Post #23

 Well I think I have got the final or very near final track plan worked out. I spent some time working out all the features I wanted in the layout in a previous post and I think I have achieved all of them. The main thing is to have it interesting to operate when the last bit of scenery and overhead wire is put into place. I was only thinking that this layout is probably amongst the smallest one I have built over my modelling years. I can now look back and claim biggest is not always best, but having said that I still don't how guys who build micro layouts can continue with the enthusiasm. They have them built in a few weeks and where is the challenge?

The first concept drawing of what I was aiming for.

 

 

 

You have to start somewhere and the concept diagram has turned out close to the final one. As explained earlier after I aquired the Electroliner I then had to increase the minimum radius to 11 inches to allow a smoother run, or put another way no derailments. There were ways to achieve a tighter radius (i.e. modifications to the set) but the 11" don't look too bad. An extra 200mm was added to the length and an extra 100mm added to the width. And after laying out the final plan I am glad I made it wider.

After making a second track template I started to draw the track outline onto the baseboard. And after two solid days of drawing, sharpening pencils I finally got the plan laid out. Even though the concept drawing was done to scale on a computer, it doesn't always work out in real life.

You will see that the final plan has plenty of curves in it and I only run parallel to the edge where I have to. I have always said that curves make it more interesting, anyway that's my theory.

Drone shot used to accurately map out the track plan

The photo above is how I was able to draw out an accurate plan ot the track position. I reached up above the board and took a series of vertical photos, around four shots. These were then imported into CorelDraw and then stitched together and then traced over to create the track positioning. In the photo the depot, crossing loop and the track into Aurora has been commenced as this is all done with RTR track. I also like to flood the board with buildings and other items to get the feel of how they will sit in the final outcome. I am still getting over the size of HO cars instead of the O scale ones I was previously modelling. 

So eventually I end up with a scale drawing of the final plan.

No not the final, after drawing this one up I discovered that I had a freight motor and wanted it to be able to run into a joint siding that was also worked by a railway locomotive. The factory/industry is the orange box shape towards the left hand side. So plan number two was done:

Now the trolley line was connected to the freight siding and I found I could squeeze in a work depot siding (shown dashed) as well. (Gee you can fit a lot in modelling HO) The rest of the layout I was happy with but it was this freight siding causing issues. The freight line heads towards the left hand side to cross over the trolley line via two 90 degrees crossings. I ended up purchasing four of them - Atlas code 83 as I don't think there are any code 75 90's that are made. At one stage I was going to have the freight line head down a grade and go under the trolley line that would cross via a bridge, but this works okay. The trolley track into the siding was only going to hold one freight car so after another change I reversed the crossover and this made room for two freight cars and a longer electrified siding. Win Win. So another change:

Maybe final Who knows?

So at the time of writing this is the final plan, not saying there may not be more changes to come. I know that the roads shown may not be the final ones but the track has to be laid before the roads can be set out. You can see that by reversing the track into the freight siding that this suits the siding capacity at the factory. I have a Walthers Post Office building ready to be assembled for this spot and have marked out its footprint onto the baseboard.

The barn has to be dual ended as some of the trolleys are only single ended so will have to exit the barn opposite to how they came in. The barn will only hold eight bogie cars and the long siding outside is long enough to hold the Electroliner.

So at this stage I am happy with the progress being made, but always plenty more to be done. Sadly I will have to wait a while longer before I will put up some overhead, but looking forward to doing that.