Moving Sections

One of the cool things about having already built my layout sections (modules) but having not built the backdrop yet is I can move them around at will if I want to get a better sense of what a certain configuration will feel like.

This actually is a little bit different approach to layout planning and I think I like it better.  I start with an idea then move the sections around to that configuration.  I walk around the setup for a bit to get a sense if I like it.  I make some adjustments and see how that feels.  I'm imagining track but looking at actual benchwork so it's easier to imagine what walking around in the layout will feel like.

Overall I have 8 sections at my disposable ranging in length from 6 ft to 8ft and in width from 1.25 ft. to 2.75 ft.  My original section configuration was a rectangle with a peninsula that featured a 180º turn.

The mainline is illustrated with the dark gray line.


The idea was there was a main town at one end of the line and another town at the other end.  In between were industries and likely another small town.  I mentioned in my post yesterday (or the day before?) that one of the pieces I really didn't like was the way the peninsula was really just a chance for the train to hit some curves and a really difficult thing to utilize for industry or any kind of operational functionality.


After 30 minutes of sliding sections here and there I managed to come up with a different configuration of the same sections that both lends itself to a "pier like" setup and also gets rid of that 180º peninsula.

Kinda cool huh?  Same sections, completely different layout.


Instead of trying to explain where everything might go on the new layout I threw together a really rough concept just to look at.  Obviously the track plan would need a lot of refinement, but the general idea is...

There are a lot of pieces so I'll try to walk through them all.  The layout could roughly be thought of as two sections, waterfront and industrial.  The light blue color indicates the water, and most of the waterfront would be concentrated around "A".


Around the outer edge of the layout would be either industries or warehouse, modeled in a low-relief style up against the backdrop.  The exception to this would be on the far right, the backdrop to the right of "B".  This area would be more about industry than warehouse, perhaps a shrimp packing plant or whatever.


"B" is the main yard for the line where incoming traffic is broken down and outgoing traffic is sorted into trains.

Operating the layout would go like this:

• A diesel switcher would pickup freight from the piers and warehouses at "A".
• It would then drive them up to the yard at "B" where it would uncouple.
• There would be a train of cars waiting for it which it would couple to.
• It would then drop off those cars where they belonged, either at industries, warehouses, or to specific piers for loading onto ships.
• A second diesel switcher would be operating the main yard at "B".
• Cars brought over by the "Pier Train" would be broken down into outbound trains.
• The diesel would also be breaking down incoming trains into one of three tracks: 1.) pier/industry drop off, 2.) team track for delivery via truck, or 3.) a holding track or similar [maybe? undecided]
• A third engine would be bringing in new trains from off layout staging "C"
• This third engine would then pickup cut trains at the main yard (put together by the yard switcher) and pull them off layout to staging.

I talked my wife into entering the basement and explained the whole thing to her, using blocks of wood to represent trains.  Half of it went over her head but she did say it seemed exciting ("more exciting than Nebraska" were here exact words.)  Anyways, that little exercise made me realize there was a lot of operation that I was planning on having and it almost seems like at least 2 people would be needed to operate this.  I suppose it would all depend on the amount of cars being moved.  On "lighter traffic" days it would be slower and I could operate everything myself.  On higher traffic days I can easily see 3 maybe 4 operators.

Some Other Matters

So something else I'm wondering about is... When I was standing in the middle of the layout trying to get a feel for it, one thing I'm a little worried about is the relationship between the area I'm trying to model and what scale it's in.  What I mean by that is the area of the layout represents roughly 125 sq. ft.  The piers themselves are around 4.75 ft. long.  Depending on the scale these represent varying sizes.

	HO scale	O scale	1:35 scale	1:32 scale	1:24 "G" scale
Layout Size (scale)	10,875 sq. ft.	6,000 sq. ft.	4,375 sq. ft.	4,000 sq. ft.	3,000 sq. ft.
Pier Length (scale)	413 ft.	228 ft.	166 ft.	152 ft.	114 ft.

The scale influences how "large" of an operation this pier railroad would be.  If my intention is to have a medium size dock in relation to how large the layout is, it implies that the scale needs to be selected to target the right "feel" for layout-size-to-scale correlation.  In other words, if I were to build this layout in the space I have using HO scale, it would be the size of a huge harbor operation, say something along the lines of Bush Terminal, New York.  If I was to build it in G scale, it would be a small time operation.

The target scale lies somewhere in between, however as I was looking around the sections setup as they are right now I began to worry that O-scale would be too small.  I don't' want the layout to get out of hand and end up feeling like a large operation.  I want to keep it medium.  It's a smaller operation that runs on a smaller budget.  It gets a few larger freight ships or product tankers here and there.  It isn't a huge shipping port.  I want to avoid that feel as I'd like the modelling to air on the side of a bit more run down, a bit more "2nd hand" equipment, and the like.

Would O-scale make it feel too large?  I'm not sure.  I'm tossing around the idea of 1:35n2.  I know, a 2-foot gauge line is starting to loose some plausibility.  On the flip side I feel 1:35 is a better target scale for the feel I'm going for.  My only concern is that huge lack of commercial support for model railroading in that scale.  Going 1:35 is a commitment to basically saying, "I'm cool with scratchbuilding everything."

I'm really nervous about making that kind of commitment.

Need to think it over...

Here's a parting thought.  One of my favorite layouts is "No Hope Coast", a small waterfront module, built by Kim Marsh.  It's 1:32n20.  Practically everything is scratchbuilt.   Check it out at the [Online] Australian Narrow Gauge Exhibit.

Also a link to his current project, as posted on FreeRails.