Rich Weyand's N&W Layout

[SirTainly]

Has anyone seen this layout, or operated on it? Apparently, it was in MRP2002, but I don't think I have that one, anyway I've just seen a picture of the stagin setup in Tony K's multideck layout book, it's huge! It has 6 decks each of 6 tracks (look long too) with a 12.5 turn oval helix to reach the layout!  

Simon

[SirTainly]

found his track plan on line:

http://users.rcn.com/weyand/pocadiv/pocahontas.htm

damn that's a lot of staging...the layout can handle 2000 cars! 

[Sokramiketes]

Funny you should mention Rich's Pokie Division...  Life is in the process of relocating his home.  He had much of the mainline finished, and was able to run trains for special occasions, but the layout didn't make it to the point of operations.

There were a lot of fantastic design features on that layout that I'd never run across before.  And the amount of thought put in to every aspect of planning and design was phenominal.  Rich even designed his own electronics to run the layout, no DCC.  

Rich has fun solving puzzles, so once everything was figured out, the layout started to become dormant.  The challenge wasn't there anymore.  So, he decided not to try to move it to a new home to be continued.

All is not lost though, he made an offer I couldn't refuse, and we spent a good portion of this past winter carefully dismantling the layout. It is currently piled in my basement and spilling out into the garage.  I've got some improvements to do in the basement before layout reconstruction can begin, but resurrection should start this winter sometime.  

It's not what I'd build if I was starting from scratch, but the design concept warrants it's time to shine and I've got enough years left to build other layouts in the future.    

[Mark5]

Sounds like fun!

[SirTainly]

The fact that you've saved the layout Mike is very cool indeed. Are you going to reassemble it as was, or make alterations to suit your own tastes?

Simon

[Sokramiketes]

The fact that you've saved the layout Mike is very cool indeed. Are you going to reassemble it as was, or make alterations to suit your own tastes?

Simon

Well, I was thinking about BNSF in western Washigton... 

Nah, it will be reassembled as close as I can to the original.  However, I have a furnace in the way, and a neighbor where the helix should be, so it will have to be modified a little.  A peninsula will be rotated 90 degrees, and the staging will be rearranged.  The general operating scheme and 85% of the mainline should not be affected, thus keeping the original design intent intact.  And N&W has it's high points as well.

[SirTainly]

Well, I was thinking about BNSF in western Washigton... 

Nah, it will be reassembled as close as I can to the original.  However, I have a furnace in the way, and a neighbor where the helix should be, so it will have to be modified a little.  A peninsula will be rotated 90 degrees, and the staging will be rearranged.  The general operating scheme and 85% of the mainline should not be affected, thus keeping the original design intent intact.  And N&W has it's high points as well.

Don't fancy living in the cold and evicting the neighbour then ?

Agreed N&W is a good choice, and the diesels are very easy to paint too which is a bonus.

[Mark5]

Agreed N&W is a good choice, and the diesels are very easy to paint too which is a bonus.

Yeah, but ya gotta high-nose them for the Pokey ...

[Sokramiketes]

Agreed N&W is a good choice, and the diesels are very easy to paint too which is a bonus.

Yeah, but ya gotta high-nose them for the Pokey ...

It's 1958! 

[wm3798]

Not sure if that's a schematic plan, or "as built" but there seems to be an awful lot of tangent track for a railroad that dips in and out of the hollers of West Virginia...  I'd bend the line a bit more just to get some better photo angles.!

Lee

[Mark5]

Agreed N&W is a good choice, and the diesels are very easy to paint too which is a bonus.

Yeah, but ya gotta high-nose them for the Pokey ...

It's 1958! 

Ah, then ya gotta hide them!

[rochsub]

Mike,

Don't you have any hesitation spending many, many years building somebody else's idea?  Not that its unethical.  Just that someone with your knowledge and expertise, I would think that eventually you would want to do your own thing.

Daryl

[wm3798]

Could it be that Mike enjoys building the models and scenery, and running the trains, but track planning might not be one of his strengths?

I like fiddling with track plans, have fun building models (even if I use a hatchet on most of them) but I can't stand the wiring and detailed painting. 

Mike stated that he really liked how the design was thought out, and he's going to have to modify parts of it to make it fit in his space anyway.  And it doesn't sound like the previous owner got it to the point where it was fully scenicked, so he can change the theme to whatever he wants.

I think that in the end, it will be very much Mike's layout.  I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with it.

Lee

[Sokramiketes]

Mike,

Don't you have any hesitation spending many, many years building somebody else's idea?  Not that its unethical.  Just that someone with your knowledge and expertise, I would think that eventually you would want to do your own thing.

Daryl

Nah, plenty of that "own thing" going into MiNi Modutrak.  The Pokie may be more of a group effort, and a layout to run as part of our round-robin friday night group.  Sometimes I need a kickstart like this so I don't spend all my time getting burnt out on research and planning.  I've got a few more layouts in me after this one, God willing.   

[rochsub]

Mike,

Don't you have any hesitation spending many, many years building somebody else's idea?  Not that its unethical.  Just that someone with your knowledge and expertise, I would think that eventually you would want to do your own thing.

Daryl

Nah, plenty of that "own thing" going into MiNi Modutrak.  The Pokie may be more of a group effort, and a layout to run as part of our round-robin friday night group.  Sometimes I need a kickstart like this so I don't spend all my time getting burnt out on research and planning.  I've got a few more layouts in me after this one, God willing.   

I keep forgetting how young you are.  I also understand the running trains thing.  It makes the whole hobby a lot more interesting!

Daryl