Wednesday, March 30, 2016

evolving plan.. (and an unrelated video about patching locos)

Trackplanner Guru Extraordinary, Jack 'Shortliner' kindly took a look at the plan and put his spin on it too..


"..added a crossover and siding to Transload area - lets you move any kind of car. Changed brown factory and added paper factory with dedicated starch unload position (see Jack Hills New Castle RR blog) Tanker must be in that position for unloading - make switching difficult as tank MUST be last but one on that siding . Added point gives you extra siding for off-spot cars awaiting inbound to paper factory or outbound to elsewhere"

Definitely adds interest. At this point who knows what will end up being built, but having input from talented modellers and those with an eye for a good plan is very much appreciated.

In other news.. I just uploaded another Youtube video, showing a couple of recent patch jobs..


1 comment:

Andrew @Andrew'sTrains said...

Martin;
I'd modify Jack's plan a little to make the paper industry better. First make the current off-spot track on the outside of the factory the starch track and use a covered under-track auger arrangement there for unloading. Essentially you get an extra industry, without any extra space and that would be a high priority job to get the hoppers unloaded and into the silos. You could also move the silos in rear of the switch and headshunt below the now Starch track.

Operationally this would increase the work at the factory. You'd have boxcars and starch covered hoppers to switch and they'd be different jobs simply because (and I know I'm assuming) of the priority of the starch unloading in comparison to the loading of the boxcars outbound.

If you decided to make the paper industry a manufacturer, you could include cotton waste and other additives inbound in boxcars. Again this is another switch job and all for the one industry.

The switch on the corner board with the river I'd change to a curved point. That would simplify the geometry there a lot.I'd move the turnout for the transload area further to the left of the board to give you a longer run, and I'd take the bend out of the transload track. I'd also move the pink and grey industry turnout left with the transload switch to keep that geometry in line.

Just my thoughts. I think that if you lay this out on the board then you'll have a better experience while switching. All the best.