Wrote layout design blog entry on making design features “Pay Their Freight” on my business site.
http://shelflayouts.com/2016/06/making-design-features-pay-their-freight/
Model Railroad Blog
Gloss Doesn’t Scale Down
We can’t solve a problem if we aren’t aware of its existence. One appealing aspect of railroading is the sheer, awesome, mass of our subject matter. Prototype rolling stock is huge and the challenge as a modeler is finding a way to capture that in miniature. A very, very subtle modeling problem that we face is that glossy surfaces don’t scale down. A glossy prototype locomotive or freight car looks real in a photo because…well…because it is real. What if we want to model a subject that has such a glossy surface? We have a problem. As we move from prototype to model, our challenge becomes apparent. A level of sheen that looks fine on the real thing looks like a toy when applied to a model. We lose the sense of mass. As modelers, we need to develop an awareness of this inconvenient reality. Each person needs to decide how they want to handle modeling newer or generally cleaner looking subjects. Personally, I think I’d take the route of applying a dulling agent and just forgo additional weathering.
High Horsepower Locals
One of my blog followers, a prototype “railroader”, sent me the following note:
“I’ve noticed that when I see models of locals they tend to always have a 4-axle diesel or two as power. On my district it’s common to see 2 or 3 six-axle units on locals and even as yard switchers. The ever-popular NS Heritage units have been used on locals and yard jobs. Local P30 is a Winston-Salem NC to Greensboro, NC turn job. The reason for having 3 units on this job is due to the amount of “overhead” cars being transferred from North Winston Yard in Winston-Salem to Pomona Yard in Greensboro. The head-end cars on the train known as “shorts”, are blocked for local industries on P30’s route.
Below is a video I shot prior to my employment with NS of local P30 working the Triad Lead in Colfax NC. This industrial spur has currently 3 active customers although there are more out-of-service sidings present. It also features a run-around. Boise Cascade receives centerbeam flats of lumber and is the most active. O’Neal Steel just recently began receiving gondolas and bulkhead flats of steel. In order to service O’Neal, the run-around has to be utilized. The least active is Box Board Products. I relieved P30 one afternoon a year ago and my work order showed a single boxcar to spot at Box Board.
On this day in 2008, the crew was retrieving an empty centerbeam flat from Boise. The only grade crossing on this lead lacks flashers and has to be flagged by a crewmember. Two Dash 9’s and an SD70M serve as power. ”
Part 1:
Part 2:
Real Time Operations
Click thumbnail to view video
Thanks to blog follower Justin for forwarding the link to this great YouTube video of CSX local D700 switching Standale Lumber in Grandville, MI. What struck me is that this entire sequence could be modeled in real time. The clip is roughly twenty minutes long. You could inch through the video, notepad ready, and note every single move they perform and then model it. So, with only two or three turnouts you’d have an easy to model scene, and an interesting after dinner mini op. session. Note the time spent opening the gates and flagging the crossing. Note that the loaded car is an offspot (dropped previously near the industry). A layout with just two or three simple industries like this would be extremely simple and inexpensive to build, provide a great skills building platform, and provide satisfying operations.
Here’s a simple three turnout layout that would be within easy reach of a middle school student or entry level retiree and yet also be satisfying for a more experienced modeler. The design was operations driven to provide a one-hour operating session.
- Track: ME code 70
- Turnouts: Micro Engineering #6
- Bench work: 12-inch hollow core door slaps
- Curve radius: 27″
- Grades: None
- Room size: 10′ x 12′
- One foot grid size
The Flat Earth Society
The riser construction on this grade intensive commercial project was fairly involved. Was the play value worth it?
If you look at my layout designs, you’ll notice that the vast majority of them have totally flat, grade free, track profiles. I’ll insert vertical scenery elements above and below track level but the right of way is flat. There is a reason for this. With any design feature, there should be a relationship between the benefit the feature provides and the work involved in building it. In most cases that doesn’t exist with grades. Things that crop up are:
- For reasons of mechanical reliability vertical transitions into and out of grades must be smooth. This is just something else that needs to be dealt with. For beginner modelers especially they already have enough on their plate.
- What goes up must come down so you need to ‘close the loop’ vertically.
- You can’t have spurs and yards on grades.
- Although not super complex, the sub-roadbed riser construction is more involved.
All and all grades tend to be inefficient and disruptive because they squeeze out room that could be otherwise used for operational features such as industries and yards. Unless you need the grade for operational reasons, such as pushers or matching a key feature on a prototype, I suggest skipping them. They don’t pay the freight