Friday fun

 Who says you can't have fun by yourself.  I painted all the backdrops blue and blended into pre-painted ones where possible. I also mixed a lighter ground colour  paint and painted the loop on the west wall and all of the east wall foam board.

Turntable relocated

 With the branchline track moved to the front of the bench, Ricks idea, there is room for some town buildings behind them. Ricks simple comment allowed for a much longer passing siding and better access to the turnouts and sidings, don't hesitate to speak out. We all get lost in our own thoughts, and then someone observing interjects the perfect solution. Of course, this layout, came about when Don P., for 1 said they liked the original plan, for this area the best. 

After relocating the turntable I painted the track location with dark brown and painted the rest an earth tone. I think this is a better option, as it allows for a passing siding coming out of the loop, on the mainline. Sites for the coaling tower, water tank, station and a sand house were painted in.  Moving the turntable and engine house  also allows the branchline track to move to to the right which aligns better with the Spar tree spur. As you can see I also painted the white backdrop on the peninsula blue.

Branchline planning

 Brought in some buildings to see how they might fit.  The branchline terminal town, at the loop on the east wall was laid out. First the mainline loop was drawn on the foam board. The radius turned out to be 29 inches not 30 as planned, oops. The various turnouts and structures were positioned several times to get the best fit. It was surprising how easy elements became out of reach. Now looking at the picture, the turntable and engine house may fit better on the lower left of the photo. The spar tree and lumber camp was set in place, after being removed in 1 piece from my home layout. Because of its track layout, the log train will have to go into town and be pushed back into the lumber camp, adding more interest to this switching job. As a line was drawn around this town, it became apparent that a new bench, 5 inches high, should be built to support this upper level. It can then be moved to a table and be completely wired and scenery added before it is set back into place. The tail of the passing siding will go over the mainline on a bridge and disappear into a tunnel. The slope down to the mainline can then be added, finishing up the area. The back side will be left open to get at the mainline at the back of the loop. Things that went into planning this town included, length of the passing siding, being able to reach turnouts and rolling stock, structures not in the way of turnouts or rolling stock,  length of sidings and structure locations, and is still up for revision.

The sawmill was set up somewhere close to where it might go. As far as space goes, it takes up a lot of space, so it's final position is still undecided.

Here is a novel idea

 Opportunistic switching.

Except for pre-set trains like the log train, ore train, and coal drag, make up any train you want with available cars in the yard, not longer than 6 feet. Travel around the layout, switching at any or all locations you want. At the end of the run, all cars are stored in the main yard.
 
The benefits. NO PAPERWORK, no lost cars, no switching errors, every train is different, everyone gets to make up their own train, NO PAPERWORK,  no checking starting locations for all rolling stock, multiple car types per siding, do as much or as little switching as you want, oddball loads are OK, NO PAPERWORK, could have yards at each town, (not easy to plan for with a card system), quantity of each type of rolling stock not important, Could start and stop trains at any yard, NO PAPERWORK.

Drawbacks. Congested main yard while making up and breaking down trains. Realism is lacking, but you almost need to go to car cards for that. Would need to adhere to one train per town rule. More bottlenecks. Lack of structured running, except for unit trains. Only a few pre-set trains ready to be run.

Any thoughts or comments, send to ljbrinker@yahoo.ca 

Layout thoughts

 Coal mine/power plant cold be located at the mid point of the east wall. They will be separated by an outcrop from the upper level, with a pass through tunnel. They will be switched from the aisle track, with long turnouts to aide in switching. The empty coal train will be held in the main yard. It will go to the coal mine and swap for the loads. The loads will travel the entire route and swap for the empties at the power plant. It will take empties back to the main yard. Note the loads could also layover at the main yard, so there would be 2 coal trains.

Historically Wellington, on our old layout, was one of the least switched locations. This could be because of how high it was, or the long reach, but I believe people did not like picking up their train, just to start switching at the same spot. This could also be the case on our new layout, and it's main yard location. However, the southwest corner could be modelled after a time saver layout. It would be treated like a branchline, and could be as complicated as we want.  I wonder if a Wye could be included? This branch could occupy all of the non-yard area of the west wall and be an interesting and challenging switching area.

The branchline will be continued on 1 side of the peninsula with the sawmill located in the center loop. Besides creating more area for 2 level scenery, the extra length will separate the towns on the branch and allow them to be narrower, leaving more room for the mainlines and industries.

The harbour could also be at the end of a long spur, maybe with a cargo dock along the spur and separate from the harbour itself. This could be used as another separate train, with only 1 or 2 stops on the rest of the mainline.

As a result of all of the above, 1 to 2 operators on the time saver, 1 or 2 operators on the elevated branchline, 1 operator for the coal drag, 1 operator on the harbour job,1 operator for the log train, 1 or 2  passenger trains, and 2 or 3 mainline trains. If we also have an oil train, and an ore train, there could be 15 people operating at one time. Possibly not, but you get the idea. Up to 9 operators not blocking the mainline.

The mainlines, main switching areas, would be located from the east of the furnace, to the end of the peninsula or about 100 feet. But there would still be several, equally spaced, isolated industrial switching areas, along the rest of the layout. All the mainline trains could be multiple drops, at large industries, like Zorra Cement, team tracks, lumber deliveries, ADM and other mills. Switching leads and passing tracks will be a necessity at these locations.

What about an ore train. Well we have no ore mine nor a steel mill (I think the south wall by the fire exit would be a great place for a steel mill). The ore train could arrive via an interchange siding and the steel mill could be represented by photos and background buildings like coal towers, coke ovens, and a warehouse. Lots of traffic.

This is presented as a primary layout and operating plan.  As such it is open for debate, changes and welcomes comments to my email, which is ljbrinker@yahoo.ca . This has been developed, taking in to consideration our operating system, congestion,  variety in operations and train types.  

Discussions about the eldvated Branchline

 Everyone seemed to like the idea of the elevated, branchline on the east wall, some even suggested running it down 1 side of the peninsula. To do this the coal mine would need to be moved and adding more branchline reduces switching locations on the mainline, so there is a plus minus to keep in mind. 

Comments also seem to suggest that the original location for the branchline terminal town, with the mainline loop surrounding it was the best location, as it gives the longest passing track possible, and doesn't cause any congestion in the aisle.

Thoughts about wiring

 

Having a discussion on wiring the layout, in terms of wire gauge and com and control location, Joseph sent me this.

further to our conversation from last night about the bus wiring, this is straight from a Digitrax command station guide:

3.3 Recommended wire sizes

On an average size layout Digitrax recommends that the power bus from the booster be at least 16AWG. When feeding areas up to 50' from the booster, we recommend using 12AWG wire for the power bus.

If we distribute our boosters properly around the layout, with one at the middle of each section on a booster, we shouldn't even come close to a 50' from a booster; more like 25' maximum in either direction by using our quads properly.

So we should be able to get away with 16 gauge without any problems and reduce the cost of buying any additional cabling.

Both Don and Joseph also felt the comand center should be under the end of the central peninsula.