Great Dividing Range Mining Company

[Leggy]

Oh god, it's my turn!

Well my freelance railroad that has been in the planning stages for the last 15 years will finally have a layout, starting soon construction will begin on what will be a 4 deck 18x24' layout housed in one bay of our 3 bay shed. Owing to there being no basements in Australia the shed will have to do....


(Image courtesy of Brian Kuhn)

As 4 levels seems crazy to most, me included, the reason it's become what it is is simply this: my aim is to model the complete mine to port cycle of the iron ore (and soon to include coal) operations of the Great Dividing Range Mining Company, GDRMCo for short.



The mainline stretches 960km from Townsville (export port) in the north east of Queensland to the mining town of Mt Isa in the west of the state. With layouts it's always a compromise and so to fit what feels like a long run into my space and include 'spaces between places' the layout will cover 4 levels.








(Mucho thanks to M.C. Fujiwara and David K. Smith for the trackplanning assistance!)

I'll have more info and photos soon but I'm already quite excited to be on the way to getting started!

Edited by DKS to separate levels.

[bdennis]

Leggy,
Wow!. 4 levels.. This should be interesting to watch..
Is the bay in the shed a 6m x 6m bay?
What heights are you planing for each deck?
Hope your budget is big for track / turnouts.
Where are you located? (I assume Australia?)
BD.

[Leggy]

It's about 7.5x6m or so.
900mm is the base height for level 1, each level will have approx 300-400mm space between (I am planning step up sections to make operating Mt Isa and Cloncurry easier).
It's not going to be finished in the next 12 months so plenty of time to purchase what's needed
Yeap, bout 2 hours west of Brisbane.

[bdennis]

Ah ok cool. So about the same size shed as what Im building.. But only 1 main level and staging on mine.
Will it be ready for the Convention in Brisy in 2015? (lol)
Looking forward to seeing the progress.
http://dh2ndsub.blogspot.com.au/

[Leggy]

Not entirely sure! Would also depend on people wanting to drive a couple hours into the boonies to see one layout haha.
I'd like to use more of the space to reduce the amount of decks but the other 2 bays house a car and a leadlighting studio so not much room to grow....

[flight2000]

Off to a great start and really can't wait to see the pics of the layout construction.  Nice looking locos you got there... 

I will say the GDRMCo is falling in line with the real railroads, just look at the number of different paint schemes already....     Just messin with ya....   

Been meaning to ask, what program did you do the drawings with?  Very professional.

Brian

[Leggy]

Would have to ask DKS Brian.

[avel]

I am guessing DKS used Anyrail.

Also, wow! Great layout idea.

[bdennis]

Leggy,
More than happy to drop in on the way up from Melbourne... Book me in..
I hear what your saying in terms of using up more space.! I had that dilemma also.

[GaryHinshaw]

Very impressive - and one to watch!  I don't mean to be a Debbie Downer, but here are a few things I would worry about:

• Have you built a layout before?  If not, are you sure you have the stamina and interest it will take to get this built?  Can you build it in stages, in a way that lets you get something running early on?
• Do you have any help available to build (and operate) such a big pike?
• The unfolded helix design is quite nice, but this places your steepest grades in long, hard-to-reach sections of hidden track.  As I recall, you want to run long trains, and 2.5% grades will challenge your locos and hidden track will challenge your crews.   Is there a way to access the "all open" areas without ducking under a 900 mm deck?  Keep in mind that each hidden section is about 2 scale miles long and will take 5-10 minutes to traverse at scale speeds.  That's a long time to wait and to trust that your train is still moving.
• Is the hidden stretch between levels 3 and 4 accessible at all, given the backdrops on both sides and the multi-layer track?
• The return loop at the chemical plant on the first level should probably be pulled out of the middle of the 4-level loop, to make getting inside the big loop easier.
• If I did my math correctly, the big yard at Mt. Isa will be between 6 and 7 ft above the floor, and that deck is 3 ft deep.  This is going to be a challenge to operate.  This would be one of the first things to mock-up.  If you have raised floors there, does that complicate access to the big yard at Townsville, on the lower deck?
• I would be sorely tempted to find a way to scale this back to 3 decks...

Again, not trying to be a naysayer - I think layout this could be epic! I just don't want you to end up hating parts of it.

Keep us posted!
-Gary

[Leggy]

Gary, in answer to your questions....


Have you built a layout before?  If not, are you sure you have the stamina and interest it will take to get this built?  Can you build it in stages, in a way that lets you get something running early on?

Yessir, this will be layout #3. I plan to build it in stages, the idea being each level will be completed to a state of basic scenery (in this case ballasted track, atleast a layer of ground foam) before I'll move on up to the next. I've got a bunch of Unitrak here from the roundy round I've been messing with to build a portable staging yard to plug in on the nolix side to atleast run some trains.


Do you have any help available to build (and operate) such a big pike?
I certainly do!


The unfolded helix design is quite nice, but this places your steepest grades in long, hard-to-reach sections of hidden track.  As I recall, you want to run long trains, and 2.5% grades will challenge your locos and hidden track will challenge your crews.   Is there a way to access the "all open" areas without ducking under a 900 mm deck?  Keep in mind that each hidden section is about 2 scale miles long and will take 5-10 minutes to traverse at scale speeds.  That's a long time to wait and to trust that your train is still moving.
The entrance gate/door is on the left side of the plans, stupidly of me I've forgotten to note that on the plans  The outside scenes with the EP Mine branch and Phosphate Hill won't have tall backdrops, only as high as necessary with the rest of the space open, the backdrops will also be removable for access. As most of the layout (other than the main superstructure) will be modular if more access is needed the layout sections can simply be removed. Aside from this I'm toying with ideas for cameras and monitors so things can be kept an eye on but we'll see.


Is the hidden stretch between levels 3 and 4 accessible at all, given the backdrops on both sides and the multi-layer track?
As above.

The return loop at the chemical plant on the first level should probably be pulled out of the middle of the 4-level loop, to make getting inside the big loop easier.
The coal unloader loop on the Jetty Branch? If that's what you're talking about DKS will be jumping up and down....


If I did my math correctly, the big yard at Mt. Isa will be between 6 and 7 ft above the floor, and that deck is 3 ft deep.  This is going to be a challenge to operate.  This would be one of the first things to mock-up.  If you have raised floors there, does that complicate access to the big yard at Townsville, on the lower deck?
As always there's a plan! The steps will be left along the edge of the layout when in use, if necessary they will be able to be moved under the layout to help access the other levels (reduce reach in). I'm terrible with explaining things but these are concerns I've thought thru and I'll be able to demonstrate better once I've put my hands to work.


I would be sorely tempted to find a way to scale this back to 3 decks...
I've thought about this long and hard for quite a while now, without being able to take up the other bay in the shed this is simply the only real way to fit in my 'wants'. I'm happy to accept going with 4 decks and the hurdles it involves to gain the end results I desire (long run, spaces between places, significant locations modelled, mine to port cycle).

It's a significant undertaking yes, but, I'm not planning on rushing things. There will be modularity built into this in the main areas so I plan for this layout to stay with me for quite some time!

[Scottl]

I like it, a great project to see come to life.  Do you have a source for iron ore gondolas? 

[Leggy]

After looking at several sources (including the brass kit PRR G38/39s offered by 71jeep) I've settled on the above. It's a Japanese prototype coal hopper with side dump doors and being that Japan N scale is 1:150 to give the impression of a narrower gauge these models when rebogied with a proper 100t roller bearing bogie actually fit the bill nicely. I'm yet to extract a digit and actually repaint mine but I'll be doing that over the weekend and will post up the results.

[Scottl]

Ah, those are new for me, I think you will be able to make those work nicely.  Thanks for that.

[Leggy]

No problem, if you google SEKI 3000 or SEKI 6000 it should get more info, albiet, in Japanese.