CN Yellowhead Division

[Scottl]

With holiday visitors now gone, work can begin on the benchwork.

It feels great to be building a layout again after a nearly two-year gap.

[lock4244]

With holiday visitors now gone, work can begin on the benchwork.

It feels great to be building a layout again after a nearly two-year gap.

Looking forward to this build, was there in 2018, from Edmonton to Whitecourt to Jasper to Tete Juane Cache then back to Edmonton along #16. A few of your locations are familiar... that trestle just west of Hinton, the overpass at Entrance, and my favorite, looking east at Soloman.

And I'm close to buying a house here, so soon will have a basement to call my own... haven't had a layout in must be 23 years.

[Scottl]

It's a beautiful area and a great area to watch trains.

Those Atlas GP40W units are a sign it is time for you to build.  It's destiny.

[lock4244]

Shot at Solomon via the access road off Township 503A (location info provided by Tim Stevens, lol)... the Athabasca is such a beautiful river.

[lock4244]

It's a beautiful area and a great area to watch trains.

Those Atlas GP40W units are a sign it is time for you to build.  It's destiny.

I know right... with what I have on hand and on order, will have 11 of them 

It's ok, they're the core of the fleet.

[GaryHinshaw]

Wow, I'm way behind on reading (and writing!) Engineering Reports.  I'm just now catching on that you're ditching Grand Cache and going back to the Yellowhead.   In any event, great to see wood being cut!  And cool that you got to experience the SAR. 

I'm not sure I've followed all the subtleties of the new plan but I'll offer the following comments for your consideration:
* RE Ed's comment: he's the king of negative space, and he's likely seeing a bit of a speghetti bowl in the plan, as drawn.  But with two decks, I think you'll be able to make it work scenically (but see comments below).

* If you're not going to have any Grand Cache trackage, I'm not sure I appreciate the need for Swan Landing.  If it were me, I would  probably drop that scene in favour of one of Geoff's "lonely sidings".  Ed would probably approve too. 

* As with the Grand Cache plan, I have a hard time visiualizing the central peninsula in 3d, and it seems like there is a lot of pressure being placed on that part of the plan since it has to accomodate two reverse loops -- upper and lower -- plus a helix between them.  I just don't see how you're going to make this work scenically, whereas it should be (literally) the centrepiece of the layout.  I would strongly encourage a mock-up of this before you get too far along.

* Thinking out loud: I like the idea of the two reverse loops on each end.  Perhaps you could find a way to stack them in the upper right corner of the room, so you can come straight off the ends of each yard.  (The Jasper loop seems like an especial mis-use of valuable scenic real estate.)  If you can make it work, it would give you much more freedom to do something scenically spectracular with the peninsula where it's only function is to bridge the two decks between Swan and Park Gate.   You would also have much more freedom to morph the footprint of the peninsula so the aisle at the east end of Hinton isn't quite so tight.

* I used to think of 18" curves as broad, but I now think of them as tight.  I'm having issues with long cars with body-mount couplers stringlining on my pike, unless I have pushers.  I would definitely encourage you to stick to an 18" minimum (or more).  You won't like 16" (though it's fine for a reverse loop with no grade).

* RE construction order: I built my upper deck first, but as you know, my deck stacking is rather irregular.  In particular, I built the lowest Bakersfield staging before I built the central peninsula above it.  You really should think through the construction tasks for each deck one by one and decide what kind of access you need for laying (and ballasting) track, drilling holes for switch motors, signals, etc.   I don't think there is a unique answer to this question.

Enough for now.  Looking forward to seeing your progress!  Happy New Year!!
-gfh

[Scottl]

Thanks @GaryHinshaw, much appreciate your suggestions.  I agree the peninsula was always going to be a challenge to scenic with the kinds of vertical separations I envisioned.  I had a plan version with the return loops in the room corner but this consumed the space for the aisle east of Hinton and represented a different set of limitations. 

After mocking the peninsula and decks up over the holidays I hit a severe design funk:  short of a long hidden helix, my lower deck was going to be severely cramped and it did not make sense to me.

I've decided to go with a single deck version and remove the Hinton-Swan Landing section of the last plan I posted.  It avoids the vertical separation issue altogether and leaves me with Jasper and Devona as operating elements.  Part of the reason I feel comfortable about stepping back from a more extensive operational plan is the lack of people here to operate with.  Another part is that the scenery is my favorite part of building the layout and I realized I would not have been happy with the compromises associated with a nolix in this space.  Finally, I have long had an On30 itch (and a growing collection to go with it) and plans for a small narrow gauge layout can fit nicely below the n-scale layout.  I have felt conflicted about one scale vs the other, often leading to periods of indecision and inaction, and this new strategy allows me to pursue both as I wish.

I hear you about the 18" radius.  The version I am building maintains this as a minimum and I don't expect to run auto racks.  And (gasp) I'm not going to convert to body mounts  so I just need to make it viable for the locomotive overhangs.

Happy New Year!

[GaryHinshaw]

Cool!  That sounds like a win-win.  Feel free to share the new plan(s) - if you want us to throw darts at it.   

Cheers,
Gary

[Scottl]

This is the version I'm building from.  I suspect there will be tweaks here and there.  Have at it!

[DirtyD79]

Judging by the trackplan the yard definitely looks like you could have fun just operating it by itself when you don't feel much like running the mainline trains.

[GaryHinshaw]

Have at it!

  For your consideration:



The basic idea is to rotate the wall facing sections by 180, and use the central peninsula for open running in the middle of nowhere.  Some more specific rationales:
* Alleviate the somewhat tight aisle in front of Jasper west.
* Simplify the gate across the door, instead of having the yard lead crossing the gate.
* Have the doorway mark the break point between east and west.

The actual layout of the trackage and scenes around the peninsula would have to be adjusted appropriately, of course.  In general, I like the simplicity of this plan.

[Scottl]

Wow, that is a neat idea. Thanks!

The nice thing about Park Gate on the peninsula is that the signature scene pops out of a tunnel, whereas in your version it would appear just to the right of the door entry.  It could be done for sure and might have better long sight lines.

Hmmm...

[GaryHinshaw]

Just spitballing, because it's fun.  Of course I don't know the signature scenes on this line at all, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt.

[Scottl]

Just to bring some of the scenes from a few pages earlier in the thread:

Park Gate https://railpictures.net/photo/768471/

Windy Point https://railpictures.net/photo/636775//

Snaring River (there are two spans here) https://railpictures.net/photo/369936/

English/Henry House https://railpictures.net/photo/803574/

Jasper https://railpictures.net/photo/787303/

Giekie (near Yellowhead Pass at the Continental Divide) https://railpictures.net/photo/626888/

[Scottl]

Quick and dirty.  I like it, especially how Jasper is not as cramped but also how there is more space for Park Gate and Windy Point, both of which are scenic highlights.  It is possible to add 1-2' to Jasper for longer trains too.  Geikie is not great and could just be used as Jasper West with the road overpass as the line leaves town.