NKP-ish

[nickelplate759]

Well crud.  They don't show for me.  I'm a little perplexed, because they were uploaded to Railwire - however they were not put into the Gallery.
I'll have to see what I can restore.

<edit> it's not just my images. All images in this thread posted Sept. 5th 2016 or earlier have vanished </edit>

[nickelplate759]

So, I've been happily working on laying and wiring track and tortoises, and today Murphy showed up to help.
I've get several Micro-Engineering turnouts, in hard-to-reach places, that are driven by Tortoises with offset  lever-wires - through the center of the turnout throwbar.

I've just discovered that the offset lever-wire sticks up farther through the throwbar when the turnout is thrown one way than the other, stopping the train - so these all have to be redone some other way  

I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this.   I can't readily move the Tortoise closer to the turnout's centerline, to remove the offset. Right now I'm just a little pissed that I missed this when I was first putting these turnouts in place - it would have been far easier to fix then.

[edit] - I came up with a good plan, I thought.  Shift the Tortoise throw rod to the center of the Tortoise, and through the throwbar outside the rail of the turnout (it was through the center).  Unfortunately, just as I got it pretty much right I broke of the end of the throwbar off  .
On both turnouts 
And replacements are out of stock everywhere I've looked 
<sigh>
[\edit]

[nickelplate759]

Change of plans!  The old NKP-ish layout is no more. The good news is that there will be a new one, in a slightly larger space - a dedicated room about 10x12.   AND, in this space (which isn't finished yet) I have the luxury of deciding whether the door is on the 10' side or the 12' side.

So, I'm looking for NKP-ish ideas.   I could do something similar to my old plan, with just a bit more space, but I've learned a few things that have me adding a few new constraints.  First, NO turnouts more than 24" from the aisle.  None.   Experience has shown that even if I get them installed and tested and working "perfectly" over time I will come to realize that "perfectly" is less than that.

Anyway - I could still do a version of Calumet.  I even sketched out a way to add Englewood station (which would be cool because I could run my Broadway Ltd, 20th Century Ltd, Golden State and NKP passenger trains through it) but that's a real-life spaghetti bowl and I think it needs a bigger room.  I'm thinking I should look elsewhere on the Nickel Plate, and am looking for ideas.  Timeframe stays in the late 1950s.

Here are some general desires:

1. An engine servicing facility.
2. A passenger station - doesn't have to be a big one.
3. a steel trestle.
4. an urban industrial area
5. a smallish midwestern town area (could include that passenger station).
6. on the Nickel Plate District (because I want to include the major passenger trains) - but I DO have a lot of coal hoppers that suggest W&LE District.

Fort Wayne (with the 1950's elevation) + New Haven was one idea that came to mind, but I'm looking for more information on the New Haven yard.

Suggestions welcome!

[Jeff AKA St0rm]

do you want to go around the wall? u shaped? G shaped or L shaped again

the layout I am building is 8x12 . this will give you an idea of what you can do and you would get 2 more feet on the short sides. the staging yard is not part of that 8x12 grid is 6".

[img]https://www.therailwire.net/forum/gallery/23/2761-050321003122-229961828.jpeg[/img

you could very easily build the branch line that climbs up like your old layout. lower level could be up front and the branch line could climb up in the back. 12x10 around the wall is a great space to work with.

[x600]

 Ah, let me see, ah, Buffalo?

Interchange with DL&W?

Just a thought.....

 
Greg O.

[nickelplate759]

Ah, let me see, ah, Buffalo?

Interchange with DL&W?

Just a thought.....

 
Greg O.

Hah!  I should have predicted you'd suggest that!   Unfortunately, I don't think Buffalo has much else beyond the DL&W interchange to recommend it.

[nickelplate759]

do you want to go around the wall? u shaped? G shaped or L shaped again

the layout I am building is 8x12 . this will give you an idea of what you can do and you would get 2 more feet on the short sides. the staging yard is not part of that 8x12 grid is 6".



you could very easily build the branch line that climbs up like your old layout. lower level could be up front and the branch line could climb up in the back. 12x10 around the wall is a great space to work with.

Whatever I can make fit - it's an entire (small) room though, so probably around the walls.  that means there has to be a door somewhere, although I'm not opposed to having the layout cross the doorway with an appropriate bridge of some sort.

[SAH]

Conneaut, Painesville or Delphos Ohio.  Delphos is not on the NKP District but a mighty interesting place nevertheless.

[btrain]

Here are some general desires:

1. An engine servicing facility.
2. A passenger station - doesn't have to be a big one.
3. a steel trestle.
4. an urban industrial area
5. a smallish midwestern town area (could include that passenger station).
6. on the Nickel Plate District (because I want to include the major passenger trains) - but I DO have a lot of coal hoppers that suggest W&LE District.

Fort Wayne (with the 1950's elevation) + New Haven was one idea that came to mind, but I'm looking for more information on the New Haven yard.

Suggestions welcome!

You're on the right track with the Ft. Wayne/New Haven to check those following marks. The modernized East Wayne yard (for the 1950s that is) isn't too big and the engine servicing facilities are pretty modest. The elevated passenger station would be a pretty easy scratch build and would make a signature scene, along with a nearby freight house to provide some gritty city switching.
Within the space provided, I can see a smooth transition to more of a country-like scene in New Haven. You could also model the diamond with the Wabash Detriot mainline as well.

I was thinking that building a layout set in Cleveland's E. 55th street yard would also be an ideal place, but that's really pushing it in the space allotted, along with no turnouts further than 24" into the layout.

I was envisioning the layout starting off of the massive Cuyahoga Bridge, swinging alongside Cleveland Union Terminal Tracks into the yard. In the yard, there would be a track ramp that would leap over CUT and into the Cleveland Food Terminal. The engine facilities are more modest than East Wayne with a two-stall diesel shop. Making the transition from this to a country scene would be pretty hard due to the spaghetti bowl mess of tracks in this area. Willoughby to the east was pretty quiet back then, and I think that was where the double track around Cleveland stopped.

Those are some of my thoughts, I'm looking forward to seeing how this develops!

[nickelplate759]

I'd love to to do Cleveland, but that seems at least as hard as doing Chicago in so little space - and CUT is way more impressive than Englewood.
I'm still tinkering with a plan to squeeze in Englewood and Calumet, but best case it doesn't leave any room for anything else and I suspect I'll have to give up on it.

One thing I like about Ft. Wayne is the run along the Maumee river - there's not a lot of riparian running on the NKP (and I get to use riparian in a sentence for maybe the first time in my life!).  Downside is that it's either pre-elevation or post-elevation.   I can't plausibly switch to post-war rolling stock wkthout changing downtown Ft. Wayne - but I could decide I don't care if it's plausible 

I need to fine some more information on what East Wayne's engine facilities were like.  Anyone got a pointer to a 1950-era map?

[btrain]

Here’s a really nice website with all the track diagrams of the NKP district. It helped me when planning out my layout. http://www.alphabetroute.com/nkp/maps.php

[nickelplate759]

Well, the East Wayne engine terminal is a challenge to compress.  I laid it out and it's about 8' in N scale even with a little compression.  Won't fit in my room very well unless it's pretty much the only focal point.
Here's the diagram - any suggestions on how to compress it?

The rectangle is the engine house.

Blue circle shows diesel servicing tracks (2), red is steam (3 tracks).
Green is coal delivery, orange is cinders, purple is oil (diesel fuel).

Dropping one steam track can save about 6 inches in length, but the real problem is the diesel service tracks and the ladder to get around the engine house.

[btrain]

Hey George, this is the best I can figure by sliming down the steam tracks to two and angling the diesel tracks to join the steam tracks. Also, I've used the new Walthers two-stall diesel house as the roundhouse, which looks like a smaller version of the real thing at East Wayne. This plan is about 27 1/2" deep on the main section and is 6' 8" long.

[nickelplate759]

Hey George, this is the best I can figure by sliming down the steam tracks to two and angling the diesel tracks to join the steam tracks. Also, I've used the new Walthers two-stall diesel house as the roundhouse, which looks like a smaller version of the real thing at East Wayne. This plan is about 27 1/2" deep on the main section and is 6' 8" long.

Hey that's pretty good!   Looks like you used SCARM.   What size turnouts did you pick?

[btrain]

Thanks! All of the turnouts are No. 5 except for the top right one being No. 7. The curves are a mix of 15" and 13.75".