Author Topic: HO Shelf Switching Layout  (Read 17765 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

cv_acr

  • Crew
  • *
  • Posts: 2669
  • Gender: Male
  • Respect: +127
    • Canadian Freight Railcar Gallery
HO Shelf Switching Layout
« on: April 13, 2011, 07:33:28 PM »
0
A few months ago, I posted a sketch and some ideas for a possible track plan I'd been doodling and working on. (That thread can be found here: http://therailwire.net/forum/index.php/topic,22743.0.html)

For a number of reasons, that plan didn't really work too well (Ed and a couple of others noted a couple of these and some suggestions, not to mention that it would not have really been able to have been built as drawn without useing #2 switches...).

At the time I was looking for an apartment, but staying at my parents' place in the interim, so basically just sketching ideas for some theoretical space. Well, in February I moved into a new 2-bedroom apartment, and in my second room (office/workroom) I have room for a layout down one wall. There's a 12-foot space from wall to wall, and a 21" shelf will fit between the wall and the opening of the bi-fold closet door.

So I've gone back to the drawing board, working on a new plan to fit this space, being deliberately more conservative with the switches and track layout, while keeping a few elements that I wanted to have.

The main features I really wanted to incorporate are:
1. A design that allows for a logical operating scheme. That meant I wanted to include:
   a) an interchange track to represent an outside connection. All inbound/outbound traffic will transfer between here and the modelled industries
   b) a place to park an engine
2. a runaround that isn't uselessly short
3. a switching lead that isn't uselessly short and can handle the entire capacity of the runaround track + engine
4. One nice-to-have that I wanted to work in was to incorporate a partially completed factory made from DPM components that I started for an earlier layout. (Industry "D" on the track diagram).

This is the current plan I've come up with; I did some mocking up last night in the actual space to confirm that the elements will fit as planned. (It pretty much went down exactly as drawn, amazingly). The theme is sort of generic light-industrial area.



Looking at the various tracks, using a standard 50' boxcar as a unit, the track capacities are:

Industry "A": 1
Industry "B": 3 (2) *
Industry "C": 4 (1)
Industry "D": 4 (3) (over two tracks)
Team track: 2
Interchange: 6 (could lengthen to 7 by moving the switch by about 2-3" to the left)
Runaround: 4
Switch lead (left side): 5 +engine
Switch lead (right side): 1 +engine (only needs to be long enough at this end to let the engine escape and runaround)

* (numbers given as x (y) indicate that x cars will actually fit between the switch and end of track, but the track/industry is designed for y actual car spots)

Here's a few photos of the mockup on the floor, fitting things to the space. The paper templates are #6 switch templates printed off FastTracks' website.





The switch to the engine parking track (foreground, below the orange boxcar in the second pic) could be interesting, as the joint would be between the points and frog, but the switch has room to move to the left a few inches to put the whole thing on the middle section, at the cost of shortening the team track to one car. The functions of these two tracks could possibly be swapped in that case.

The next step will be to actually acquire some wood and put the basic module benchwork together.
« Last Edit: November 22, 2012, 10:31:42 AM by cv_acr »

Philip H

  • Crew
  • *
  • Posts: 8799
  • Gender: Male
  • Respect: +1524
    • Layout Progress Blog
Re: HO Shelf Switching Layout
« Reply #1 on: April 14, 2011, 09:13:02 AM »
0
Chris,
That looks good.  If you are still open to ideas, there's a website out there somewhere where a guy has posted all sorts of shelf trackplans as gif's.  Wish I could remember it . . . anyway he's got a ton of linear stuff that would fit your space requirements and might give you a couple of alternatives to what you have here.  And no, it's not Carl Arendt's old site, although that is apparently back up and running as well.
Philip H.
Chief Everything Officer
Baton Rouge Southern RR - Mount Rainier Division.

"Yes there are somethings that are "off;" but hey, so what." ~ Wyatt

"I'm trying to have less cranial rectal inversion with this." - Ed K.

"There's more to MRR life than the Wheezy & Nowheresville." C855B

cv_acr

  • Crew
  • *
  • Posts: 2669
  • Gender: Male
  • Respect: +127
    • Canadian Freight Railcar Gallery
Re: HO Shelf Switching Layout
« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2011, 01:51:15 PM »
0
Thanks Phillip. I'm pretty happy with the design as it is now. I tried drawing a couple previous designs which didn't really work as well, and I did find a couple other similar switching layouts that I used for inspiration.

I wanted something interesting, with a logical operating pattern, but not overly crammed in, complicated and visually busy. What I ended up with above, is fairly relaxed overall, with no specialwork and spurs criss-crossing all over the place, but still serves 5 industries including the team track, and still includes some space for a little bit of scenery between industries, and provide for some nice detailing opportunities on the industries that are there.

Ed Kapuscinski

  • Global Moderator
  • Crew
  • *
  • Posts: 23992
  • Head Kino
  • Respect: +7846
    • Conrail 1285
Re: HO Shelf Switching Layout
« Reply #3 on: April 26, 2011, 01:07:56 PM »
0
I like it! I also like doing that on the carpet. lol...

tom mann

  • Administrator
  • Crew
  • *****
  • Posts: 10916
  • Representing The Railwire on The Railwire
  • Respect: +996
    • http://www.chicagoswitching.com
Re: HO Shelf Switching Layout
« Reply #4 on: April 26, 2011, 09:45:21 PM »
0
Wouldn't you have electrical issues with that brand of track? :P

cv_acr

  • Crew
  • *
  • Posts: 2669
  • Gender: Male
  • Respect: +127
    • Canadian Freight Railcar Gallery
Re: HO Shelf Switching Layout
« Reply #5 on: April 27, 2011, 09:41:29 AM »
0
Wouldn't you have electrical issues with that brand of track? :P

Nope. No electricals = no chance of issues. ;)

I have the benchwork for the modules almost done now, they're standing up and bolted together in my dad's workshop. Just need to attach some lateral braces to tie the legs together so it can't sway back and forth. Then I'll be able to bring them back to my place, set them up and actually start laying out the track plan on the layout base and putting down roadbed.
« Last Edit: April 30, 2011, 05:53:24 PM by cv_acr »

cv_acr

  • Crew
  • *
  • Posts: 2669
  • Gender: Male
  • Respect: +127
    • Canadian Freight Railcar Gallery
Re: HO Shelf Switching Layout
« Reply #6 on: April 28, 2011, 08:57:57 PM »
0
Stage 1 is now complete, and the completed modules have now found their way into my apartment. Here's how they look set up and bolted together.

« Last Edit: November 22, 2012, 10:32:12 AM by cv_acr »

Zox

  • Crew
  • *
  • Posts: 1120
  • Gender: Male
  • Respect: +2
    • Lord Zox's Home Page
Re: HO Shelf Switching Layout
« Reply #7 on: April 28, 2011, 09:44:15 PM »
0
Nice engineering job on the benchwork there.
Rob M., a.k.a. Zox
z o x @ v e r i z o n . n e t
http://lordzox.com/
It is said a Shaolin chef can wok through walls...

cv_acr

  • Crew
  • *
  • Posts: 2669
  • Gender: Male
  • Respect: +127
    • Canadian Freight Railcar Gallery
Re: HO Shelf Switching Layout
« Reply #8 on: April 28, 2011, 10:22:46 PM »
0
Thanks Zox. It took a few evenings this past week to get the whole thing assembled in my Dad's workshop.

The back braces are bolted to the end leg assemblies, so the whole thing can come apart extremely easy when I move, or if I ever decided to display it elsewhere.

The legs slide into pockets on the underside of the layout, which I copied from lashedup's Franksville module photos.

extra7000south

  • Crew
  • *
  • Posts: 74
  • Gender: Male
  • Respect: 0
Re: HO Shelf Switching Layout
« Reply #9 on: April 28, 2011, 10:29:52 PM »
0
That's a very nice job and I like the track plan!!  :)
It has given me a few new ideas too.

I'll be watching the progress, Keep up the good work.
Glenn
Petal, MS
Modeling Southern Railway In N {Normal} Scale

MGSC-NRHS
http://www.msrailroads.com/MGS.htm

cv_acr

  • Crew
  • *
  • Posts: 2669
  • Gender: Male
  • Respect: +127
    • Canadian Freight Railcar Gallery
Re: HO Shelf Switching Layout
« Reply #10 on: April 29, 2011, 09:36:48 AM »
0
Started putting down the first few pieces of roadbed last night:

« Last Edit: November 22, 2012, 10:32:35 AM by cv_acr »

Ed Kapuscinski

  • Global Moderator
  • Crew
  • *
  • Posts: 23992
  • Head Kino
  • Respect: +7846
    • Conrail 1285
Re: HO Shelf Switching Layout
« Reply #11 on: April 29, 2011, 12:39:28 PM »
0
Awesome Chris! I'm excited by your progress.

Seeing everyone else's stuff coming together has been a real shot in the arm for me to do likewise on the Shelf. Keep up the updates.

cv_acr

  • Crew
  • *
  • Posts: 2669
  • Gender: Male
  • Respect: +127
    • Canadian Freight Railcar Gallery
Re: HO Shelf Switching Layout
« Reply #12 on: April 30, 2011, 05:42:45 PM »
0
Friday evening and Saturday afternoon continued with roadbed laying:







« Last Edit: November 22, 2012, 10:34:55 AM by cv_acr »

wazzou

  • Crew
  • *
  • Posts: 6623
  • #GoCougs
  • Respect: +1566
Re: HO Shelf Switching Layout
« Reply #13 on: April 30, 2011, 05:49:21 PM »
0
Chris -

Looks good.  One thing I would have done is to put a layer of 1" foam on your plywood to allow the chance to vary the terrain depth above and below track level.
Bryan

Member of NPRHA, Modeling Committee Member
http://www.nprha.org/
Member of MRHA


Ed Kapuscinski

  • Global Moderator
  • Crew
  • *
  • Posts: 23992
  • Head Kino
  • Respect: +7846
    • Conrail 1285
Re: HO Shelf Switching Layout
« Reply #14 on: May 01, 2011, 12:01:50 AM »
0
Yep, I'm with Bryan. You've got to be able to include minor undulations in the terrain.