Weekend Update 11/21/10

[93cram]

A neat track plan Alex !

FWIW, two suggestions :

- may be your tunnel portal for the branch should be located further to the front, if track A is to pass under the branch (or didn't I understand which is above and which is under ?  :-[)

- I would try to make the passing siding at the terminus longer, to have more room for the consist to be parked.
After all, your local may also have cars which have been already picked up or will be dropped out after returning to the base, thus you
might want to have enough space in your siding to park these cars and those to be switch at the terminus.
In my modest experience, a passing siding shorter than 5', even for a small branchline terminus, is very limitating, operations wise.

Having a longer passing siding could be done easily IMHO with a curved turnout (Atlas c55 ?) located approximatively above industry #6.

Just my two cents 

Hope you've fun with this project 
BTW, there is a very well done HO Rutland layout video serie on Youtube, have you checked it yet ?

Marc

[Guilford Guy]

The station area at the bottom of the plan will be at a higher elevation than the rest of the mainline. Starting from where the 2 lines split, the line to the town will head upgrade while the line to staging will descend. The line to staging will cross underneath the creamery and its siding (#6), but I think between the split and the creamery there should be enough clearance. The only place the staging track(s) will cross underneath the branch is where the station is, and I think given the higher elevation of the town, and the lower elevation of the papermill area I should be able to get away with that as well. As for the passing siding length, I don't think that will be too much of a factor. I forsee operations with a local freight leaving staging, dropping off a block of cars for the papermill crew, and then continuing up the branch and working the industries at the terminus. Only 1, 3, 4, and 6 are serviced by the local, those being a freight house, lumber yard, coal company, and creamery. Assuming at the absolute most those will get 2 cars each, That makes a total of 8 cars. Between fouling points, the siding provides for eight 40' cars, so I doubt there will be too many problems. Passenger trains will be between two and three cars, and one or two of those will ultimately be set out on the express track (5).

The runaround at the papermill is about the same length, but the complicating factor will probably end up being the short distance between the beginning of that siding, and the tunnel. I'd rather not have switch moves pulling in and out of the tunnel. This ultimately makes the task of moving cuts from the mill trackage above the main, to the mill trackage below the main, much more difficult.

(Trackplan reposted so you don't have to jump around on multiple pages.)

[93cram]

Thanks for these explanations Alex 

[mdeberg]

Absolutely agree... Fantastic Winter Scene!  ;D

Nice winter scenes Jan ! 

[jsoflo]

Absolutely agree... Fantastic Winter Scene!  ;D

Thanks guys! Hope to have more scenes to come in the next few months!
my best,
Jan

[Dave V]

Loaded and ready to go tomorrow.

[Philip H]

Safe drive Dave.  We all look forward to the next set of chapters in the Juniata Division's saga. 

[up1950s]

Lucky for you Dave , I heard Florida is one of the states that also has weather . How many states have the AF sent you so far ? 

[Dave V]

Lucky for you Dave , I heard Florida is one of the states that also has weather . How many states have the AF sent you so far ? 

Assignments or extended TDYs stateside:  Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Ohio, Florida (already been), North Carolina, Nebraska
Short TDYs:  Hawaii, Michigan, Washington DC, Colorado, Texas
Overseas (2 years):  Korea
Deployments:  Bosnia, Iraq <-- Both attached to Army units

Not sure that's all-inclusive.

[davefoxx]

Have a safe trip, Dave!  Hope to hear from you soon, telling us that the move was relatively painless, the family has settled into the new residence well, and the Juniata Division is back up and running again.

[ednadolski]

I'm loving the steam, Richie!
Last night I began toying with a trackplan for the bare 4x8 benchwork in the basement. So far I'm pretty happy with it, especially from an operational perspective because it allows for 3 jobs (papermill switcher, local freight, and local passenger) but also incorporates some roundy round although only through the top half. Right now I'm leaning towards a Rutland branch but that could easily change.

Looks nice, you might want to consider making it from two 2x8 sections (with a center backdrop), as that would be a lot easier if you ever wanted to move it.  Also, is that curved turnout on the upper right inside a tunnel?

Ed

[Guilford Guy]

Unfortunately I already have benchwork built, and it is a solid 4x8. There is a bulkhead so I should have no problem removing it from the house. Getting it into a new house may be challenging. I wanted to hide the continuous run connection, because I felt too much trackage would negatively impact the scenic elements, so yes, that is a curved turnout in a tunnel. The continuous run connection would be hid by the wall of a cut at the "south" end of the tunnel and head downgrade to the fiddle yard beneath the town.