Large Scale Central

Why a railroad (probably) won't run through it

Track and Trestles
#1

My window of opportunity has closed. In another thread asking for your thoughts on my layout plans, I mentioned that since downy mildew was killing her plants, my wife was disgusted with gardening and willing to cede one of her planters to my railroad, I should have taken her up on it, but because procrastination is the better part of creativity, I hesitated. Well, she got her second wind (green thumb?) and after learning that only impatiens are affected by this disease, she would plant coleus, which like shade. Sooo…

Where I can’t run track

That’s The Plant Lady, aka Carolyn, with her new brood. The area deep under the trees is where I ultimately plan to run track–on a trestle, over a field of baby tears. Don’t know where to go from there as that part of the yard is on a slope and I can’t figure out how to descend two feet in about 20 to the flats where the town, station and stuff, will be. Maybe using switchbacks? A cog railway?

Where I can run track

This is an area under our Pitts (pittosporum) where we gave up on growing flowers. Too shady and too many tiny leaves falling into the plant bed. The super sez running some track would be OK–on a portable basis–so I’m thinking laying it on Trex or something and dragging it out when I want to annoy the neighbors with my Phoenix sound system. It’s about 3-feet wide by 20-feet long.

Where I’d eventually build my layout

This is the largely unseen and unused part of the yard where I’d like to build my empire. At best, it would involve tearing out the gazania ground cover, at worst (best for me) removing the hibiscus along the back fence and putting in lots of trees on varying elevations. As I’ve said, I dream big. Unfortunately, I also fail to finish what I start (read my comments on various other threads about the model building projects I have yet to complete). Because my wife knows me, she is reluctant to green light this, which would involve hauling in dirt and doing lots of other scut work. And need I mention, upkeep? BTW, this area is about 14-feet wide (to the fence) by 30- feet long. I’d do a bit of land grabbing by widening the stone border so’s I could get some wider radius curves in there.

#2

Hi Joe. It looks like you are in a tough spot there.
My RR is built on a sloping yard but it is no where near as severe as yours. Remember to keep your grades to a minimum. My goal was to keep it under 3%. When I headed down back with the track it was clear that I would have had to bring in huge amounts of dirt so instead the section that dropped away turned into a simple raised platform. I used pressure treated 2x4’s and screwed them together to form a “T”. Most of this is hidden behind trees in Summer and a large evergreen where the track swings back around. The new train yard I built this year is on a raised level bench. The track starts off on the ground and in 35’ it is 4’ off the goround. A partially elevated railway may be your answer. There is less upkeep on a elevated track.
If you want continous running I wouldn’t use switch backs and a cog railway though really neat is expensive.

Looking at your last photo I would fit in a “dogbone track plan” using a elevated bench. you could trim the bushes in the middle to hide the train a bit as it goes by behind it then after wrappign around the bush on the left, use at least 8’ curves if you can coem back along the front of those center bushes with a small but long bench so you can put in a few passing sidings.
That other section that is 3’ by 20’ long is screaming for a yard. Can the 2 be attached without too much trouble?
Your best bet might be to start small and then branch out as time and funds allow.

Good luck.

#3

Todd, that is good advice. I’m afraid the photo exagerates the slope a bit. Only the last three feet nearest the fence, are on a slope. The rest where the gazanias grow, is flat. My track plan, which is too goofy-looking to post, has the track running right to left along the fence, into the trees, where it crosses a curved trestle over a field of baby tears, then heading back to the flats. But therein lies the problem. How to get back down? My thought was heading down gradually to a helix of sorts at the other end (closest to where the camera was), then continuing into town where my collection of buildings would be. But that’s only one end of the upper line (the one along the fence). What would I do with the other end?

The idea of elevated the track is something to consider and here’s what I was thinking. Maybe if I built some of the track on stilts (so to speak), I could get an idea of how much fill dirt I’d need to make the hills I kinda envisioned. They would hide some of the trackage so ya couldn’t always see the trains and would provide little neighborhoods in which to set my various buildings. I’m thinking that with a bunch of small trees like boxwoods, you’d have a hillside like you see in the east (I am not a huge fan of cypress and pine trees, as they need a lot of pruning to look right). Anyway, I’ve put the cart way ahead of the horse, as I have a lot more to do before I even turn a single shovel of dirt.

For the record, I already have about 200 feet of Aristo and USA Trains brass straight track, a complete 8-foot circle and a complete 10 foot circle, plus three, wide radius powered Aristo switches.

That section that you said is “screaming for a yard” would have to be elevated at least eight inches just to link up with the flat section where the gazanias grow. It’s to the left of the overall photo, not visible in the shot. I’m not sure what the super would think, as it would be visible from our living room and compete for attention with her posies. The section of the proposed layout where the gazanias are is not visible from inside our house–except for the part I mentioned, where the track would run through other trees and over a trestle.

You mentioned a dogbone: perhaps you thought it was appropriate because of the shape of the planter. Actually, I was thinking of extending the planter to give me more room and of making it straight rather than curved, as it is now. It would be the site of my station with the obligatory passing siding and such.

As for building a layout on a slope, if you want to see what a real slope is, search this site or other places for shots of Ray Dunakin’s excellent layout, which is all hillside. I’ve seen it and Ray worked his butt off hauling in tons of rock to build a very realistic environment for his trains and his fantastic scratch-built structures. In fact if you’re ever in San Diego, I’d suggest you pay him a visit.

Once again, thanks Todd.

Any other ideas out there?

Also, any cheap (free) track planning software?