Tulsa Terminal - Arkansas River Interchange

I recently had the time to toss together a design based on the west end of Zone 3 of the Tulsa Terminal.

I picked up interest in this area after a friend down there told me about the electrified Sand Springs Railway interchanging with the Frisco.

I liked this more than the Kansas City Alley design because there are more route options, it better integrates the mainline "test track" I need, and the depot can act as a fiddle yard.

This comes out to 14 feet long and 30 inches deep.

This should be more than usable for my switchers, geeps, and small steam, while allowing the SD38-2 to occasionally play.

I would also be installing overhead wire and switchable blocking for the SSRR interchange to give myself a place to test live overhead.

 

This is a nice looking plan. One thing I would look at is your track spacing, it looks a little close in a couple spots. 2" center to center is generally considered a minimum.

At the corner of 1st and Guthrie, there is what looks like an unmarked industry spot. Is that supposed to be another industry spot?

 

Really nice plan RK!

What will your bench height be?

Reason I ask: The higher the layout, the more you feel "depth". A depth of 30" will be quite a stretch if the layout is high.

For a reference: I have noticed that 24" depth is about the maximum at 58" height. Lower heights go can deeper IF you can bend over to reach the back portion of the layout.

Have fun!

 

Is this a freestanding benchwork or will it be attached to a wall?
The yellow squares appear to be non rail served structures. Are they tall buildings? Overhead wires too. They may hinder your reaching in to uncouple your cars to be switched.
Really like the track plan though!

 

I went with 2" center spacing on everything, though you are right, the depot tracks are a bit close. The main may also deviate slightly because I haven't yet purchased the full Anyrail license, so I had to stretch and play a little loose with the flex track.

The 1978 track chart lists that spot as open. Presumably there was something there, or something yet to be built. I'd have to go dig up more info to figure out what it was. I'm not opposed to backdating the layout in spots to add more industry.

I've been working with a rough height of around 43" to the base plywood or less. I have a section of bench from my childhood layout that I've been working with as a reference. My arm span is about enough to reach over the width of the bench without bending over if I stand at the very edge. Given the city environment, I wouldn't be opposed to dropping it to something like 30-36" to the base.

This will have to be freestanding, as my apartment would murder me otherwise. I'll also have to use the underside for storage space.

The yellow buildings are indeed non-rail served. I don't know the heights yet. The overhead wire will only cover the Sand Springs interchange, so it won't affect too much of the layout.

I also plan to use powered decouplers, as my experience running Eugene Yard and Brooklyn Yard at the Sunset Valley confirms reaching isn't fun, especially when I need to retrieve a locomotive set from a back track that isn't currently accessible.

FastTracks was always the plan. I used their #5 minimum lengths for this design. I'd ideally like to try hand laying the whole thing, since it's a limited scope project and it provides a challenge.

I had a friend offer to loan me Code 70 #5 jigs, but I think Code 83 is the winner.

 

Modeling an industry spot that's no longer in use does have some interesting scenery potential. That'll be interesting to see.

As for layout height, I would recommend 32-34" to the top of the layout. My childhood layout was around the 45" height mark and I can say from experience, it's a terrible height. It's too high to really set at and operate, but also too low as well. My current layout is at a height of 32.5" to the top of the plywood. It's great because I can set in an office chair and operate all day without any issues. Tall layouts are nice visually, but standing in place on concrete for a few hours isn't nearly as comfortable.

 

Reads as if you're doing a good job of evaluating your "givens n' druthers".

Best of luck to you!

Looking forward to seeing some progress shots as you build!

 

Given my usual preferred operating and working layout spans floor to ceiling, I can attest to that. Some of the harder trains are on the upper levels, and I'm usually breaking out the stepladder to work them. My club's layout also has a section that is right about chest height on me, but easily more than 30" deep, so it almost never gets switched due to the inaccessibility.

I'll also be using powered switches and panels. It's much cleaner that way. Plus this design is less switch dense than the Alley design, so it was really easy for me to find where the benches should split in order to make moving this in and out of the apartment much easier.

It's been easier to figure out what I want to do based on experience I've been getting fixing my club's layout. Some of the areas are tall and deep to the point where working on the back areas is miserable.

Flex will certainly help get it going faster. I could use the Code 100 I have on hand to make things cheaper, but I think I have room to go more accurate with this.

I believe I used an x19 crossing. I'll keep that in mind if I can't make a print out and build it in place or possibly borrow a fixture from someone I know.