Maybe Jim and I can persuade Bob to finish our feeder wires. I have my main bus in but need feeder wires on my AT&SF trackage through Olathe, KS. At any rate, nice plan, Bob. Thanks very much for sharing. I can't quite tell but do you have any sort of runaround track in the Paris/Hugo staging area? As Richard Napper noted, having a place to turn motive power can be a good thing. I'm of the opinion that, in the diesel era, turning the power isn't quite as critical, but getting the motive power to runaround a string of cars is a good and desirable thing. Best Regards,
It's 6 feet wide by 11 1/2 feet long, and goes completely around the walls. The layout height of 54 inches allows for access via a duck-under at the upper left of the layout. I may yet replace that section with a liftout or swing-up section, so those of us with questionable knees (me) can get in & out easily.
Since I am moving and therefore will be putting together a new layout, I set down a couple of rules for myself, including (1) NO crawl-unders. Perhaps a bow-your-head-under, but at this point in my life I am done getting down on all fours to get underneath layouts, and (2) no more than 24 inches of depth for any part of the layout I can't get on both sides of, e.g., a peninsula. I fact, I know people who maintain that no more than 1 foot of depth is needed anywhere other than a yard as the extra depth is mostly wasted. Of course, this assumes around the walls and peninsulas with backdrop/view blocks. We shall see. GS
I had to redo my track plan and I used the same constraints. My other problem was trying to get way too many towns on the layout once I realized that it would possible to have a caboose leaving one town when the engine was entering the next one. (Not really all that close, but close enough to bother the heck out of me)
I think we are all guilty of trying to cram too much into too little space (does anyone really have enough?). Probably arises from buying too much stuff that we really have no use for and then trying to figure out how to "work it in." GS
I meant to reply, some time ago on this, I think GS is right, we try to put too much stuff on the layout. The plan looks real nice that you have made. I have one duck under, and really didn't think there was much of a option for my room. I have had several layouts, almost everywhere I have lived. I now have resolved myself to think in terms of changing out, industries and structures, maybe every year or so. I have a lot of building kits and like them all, trouble is, I can't put too many on the pike at one time, so its a whole new city every now and again. Should work.
The space I have allocated myself in the new place is about 36 x 30. Could go bigger, but at this point in my life I want to at least entertain the illusion of being able to finish it. It will be based on the line between Rogers and Fayetteville. GS
As you know, the area through Rogers and Fayetteville, used to be full of industrial back tracks. I have been down through their, and was amazed at the amount of switches their actually was there. Very interesting. Most were not used by the late 70's, though. It was too early for me, but I could imagine almost anything, could have been their in the 50's, 60's. Bill Jackson
36 x 30 is a generous size. However, you will be shocked how quick it shrinks when you start trying to fit into the scenes you want! Agreed on the Rogers/Fayetteville area for a good target area. Except for Fayetteville, the scenes are very linear which will make it easier to do a nice job of replicating: You can have long tangents through towns where they're needed. My space is very small: 9' 6" x 12"9" with an additional 9' 6" by 24" in the closet that will be used for live staging. Given my extreme room size constraints in comparison to my desire for some complex switching, I pretty much had to go with the "urban industrial switching" theme, hence the KC Lines layout concept. The Version 1 track plan is okay as is, but I expect refinements. One thing's for sure: It's going to be interesting to switch it! It's all fun.
Shooting for around 1960, before the passenger service came off. and before the O&W. Obviously selective compression will be the order of the day. GS
Exactly why I've always believed that Fayetteville, in particular, would make a nice layout in itself. It makes for a very interesting "Layout Design Element," especially in the LCL era. Anyone on there that models this area in this era? Best Regards,
Touché, sir! I've fallen prey to this and, as a result, have had many layout launches that I scrubbed before they ever left paper. That said, I think there are plenty of FPLs (Frisco Prototype Locales) that would make for very interesting operations and/or scenery in a small amount of layout space. For instance, the Chaffee, MO industrial track in its heyday had a grain/feed operation, ice dock, bulk oil plant, a shoe factory and a hoop mill in the earlier days. I'm sure some of the River Division experts can fill in any blanks that I'm missing. However, from what I can piece together on track charts, there were not individual sidings for each industry but rather just one long industrial siding that branched off of the yard just north of the passenger depot. In this little area, one has a wide variety of customers; from an operational standpoint, any switching needs for customers on the far end might necessitate pulling a whole cut of cars from the customers in between, and then re-spotting them when the day is done. The yard itself could be omitted, and a potential crew of 3 - engineer, brakeman/conductor and yard clerk - could have a whole lot of fun. Best Regards,
Some of you have mentioned that one of the aspects of your layout is too not have "duck unders" as a part of the track plan. I have a friend, Wayne Schlueter, that has a company called "The Andover Tool Company" and one of the items that he manufactures are Removal bridges, which include electrical disconnects. He has done quite a few of these and there are some in the Kansas City area. Should anyone wish to contact him, his e-mail is mrrail@cox.net or address is 1320 Elm, Andover, Kansas 67002
