Large Scale Central

My layout based on Cheat Junction

Track and Trestles
#1

What you are looking at is about 50 by 55 feet. It is a folded wye, based on the Western Maryland’s Cheat Junction. What I wanted was a way to get from the outside yard under the deck to the inside storage in the shop. I think this has been fairly successful. The layout will continue on through the garden at the top, and is still to be determined. The stream will arise in a waterfall in the garden and terminate off stage at the lower right, only to be pumped back up to the waterfall. The yard at the bottom left is at 0 height, and works it’s way uphill to where it enters the basement at about 15 inches above the yard.

The indoor storage will be in the shop which in now just a daylight basement.

Any comments?

http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/SteveF/Layout%20Design/Cheat%20Junction1.bmp

#2

Having walked that area…and rode trains through it…i’d say it looks purty darn good!

#3

Thanks, Bart,

It is not exact, to be sure, but I think it is not too bad, and it wonderfully solves the problem of getting the rolling stock from outside storage to indoor storage without the 0-5-0 switcher help.

For any who have experience with RR-Track, is there a way to put in a grade. My program seems to be confused by the complexity of the thing.

SteveF

#4
Steve Featherkile said:
Thanks, Bart,

It is not exact, to be sure, but I think it is not too bad, and it wonderfully solves the problem of getting the rolling stock from outside storage to indoor storage without the 0-5-0 switcher help.

For any who have experience with RR-Track, is there a way to put in a grade. My program seems to be confused by the complexity of the thing.

SteveF


Steve,

Yes, you can add grades. Haven’t tried it yet, but I’ll do a test loop and let you know. Should be simple in RRT. :wink:

#5

The problem is, I don’t have the ends closed into the dreaded loop. Without that, I see no way to do it.

#6

Steve,

You don’t need anything closed, what you need to do is designate a section of track each at the beginning and the end of the grade to whatever elevation you decide it is in regards to your “reference zero”, then you start at one end or the other and click on each successive piece of track while holding down , when all the pieces are showing as high-lighted you select from the menu. RRT will automatically calculate the grade between the elevations and note the relative elevation of each piece of track at the mid point.

The trick is: Don’t include the track pieces that establish the two elevations in the grade. Only the other pieces are included.
If you’re using “flextrack” you insert two short pieces at the beginning and end which serve to establish the elevations, can be whatever length you decide.

Works with any track configuration! But I haven’t tried the turnout on a grade yet, that could be tricky especially if the two branches change grades after the junction. OTOH one might use the turnout as end of grade and then start anew with the diverging grades. Not elegant, but doable! :wink:

#7

That worked! Thanks.

It worked out to a fairly easy (for model trains) 2% grade from the yard, around the tree, and into the basement. And the grade from the yard to the crossing along the cutoff is a steeper 2.9%, still do-able.

Cool! :slight_smile:

Grades were why I had set this program aside and just went out and “winged it.”

Now I have to make sure that the actual topography matches the design, and how much change will have to be made.