Just working on a possible new draft of the mainline. The primary change on this one is the removal of the Metro line.

The Amtrak station and platforms have been moved to the center section, and the Metro station area will be turned into a UP car shop area.

I’ve been looking into basing the layout on a real world subdivision, and removing the Metro line made that a little easier.  The layout would be a more “Protolanced” than freelanced with this change.  The subdivision and towns will be real world locations, but the industries and what not will be made up (along with the Interchange to another railroad, presently BNSF).

The current plan is  adapt the layout on UP’s DeSoto subdivision. It runs between St Louis, MO and Poplar Bluff, MO.  Amtrak’s Texas Eagle runs along this route between San Antonio and Chicago, and UP has a car shop in De Seto.  The Amtrak station is further down line at Poplar Bluff, but I’ll have to move it to De Soto.

So I’ll be working on those details shortly, so look for a name change soon for the layout.

Shaun Track plan

Just working on tweaking up the mainline industrial spurs some more. I liked the suggestion of an Ethanol plant by commenter Marc, so I put in a spot for one. Here’s the latest plan.

For a look at the town boundaries, click here.

Shaun Track plan

Here’s a look at the current working trackplan:

The initial plan was based on the Wisconsin Central layout in Model Railroader.  I had to reduce the size to 11′x11′ to fit my space, then I adjust the mainline a bit to make the minimum radius 15″ and the max grade aobut 2.5% instead of 4%.

Originally, I had staging in the peninsula like the MRR plan, but I wanted to keep the construction of benchwork pretty simple since I’m aiming to build everything in sections.  Instead of triple decking the peninsula, I decided to wrap the staging around the entire layout and basically create a “twice around” layout. One time being on staging, the 2nd time on the mainline.

I don’t have elevations yet but the staging starts at 0″ at the lower left to the upper right.  Then a grade up to 2.5″ for the mainline.  The main will drop back down to 0″ as it wraps around the peninsula.

I also removed the liftout bridge in place of a duck-under right now. I may revisit that later, but having a bridge with 5 tracks on two levels… would be interesting to do for sure.

Shaun Track plan

So recently has I’ve been working on the layout and running trains on it, I slowly began to come to the conclusion that the simple two track roundy-round layout just isn’t for me.  I want some staging for all trains I own. I want some passing sidings. I want a little better operations for when I get into that aspect.

So I decided before I get to much more into the scenery work, and while almost all the track is re-useable, to call it quits on the Elmwood & Marigny.

Here’s a basic look at the plan now. It’s based on the Wisconsin Central layout from Model Railroader.  Since all my trains are UP based, it’ll continue to follow a UP theme.

The layout will be built with a series of sectional pieces, with all aspects of the layout (roadbed, track, scenery base) built within the confines of its’ section. That way whenever the time comes for us to buy a home and move, the layout can moved in smaller pieces up to around 4′x4′ sections.  The total size is 11′x11′.

A lift out section will allow access into the inside of the layout.

Looking to use Spline roadbed this time around for the continuous grade around the layout.  Max grade is 2.5%.  The staging areas will be cookie cut plywood.

Average train length will be about 8.5′.  Sidings are 8-10′.

Shaun Track plan