The Transcontinental PRR

[eric220]

I've got some hard-core gandy dancing scheduled for tomorrow (be sure to turn your safe-search filters off to see the photos), and I'm back in design mode.  I've been thinking about the N&W interchange in Morrow.  Right now, it's set up to be a runaround as well as the entrance to lower staging.



Or as a diagram



I don't like the N&W line running next to the track pans, and I'd really like to have a couple of setout tracks so that I'm not blocking the runaround with interchange cars.  My thought is to go back to my original idea for the area, with the N&W running along the Shurkyll River under the PRR bridge, and the connection to lower staging being in the approach to the helix.  The connection between the interchange and the N&W would be off-layout, thus:



I don't really care about the specific orientation of the yard, but I'm having trouble fitting it in the available space.  Ideas?

[eric220]

Here's one thought.



The interchange yard tracks are just shy of 50" long.

[Leggy]

Any thought of making the interchange 'live' with the N&W tracks ducking off behind a backdrop?

[eric220]

Under the old scheme, the interchange was "live", with the N&W main leading to lower staging.  It will be a little more tricky under the proposed change, because the N&W main and interchange track lead into a wall.

[eric220]

Here's another idea.  The thought would be to depress the yard a bit, as though it's on the grade down to the N&W line, and break up the plywood prairie a bit.



In this arrangement, I lose the passing siding/runaround.  There's also a bit of a complication with the support structure, but it's not insurmountable.

[Leggy]

Maybe flip it? The track runs off to the left into staging doesn't it? So maybe have the N&W track run into staging and reverse where the interchange onto the PRR connects, you might be able to push the curve back into the corner a bit more to gain space.

[davefoxx]

I think I like this option better, because it will be easier to operate the yard closer to the aisle.  Your operators will not have to reach over the mainline, risking a derailment of another train passing through.  It's also more obvious that it connects to the N&W

DFF

[nscalemike]

I think I like this option better, because it will be easier to operate the yard closer to the aisle.  Your operators will not have to reach over the mainline, risking a derailment of another train passing through.  It's also more obvious that it connects to the N&W

DFF

I agree . . .  and I think it will look better too

Mike

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Unless it totally screws with the orientation of the interchange lines, howabout this:



The N&W comes from the back right, cuts across the mains, then there's a turnout into the interchange yard (which is in front of the mains).
A nifty idea: the N&W main "disappears" into the aisle to reappear at the other end of the interchange yard before heading into staging.
You could change the angle of the N&W crossing to fit the yard better, and you might have to pull the double main a bit lower down, but it seems to satisfy your needs as well as having a cool "off layout" trick in the aisle (allows mind to expand scene past fascia).

Food for thought.

[eric220]

MC - Interesting idea.  While you were doing that, I did this:



If I don't double-end the yard, there's actually enough distance to get the interchange line down under the PRR mains.  This arrangement opens up another interesting possibility.  If instead of going straight to the backdrop, the interchange line takes a hard turn to the left, I can sneak it across the river behind the PRR bridge.  Mirrors under the bridge would conceal the track.  There's enough room under Newark that with careful placement of the turnout motors, I could squeak a 15-inch radius balloon turnaround track under there.  I could either turn the track back on itself, creating a one-train staging yard, or I could snake the track around directly down to lower staging.  There's nine inches of separation, and to get under the PRR mains, the interchange track has to drop two inches, so there's only seven to go.  The benchwork would be a little tricky, but I think it could be done.

[wm3798]

As the king of tricky benchwork, I say go for it.  A balloon track will infinitely simplify your staging, train leaves the layout, then comes back after the cards are turned.  The only trick is re-blocking the cars to make the yard's life easier upon re-entry, but that's hardly insurmountable.

Lee

[davefoxx]

You can still double-end the interchange yard for run-around purposes.  Just don't reconnect the other end back to the N&W line.  That way, the yard stays relatively flat and the N&W line can drop as necessary to clear the PRR main.

DFF

[M.C. Fujiwara]

Riffing of Dave's idea:



Have a track come off the main (over the N&W) and connect to the interchange tracks.
Leave enough space before the turnout for an engine to do the runaround before hitting the main.

[eric220]

MC - You present a very interesting idea there.  It means losing (or at least reducing) the slight height separation that I was looking for between the mains at the station and the interchange yard, but it creates more room to conceal the hard turn that the interchange track would have to take to get in tight behind the bridge.

[M.C. Fujiwara]

You could always drop the interchange yard tracks down to the foam & go dirt n' cinders.
Then it'd be 1/8" lower than the roadbeded main.