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TUESDAY NITE CHOIR BOYS Mtg #2

TUESDAY NITE CHOIR BOYS CLINIC #9

Timing

Mtg #2 - June 15, 1993 - attendees - John Orendi, Chris Savage, Bill Kenkel, Jules Skrobecki, Bill Ackland

Subjects of discussion: - Track Planning = Railroad concept - Operation - planning railroad

We viewed the planning clinic slide presentaion and discussed it.

CONCEPT

The first activity when you decide you want to build a Model Railroad Layout is to determine the concept of your railroad.
This is a Railroad to operate as prototype and simulate the real thing. This gives the best long term return and enjoyment of Model Railroading. Even if you wish to have a layout to be able to run trains and view them as at trackside the closer to prototype the more enjoyable is the train watching.

The first thought is to sort out the portion of railroading, out of all the railroads that ever existed, that you want to model. You don't have the space to model all the history and locations of railroads. You need to determine the geographical location and the specific time period you wish to model. Then if you wish to reproduce the real thing a lot of research is required. If you are building a freelace railroad it still must be somewhat coordinated as to location and time period to be believable, otherwise it will become a collection not a railroad. When you can write down a description of the railroad including time and place then you need to fit this concept to the space you have or will have in the future. All work should be planned to construct the ultimate railroad that you conceive so that you don't have to do any work over again. You don't live long enough to do it once without repeating it. This means if you have a smaller space but plan to get a larger space later, then build part of the railroad in the smaller space, which can be moved and added on to later to acheive the final plan. All of this will affect your specific concept of your railroad. Location geographically will determine the elevations and scenery and type of industries and townsites and related structures. The time period will determine the scenic details and railroad rolling stock. The car and engine sizes and types will be determined by the time period selected. The older smaller equipment will work better in a smaller layout space. Remember modern larger stuff takes a lot more space. The older shorter trains look better in a smaller space. Branchline railroading works better in a smaller space. Now that you know the time, place and train sizes you can deterimine places and names for towns and industries. This is the time to determine the name of the railroad and the colour scheme for equipment and railroad structures. The equipment and structures should match the railroad concept and have continuity in colours and styles.

OPERATION

The next activity is to look at the concept and decide on the industrial and local townsite business commodities that the railroad will handle.
The railroad should have a couple of main revenue source businesses that setup the original need for a railroad. Such things as mining, logging, fishing, or major manufacturing. The smaller commodity sources would be possibly off line local businesses such as mills, warehouses, tanneries, auto parts manufacturers etc. These customers would use local team tracks to ship and receive goods and supplies. Many customers have goods to ship but require materials incoming for them to use. Make a list of all the shippers' commodities and receiver commodities on your railroad. This is the origin of the operation system for the railroad. Mixing freight with passenger service will setup the train functions and schedules required. By having scheduled, numbered trains on a regular basis the railroad will begin to run as prototype. Study the particular prototype running of trains which matches your railroad definition and pattern your procedures after that. The next requirement is to have a fast clock to run schedules with. An experienced crew can run on a 5 minute hour where as a new crew needs closer to a 10 minute hour. The next support plan is to define what crew you need for yards, trains and dispatcher to handle the trains. The next job is to plan the cab controls for yard crews and mainline crews.This means that wayfreight crews want to walk around with there trains. The through trains can be run either walk around or elevated cabs. Through trains are freight and passenger. Now you can decide whether you want the dispatcher to control trains by written and/or phone orders, by CTC signal control, or radio. If you are using DCC then signalling and control is important to assign trackage rights to prevent collisions. All of this is part of the definition of the railroad you want to construct. The more thought and research into this portion the better the resulting railroad will satisfy.

PLANNING LAYOUT

The next activity is to get a track plan on paper for the railroad.
The first thing when drawing a plan is that you can not put 10 gallons in a 2 gallon pail. The task is to put the railroad concept into the space you have for the plan. The ultimate plan and space is what you should work on. Then you can segment the plan for the first construction in a smaller space. The concept and the space have to harmonize and you can not force it. Make sure the ultimate space is a realistic acheivement in the near future and not a pipe dream. If you are not realisticaly going to have that larger space then confine your plan to the existing space. You can not put modern large and long train concept into a small space and make it work. You can put modern terminal only plan in a smaller space but not the mainline. You cannot model the whole railroad such as the CPR or the UP. Curve radius is the crucial part of any track plan. Put in the drawing of the space the mainline curves. The equipment you are going to run must fit with the radius of the curves. Put easement curves and super elevation on the mainline. The size of the turnouts relate to the size of the equipment you are going to run. Remember we are supporting the railroad in the space with access to get at it for construction and running. This support is for the scenery elevations and the track. WE ARE NOT BUILDING A TABLE.
The plan is then expanded to join the curves with tangent tracks to make the mainline. When this is done then the passing tracks and sidings along the main can be put in at townsites that fit the definition and space. The next is to make sure you have enough space for main yards at terminals and junctions. The balance between yards and online sidings for customers is important for the flow of commodities and car routing. The yard capacity for passenger makeup as well as freight is important. The flow of traffic in and out of the yard (double track entrances and separate switch leads) is essential for the smooth operation of train traffic on the mainline. The passing tracks on the main and at junctions are important for train meets and passes. The space on the plan for townsites, railroad structures and scenic features is important. Scenic view breaks add to the feeling of distance between towns along the mainline. Scenic features relate to the local of the railroad and the believablilty of the scene. The plan when finished should include construction details of frame support and the wiring for the layout. You will need several copies each for the different features you are planning. It is wise to make a larger scale drawing of the main yard areas to plan out the yard details better. Whether you use box frame, L-girder, or portable sections it pays to plan the frame to support the details above. Added to the plan you need the control centers or panels with operator space. Make sure your aisle space is large enough for the crew to be comfortable.
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Enjoy Model Railroading

Bill Ackland MMR

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