Large Scale Central

Build log for Red Baron Railroad

John Caughey said:

Critters how ever, have no morals!

Yeah, and in your case…rattlesnakes! No morals whatsoever. Especially the young ones!

I know quite a few of the people in my neighborhood including both my direct next door neighbors and the next two houses over. I have two security cameras covering the entire yard, and as soon as the shed is finished I’ll have a third.

The ditch is only a minor deterrant at best. The only thigns I have outside is track, which willl eventually be screwed down to the rail bed with screws containing less common screw heads (to increase the dificutly).

In general I am not going to live my life in fear, or worry. I want my neighbors and others to enjoy what I have created. The property between the rain garden and the ditch is not even my land so putting a fence on it would be complicated. The security cameras and warning signs will have to be sufficient. I appreciate the concerns regarding security and have taken the best actions I can for it without compromising the purpose of my railroad.

Let’s switch back the discussion to other things. I am about to post my plans for the second phase of this railroad

Looking at my plans, and having run trains on a local area’s setup, I wanted to add some more sidings to store railcars and add at least an element of operations to the setup.

In the photo, you can see the next phase. It’s everything inm purple and green. In the bottom left is the rail yard that will be housed in the shed. The rail yard continues down to a straight line that allows cars to be moved around. The shed will open from both ends.

I have added a siding on the right and then an entire extra track on the left. The siding inside the loop is probably not going to happen due to reachability problems. It would be hard to reach the cars parked there.

I don’t want to take up much more of my yard then is already consumed. I also don’t want the setup to look too busy. It will hopefully looke less busy once I get some landscaping in parts.

Going to be a pretty good expansion. Are you adding industries to your sidings? Or will it be just the indication there is something there?

Chris

I may some day add buildings. Because everything is raised it will be hard to have a specific industry. I figure I can treat the siding going rom the bottom to the top as blocked off if i want to really increase ops. Park cars in the middle or in two spots, and treat the middle section as blocked off. It goes down below so it will add some elevation changes to the whole layout.

My cars currently consist of the intermodules, one box car, 3 coal or ore short cars and 4 grain cars.

I haven’t updated the time lapses in a while. Been busy sadly.

I have been working on the train shed. I have attached here a few photos. Went with a concrete column base. I needed to be able to remove the shed to finish the side closest to the fence.

Plans changed a lot. It will now be a lot shorter at less then 2 feet tall including the 2x6 base. It will greatly simplify the design and building and make it lighter, so easier to move. Still haven’t picked a roofing material.

Still no trains running. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-undecided.gif)

I’m concerned by the 2 S curves you designed into your layout.

At the top of your drawing where you have the spur to the right and the reverse loop to the left.

Look at the loop side. Instead of a left hand switch to divert from the siding, I’d use a RH to send the siding back to the main and feed the loop with the straight leg. I’d also redo the spur by switching switches with the reverser element. Swap the switches for a no cost solution.

John

edit; The Department of Redundancy Department complained.,.

John Caughey said:

I’m concerned by the 2 S curves you designed into your layout.

At the top of your drawing where you have the spur to the right and the reverse loop to the left.

Look at the loop side, Instead of a left hand switch to divert from the siding, instead use a RH to send the siding back to the main and feed the loop with the straight leg. I’d also redo the spur by switching switches with the reverser element. Swap the switches for a no cost solution.

John

Nicolas, I’m definitely no expert on operations, but something doesn’t look right to my eyes in those turn-outs at the top of the drawing. I could be wrong, but I think John C is on to something…if John has a chance maybe he could sketch it out real quick for you. It would be worth looking at anyway.

I am trying to figure out what he’s referring to and what he is suggesting. I am not sure I see the problem. I do see some S curves but they are all quite large, which I thought was safe?

I have circled what I believe you are pointing out as a problem area and then added what I think was being suggested as a fix?

Some things to keep in mind

  1. The entire layout is battery powered if this matters. I would have already issues with my turn outs at the top that allow the train to switch directions on the main line.
  2. I was trying to maximize the length of the run for the new line that comes off the spur since it involves elevation change and also trying to maximize the length of the siding. With the siding shortened, trains I wanted to be able to park in there would no longer fit.

I guess the question is, what was wrong with my original design?

Nicolas;

Don’t you think it’s passed the time that this subject line “First time seeking advice” was changed…it’s beyond just seeking advice, it’s a “Building log” and should be moved to an appropriate place…or at least to the “Track and Trestle” forum.

Possibly you could get help from Bob McCown to move it, or simply open a thread in the correct place, under a new SUBJECT LINE.

This is a popular topic, and many seem interested…please consider moving it.

Thank you.

Well there are several unknowns it seems and straightening out your track lines could reduce a length and compromise a grade …

See ya.

John

Here you go Nicolas…this is a quick crude drawing but it should give you the idea of what I’m talking about, and it should eliminate the reverse twisting and turning you’re asking your trains to do in your original plan. By the way, on-board power is very smart…you’d go crazy trying to wire all of this!

Hope this is helpful.

edit: not to confuse you: the above is two drawings of exactly the same thing; I thought the red one might be more clear.

Fred Mills, SOG said:

Nicolas;

Don’t you think it’s passed the time that this subject line “First time seeking advice” was changed…it’s beyond just seeking advice, it’s a “Building log” and should be moved to an appropriate place…or at least to the “Track and Trestle” forum.

Possibly you could get help from Bob McCown to move it, or simply open a thread in the correct place, under a new SUBJECT LINE.

This is a popular topic, and many seem interested…please consider moving it.

Thank you.

I reached out to Bob. I tried changing the topic of the first post but the thread is still the same name.

John Passaro said:

Here you go Nicolas…this is a quick crude drawing but it should give you the idea of what I’m talking about, and it should eliminate the reverse twisting and turning you’re asking your trains to do in your original plan. By the way, on-board power is very smart…you’d go crazy trying to wire all of this!

Hope this is helpful.

edit: not to confuse you: the above is two drawings of exactly the same thing; I thought the red one might be more clear.

Thanks. This is a lot better. Going to update it.

I updated the design. I twill require me to move the entire passing siding over, but I think it gives me more options to potentially expand further. It just means pulling poles out of the ground and moving em. Hopefully they get moved far enough over that it works.

Yep John P. nailed it.

John

John Passaro said:

you’d go crazy trying to wire all of this

Why?

Fred Mills, SOG said:

Nicolas;

Don’t you think it’s passed the time that this subject line “First time seeking advice” was changed…it’s beyond just seeking advice, it’s a “Building log” and should be moved to an appropriate place…or at least to the “Track and Trestle” forum.

Possibly you could get help from Bob McCown to move it, or simply open a thread in the correct place, under a new SUBJECT LINE.

This is a popular topic, and many seem interested…please consider moving it.

Thank you.

Hush…Friar ,Padre,Fred Mills …the forums do not work that way.

BTW …enjoying the videos … nice progress/work Nicolas !