I decided that I wanted to build a small switching layout to demonstrate some of the principals regarding switching safely and efficiently. I had a few things in mind and wanted to incorporate them into a module set.

I wanted to design a switching module that would have a variety of car types, be relatively compact, and have some of the common hazards of the real railroad. These hazards would include things like spurs, crossovers, close clearances, and road crossings.

With my idea in mind I turned to the space available. The space I have to work with is 14' long and though I would like to use the Free-mo standards the space will not allow me to use the full 24" width. I have decided to build the modules at 18" wide, which will allow me still meet up with Free-mo. I also wanted to make them narrower so they would be easier to transport especially moving them around the house.

With the dimensions set in stone, I then decided to start looking for a prototype so I could base my plan in reality. I had already looked around Bend Oregon, to continue my existing theme, but nothing was compact enough to capture everything I wanted. I then was looking through some other information I had and came across the Madras industrial area. This is a location I had planed to model at some point, but it was not high on my priority list. With my newly rediscovered inspiration I found almost exactly what I was looking for, almost.

Here is the track plan as taken from the station PLAT.


The area has a sawmill, warehouses, and an elevator. The only thing that it was missing was a a crossover and some sort of hazardous material. I used a little modelers license to add the crossover and add an oil distributor.

Here is an aerial view of the area, looks kind of plain from the air, but there is lots of character in the buildings.

This is a screen shot from Google Earth


This is the plan I developed that both meets the base Free-mo concept, fits into the space I have available and will meet the other requirements I have for this project. The main change to the prototype is the addition of the oil distributor and crossovers. This will be a separate module that can be added to the set if needed or be a stand alone piece.

This won't be a how-to or a blow-by-blow account, but simply a thread to follow the construction of a Korber roundhouse. I've shortened the structure, since my largest locos are USRA Mikados, and I've also shortened one stall even more in order to accommodate a track passing behind the roundhouse to gain access to a staging yard. I'm not following any particular prototype and am working out the construction details as I come to them....that's another way of saying that much of this is being made-up to deal with the kit's extremely sparse instructions.

This is the basic 3-stall roundhouse kit, with two add-on stalls. The walls are cast resin, which is fairly brittle, but it cuts well with a hacksaw. The instructions recommend ca for assembly, but I'm not a fan of it for such long and not-that-well-fitting joints, so I opted for 1-72 machine screws, both to hold the walls together at the corners and to fasten all of the walls to a floor, which I cut from .060" sheet styrene (not part of the kit).
The instructions do offer a floorplan, which was helpful for determining the location of the turntable relative to the roundhouse. I'm using a Walthers 90' turntable, although I'll probably modify its appearance somewhat. It'll be manually powered, with indexing by-eye.

After the turntable pit was installed and the location of the roundhouse drawn onto the plywood layout top, I cut Atlas code83 flextrack to length and used solvent cement to tack it to the .060" roundhouse floor. (I cemented it only under a few ties at the door opening and at the rear of the building, as quite a few ties will be removed from between the rails to create the impression of inspection pits.)

Here's the partially assembled roundhouse on its styrene floor. Because I shortened the depth of the stalls, I had to also make the rear wall sections narrower. A hacksaw was used, which resulted in a bit of a hack-job, so I opted to use Evergreen .250" "H" columns at the joints. These seemed to make the structure much more solid, even without being cemented together, so I used them on the front, too.



After all of the wall sections had been screwed to the floor, I flexed the floor slightly so that the joints at the columns opened at their top ends. This allowed me to insert/drip some JB Weld into the joints. When the assembly was placed back on the layout, any excess was squeezed out and wiped off, then the whole works left to set-up.

The next day, there was no longer any flex in the floor, and all joints seemed solid. In order to build-up the floor, I cut 3/32" sheet balsa (left over from a scratchbuilding project from over 45 years ago) to fit between the individual tracks, then used gelled contact cement to fasten it to the styrene sub-floor. The balsa's thickness is the same as that of the Atlas ties, leaving an almost level surface for the application of a finished styrene floor between the tracks.

Here's a look at the floor, with one section removed to show the balsa underlay:



To be continued....

well even though things have been slow I have not had much ambition to work on the n scale layout :? So I went to see the Dr and he said I have MLD ( multiple layout disorder ) With that said here is what ive been doing in replacement of n scale slacking.

Attached Files

Image(s)
                   

Some pictures of doodlebugs in 1/29 in various stages of the scratchbuilding process.
Up to now there are a rebuilt McKeen motor car, a unmodified McKeen and a rebuilt & streamlined gas-electric

UP's M-23 rebuilt (from gas-mechanic to gas-electric) McKeen car - basic body made from an Aristo-Craft heavyweight



















McKeen car's shell with a non-Harriman knife-shaped nose (McKeens for Harriman lines received a parabolic-shaped nose)
Started from another Aristo-Craft heavyweight as a basic shell






PRR's #4663 - a shop-rebuilt former gas-electric, streamlined and re-motored to oil-electric

Basic shell from an Aristo-Craft Doodlebug





Regards
Norman

Hello. Have been looking for some ZTS charts for inspiration and design the track plan for my modular layout.
do you know any good source for those?

One pole down... three to go! If only new tips existed for my Radioshack soldering iron. Sounds like I need a new one, any advice? Need something that can reach in small places!



These are built closer to PRR specifications than prior poles, thanks to new information I dug up.

Like the poles on my 4x8, these are extra height to bring the signal and transmission lines over the "Hand Place" overpass, which is yet to be built.

Not all the details are installed, but these (grab irons, angle braces, insulators, etc) would be better off waiting until all the heavy soldering is done.



I did my homework, and planned everything out to scale before I started building anything. Luckily, both spans on this module are identical, and so I don't have to do to many variations.



With any luck, soon photos like this will be under wire! (can't help the background just yet though!)

Just wondering how some of you guys add weight to open hoppers. I've been working on some Bowser H-22a's and I'd like to check out some other ideas.


Thanks,
Mark

Wow - They keep going faster and faster

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