The evolution of a track plan

I returned to the Model Railroading hobby after decades of hiatus (last having had model trains as a teenager), purchasing a Bachmann Empire Builder train set. The set included an oval of EZ track. I planned to make a nice layout with scenery and ballasted track and the like, but since a bunch of track already came with my set, I decided to just use that, get a little more, and make a simple EZ track layout with a town in the midst. I didn’t yet know how to do things in XTrackCAD, so I mostly sketched with paper, pencil, or later Photoshop. EZ track doesn’t have a lot of options for tackage, and I didn’t want to spend a huge amount of money (hundreds of $$) on tracks. I decided to simply make an oval with a semi-circle inside (I can’t really call it a double oval; it’s more like an oval and a half). For the price of two standard turnouts and a little bit of track past what I had in the set, I could make this simple track plan. To demonstrate what it would look like (minus terrain features since those aren’t really the point), I recraeted it in XTC and show it below:

Yes, it’s very simple, but I was a total beginner and simple seemed the best way to start. I went ahead and bought the necessary Bachmann EZ Track add-ons, and that’s where the trouble began. My engine had always stalled and sputtered over the track, although buying some newer, longer pieces had helped with that. But now, every time the train went over the turnouts, it derailed. Every. Single. Time. In addition, I noticed that even on a very flat surface, many of the EZ track pieces were slightly warped (they did not lie flat). I got frustrated enough that I came here and asked for help, and after some discussion I decided to sink even more money into track but this time, to buy Kato Unitrack. It was a great decision. The Unitrack was perfectly flat, and the engine sputtered less (though it never stopped doing so, and I eventually bought a new engine and discovered that the original engine was part of the problem). With the Kato set came some suggestions of theirs for track add-ons, and they had a second set that could be added to my first and, with a few extra pieces, I could make a true double oval (something I couldn’t have done with the available track sizes for EZ track). I still didn’t know how to use XTC, but I came up with a track plan that I’ve now reproduced for demonstration purposes, which I show below:

I liked this plan better, as it gave me the chance to swap a single train between to ovals, do a tiny bit of switching using the single spur, and also to run two trains at once if I kept the two crossovers on the ‘straight’ setting. However, as you can see there is no room for any industry spurs in this track plan. I could, of course, have placed the industries right on the ovals, but after seeing so many more interesting track plans online, I was not satisfied with that. I also started drooling over the ladder yards many of you had created. This led me to design a 3rd track plan, one that I have been working off of for a couple of months now, and one which those who have read this blog will recognize. I re-post it here for reference (apologies for the right side being truncated but there’s nothing there to see — just curved track):

As you can see by this point I had also learned quite a bit of XTC, and was now doing all my planning using it. I had created a minimal yard at the “south” end, and two industry spurs. But, I had lost the second oval, which means I had lost the ability to run two trains at once. At first that did not bother me. I bought the track and constructed the mainline. In the evenings I would turn the power supply on and run the train around the track a little. There are no industries yet but the spurs are there… I can use my imagination. With my new MT couplers I was able to more easily couple and uncouple cars to simulate operations a little. And that was great.

But.

I found I missed the idea of the double oval… of running two trains at once on different tracks. I also found that, although I wouldn’t mind having a 3rd industry, I couldn’t find a satisfying way of laying that out. The third spur made a hash of the town every time I tried it. I also began to feel frustrated at the way the roads wound the long way past the spurs — this seemed unrealistic to me. The final straw was discovering this very nice-looking saw mill kit by Faller. I decided I wanted to replace the upper left industry (a lumber yard) with this kit. The main reason is that a sawmill gives more operational interest than a lumber yard. Lumber yards sell processed (finished) lumber to customers, so the main action is bringing lumber to the yard. But a saw mill receives logs, and chops them into finished lumber pieces, which means there’s twice as much action — bringing logs to the yard and boards out of it. Double the interest in a single industry was very attractive. I also got a look at the instructions online and they seemed very well written and easy to follow. I decided I wanted this kit, but… I could not make it fit onto my layout (it’s much bigger than the lumber yard) without massive surgery.

At this point I had begun to think it was time for a new plan. I’d got myself locked into a track plan that looked nice on paper but was starting to constrict me and prevent me from modeling what I wanted (double tracks, sawmill, etc). As I was toying with a new plan in my mind, and thinking back to the double oval plan wondering if I could make it work, I found this thread and saw some photos and video of ssoysal’s fantastic small layout, which had tons of interest crammed into a small space. Intrigued I went to the thread with his track plan. After browsing these two threads, I decided that I would like to make a layout that is reminiscent of this one. I have a little more width to play with and more length, so some modification was in order. But most importantly, I liked how he had basically fit three industries onto two spurs, by making one of the spurs do double duty. This was brilliant, and to top it off he had a double oval, which is something I also wanted. In the end, I came up with a hybrid of ssoysal’s track plan, and my 2nd one (the double oval), which looks like this:

There are now three and a half industries on this track, in a sense. Upper left is still the sawmill. Lower right is the grain elevator, same as on the old layout. In the middle, however, the pair of buildings on the horizontal spur (surrounded by tan parking lot area) are a Branchline creamery and icing house. I got the idea to put these side by side from the Branchline catalog, which has them photographed like that. I thought it looked good, and that it made sense (you’d want to ice the cars at the same time as putting cream/milk into them). However, since the ice house doesn’t have to operate only when the creamery does, it’s possible for trains to come in off the main line to get re-iced during a long trip.

I know it’s hard to tell what the buildings are, so I will list them here. Between the two ovals on the left side is a famring area. The brown stripe is a dirt road. We have, in order, a barn, silo, shed, and farmhouse, then the dirt road crosses the tracks and passes another farmhouse (though that house’s farm is off-set). Inside the main oval, the long yellow building on the north side is a passenger depot, with a tan parking area below it. The six other buildings on the road near the depot are all houses of different sorts. South of the road is the grain elevator, and left of that is a hardware store. Then on the long horizontal spur we have the creamery, the ice house, and a gas station (pink). On the left side inside the inner oval we have the saw mill (on the spur) and then the three buildings near it are DPM shops (cafe, books, bakery). The blue stuff on the lower right is water, and I plan to have a bridge going over it.

Another thing I wanted to do was model an explicit connection between other major railroads of the era. I got this idea from some other threads here, where people talked about the points where their private companies would hook up with CSX or BNSF. Therefore I made the track along the south side of the layout (“bottom” of the picture) go straight through. This is a connection to Wilmington (east) and Knoxville (west) that allows my RR to hook up with SAL, ACL, SOU, and L&N — and, thus, gives me an excuse to buy engines with any of those names on them, as their stock might have to roll through this area now and then.

This layout has more of what I wanted in it, though I do lose the yard. I am happy with that trade-off. I can always use the siding/interchange track area at the bottom as a poor-man’s yard to do some switching if I want. Overall I think the interior feels more natural and less cramped (though I did lose some structures — not a terrible thing).