BNSF or whatever I want to run Door in Montana

[avel]

Ok, so hidden loop allows some roundy round action, and the two tracks coming off of the right can lead to yard/staging/Pit of Doom, made up of Unitrack for the time being.
Door has a divider running down the middle, and industries, sidings, etc are still to come.
Updates to come weekly, I hope.



https://picasaweb.google.com/108204472862807091548/DropBox?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCKmoztOWq5TDvAE&feat=directlink

Someone tell me if the link above doesn't work.

[avel]

[wm3798]

I like the wyes.  Looks like you have plans for a yard or shelf to extend beyond the donut...  Good to plan ahead.

Lee

[ednadolski]

Just a suggestion, you might want to consider moving some of the track inward & away the edges, to make a little more room for scenery.

Ed

[avel]

That's a good suggestion Ed, thank you.


Ok so I centered the HCD over the 2" thick 4'x8' foam and traced around it. Rotated the HCD along the long side and set it against the wall. Then cleaned the door with a slightly damp paper towel. Cleaned the foam with a paper towel soaked in rubbing alcohol.  Applied Loctite Powergrab within the lines, used up the whole tube just because. Applied it a little thicker in the middle . I tried to include breaks in the application of the adhesive for curing, but even then I won't touch it for a week or two. After applying the glue I set the door down, just rotated back down along the long edge. Little nudge or two and perfect!  Then used an old memory foam mattress topper on top with anything I could find to weight the door down for a strong bond.

The track plan is still undecided. After the glue cures and the layout is up on legs I will try out some configurations with Unitrack and see what else I can come up with in Anyrail. I definitely will have a backdrop running down the middle and access to three sides, only one short side will be up against the wall.

I have some L girder legs 44" long, and two bookcases 4' high. Still undecided as to what I will use. We will see.  Anyway here are two pictures. 

[avel]

Idea with 16"R minimum curves and 26"R curves on one side just to look nice. The blue line is the divider/backdrop. Light brown is the door underneath the foam.

[avel]

Here's a new plan. The inner reverse curve and some of the sidings aren't set in stone yet but the outside loop and yard are looking good to me. There is a backdrop running down the middle. The side with the yard should have a big enough industry that I can run track from the other side and have it hidden in a building.   

[mcjaco]

I'd ditch the reverse loop. Too much hassle.

[Philip H]

Yeah, with the loop you get to spaghetti bowl too quickly, and without any measurable operating benefit.

[avel]

Oh yeah, its already a mess, too much track. But the realization that this will be the layout for possibly the next seven years made me want to cram to much into it. Maybe by this time next year I'll have the loop, siding and yard laid out

Anyway, thanks for the comments.

Also forget to say that it is heavily based on MR's 1994 Soo's Red Wing Division project layout.

[davefoxx]

My vote is to lose the hidden reverse loop for a couple of reasons.  One, it creates an obvious spaghetti bowl, as previously mentioned, and, two, you don't need it.  You already have a passing siding to allow you to get around to the other end of your train, and, in the industrial area, there's another runaround in there, too.  Plus, hidden trackage with a sharp radius curve, a couple of turnouts, and a crossing will make you a glutton for punishment.

Hope this helps,
Dave Foxx

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Whoa, lots of pasta. Simplify man. Simplify.

You're trying to model a very open area, I don't see this plan capturing that.

[ednadolski]

But the realization that this will be the layout for possibly the next seven years made me want to cram to much into it.

I'd like to suggest that this may be a case of less is more.   A simpler plan often is more reliable, easier to maintain, and offers opportunities to focus on areas such as operations, structure building, weathering, etc. instead of trying to resolve the issues that come with the additional complexity.

Ed

[avel]

Some progress.

After answering the poll on how much time one spends actually modeling, I realized I needed to get myself into gear and stop dreaming. Even if it is just 3' of cork at a time.

Ok so here is the result, started on Sunday with 6' of cork. Center to center is around 1.25", cut out a credit card to fit over the cork to space things properly. My track center line was a little bit wavy because of my printers inaccuracy when printing out the track plan.
Used a spoked fabric tracing wheel to transfer the plan on to the foam, then went over that with a sharpie.

Once I build a couple more turnouts I will cut them in and slowly expand.

[Specter3]

Hurray for progress!