NKP-ish

[x600]

That looks great George, can;t wait to see the progress.   

GregO.

[nickelplate759]

Thanks @x600  Greg.  Just don't look too closely at the joints - it's all cut with a circular saw, so none of the joints are perfect, just good-enough.
Pretty sure there isn't a square corner in the thing.

[x600]

None of that matters once its covered in foam and slathered with track and stuff.
Which spot has the DL&W interchange again? I Forget.

Greg O.

[nickelplate759]

None of that matters once its covered in foam and slathered with track and stuff.
Which spot has the DL&W interchange again? I Forget.

Greg O.

It's 400 scale miles (2.5 actual miles) ENE, where I'm modeling Buffalo....
I do have a Lackawanna 10-6 and some baggage cars for train 5.

[nickelplate759]

Started on backdrop this weekend.   Have 40% of the hardboard up (first two pieces).   This will be the East Wayne yard.



Three more pieces of hardboard to go!

[nickelplate759]

80% there - these two panels add the east end (New Haven, IN) of the backdrop.  One more panel to put up (Ft. Wayne proper), then it's time for mudding.

[nickelplate759]

Last piece of backdrop board just went up.  This will be behind Ft. Wayne.



Now it's time for tape and mud!

[nickelplate759]

I need to post some picture updates.   Everything is framed out, backdrops are painted, ground is covered in pink foam...

Meanwhile, I'm getting ready to start laying some track.  While looking at the loop that is supposed to represent Ft. Wayne, I started to explore some options for the industrial area.  I'd appreciate some feedback.

Industrial minimum radius is 13".  Mainline minimum is 16", but larger is better of course.
The paired sidings coming from the upper left corner of the picture is are interchange tracks with the Fort Wayne Union Railway.
Downtown Ft. Wayne is at the top of the picture.
Building shapes are approximate at best.

I want some switching (not a lot), but nice also a nice view of the mainline trains.  The mainline at the bottom of the picture would be running along the St. Mary's river, which is where the operators will be standing.

Here are three variations:
A:  larger radius mainline, two industries


B:    This the most complex and offers three sidings, at the cost of tighter curves on the mainline.


C:  Similar to A, but squeeze in a third siding with an odd shaped industry.   


Thoughts?

[Jesse6669]

Thoughts?

I like C.  Keep the wider radius curves, and have an odd shaped structure; industries with strange shapes or curved walls to match trackage are very common and would make an interesting scratch building/3D project.   

[packers#1]

I’ll second @Jesse6669 above, buildings are frequently built to fit into the space between track curves so the odd shaped industry really cements the idea of a tight industrial area. In my opinion A is also acceptable and gives you a bit of space to add some random cluttered junk or a shack or something.

The only one I wouldn’t pick is B! The crossover is a bit hokey, but really the siding on the opposite main along the river is kinda useless unless you’re modeling a barge load out or something, which I think that’s too short to really do a fair representation of.

[davefoxx]

I’m going with Plan A, because Plan B has too much track (we’ve all committed this sin at some point) and Plan C lacks the space that Plan A has to install structures large enough to justify rail service, not to mention road access and parking lots.

Hope this helps,
DFF

[nickelplate759]

I just realized another downside of plan B - there are reverse curves formed by the turnouts that lead to two of the sidings.
Shame on me!

So, Plan B is out - also my least favorite.  It comes down to whether I want one more industry or just two somewhat larger (and thus more plausible) ones.
When the time comes to put the sidings and industries in I'll try it both ways and pick the one I like better.

[OldEastRR]

Funny thing about buildings -- they all tend to align their sides relative to each other, and to the street grid system they are located in. Unless they have a particular non-rectangular location they had to fit into because the regular rectangular spaces were filled or not possible to use because of natural or legal reasons. Even industries that fill acres are usually built on a grid-like system, but a building here or there will be an oddball alignment. And spur tracks try to follow that general grid pattern to get to buildings. 

So whenever I see layouts with imdustrial spurs spreading out randomly in all directions, it looks unrealistic. Very old towns do have erratic patterns because they were built without access to standardized surveying knowledge or influence. Railroads changed all that.

[nickelplate759]

The layout is now covered in pink foam and I'm starting to draw in track center lines.   This is two layers of 1" pink foam.

This is intended to be the swampy area between East Wayne and New Haven, where the NKP and Wabash cross.



The Wabash line to Toledo is closest to the front of the layout here, NKP to New Haven is behind it.  Left is towards Toledo and New Haven here - the NKP/Wabash crossing is just to the right of the picture.  The blue circled areas will be cut out for bridges.    Wabash actually had a culvert, but I'll probably use a bridge so it'll be easier to admire the NKP main behind it.

[nickelplate759]

A little more on what I have planned for this area.

This is a swampy area with a creek that feeds into the St. Mary's Maumee river.  The lowest area (bare plywood) will be open water.
The rest of the low areas will be overgrown with trees etc, with enough trees to obscure the tracks as they loop into the back corner.

NKP will have a deck girder bridge where it crosses the creek. Wabash should have a concrete culvert, but I'm still not sure if that's what I'll do.