Aroostook Northern (2.0?)

[vt_railroad_guy]

I haven't had much time to work on the layout, but I have been thinking quite a bit about it.  I have been interested in Atlas' track plan for the Scenic and Relaxed for a while, but I didn't like the tight curves.  I have redone it in Code 55 and stretched the minimum radius to 11.25 (on the inner loop) with the rest of the main line being 12.5".  My main hang up is the fact that I model the Bangor and Aroostook and they weren't exactly a mountain road.  Anyway, what do you tall think?



VTRG

[Bsklarski]

Your starting to sound like me on trying to figure out a track plan. Personally, I dont like ones that go through the same scene twice. Now if you can hide that track, then thats even better. You can take that plan and make the backdrop so you hide the mainline so it does not go though twice.

[vt_railroad_guy]

I too am partial of trains passing through a seen only once per run.  I think with some heavy forrestation between the levels, I could partially disguise this fact.  A tunnel would really do the trick, but since the BAR didn't have any, that's not an option.  I saw pictures of Doctor Dave's version and I think he did a wonderful job on his.

VTRG

[Dave V]

Thanks, but to be honest I very quickly tired of the sharp curves and steep grades.  It was fun enough for short trains with small locos, but as I graduated toward mainline Pennsy stuff, it didn't work out.



Here are some 9.75" radius curves:

[vt_railroad_guy]

Thanks, but to be honest I very quickly tired of the sharp curves and steep grades.  It was fun enough for short trains with small locos, but as I graduated toward mainline Pennsy stuff, it didn't work out.

My minimum radius would be 11.25 and I would be running all 4 axle power with 10-15 car trains.  How well do you think that would work on this plan?

[Dave V]

That might work for you...  I would warn against going much longer than a 53' car, though...  Auto parts boxes, passenger equipment, and modern TOFC stuff are pretty much out of the question.

[vt_railroad_guy]

My curves on my HCD layout are 13.75 minimum and my trains look decent going around them, so maybe I should stay that course.  Still, there must be something missing that keeps me looking at other ideas.

[DKS]

I don't mean to sound critical, but it would seem you've got a lot of unnecessary curves. Your sketch reminds me of a plan I did in Z scale, which could easily be converted to N:

[vt_railroad_guy]

I don't mean to sound critical, but it would seem you've got a lot of unnecessary curves. Your sketch reminds me of a plan I did in Z scale, which could easily be converted to N:

I don't think you're being critical at all.  I basically redid the atlas plan N17 with code 55 track and bumped up the radius of the curves, nothing really original.

[DKS]

I tossed this together as an example. Track is Atlas Code 55, switches all #7. Minimum radius is 12 inches, but it can be increased.



The twice-around plan does not need mountains to justify the over-and-under effect; grades are relatively low, and the tunnels can be replaced by other tricks to disguise the track passing through the double-sided backdrop.

[vt_railroad_guy]

That's a great looking plan DKS.  You whip up something in 5 minutes that's better than anything I can come up with in hours of planning.  It does look much nicer straightened out a bit.

VTRG