I was contemplating what I should do with the big factory in Average. It fills in an unused corner at the near end of the garage, the place previously occupied by the East Altoona roundhouse. I gave it three sidings with no clue as to what they should be for.
Then, of a sudden, a distant memory surfaced. "Why not?", I thought. "It's a perfect solution". "A bit on the silly side but...."
The company I chose manufactures nearly everything. For a model railroad it can generate as much variety as a team track or interchange. Should have thought of it before.
You probably don't know it but you may be very familiar with their products. You might have seen them many times throughout your life. A virtual cornucopia of items pass through the doors of this corporation. Here's an example...
Yes indeed...The epitome of free enterprise these folks can fulfill almost any need. They have been in business for a very long time, witness this early advertisement...
There were rumors that this solid American institution went out of business but I can assure you they are still pumping out the items we Americans need most. They even have an online catalog.
Their customer base spans all cultures and species. The company is constantly developing newer products, some of which are ahead of their time...
Granted, the weapon illustrated above had its drawbacks. Yet while it tended to disintegrate when operated it was still light years ahead of any competitors product. Always looking toward the future, ACME introduced a complementary device and silenced the critics...
Not everything ACME manufactures is cutting edge, however. The company is well grounded and manufactures many more mundane and very usable household appliances. They even offer entire houses for sale. The company is also diverse in its endeavors. They provide any number of services. The ACME brand encompasses importers, food manufacturers, educators and pharmaceutical companies, laundries, relocation specialists, warehouses, travel agencies and even baby sitters.
They make everything from bedsprings to whipped cream dispensers. Their complete line of outstanding products includes vitamins, toothpicks, toasters, suspenders, roller skates, paper clips, oil, matches, jet engines, paint, handlebars, glue, fly paper, eggs, boulders, corks, cheese, cement, automobiles, bridges, birdseed, farm implements, adding machines and, of course, anvils.
So you can understand why the management of the Average Eastern is so excited that the ACME Corporation has chosen to open a plant in our area...
Having run a few operating sessions I made more refinements to the track plan based on those experiences. The yard at Average has been shortened quite a bit, with most tracks about six feet long. Running around a train requires far less travel. There is also an escape track conveniently adjacent to the engine terminal...
Average: February 27, 2014
There is also a new industry. It's a large plant with three sidings. I just have no clue as to what they produce there...
Mystery Manufacturer
I mentioned in the previous entry that the drill track at Quotidian was at the wrong end of the yard. This has been corrected and the yard redesigned to suit. Once I started detailing the structure symbols I also played around with some siding locations. Nothing major, just minor adjustments...
Quotidian February 28, 2014
East End has also been updated. The yard is much shorter with a different flow. The interchange track now serves as a drill track. Q Company trains now have their own siding and share a run around track with the AE...
East end: February 27, 2014
The Quotidian Company Mine and powerhouse are closer together with a tighter radius curve between them. The facilities for the Shay have been moved to the aisle side of the Q Co. "main"...
Q Co. Mine February 27, 2014
The siding for the Q Co quarry has also been relocated to the aisle side...
Q Co Quarry February 27, 2014
The track plan is at a state where I feel I can start construction on the real thing. The mainlines for the Class 1 railroads are pretty straight forward and, for the most part, are already in place.
I would recommend this virtual running to anyone developing a track plan. Seeing the trains going through their paces highlights problems before they are written in stone. This doesn't mean I won't still find faults. I'm sure I will. It won't be the first time I've had to tear up track and make changes.
The virtual operating sessions have continued to affect the design. Likewise the input from the gang over at Railwire. The Catausqua style crossing through the four track main is gone. Believe it or not, the biggest issue was not the crossing itself. The location of the crossing created operating problems for trains coming into the yard. Going out of the yard there was also a huge problem. The AE had to climb 3" to pass over the main after leaving the crossings. Trains headed east would have had to battle a 4% grade to get to Owertown. The grade doesn't affect the virtual trains, but real life N scale engines would be hard pressed to pull anything up that slope, if at all. With the track realligned the grade is now less than 1%, definitely more reasonable. The ruling grade on the Average Eastern is now a 2% climb heading westbound out of East End...
Average Eastern February 24, 2014
You may notice that the yard in Average is much shorter now. The yard was almost as long as Jumiata on the previous Allegheny Eastern. I changed it after having to back a loco almost a scale half mile to run around a train. With small locos and short trains the yard tracks don't have to be more than six feet long. Even that may be too long...
Average Yard
East End was also changed to facilitate the movements. With two interchanges in the same yard it gets a bit hectic when AE and Q Company trains show up at the same time...
East End Interchange Yard
Quotidian, with its large industrial area has been a thorn in the side design wise. Fortunately, David K. Smith over at the forum stepped in and saved the day. The current design for the peninsula is all his...
Quotidian: DKS Version
I adopted Dave's plan and started to redesign Owertown to match. The two towns are directly adjacent and by combining them to create the illusion of larger towns. I needed something that would tie the two together. I decided that a large residential area would be just the thing. Studying my Sanborn maps I noticed that almost all the major towns in "this" area of the anthracite region were crowded with row homes (town houses to the more genteel among us). I went with the idea and filled the area with the aforementioned dwellings and a few other structures...
Owertown
It's more of a idea than an actual design. I deleted an industry and turned the team track into a siding that runs in the streets. Not sure that Owertown will look anything like this but it would make an interesting view block.
But we are discussing the operation of the layout, not the scenery. As I mentioned earlier, actually operating the plan allows me to check the design before I attempt to build it. Quite a change from my previous design methods. Faults turn up pretty quickly. You pull into a yard and realize there is no way for the locomotive to escape or run around the train. At Quotidian switching the industries is pretty straight forward. There are two sidings that require switchback moves, but these are handled separately from cars spotted on the more conventional trackage.
In this 45 minute video the FM diesel (represented by a GP-7) based at Quotidian is breaking down a string of cars set out by the eastbound peddler. Rather than drag the whole string of cars into the streets of our fair town, the crew will handle the cars in smaller batches. The first cars to be worked are two flat cars on the east end of the train (right). From its base on the drill track the switcher rolls east to the other end of the yard. Here's where operations reveal the SNAFU's that need to be corrected. Aaccess to the industrial area is a facing point switch. The easiest way to work the cars is to couple to the east (right) end. Doing it that way involves fouling the main. The drill track should be on this end of the yard, facing the access track. Have to correct that.
Despite that, we still have to switch these cars so we couple up to the "wrong" end and drag the first four cars, all flats. Two are bound for Arbogast & Bastian with heavy machinery. The others is a shipment of wood going to C.A. Dorney, the furniture company. The FM backs unto the main, and changing direction, pushes the cars into the industrial area.
The first stop is Arbogast and Bastian, but the siding already holds two empty flatcars. The switcher pushes it's train past the siding onto the tail track of a switchback. The cars are uncoupled and the FM drifts back to fetch the two empties. After coupling to the empty flats it heads back to the train. The empties are coupled to the first two loads, while the C.A. Dorney cars are uncoupled. All four cars are shifted to the siding and the two loaded cars are spotted at Arbogast & Bastian.
The loco and the empties then head back to the carload of wood. Another move backward clears the siding and sets the train to head for the furniture factory. At C.A.Dorney there is another empty to be picked up, a boxcar. The train couples to the boxcar and moves it to another tail track. Another two moves and the flats are spotted at the factory.
The FM heads back to the yard with its three car train and leaves them in front of the depot. Since there is a drill track available at this end of the yard, the cars probably should have been left there. Although a passenger train (gas electric with trailer, isn't due any time soon, it is not a good idea to irritate the riders. Having to wait for the cars to be moved or leaving them off in the middle of a train yard tends to ruin their day.
Regardless, the switcher heads off to grab the next set of cars and blocks the main for the third time. It picks up three more loads and fouls the mainline yet again. The first two cars are slated fot the Quotidian Construction Supply Co. The switchers has to pull two empties off the siding. The two loaded cars still coupled to the loco are used to pick up the empties. They are pushed up the track and coupled to the car waiting on the tail track. The two loads are then located at their destination. The engine then returns to its train. The third load is spotted on the same siding but this time at the lower level of Canan Knox Supply.
The empties are moved to the track in front of the depot. The FM then heads ove to pick up the last two cars, empties bound for Aolbright & Son Cold Storage. Because the cold storage building is on a trailing point siding, the engine needs to couple to the west end of the cars. It runs around using an adjacent yard track and pushes the cars out onto the mainline. This time it enters the industrial area at the head end, pulling the cars. It runs all the way up the tail track and pulls two loads from the plant siding. After parking them on the tail track the two empties are spotted at the storage building. The switcher puts the empties on one of the yard tracks and runs around to the west end of the train sitting in front of the depot. These cars are then placed on the same yard track as the empties from Albright & Son. The cars are ready to be picked up one of the peddler freights..
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Sorry to take up so much of your time. Now I have to go make some changes to that yard.
In our last episode an Average Eastern freight was cut in two by a speeding passenger train. While this was somewhat disconcerting no one was injured. Plans are being made to avoid such incidents in the future based on operations in the real world. The Lehigh & New England was confronted with the exact same situation at Catausqua.
Anyway...Aside from revising the industrial section in Quotidian I have been operating the AE portion of the track plan. It has been interesting and a great learning experience. I now understand completely why other model railroaders use some form of car routing system. Just swapping a car from the train to a siding tends to get confusing after a while. It would be nice to know what car was supposed to go where.
So despite not having a routing system in place trains are still running on the track plan. In this video an eastbound peddler freight is making it's way to East End. The first stop is Owertown, where a load must be picked up and empties set out. Coming out of Average, however, the locomotive must battle a 4.5% grade. While this is easy enough on a two dimensional track plan, it will definitely be an issue on the real thing. I have no idea on whether a Bachmann Consolidation, Spectrum or otherwise, can handle a train on such a slope. This could be a major deal breaker if it doesn't pan out.
Once the train reaches Owertown the first order of business is to pick up a load. The boxcar in question sets behind another car that will need to moved out of the way. The crew picks up both cars and leaves the boxcar on the passing siding. The other car gets put back where it belongs. The loco backs out of the siding and grabs the boxcar. It returns to the train and couples the boxcar to the front. The engine runs around the train and grabs the caboose and the last two cars. These are set out at the grain elevator. The loco returns the caboose to the end of the train and runs back to couple up to the headend and head east to Alpha
The train passes Alpha without stopping. The cement plant is usually switched by the westbound peddler because of the facing point turnout. Its a long lefthand curve and a right hand sweeper to arrive at Quotidian to await our next adventure...
After realizing the SNAFU from the last session I went back and revised the track plan. It took a bit of work to put it all together using commercially available turnouts. To get everything to line up I even had to relocate the four track, if only just a bit. I also reworked the two interchange tracks so they could be accessed through trailing point turnouts on the mainline. There were a few other changes and the end result a drill track that provided access to the interchange without fouling the mains...
Average: Revised Trackage
I kept the drill track for the yard proper. It makes switching the yard easier. I don't have to pull all the way out to the interchange when making up a train. I also revised the trackage around the Average depot. LCL and mail now uses the interchange track that runns behind the depot.
With the new trackage done I resumed operation from where I left off. The 2-8-0 was able to spot the reefers on the interchange track without fouling the main. The engine then backed into the yard to the boxcar on track 4 that was moved to get at the reefers. The boxcar was moved to its original position on track 3. The Consolidation then reversed and moved to track 2 to pick up a string of cars going east. The caboose on track 1 was tacked on and the train moved out. The train was stopped just before the crossing and waited for the mainline to clear.
At this point I zoomed out to check the position of the various trains. Since it looked clear I started the AE train through the crossings. Unfortunately, I hadn't judged correctly and before the train could clear the crossing a westbound passenger train barreled through the crossing...
There are a few ways to prevent such disasters. The easist would to run the mainline trains on a schedule. Those trains would be "staged" in one of the tunnels, or even just stopped out on the main. Some sort of automated control would be ideal. I'm usually the sole operator and need to concentrate on the AE. The AE trains will then be able to cross the mainline between scheduled trains, somewhat secure in the knowledge that they'll make it to the other side safe and sound.
In other news, the gang over at Railwire suggested that the new version of Quotidian didn't look quite write. A big issue was the heavy usage of Tomix mini track. With 4" radius curves and turnouts it might not work. Worse still, with things like crossed sidings the convoluted track arrangement just wasn't cutting it. On my own part I was having trouble with getting cars from the industrial area into the yard. The drill track was in the wrong place and was no help at all...
Quotidian: Tomix Version
So I went back over the plan at took another shot at the area. I kept the minimum radius to 10" and used #7 turnouts. I did retain the "crossed" sidings in the lumber yard. The two sidings are vertically seperated. The elevated siding allows hoppers to dump their loads directly into coal bins. I also relocated the drill track. I placed the service facilities for the switcher on that track...
Quotidian: Revised Version
I haven't tried switching yet. I've been too busy operating the rest of the AE, including the "Q" Company mine branch.
The layout is still not ready for prime time. Fortunately the software I use lets me "run" trains on the track plan. I can check the operations in digital form before I commit to the actual rebuilding. Previously I had used the program to rough in the layout, I simply ran tracks together or across each other to give the impression of turnouts and crossings. This time I went back over the plan placing switches, creating elevations and adding structures. The result was a virtual layout I could operate for trial runs...
Average Eastern: February 15th, 2014
The effort has already paid off. I've been able to see what grades will be needed to provide clearance for the mainline trains. The software also tells me how steep they are. I was also able to see flaws and correct them. The long drill track at Average was a direct result of trying to make up a train in the yard. The only other alternative was to foul the four track main...
Average: Drill Track, Crossings
At the other end of the yard are engine and icing facilities. Reefers outbound from AE customers get their ice loaded here. They also get topped off before shipping. The Average Easterns 2-8-0's are stored and repaired in a two stall engine house. I'm thinking of putting in a bigger roundhouse hoping to create the impression of a prosperous railroad that has lost income. The coal and water facilities are a bit large for two locomotives but allow both engines to be serviced at the same time. Water comes from a metal tank served by water columns at trackside. I also included ash pits and a track for coal loads and a gondola for ashes. It also serves as a storage track for the lines two cabooses. A short section at the end of a yard track adjacent to the water tank serves as storage for the work train. A combination storage and/or RIP track runs along the left side of the yard...
Average: Facilities
The locomotive shown is too long for the turntable. The actual turntable is sized for the Bachmann Consolidations.
There are two interchange tracks. To the left of the mainline is one for eastbound traffic. On the opposite side of the four track is the westbound interchange track and depot. The spur off the interchange track is for LCL freight and mail. The interchange track on this side may have to be lengthened...
Average: Interchange
Heading "east" from the interchange I had located several industries. I deleted these, reasoning that the interchange tracks provided quite enough revenue. There's already too much cluttering on this side of the layout. I need a place to put the town.
With the help from a visual aid and You Tube we can take a look at a typical morning on the Average Eastern.
Operations start at the Average engine house. One of the two "connies" heads out to the turntable and spins around to take on water, coal and sand. Last nights ashes, now cool, are being shoveled into a gondola. The 2-8-0 moves down into the yard and backs up to pick up a caboose. Dropping the caboose out on a yard track the locomotive starts switching. The first job today is picking up a brace of reefers at the ice house. They are to be set on the eastbound interchange track.
There is a boxcar blocking the reefers. The engine couples to the boxcar and uses it to pick up the refrigerator cars. The loco backs up far enough to drop the reefers without fouling the turnout and then switches the boxcar onto an adjacent track. The Consolidation retrieves the reefers and heads for the interchange.
As the train approaches the interchange track a long freight comes rumbling eastward on the mainline. It becomes painfully obvious that there is absolutely no way to set out the reefers without fouling all four mainline tracks. Oops. Looks like we need a revision!...
First, the weather. Outside in the "real" world it's 30 and rainy. The meteorological station at Average, however reports the temperature is 52 with 90% humidity and a falling barometer. By a quirk of nature that I don't understand high humidity at low temperatures makes it feel colder, but high humidity at higher temperatures makes it feel warmer. Whatever, it's actually warm enough to work on the layout. Unfortunately we are replacing a a sink and disposal in the kitchen.
Previously I had used my XTracCAD software backwards. I would lay out the real trackwork and recreate it with the program as a kind of visual aid to this blog. I now try to use my track plan software to actually plan changes to the layout. While that seems to work well for track I still don't have a real sense of proportion for other aspects of the Average Eastern like buildings and scenery. Looking at it you may get an idea of how badly I estimated the size of the builings and streets in my sketch...
Quotidian: Track Plan
In order for me to grasp the overall look I have to see it full size. Fortunately, I can print out the plan full size. I used a full size print of Juniata on the previous version of the layout, the Allegheny Eastern. It was necessary to have it printed at Kinko's because it was 16' long. Rather than spend that kind of money again, this time I printed out the plan in 8.5" x 11" pieces. I printed the industrial area of Quotidian and layed it out on the family room floor...
Quotidian: Full Size
Some of the buildings shown in the sketch would be about a foot wide and two feet long. The industries and other buildings will actually be much smaller and the streets a lot wider than the sketch shows.
Almost simultaneously with all this I learned that I can use my XTrakCAD plan in 3rd Planit. It has all the features of XTrakCAD and more. You can even view your layout in three dimensions. The really cool thing about 3rd Planit is the standard library of manufacturers products. Various manufacturers of model railroad supplies create 3D images of their offerings that can be used in the software...
Quotidian Mock Up In 3rd Planit
Unfortunately, all these features come at a price. Although there is a free trial version it has limited capability. If you want a fully functional 3rd Planit you need to shell out about $125. The drawings you make can be VERY elaborate...
3rd Planit Trestle Detail
3rd Planit 3D View
Because the program can do so much it also has a longer learning curve than the free packages.
I used the trial version and added some N scale builduings to the industrial area. Although I still need to mock it up on the actual layout I now have a good idea of what I can actually accomplish. There are other buildings on the Average Eastern, but Quotidian is densely populated and the spacing critical to the track plan. A peek at some of the industrial layouts at Railwire will give you an idea of what I'm aspiring to...
David K Smith's Hoboken Manufacturers Railroad
Chris Schmuck's "Other" Industrial Layout
While my modeling skills are nowhere near the level of these guys it doesn't hurt to aim high. A better layout is the worst that can happen (I hope).
Yea, like that could happen. Still, this is the most workable and interesting sketch yet. A lot of the ideas come from the gang at Railwire...
Average Eastern January 31st, 2014
I added possible locations for the industries and roads and a few other buildings. Rivers and streams are shown, including a small waterfront scene at Quotidian. I forgot to shown the engine facilities for the Q Company railroad, but it will be adjacent to the mine complex. The streets in Average that cross the four track will require overpasses but everywhere else I show grade crossings.
As always the track will be fastened down temporarily for testing of operations. While the mainline trains will do nothing more than circumnavigate their loops, the AE trains will need to meet, pass and switch industries along the route. Quotidian is complex enough to require a dedicated switcher so the AE trains will drop off cars rather than work the town industries.
Only the AE trackage will operate under DCC. The mainline is controlled by two MRC DC Twinpacks. Quotidian and the Q Company branch will most likely be controlled by their own DC cabs. The locomotives that serve these two areas are two small for DCC decoders (at least at my skill level). It will be easier to connect a DC throttle than destroy a perfectly good locomotive. Since the Atlas DCC system supports one DC locomotive either one could be operated from one of the DCC controllers. The best candidate is the Quotidian switcher. The Atlas Commander could be installed there for the switcher while the road engines will be controlled by the tethered remotes.
As I may have mentioned before this plan reuses most of the existing spline. Since it's flexible I can realign parts to fit. I can also split the current four track into two and single track sections as needed. The mainlines will run level on the benchwork while the AE will change elevation as needed. Not sure of the grades yet, but the highest elevation shouldn't be more than 4".
Once again I'm basically starting over. The only consolation is the fact that I'm not tearing down a complete layout, just the right of way. Making things easy to change is a curse and a blessing.
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