I started looking at my Steel Mill Trackplan I made a while back. I made the plan to fit into a one car garage, 10x20' or half of a 2-car garage. This plan is just for the future, and I will not be building this layout anytime soon. Just one of those that I was bored and I got to making a plan for the future when I have a house of my own. The door placement is obviously going to vary, and I have only placed it where it is on the plan to show where a door might be... In a 2-car garage, there would be no door and just liftouts
This layout consists of 3 decks, the top deck being at eye level (62-64" from the floor; yes im a pretty short guy LOL). This should make it pretty realistic, seeing as how the Blast Furnaces are on the top deck, and they are very tall and large in size... Looking them dead on from the eyes of the workers should give you a scaled perspective at just how large a steel plant is and just how massive some of these structures are.
The middle level will be at 40-42", so about 20" below the top deck which should be plenty of room to not only work on the deck but to also have enough "sky" room and provide enough of a valance to conceal some lights for the middle level.
The lower level will be very low to the ground, around 20" off the floor. I still have not decided if I would want to this third level, but there is no way to go any higher with it. Right now I have a workbench that is 26" off the ground, I can sit at it and work comfortably, so 6" lower would not work and I would have to sit on my knees while working on the lower level. While I wouldnt necessarily mind doing that, it might be rather difficult to see without sitting down on a chair and looking down onto the lower level. The Lower level is just basically an Iron Ore Mine with 2 large Open Pit Mines and a one MASSIVE Single-Sided Ore Dock. Ill have to do some thinking about the lower level. I REALLY want to model the mine and Ore Dock, so that is the only reason I still have the lower level right now. I might do some revising to the lower level and make it smaller and more compact, Maybe try and get it down to a single wall instead of a full lower level...
Now to my questions....
I want to connect all 3 levels so a train can run between them. I had originally designed this plan so that all 3 levels were separated and a train could not run on all 3 decks. I was originally fine with that, but now im thinking that it would be nice to move the cars throughout the decks to different buildings and yards so that they are not restricted to just one deck without me physically picking them up and moving them to a different deck.
A helix is pretty much out of the question I think, and if I did do a helix, I would want a minimum radius of 26" which takes up ALOT of space and I would have reach issues in the corner the helix is in. I am thinking that a single track hidden behind a backdrop that could run up the 20"s between the decks would work. I would have to make access hatches every so often in case a derailment occurred inside...
Now im not good with math and calculations, so what kinda grade should i do if i need to travel up 20-22" between decks? I dont want a steep grade, and it doesnt really matter how long it takes to travel up 20-22", there is about 60' if need be to go up that to the next deck....
Any help, questions, comments, concerns are appreciated
BTW, sorry for the large pictures, it usually doesnt go off the page and usually just puts the picture in a scroll box, but it seems like every once in a while they do go way off the page LOL
Anyone in HO have an opinion/observations of Exactrail, Auccurail and Tangant brands of rolling stock? They all look to me to be fairly nice in detail but do they perform well?
Maximum amperage rating I understand. You want a Decoder that won't fry in a loco that draws a lot of juice. Generally Speaking, the more amperage, the larger the decoder.
So why not just make decoders that are rated 1 amp, 2 amps, 3 amps, etc...
Make them all with the same number of functions.
With sound, or piggy back a separate sound decoder?
Okey, so you run into space limitations and you may have to put the control decoder in the loco and the sound decoder in the tender with the speaker... Or shoe horn them into different parts of the loco... What-ever...
I get that...
I also understand that each type of locomotive has different sounds.
So what?
You can get sound decoders that allow you to record on to them for custom sounds that you can download from the web and load them onto the decoder.
Why not just have a few generic decoders that you can customize to your needs instead of the dozens of more expensive loco specific decoders that are out there???
Okay, this is pretty basic, but I am not sure how a real railroad would do this.
Suppose this is a lazy shortline railroad with a couple industries and track as diagramed. The local freight is headed left to right, with a short train which is shorter than the siding so a run-around move is possible. We don't have to worry about blocking the main, as no other trains are coming through.
There is a car at Industry 1 which needs to be picked up and a car at Industry 2 which needs to be picked up. We also need to set out a car at Industry 2.
So how would this typically be done? I have included the numbers just as an aid in describing the movements - you don't necessarily have to use the numbers, just describe what you would do. Thanks!
Recently, here on the CSX Chicago line in Utica, NY, I saw some FedEx trailers (finally!!!!) on a westbound TV train. Seeing how I now work for FedEx (formerly an engineer), it's nice to see we are at least getting into the railgame. My supervisor at FedEx did not believe me (typical manager) . Is there anyone out there that has a picture of a FedEx trailer on a TOFC car? If so, can you please forward it to me. If anyone can snap a picture, I would appreciate it. Thanks for your effort.
I have 4 train plates from the Hamilton collection that need a home. If anyone is interested, let me know and I will give you a description of the 4 along with the artist.
Well....Been having a TON of problems with my computer, but things seem to have settled down for now...So, just opening this thread to let you all know I'll be working on this, and update as work progresses.....
(If this thread is in the wrong forum feel free to move it to where it belongs....)
I was recently asked this question by a friend of mine. I never really came up with a good answer because I was never asked this question before. But now, after considering "why I really collected timetables", I would like to share it with you.
Collecting timetables started for me while I was working for the railroad. I noticed an ad in our union newsletter from a person who was selling timetables. I was interested in seeing what "other" timetables looked like. Working for NYS&W at the time, it was required that we carried CR,D&H and NJT timetables because we operated on these roads too. So I wrote to this person, who I still chat with today, to send me a list. He sent me a list along with a "few freebies". I was hooked from there.
From collecting timetables, I have learned so much about the history of railroads. Even in the last 25 to 30 years, so much has changed in the railroad world. Mergers, downsizing, spinoffs etc...has changed the landscape. Think about it..we no longer have CR, ATSF, or BN. These "flags" were steadfast in the 90's but are now gone. How long before the next one falls or is absorbed into a merger? Many people turn to pictures or slides to remember "the good old days". I have learned that "the good old days" can also be found in a timetable. How?
A timetable is packed with information about the railroad. It lists all tracks, sidings, mainlines, stations, detectors, trains and just about anything else useful for train operations on that portion of the railroad that the timetable covers. Some timetables list the locomotives used by that road back then, therefor making the timetable a great reference tool. Looking back through some timetables, they reveal information about locations that no longer exist. I agree that "a picture is worth a 1000 words", but a timetable explains how, what and why about that picture.
I look at it this way: when I pick up an "actual" timetable (not a downloaded copy or computer generated illustration), I am picking up an actual piece of history. Something that was printed and used by a railroad that may no longer exist, to cover operations on a piece of track that may have been ripped up years ago. To look at a original cover of a timetable to see a logo that no longer graces the side of a locomotive, rolling stock or caboose, gives me a sense of nostalgia. Sometimes I say "if I could have only seen that". Next to a photograph, a timetable, in my opinion, is the next best way to "have seen that" and relive a railroad moment or memory.
A timetable can also be used as a useful modeling tool as well. You can read through one and gain a lot of knowledge about the railroad you want to model. How many stations did that railroad have and where were they? What RR's did they interchange with and where? What kind of businesses or industries did they serve? What was the speeds used on that track or what type of track did they use? What kind of dispatch system did they use - ctc or manual block train orders? What scheduled trains or passenger trains did they run, and when? What color where the switch targets? What signs or signals did they use? These, and many more questions can be answered just by flipping through the pages.
Well, I've gone on and on here about this topic just to answer 1 question. Why do I collect timetables? For the history. that's why. :o Although the road may be gone, as long as I still have 1 of their timetables, it still lives on. That booklet issued at one time to an employee of that railroad, carries on that roads legacy as long as someone still wants reads about it. It's all about owning a piece of history. That's why I collect timetables.
Corny? :geek: Maybe. What do you think? I'd like some other opinions on this subject.
. Is there anyone out there that has a picture of a FedEx trailer on a TOFC car? If so, can you please forward it to me. If anyone can snap a picture, I would appreciate it. Thanks for your effort.
