicken45's proposal wins the most intense post of the year, or perhaps in the history of the Railwire 

I've been hanging around the prototype guys a little too much- to paraphrase a friend it's easier for me to replicate reality than try to imagine something- so I end up with a lot of research that's easy to share. Case in point, Hawkins is great industry, especially if you pursue a Mindheim school of thought for operations. It's compact enough to model nearly 1:1 yet still provide fulfilling operations, and I wish I remembered more from Dossa's clinic on his layout for the finer details. With how I operate a session at Hawkins could last 20-30 minutes, which is typically all I want running solo.

To answer your question, yes in a way- it was an N scale plan proportional to the space, so approximately a 24" grid.

That plan was lazy of me, so I got over my 1:87-phobia and here it is in HO:

12" grid, ME code 83 with #6 turnouts, 24" minimum radius on the cement spur, 18" x 214" :



This was hard for me because I know things like how long a tank car is in N but no clue in HO 

I tried to replicate Hawkins more accurately this time:



Note that they do store cars on the "main" being trackmobile served and all. But with the added runaround might not be necessary, but an interesting detail. I allowed a 2 locomotive length pocket on one end- a GP-38 lash-up for giggles. Listed car capacity as well based on the aerials.

A 12" shelf might be narrow in HO, 16"-18" like in the new plan may be better for a little more scenic depth than just the right of way.

Another research document that I used was the River Terminals-2013 PDF available here: http://www.dot.state.mn.us/ofrw/waterways/publications.html . It lists what each Minnesotan river industry handles, which railroad serves it-if any, on site equipment, addresses, etc. Other states should have similar documents- there plenty of river cities that are similar. A few in Iowa, St. Louis has deep history, Port of NOLA for some bayou action. Sioux City and Tulsa also have good rail-marine action but only a midwest native like myself could call the scenery appealing   

And facilities like Hawkins are all over, even off rivers should you go for industrial operations.

Hope you enjoy the research!

Lucas

[amato1969]

My little N scale shelf layout is 12" wide, and feels just about right with a passing track plus sidings.  I think 18" or maybe even 20" would give you some breathing room for parking lots, etc on your plan above.

  Frank

[ednadolski]

My little N scale shelf layout is 12" wide, and feels just about right with a passing track plus sidings.  I think 18" or maybe even 20" would give you some breathing room for parking lots, etc on your plan above.

I've had a recent reality check when considering how the layout will co-exist with the furniture in the same space (it is after all primarily a rec room).  To allow for furniture plus some access space along the length of the shelf, it looks like that will limit the depth to about 12" - 14".  (Going wider risks the Planning Commission revoking my construction permit.)

So for P:48 or even P:87 that means basically the one-turnout layout concept, with building flats for the industry spot areas.   N scale will have a little more freedom, like an elongated Palmetto Spur, perhaps a bit more depending on what depth compression would look acceptable.  A low number of turnouts aligns with my preference to limit the complexity.

Ed

[ednadolski]

FB link, this kind of captures the uncluttered/open look that I have in mind.   Some level of structures/trees/backdrops will be needed, of course....

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=10157363511267093&set=pcb.1191420097905099&__cft__[0]=AZV9_OP1i0GkuCBWClQA1Gx7_KtM5FAuKCl0tbYlRkN2EO2xK9DiXkaIYp__g9ot_7f6PKhqSVU3UaLJiYFv3tnQMSQrU9dvU9QBKVuCAblIlvF6Fszm4-OuhMLfiL6_TxMpZCJUc7tAqgQYvOcmUwSkCkrRjf_81t1ZVgEwNXPT_tLzE2qcPFketYm6cDMfJjU&__tn__=*bH-R





At this point I think I'm leaning toward something in P:87....

Ed

[amato1969]

Love the approach. Low complexity means more time for detail and actually running trains!

  Frank

[milw12]

I agree with Frank, simplicity is a good thing. Your idea of an extended Palmetto spur would be spot on, and I'm looking forward to see what you choose to do.

Lucas

[ednadolski]

Got the shelf put up, size is 212" wide x 14" deep.

Not to bias toward any particular scale, but I could not resist setting a few HO scale elements in place, just to get some sense of what it would look like with something on it.

The backdrop is temporary, and to my eye looks over-scaled for anything but P:48





Cheers,
Ed

[svedblen]

Nice shelf! Very discrete. I like that. Do you mind sharing some details?

[ednadolski]

The shelf itself is 4 sections, each basically a layer of 2" extruded foam insulation board topped with a 1/2" layer of sound board (not real Homosote, I think, but similar -- Home Depot used to carry it but it seems to be discontinued -- FAIK it's carcinogenic or something <facepalm>).   Then each section is wrapped on all 4 sides with some 2 1/2" wide MDF, with wood table pins in between to align each section and a couple of cheap little door hinges to hold them together.  Overall I'd have to say it's kind of crappy construction, just something I had built a few years ago on the quick, and sort of evolved into what it is now. 

The shelf brackets are standard-issue big box store fare, just screwed into the wall studs.   The backdrop is an OTS photo-type that came on a roll of self-adhesive paper in four 5-foot sections. I mounted each sheet onto a 3/16" foamcore board, but they're not currently attached to the wall itself, as my thought is to upgrade the whole backdrop at some point.

Cheers,
Ed