Large Scale Central

Indoor Daydreams

Indoor and Micro
#21

Devon,

Your plan looks good. I have the sunset valley rail bender and it works really well. Its a timesaver over making your own. it will bend rail as tight as you want . I bent rail in a 21" circle for may turntable.

http://www.sunsetvalleyrailroad.com/accessories.html

Also I run locomotive along the edge of my modular layout for about 4 yeas now and have not had an accident. I always follow each engine on its first run to make sure there are no problems. But at the speeds we are going its not much of a problem. I have a curved trestle on my indoor as you have seen and have had no problems…

ty

#22

Eliminate the TT and put a 3 way turnout in there.

#23

Ken Brunt said:

Eliminate the TT and put a 3 way turnout in there.

No!, (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)one of my givens is the turn table. There is a three way turn out there and a Wye that could be used to turn locos. The point is I want a turn table, even if it is impractical, improbable, or down right pointless. I want one. I love the look of a gallows turn table and no yard facility is complete without one (in my world). I wont likely have one outdoors so I will have one indoors. From the very first evolution of my indoor plan the TT has been for turning locomotives and even though practically this is not required on this layout it will remain a part of the plan.

#24

Landrel Brown said:

I have the sunset valley rail bender and it works really well. Its a timesaver over making your own. it will bend rail as tight as you want .

Ty,

I see on the website that they make a 250 and 332 model do you think the 250 model will bend 215 track? Not to mention they say down to a 2’ radius, but you say you have taken it down to 21" diameter? I need to check out Llagas’ bender

#25

Watch your reach depths, that last revision the lower right spur at the town, once buildings are in place that may be impossible to reach. I cant tell from the image if the right side of that wing is accessible or against a wall. I try to keep everything, particularly spurs under 18-24" reach and bearing in mind that it has a clear approach for the “hand of god” for uncoupling or in case of derailment.

#26

I would only offer a couple suggestions, one I would add a spur to service a freight house on the town wing, that seems logical to have, and I would allow that curve over the workbench to widen a bit to 42" or 48" Dia. from the other 30"s, since that curve will get alot of use, go ahead and make it a tad broader. Thats all.

Will it be done by summer???

#27

Vic Smith said:

Watch your reach depths, that last revision the lower right spur at the town, once buildings are in place that may be impossible to reach. I cant tell from the image if the right side of that wing is accessible or against a wall. I try to keep everything, particularly spurs under 18-24" reach and bearing in mind that it has a clear approach for the “hand of god” for uncoupling or in case of derailment.

Vic,

I am on board. The entire lower right section of of the layout. The stuff in white is where the majority of switching will be done. So clarification, everywhere you see grey is walkway. No the piece to the right is not only 6"wide it is not showing the extent of the room and is actually 30" of walkway. The bottom of the layout is against a wall. So that area will be reached from three sides. But that does raise one problem area. The Wye. That area will be be difficult to reach. I will have to think on that. I kept the reach down to 30" in most places and much less (under 24") in turnout areas (except the Wye). The upper left area has the bench notched and a lift out bridge for that reason and it will be a tunnel and I will make a big hole in the bench work for disaster access from underneath. It wont be ideal in a few places where the reach may even get out to 36" but they will be in non switching areas and most all of that is 30". Not a perfect world but I am thinking about it and working out solutions. Thanks for the input.

#28

On your second note,

The town and mill are fluid at this point (really the whole thing is fluid at this point) its more about defining the space constraint as to developing the actual track plan. That’s going to have to come together as I build. Thats one of the reasons i like Ken’s plan it opened that area up for spur of the moment design change.

I would have no problem opening up the work bench curve. As soon as I say what you drew the instant thought came to mind that there could be a lazy Susan in that corner for things like paint or what not. That would do several things like reduce my reach from a seated position and make a more user friendly works space and better use of a corner space. Then the added benefit of the wider curve int he track. Good call.

Will it be done by summer, I can answer that with an absolute yes. I just won’t commit to which summer!(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-surprised.gif) There is a ton of prep work to be done just in stripping the room and gather the wood for the cabinets. then construction. I would like to do the bench and the white section of cabinets by then but I ain’t making promises.

That’s why I love throwing stuff out there. Great suggestions all. Keep them coming.

#29

Devon Sinsley said:

Ken Brunt said:

Eliminate the TT and put a 3 way turnout in there.

No!, (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-tongue-out.gif)

I understand completely. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

I built mine modeled after the one at the Orange Empire museum.

#30

Thats a nice one how long is it? Mine will be a stubby 16"

#31

I built that one so it could handle the K-27, about 34" long.

#32

What would happen with swapping the town and engine terminal?
Angle where lumber mill is might come over end of workbench a bit.
Hmm, my body isn’t up to driving anywhere today or playing with fire and/or 30,000 rpm Dremel tool, might just play with pic of your trackplan and see what develops.
Here we go,

#33

OK several problems occur with that plan. The #1 problem is walkway clearance. The engine terminal section is to long and falls where the loop occurs which can not be narrowed. I probably could fudge in the engine house a bit but to get the locos heading in a straight line into the shed is a must. So that walkway between the end of the engine house and the corner is to narrow. The old way was 30" so this would be down to about 24" and would be the entrance to the room so not a great place to have a bottleneck. I am sure I could fudge around stuff to make it so it doesn’t cover the bench like mirroring what you drew. Over all I like the idea of making the engine house a terminal section at the end but logistically I am not sure it would be feasible. Another thought was that the yard terminal would come up to the working portion of the bench and in easy reach for taking cars on and off for testing an repair and general futzing with that would not be on the main loop so trains could still run. Not something critical but it was a thought.

I like that idea and before its over may see what i can do but for right now I am not liking the ergonomics of it. But I do sincerely appreciate input. keep the ideas floating. Play away I welcome all insight. Keep in mind the required constraints. 30"min walkways, don’t mess with my bench to much and limit how far my short arms have to reach. Other than that please reread my givens and druthers in the OP and have at it.

#34

I had doubts about the workbench covering but decided to submit the idea anyway. Sometimes seeing even a not yet right idea can lead hidden connections in the mind to see some other alternative not yet envisioned.

The information on what the grid scale is will just flat not stick in my mind today what with being overtired from doing too much yesterday in general; and, I wonder if spending a while model train club helping the N scale team brainstorm on their new layout had anything to do with that even though my kitchen table is occupied with a G project, and are sections of G track sitting on it.

Another thought while tinkering with that plan idea was, would it eat too much sawmill landscape to place a station inside the loop at that point?

#35

Placing of the station is also somewhat arbitrary at this point. Basically everything from the station to the right is open to being moved around. I chose that spot because in one of the earlier designs that was the only decent straight stretch. For that area I want a combination passenger station/freight depot and a saw mill. How they get there and where they go is open. The town site will be what ever else can get crammed in after the station and mill goes in. If it is only a single house and a store then well that’s all that goes there. The other area of the layout open to development is the log deck logging operation area, there is a lot of space there. All I want over there is a little log deck and some guys cutting a tree or two. So that could be played with. One thing about the station/sawmill/town area is it is all flat elevation. That should make it diverse. everything to the left of the Wye going around the room is on a steady grade to the upper loop. The log deck spur will come of flat but the mainline will continue to climb. By steep I mean at this point 4%. But that also can be lowered as much as need be for reliable running but I have visions of as much grade separation as I can get over there for visual appeal. Now that I think on it, really it could run flat clear across the work bench and then start its climb. In fact that is what I will do.

#36

Devon Sinsley said:

Placing of the station is also somewhat arbitrary at this point. … I chose that spot because in one of the earlier designs that was the only decent straight stretch. For that area I want a combination passenger station/freight depot and a saw mill. How they get there and where they go is open. The town site will be what ever else can get crammed in after the station and mill goes in. If it is only a single house and a store then well that’s all that goes there.

Well, actually, that can be prototypical - the original station was put at end of hill where train orders needed to be issued, town or not. Then the lumber industry came, then the town came; then a depot larger than original mere telegraph office was built. Enough on the layout to suggest the off-layout town is really all that has to happen.

#37

Devon I have a question. Why not eliminate the switches at the turntable? I mean, the 2 lead ins from the main could be separate, and the one on the left could cross the turntable and go to the dock track. The one from the right could go straight across to one of the engine house tracks, and the turn table could, um, turn to put a locomotive on the other engine house track. The only thing that would eliminate would be going to the dock track from the right leg of the Wye.

Eliminating the switches could also give a bit more room on that island, or allow you to shorten the island a bit (if need be).

#38

Very interesting and practical track plan. I hope to see photos of construction and completion. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)

#39

David Maynard said:

Devon I have a question. Why not eliminate the switches at the turntable? I mean, the 2 lead ins from the main could be separate, and the one on the left could cross the turntable and go to the dock track. The one from the right could go straight across to one of the engine house tracks, and the turn table could, um, turn to put a locomotive on the other engine house track. The only thing that would eliminate would be going to the dock track from the right leg of the Wye.

Eliminating the switches could also give a bit more room on that island, or allow you to shorten the island a bit (if need be).

I have and will toy with that. really as long as I can get across one leg of the Wye continuously to the dock then all would be good. Doing it with the left leg even makes sense because trains can come out of the industrial section (saw mill) and pull past the Wye headed to the left then back into the docks. Yeah i like it. I was originally concerned that the geometry wouldn’t work since it isnt a round house but looking at it the house is preceded by a long straight so it would easily work. Then the TT becomes practical.

Nice thanks.

#40

Narrow Gauge Lover said:

I hope to see photos of construction and completion. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)

Me too. I know how I am and I hope I see completion as well. (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-innocent.gif)