Design Complete

New Layout Design Complete.

With the construction about to begin, I have been doing a heap of work on the design.

I have tried a number of ideas with the staging and have come up with the following design.

Staging:

The plan is that trains will set up ready to leave staging heading either North or South.
As a given train progresses out of staging and onto the layout, it will eventually end up in staging again on the opposite end of the layout.
Once the train has re entered staging it will stay there until it is turned and prepared to depart again with a new train number. (The turning of a train via the reversing loop will primarily be done by me and not the engineers).

The idea being that, if a train heads North and enters North Staging (aka Rouses Point) then the only way back onto the layout is in the reverse direction and will enter the layout from the North with a South bound train number. The same goes for Trains that enter staging to the south (aka Mechanicville). The only way back onto the layout is to head North with a North bound train number.

As you can see from the plan there is a staging bypass track. This will mainly only be used during non operating sessions where I want to set a train going and leave it run around the layout.

In terms of the reverse loop at the end of staging, I will again use the PSXAR-SC auto reverser that will allow a train to enter the loop, and when the train reaches the end of the block just before the turnout, the PSXAR-SC will auto reverse the polarity and throw the turnout to enable the train to continue with out the need for an engineer to throw the turnout.

Main Deck:
I have not changed the main deck much since the last update as I am happy with it. I have made a few tweaks here and there and adjusted some deck heights to allow more space between levels.

Testing the layout:
I recently came across some software called Train Player.
This allows me to import the plan as it stands from Anyrail V5 into Train player.
I can then set up a train with the car types I want to use and a few loco's and basically operate the layout as it will work in the shed. This software is great.! I could set up a 2 loco, 20 x 50ft box cars and a caboose and run it around the entire layout including in and out of staging.
I am able to see if my standard train length is able to fit into the sidings and also run the train at a given scale speed and see how long it takes to run the entire layout.

During my testing, I ran a 20 car train at 72km/h (scale speed) around the layout from staging to staging. It took about 10 real minutes to run the entire length. This is a great way to test and see how things will work.

Anyway, the timber is due to arrive in the next week or so and then it will be time to get stuck into the construction.
Come back from time to time and watch how we progress..

I am going to set an ambitious target of the staging and main line it self to be completed by Christmas. So lets see how we go.

Thanks again..

Time for a new lease on life and a new name

Whats in a name?

With the commencement of the demolition of the old D&H it was time to also bring this blog up to date with the new name for the railroad.

The old layout was based around Oneonta, therefore is was on the 2nd sub of the D&H.

The new layout will be based around Whitehall in the north of New York State.
Whitehall is the dividing point between the 3rd and 4th subdivisions of the D&H, however I like the Champlain division the most and the layout will feature key scenes from the 4th Sub on Lake Champlain.

Therefore the new layout will be called. D&H 4th Sub Champlain Division.

And it was so..

The blog has been updated and away we go.!

New Layout Design:
In terms of layout plan, here is the current plan.

I'm getting closer and closer to locking it in..

This is the main level with industry names.

This is the staging level.

 

 

As you can see things are well progressed..

Now for Atlas to start making N scale Code 55 turnouts and flex track!..

I have enough to build the main line and all the staging (I think) with the use of some ME code 55 in the staging sections also.

Time will tell.

 

Stay tuned..



Revisions and more revisions

Revision time!.

Since my last post I have been pondering over this plan for a week or so now and after a few suggestions from friends and also from "The Rail Wire" forum, I made a few changes to get the isle widths wider than I had them.

I made a slight revision to the staging and am now happy with the way Whitehall is looking also.

I now have a branch line to Corinth and reversed the town names so they fit in better.

Here are the revised versions..

Here is the main deck.

And here is the staging level.

The dispatchers desk has been included.
Also the height from the floor to the main level is 1400mm. In some places it reduces to 1320mm and staging is at 1100mm.

In most cases the isle widths is around the 800mm or more mark.

Now to find someone with a A0 plotter to print it 1:1 for me..

Anyone?

Moving out of Oneonta and heading for Whitehall.

Time for a change of location!.

After my last post and a great deal of thought and discussion with Rod, Ron, and Greg, and after receiving a new D&H book called "Delaware & Hudson Bridge Line Freight 1960 - 1983 Volume 1 the North end"..
I decided that the Champlain division was calling and some of the scenery possibilities that the location afforded me was too good to pass on. (besides, Ron has always suggested that the North end of the D&H was the place to be due to lake Champlain!)..

After reading through the new book by Dominic Bourgeois, and finding so many possibilities I decided it was time..

So once the existing layout is dismantled, I will say good by to the Penn Division and hello to the Champlain and Saratoga Divisions.!

Now I have a location and many industries, I reviewed my floor plan with Rod Warren and we decided that a shed measuring 7.6m x 5.8m was big enough to handle 3 peninsula's rather than 2.

So I set to work using AnyRail to replan the shed and the peninsula's and the track plan.

I stuck with the given of NO Duckunder and it worked.

I also stuck with the given of plenty of space between the main deck and staging and have managed to achieve 300mm at the main staging yard point while maintaining a grade of no more than 2%.
The min radius is a much better 443mm (16 inches) compared to the much tighter current layout.

My other givens are already listed in earlier posts such as train length, full CTC etc etc.

Here is a draft of the main deck (things may change slightly in towns but the main floor plan is now about right)

Here is the draft of the staging level.

Im not completely happy with the track plan in Whitehall so will keep working on that.

Please post any comments or suggestions.

Planning for D&H Version 3

Planning for D&H Version 3
Now that the convention is complete and the layout is back in the shed and operational, I can now start planing the next version of the D&H to fill my 7.5m x 6m shed.

As mentioned in earlier posts, I plan on reusing as much as I can from the old layout in the new version.

During the convention I had the pleasure of helping to run Rod's and Bruce's layout. The one thing that struck me was the use of a duck under to enter the room. I had been planning on using one but after reading a few things in forums recently and operating the two layouts, I decided that a walk in layout needed to be on my given's list and not just a druther.

After a heap of thinking and some help from Duncan, we have come up with a foot print that I really like and will become the new layout. This new foot print doe not have a duck under and is a walk in layout. It is very similar to Ron's layout with a change in terms of one of the peninsula's.

I have also done a heap of work and thinking about the isle spaces to enable people to pass and operate the layout with plenty of elbow room.

In the second picture the dimensions are included.

Per this plan the main yard is starting to take shape but not yet finalised.

The plan is for the main layout to all be seen with trains entering hidden staging via the loop at the bottom and also along the edge near the door. The staging or hidden track will then continue around the wall under the layout and descend up to 400mm to the 7 or 14 track staging yard below the layout along the left wall. Then the staging will continue towards the main layout via the peninsula that is against the lower wall.

As trains on the new layout will be 2 loco's, 20 x 50ft cars and a caboose, towns and yards need to be longer than what they are on the current layout. So its now all about planing..

Stay tuned and we plot out the track plan for the new layout..