Rough Sketch Trackplan

Here is a current sketch of some ideas for the train room. It includes:

• 2 level offline staging yards that would be the same size.
• Continuous loop on the upper level
• Upper level major attraction is the small city East McKeesport switching
• Lower level has the Irwin Yard and Herminie Mine attractions
  

I don't have any sort of interchange which I am willing to sacrifice if it does not work.I liked having an active P&LE line that provided some switching as well as the interchange but I could do a static interchange where the cars are positioned for pick up at the beginning of the operating session and drop offs "leave" the layout between the sessions.

Lower Level

Upper Level

Options and Options

Bruce sent me a draft of a two level track plan that had some great ideas but a few limitations as well. I am afraid I will dither over the track plan for ages while I try and find the optimal arrangement for the dedicated space I have. I got two books for my birthday: Basic Model Railroad Benchwork and Designing & Building Multi-Deck Model Railroads that I hope will help with the planning but there are so many decisions:

• Do I tackle 2 level layout with the challenges of bench height and a helix for a mainline run or settle for a simple, and short, point-to-point or continuous loop.
• What givens do I need to sacrifice - operations, switching, continuous run, an interchange with P&LE, operating a P&LE train, east and west staging yards, etc. 
• Since running trains is how I best stay interested in the hobby, what can I do to get something running quickly and reliably.

The new issue of Model Railroader has a track plan for Coloma Junction which is a 9' x 13' continuous loop that had a couple of interesting compromises especially on how to address the interchange - make it non operational. Instead of having a P&LE train come onto the visible layout, drop off/pick up cars from the interchange and service some sidings, just have an interchange track with the drop off cars waiting for the PRR to exchange. Sort of like another siding. I sort of wanted to be able to run a P&LE engine (Bachman has a nice Alco S-4 that even has sound!) but I can live without it if makes things too difficult. 

Trying to work all these ideas and THEN I have to try and actually draft it in a track plan which is NOT working out. So, I gave in and instead added some shelves in the room for my books and magazines.

Well, at least that worked out well! 

Friends and Trackplans

September 1985 the United States Air Force moved me to Dayton OH where I was stationed at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Just a few months later, another newly commissioned 2nd Lieutenant reported to the Airlift & Trainers Program Control office and I was assigned to show him the ropes. Turns out, both Bruce Johnson and I had an interest in trains. That started a collaborative friendship that has lasted nearly 27 years.

Bruce and I built a small shelf layout in my apartment at the time. I forget if it was a published trackplan or something we came up with. It was only my second layout - after the under bed one my Dad built - and we never got beyond the benchwork and track laying because Lisa and I got engaged and I moved to a bigger apartment. I left the Air Force and Bruce went on to make it a career, retiring a few years ago. He and his family were stationed at several different bases but always came back to Wright Patt.

Bruce heard I had a new layout space and we emailed back and forth a few times. Yesterday he stopped over so he could get a feel for the space available and we spent over 3 hours tossing around ideas to optimize the 10' x 10' space. Bruce is very good at drawing track plans and I knew his help here would be invaluable. We came up with the following design elements:

• Point-to-point, operationally similar to the last layout at Restway
• Multi-level, 2 decks with a helix in the corner by the exterior door
• Keep the Irwin yard track arrangement as much as possible
• Two offline staging yards in the main garage, one on each level of the layout, representing East and West staging
• A loop for continuous running on the upper level via a nod-under bridge over the entrance

Bruce said he would noddle on these and sketch some ideas over the next couple of weeks so after my vacation plans, we may have something to discuss. It would be great if we can get some benchwork in place before fall and do some serious trackwork over the winter. 

Now I need to figure out what to do with the cut up pieces from the old layout! Stay tuned.

New trackplan approach

As Lisa and I are moving into the new house, we discovered as most couples do, that we still have more stuff that space. In general, this is a good thing as it forces us to let go of the things we hold onto way past their usefulness. For example, I donated about 70 books to our church festival flea market because I realized my plan to re-read them when I retire means I hold on to the durn things for another 12-15 years! Forget it!

So we started to organize the garage and I quickly realized that once we put the tools on the wall pegboard and store the ladders, shelves for chemicals and small items, there would be no way we could have the offline staging yard shelves I had envisioned. Since I can't have these outside the train room, I have to consider how I will put them in the room and there is little option except for a multi-level layout.

In the past, I have not been a huge fan of multi-level layouts because of the complexity of a helix (to get from one level to another), the compromise in the layout height (lower level is too low and upper level is too high) and the amount of modeling space lost to the helix (essentially a 4' x 4' square area that is nothing but a corkscrew of track between the levels). However, it does provide additional space by maximizing the vertical space in the layout room, there are many fans and authors creating multi-level layouts including Tony Koester, and I have never actually visited a multi-level layout so ...

...I am going to have to give this some thought!

Finally, we are moved into the new house. In fact, we closed on selling the old house today so all the transactions are complete. We have been moving boxes and small furniture for the past several weeks into the garage because the flooring in the house was not complete. I have the two main sections of the layout standing up - East McKeesport and Irwin Yard - but the rest of the room is whatever I could not fit in the main garage! I did get the modeling desk set up under East McKeesport but not so I could get back to the train ... I needed to replace the desk drawers and stack some stuff on the desk top. Once that was full, I started putting stuff under the desk where the chair goes.

Funny story there. We have been donating things to our church flea market and one of the items was a desk chair on wheels. Lisa said she did not want it anymore and it was not until I was dropping it off that I realized ... it was the chair to my modeling desk! Oh, well, it was too big for the desk and would seriously take up too much space in the new train room. I think I might have to use a folding chair and put it away when I am not working at the desk.

Now to start putting things away where they belong!

A New Era

Well, the entire train is now at Helenwood except for my modeling desk (even the drawers have been moved!) and the twins N-scale 2'x4' module. Eric and I were able to set up E. McKeesport and the Irwin yard against opposite walls and at the new height - 3" lower than before - so I can get a feel for how things will work out. The new height does seem to make a difference reaching across the 30" wide E. McKeesport section while still high enough not to feel like you are looking down at the trains. The lower height may be an issue when I move the modeling desk under this section, where it was for a long time, and I may have to narrow the fascia so I don't bang my head!

Now the next step is to design the new layout. I would like to build on what I learned, liked and did not like on the last layout. Not counting the N-scale module, this will be my 5th layout - my original under-the-bed set Dad built, my first apartment shelf layout, my 4'x8' folded loop at Kenosha, and the last district which lasted long enough to have a name - Irwin District! The new layout will still be called Irwin District and this is what I liked:

• Linear east-west running trains that only went through a scene once. 
• Lots of sidings for operations and switching activities.
• A decent sized online yard for build and breaking down the trains.
• Interchange with P&LE to provide more interesting  operations.

But what I would like to change:

• A loop so I can run a continuous train in the background (operational challenge as the PITT-35 roars through the scene!) or to break in new locomotives. This will also help Lisa who could not understand why my point-to-point layout did not have a loop of track.
• Longer offline staging yards with the shortest track long enough for the longest train that will travel end to end.
•  At least two tracks for the P&LE staging, again long enough for the trains. 
• All Atlas #4 switches. I reused a couple of Shinohara (now Walthers) switches that I could not seem to wire/isolate correctly, creating dead tracks.
• Gray painted roadbed, glue track (no permanent nails).

There are probably more things I want to change, but that is a start. With a 10' x 10' space (actually, I have about 4" inches in both directions but I am reserving that), and moving the staging yards outside the room into the garage, I have two basic configurations that I am trying to figure out which one is better.

Trackplan 1 - Dogbone

The first plan shows the benchwork for a dogbone, where the lobes at each end would be a loop providing a continuous run. The advantage of this plan is that the center is completely open so you want into the layout area. The main disadvantage is that to the trains passing through each scene only once, I have to place the back track behind mountains or buildings - so half of the travel time, the train would be out of sight.

Trackplan 2 - Loop

The other option is a loop, completely enclosing the center area which creates either a duck under (with the current track height, this would be more than a nod under!) or a lift out section like a bridge. The right side track could pass through the garage so you would not see the trains actually running around the track. I am leaning more towards this plan at the moment and if I do this, ask me about the lift out when I am 60!

Of course, I could give up the continuous run and go back to the point to point layout design like the last Irwin District. In a way, it's fun to imagine all the possibilities but I tend to fall into analysis-paralysis at this stage of layout building and after operating trains with my friends, I want to get something back up and moving soon.

Then again, Eric and Jack may help be my motivation!

Disassembled

Well, the layout is officially disassembled! After disconnecting the bus wires that ran the layout from end to end, I cut the track and base (pink insulation) with an old serrated kitchen knife and unbolt the sections in 6 sections. The 4' west staging and 4' Herminie pennisula where no brainers. The 30" wide section of the layout that was East McKeesport from the Rt 30 overpass to the curve into downtown Irwin was easily removed. I wanted to preserve as much of the Irwin yard as I could since I plan to reuse this and possibly East McKeesport, so I removed the 4' module between the two (representing basically downtown Irwin). The remaining section was the track out of Irwin into the east staging yard.

As I write this, 2 of the sections are at the new house and I cut 3" off the legs for Irwin yard and East McKeesport. Hopefully, Eric D and I can move the remaining modules tomorrow (except for Herminie, each one is 8' long!!) and set up Irwin and E McKeesport to test the new height (hoping for a better reach over the 30" wide East McKeesport) and begin to visualize the new layout!

Except ... stacked all the under layout components in the train room so tonight I think I need to go over and make sure nothing is higher than 48". On to the next phase!