Wellsville Addison & Galeton in 1:29: Shortline Road Switching Layout Outdoors

[TiogaTracks]

This thread was way too wordy... editing for easy reading.

Prototype: Wellsville Addison & Galeton RR, a rural north-central PA shortline
Prototype location: Galeton, PA east to PC interchange at Ansonia, PA, and north to Westfield, PA.
    Separate Penn Central line modeled mostly as staging, loosely representing Corning, NY to Williamsport, PA.
Why this prototype?:  I live nearby, and got interested in “the WAG” from notes left by my grandad.  My extended family heard and maybe occasionally saw WAG trains pass by while vacationing.

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Layout location: outside, in my side and back yards
Intended operations: Road switching with randomly generated switch lists
On Line Customers: 2 tanneries, a farm supply store, freight stations, and a lumber mill.  No customers on PC, only staging.
Track: PC will use Aristo-Craft USA tie space brass.  WAG will use regular LGB track, for contrast & cost savings.
Minimum Curves: 8 foot diameter, except 5’ diameter on Ansonia wye
Control: NCE DCC w/JMRI, locomotives have TCS WOW501 sound decoders (hopefully keep-alive caps will work well on outdoor track).

Here’s the plan for the Penn Central line in my narrow side yard, highlighted in green.  The WAG interchange at Ansonia is shown in yellow, and the start of the WAG mainline is in red, I still have to plan the rest.  Grid lines are 3 feet apart.

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I built a temporary proof-of-concept test version of the PC line.  I plan to cut and fill to level the PC line to make the grades negligible.  Mostly, I’m using an already flat gravel patch covering some runoff drain tiles.

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This front loop will have switches to allow it to have a train just circle in the front yard, mostly for running a trolley with my future holiday light displays.  I didn’t include that in the test layout.

My biggest dilemma is designing the WAG, and its yard and operations hub in Galeton, PA.  I have some inclines to deal with, a driveway, shed, and pair of trees to work around, and I need to leave as much of the middle of the yard open as possible.  I’m out of time for the moment, so I’ll share what I have to work with in my next post.

-Steven

[TiogaTracks]

So, about the Galeton yard dilemma: Here’s a map of the prototype.  This is from some collaged maps full of handwritten notes from my grandfather, which got me interested in the WAG.

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So much prototype yard, so little space to model it...  I narrowed it down to several elements I wanted to include.  I flipped the map over to match how Galeton fits in my layout.

Red: Main track, balloon track (loop) for turning motive power, and the 90° crossing near the iconic (and still standing) yard office pictured above in my first post.
Blue: The engine shed built in the early 1970s, not shown on the map.
Yellow: Tannery
Orange: Yard tracks and freight station
Green: Various lumber industries

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Cutting out everything I don’t need, I came up with this design.  The bridge is a major bit of selective compression.  It represents two similar bridges on the same line, several miles apart.  So it skips a bunch of prototype mileage (between Gaines, PA and the yard in Galeton) that I can’t fit in.

Once again, grid lines are 3 feet apart.  Note the PC mainline discussed above also appears on the left of the map.

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What do you think of this design?  Or, if I may borrow some of the local TRW slang... Hey @DKS, got a minute?    I’m hoping to decide on the concept before doing a careful scale drawing.  I’d appreciate anyone’s feedback!

Next design decision will be Westfield, home of a major tannery and a fairly busy Agway farm supply customer.  My yard is sloped where the town needs to go, so that’ll be a challenge.

-Steven

[TiogaTracks]

While the WAG track plan is still a work in progress, the Penn Central is finalized enough for me to start building bridges for it.  I need them for actual bridge duty, to keep runoff draining properly around my yard.  Garden railroading really does start to resemble the real thing!

First is a stock LGB kit, which needs a coat of paint still.  It will span an area that needs a long section of fill.

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I also need a curved bridge to allow runoff out of a circular area of fill.  Rather than buy another bridge or kit, I made this little thing with materials I had on hand.  It is loosely based on some short bridge sections near Wellsboro.

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You can see some of the slow progress on grading and leveling the line.  My time is limited lately, but I am getting closer to getting the first sections of track permanently installed.

-Steven

[TiogaTracks]

Finally, the first section of cutting and filling is done!  With the Wellsboro Junction loop mostly level, I put the track down and just ran a train. 

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The job supervisor is on site today, too.

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The next extension is to the Ansonia Jct interchange with the WAG.  Shouldn’t need nearly as much earthwork, so it should happen faster than this loop.

For now, next steps are to tamp the dirt that’s too wet still, then put down weed block, a couple sizes of gravel, and the track can be installed permanently.  I’m thinking I’ll do the ballasting method with chicken grit with a bit of cement powder in it.

-Steven

[pjm20]

Looking good! I look forward to see how you approach modeling a prototypical scenes and operation out in the garden. It will be a nice change of pace to see versus the usual "let's build an oval with a random mountain and waterfall into a coy pond" garden layout.

[TiogaTracks]

Thanks!  I feel the same way, I’m excited to see how this turns out.  It’s not what I expected to be doing!  But I think it’ll work well.

I was going to do this in N, but coincidences of available space and available models made me switch to 1:29.  There’s no doubt that N-scale has better product availability than all of the many “G-scale”s out there.  But for some reason, I keep finding the things I always wanted in N, except they’re in Large-scale.  I can’t explain it, but it keeps working out for me.

-Steven

[wm3798]

You'll need a tiny mower to keep that grass trimmed under the bridge!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

You'll need a tiny mower to keep that grass trimmed under the bridge!

He's modeling the PC. Ain't nothing getting mowed.

[TiogaTracks]

First of all, .  Good points, guys!

Seriously though, I’m not sure what to do for scenery under the bridge.  It has to actually work to allow runoff out of the fill embankment.  I will at least put a kind of outdoor carpet under it, but anything else will have to survive a constant cycle of getting wet, drying, and certainly sometimes freezing.

But either way, the 1:1 scale grass won’t be staying!

-Steven

[nkalanaga]

Assuming the spot is at least partly shaded, and can be kept moist, how about moss?  I don't remember the details, but years ago I read a landscaping article on growing moss on purpose.  Basically, you use old bricks for a base, puree a mix of moss and buttermilk in a blender, and smear it on the bricks. 

Assuming you have "nice looking" "yard moss" on your area, it would be an option.

[TiogaTracks]

That’s an excellent option, I’ll have to give that a try!  I’m all for reducing how much area I have to mow, so a moss border along both sides of the ballast would be a great touch.

-Steven

[TiogaTracks]

After little progress over the summer, I’m pushing to get trains running, starting with getting track installed permanently at Wellsboro Junction loop.

I got this much done last night, with my dad’s help.  Most of the weed block is still loose.



Today’s progress might not look that different, but the inner edging is fully installed, and only 2 pieces of weed block are still loose.  And half the loop has a coarse gravel base layer.



More tomorrow (if it doesn’t rain) and certainly more to come on Labor Day.

-Steven

[TiogaTracks]

Some Labor Day weekend construction progress: the Wellsboro Junction loop is fully edged, weed blocked, and mostly base coated in gravel.  15 feet of track got permanently connected today.  Once the whole loop and the transition from the straight mainline are connected, I’ll go back to line & level the track.  This is really starting to remind me of trackwork in full scale!

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The WAG gondola held my tools and my phone running the level app.  The NYC hopper got pressed into service holding good apples I found laying around and wanted to cook into applesauce.

Here’s hoping for more progress after the upcoming rain is over.

-Steven

[eja]

I am not tiring to be a smart a$$hat, but why is there a a circle of track at the of what looks like the end of an oval ?  Just trying figure out from an operational view what purpose it serves.

Curious minds,  etc, etc .....

[nkalanaga]

My guess would be a temporary connection for use while leveling the track.  Once everything is level, the turnouts can be replaced with straight track, and it will be the end of the oval, or a conventional return loop.