Trackplan Advice

[SirTainly]

Promise this thread will be easier than the others as space is limited, proto location is chosen, roadname is chosen and I've  got the proto track plan thanks to Tim (BCR570).

Now hoping I land a job soon, I'll be able to start on a little layout for my room here and since I have already have the benchwork thanks to the previous tenant I'm toying with my trackplan, but please help as I've very little experience here.

The proto trackplan is here (large image so you can read the text):

http://warweb.homelinux.net/userimages/prototp.JPG

The area I want to do is from the left edge of the image to the diagonal road almost at the right. The diagram has a few omissions and those are 5 grain elevators on the bottom of the yard ladder tracks and another 3 to the right of the lumber supplied on the left end on the unmarked spurs.

This is my bench work, onto which I was thinking of adding wings, maybe curved to provide staging, it's about 8'x1':

http://warweb.homelinux.net/gallery/view_photo.php?set_albumName=vanapt&id=IMG_0643sm

How can I do this?

[SirTainly]

Split into 2 posts as the text box gooes wierd after a bit:

Things that may need to be done:

-obviously reduce down the number of elevators
-eliminate the trackage between the yard and the oil spur - it's out of service by 1979 so just a small stub of the lead in needs to be retained for a fuel car
-reduce down the yard ladder size
-move the wye onto an extension board to be added later, and maybe rotate it 90?
-most of the fleet will be 40' grain cars, but might need some 50' cars but none longer so that will help limit yard track length.

[DKS]

Split into 2 posts as the text box gooes wierd after a bit:

Click the little broken page icon to the right of the address bar. The problem will go away.

[JDouglasFisher]

WOW ST,

looks like that place ought to keep a crew busy for a few non-fast clock hours.

I like it.

J.

[DKS]

How can I do this?

Try T Gauge.

But seriously... 1 x 8 feet will get you three or four sidings and a two-track yard. Consider: to effectively switch the yard in the middle, you'd need a lead on either end at least as long. So, divide 8 feet into 3. Accounting for switches, that's less than two feet, or about three cars and a loco. And that doesn't count any sidings. Even adding wings and leaving out 80% of the prototype's features, it would barely resemble the prototype, if at all, and it honestly wouldn't offer much in the way of functionality.

I threw together some switches on a 1 x 8 foot space in a vaguely similar configuration to the yard area on the proto map, and this is what it looks like...
 


I'd say you have two options. Either try to find some way to gain (a lot) more space for a (much) larger layout, or settle for a very modest little anonymous switching puzzle.

[Hyperion]

When you consider what people fit onto a door, it makes 1x8 seem like it'd be fairly large... Until you plop down a few pieces of flex and a few cars.  Suddenly a linear 8ft seems very, very small indeed when trying to fit any sort of prototype locale onto it larger than a single building/bridge/feature/whatever.

[SirTainly]

David, thanks for the IE tip and thanks for drawing up the plan on a proper tool - not a promising result though. Chance of more space is pretty slim as I'm in a one room appartment, that said I was assuming adding a piece upto another 6' at the station end at right angles for the staging, but even at that length and minimum size trains, that's only another 3.5' and some is on a curve. I was also thinking about making the ramp track behind the station to only be one car long if bothering with it at all, but it doesn't really help much does it?

 

[SirTainly]

When you consider what people fit onto a door, it makes 1x8 seem like it'd be fairly large... Until you plop down a few pieces of flex and a few cars.  Suddenly a linear 8ft seems very, very small indeed when trying to fit any sort of prototype locale onto it larger than a single building/bridge/feature/whatever.

This is very true, perhaps I should just make another photo diorama? No, not 8' of one though.