Cumberland Station TTrak and Other Adventures

[ChristianJDavis1]

Elkins would be fun, and would give me my own staging yard to play with... but then I'd have to build all the modules needed to get from there to Cumberland!

You say that like it would be a bad thing!

[wm3798]

Took the modules up to the wonderful cabin built by DKS, and we got them set up to pose for some pictures.  Jack Brown, of the Western Maryland Ry. Historical Society is putting together an article on WM modeling for the Society's magazine, the Blue Mountain Express.





We clicked in DKS' Dauphin module



And it looked right at home standing in for the Narrows above Cumberland...



Thanks again for hosting the gathering, @DKS !

[DKS]

Thanks again for hosting the gathering, @DKS !

It was my sincere pleasure! I hope to do it again (and again) soon.

Oh, and don't forget... it's really a "cabib."

 

[wm3798]

I bought this turntable module so I'd have a place to display and work on my model of Hagerstown Roundhouse.  The original owner had built it to no fixed standard, but I'm thinking of changing up the track to make it compatible with a TTrak set up.
After all, there's no point in putting all that work into a roundhouse if you can't take it out and show it off.
I've laid out a couple of options for the trackplan, and there are certainly more. 
My thought is it would be most easily adapted as an oversized inside corner, but I really like the long S turn, as it would allow a logical transition to a yard at one end, as a large roundhouse would likely be near.
I know it will be a challenge to work in to a typical table top layout, but in the end, I think it would be worth the effort.
The frame is basically a 4 foot square, with 2 feet cut at the angle on the front.
Any thoughts?

The inside corner option. In this scenario, the track ends are at 90 degrees


The long S turn option. Note that the arching double track was installed by the original builder. In this case, the track ends are parallel to each other, but offset by about 2 feet.

The first thing I'd have to do is figure out how to reconcile the depth of the frame, 4.5", with the TTrak standard depth of 2.75"  I reckon I'll have to come up with my own legs to put the edge of the module at the appropriate height to align with a typical 30" banquet table.  But that's a detail that shouldn't be much of a stretch to work out.

Lee

[Point353]

I bought this turntable module so I'd have a place to display and work on my model of Hagerstown Roundhouse.  The original owner had built it to no fixed standard, but I'm thinking of changing up the track to make it compatible with a TTrak set up.
After all, there's no point in putting all that work into a roundhouse if you can't take it out and show it off.
I've laid out a couple of options for the trackplan, and there are certainly more. 
My thought is it would be most easily adapted as an oversized inside corner, but I really like the long S turn, as it would allow a logical transition to a yard at one end, as a large roundhouse would likely be near.
I know it will be a challenge to work in to a typical table top layout, but in the end, I think it would be worth the effort.
The frame is basically a 4 foot square, with 2 feet cut at the angle on the front.
Any thoughts?

The inside corner option. In this scenario, the track ends are at 90 degrees


The long S turn option. Note that the arching double track was installed by the original builder. In this case, the track ends are parallel to each other, but offset by about 2 feet.

The first thing I'd have to do is figure out how to reconcile the depth of the frame, 4.5", with the TTrak standard depth of 2.75"  I reckon I'll have to come up with my own legs to put the edge of the module at the appropriate height to align with a typical 30" banquet table.  But that's a detail that shouldn't be much of a stretch to work out.

Lee

Is there sufficient space behind the roundhouse to run two tracks?
What is the length of the side on the 45° diagonal?

[wm3798]

There's room to sneak one track around back, but I'm not sure what it would accomplish.
The diagonal is 34", and the two faces that are at 90 degrees are 24" each.  It's basically a 4' corner module.

In the original installation, I had the main line run behind the roundhouse.  This configuration is actually closer to the prototype.  The tracks in front of the turntable continued down to connect to the N&W at Vardo yard.

My main interest is to have this configured to make sense in some future home layout installation, yet be flexible enough that I could pull it out and take it on the road to install in a TTrak set up.
Obvi, I don't have a specific layout space yet, so I'm really just spit ballin'.  But I think I prefer the S turn configuration, because it gives me better access to the roundhouse and shops from both ends, reminiscent of the old layout.
Lee

[Point353]

There's room to sneak one track around back, but I'm not sure what it would accomplish.
The diagonal is 34", and the two faces that are at 90 degrees are 24" each.  It's basically a 4' corner module.

In the original installation, I had the main line run behind the roundhouse.  This configuration is actually closer to the prototype.  The tracks in front of the turntable continued down to connect to the N&W at Vardo yard.

My main interest is to have this configured to make sense in some future home layout installation, yet be flexible enough that I could pull it out and take it on the road to install in a TTrak set up.
Obvi, I don't have a specific layout space yet, so I'm really just spit ballin'.  But I think I prefer the S turn configuration, because it gives me better access to the roundhouse and shops from both ends, reminiscent of the old layout.
Lee

Being able to loop two tracks around the back of the roundhouse could allow this module to replace a 180° endcap (or pair of 90° corners) at the end of a T-Trak layout using the diagonal side as the interface.

[wm3798]

But that would make it nigh on impossible to connect the engine terminal to a yard to the right or left.
Plus, as an "outside" end cap, the business end of the round house would be away from the primary viewing angle.
I'm highly diggin on the more difficult, but much more eye appealing S turn arrangement.  All kinds of possibilities here.
Lee

[Point353]

But that would make it nigh on impossible to connect the engine terminal to a yard to the right or left.
Plus, as an "outside" end cap, the business end of the round house would be away from the primary viewing angle.
I'm highly diggin on the more difficult, but much more eye appealing S turn arrangement.  All kinds of possibilities here.
Lee

Why would it be "nigh on impossible" to connect the engine terminal to a yard?
How many other modules are you considering building to make your S-turn track arrangement interconnect with a T-Trak layout?
(Assuming that you do intend a T-Trak layout since you have Unitrack shown in the photo.)

[Ed Kapuscinski]

A couple thoughts:

1. How about configuring it as an end loop? I like that end cap idea, but a self contained turnback might not be bad either.

2. Whatever you do, make sure it fits in standard T-TRAK geometry. For example, if you offset the tracks through an S-curve, it's best to do that offset by the depth of a module multiple so it's easy to make it up somewhere else. If you don't do this, then think about making a corresponding piece to make up the differences. This is really to help make future layout planners lives easy.

3. If you want me to prototype something out in CAD, to see how it can fit in with standard geometries, let me know. I've done lots of fever dreaming.

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[davefoxx]

What Ed said.  I guess what I don't understand is why you don't just recreate the existing ninety-degree track plan with Unitrack and use the module as an outside corner, allowing full view by the general public of the motive power and the interesting side of the roundhouse?

DFF

[wm3798]

Whatever I do, I want to be able to use it as part of a future home layout... the challenge there being that we're just now starting to dream about the potential real estate that would provide for such a venture.  In my mind's eye, this scene will be best displayed tucked into a corner, similar to its original installation on the WM layout.  Only difference being that I want to run the main line in front of the turntable, rather than around the back of it.  On the original rig, track maintenance and derailments were a challenge.
If I leave the original track arrangement as an outside corner, that sets up a pretty specific situation that I would have to be able to arrange for in a layout room.  Making it into an inside corner, or something linear with the S turns would give me more flexibility in designing that future track plan/layout room.
I do have a second module of more or less identical geometry, and this is sort of where I'm headed with it. 



It would allow me to put it along a wall without taking up the whole thing, A decent size stub yard could be built on the second module, and extended another foot or two with a shorter module.
In the other direction, I could put in another curved inside corner that would carry me over to another wall.  I'm figuring a typical room would be about 12' long on one wall or another, and this would be a good shallow peninsula that adds length to the run and depth to the scene without clogging up the aisle.

Whether it would actually ever get built into a TTrak display with any frequency will be a factor of how cumbersome it is to tote around...  the modules are 1/2" plywood... not your usual TTrak fodder, plus, you know... no local club to play with etc.  So the main tenet of the design will be flexibility and functionality for use in a yet-to-be designed layout in a yet-to-be acquired space.

Lee

[Point353]

I do have a second module of more or less identical geometry, and this is sort of where I'm headed with it. 

As Paul Harvey would say, "Now you know the rest of the story."

[wm3798]

So, in case you haven't been playing along at home, back in August, I took the leap I've wanted to take for years and bought myself a place in the Hill Country.  Naturally, the first thing that got moved in was the Cumberland module set.





Not sure how permanent a home it is for some trains, we're planning on getting it fitted out right quick to be a weekend rental.  Hopefully that will generate enough revenue to cover the expenses, so when I'm not hosting other folks, I can dig the modules out of the Owner's Locker and have fun running some trains!  Either way, Cheers!



Stay tuned to these pages for some other exciting news as it happens...

Lee

[davefoxx]

Oh, man, am I jealous.  Except for the weekend rental and the owner’s locker parts of the story.  I want a mountain home so deep in the sticks that you have to pipe in sunlight. 

DFF