The Room

The room is rectangular approx. 3 x 6,1 m. (9 x 19 feet). There is a window on one of the short walls, and one on one of the long walls. The entrance to the room is on the other long wall.

The Mainline

The room is too small to let the railroad climb sufficiently on its way around the room, so a helix is necessity. A quick look at the length of the mainline around the room, reveals that it will be approx. 15m (45 feet). The helix will contain about 19-23m of track between the levels. That would mean than more than half the mainline would be in the helix. Since quite a bit of the mainline will be in the helix, it is likely that the mainline needs to double around the room to make the helix consume a smaller percentage of the mainline.

Then there will be approx. 30m mainline on each level plus another 20 in the helix; that gives a total of 80m of mainline (240 feet)

The helix will likely also be open, so it will be easy to follow the trains there. Maybe the track in the helix will be ballasted to make it look better.

The room is too narrow to make islands into the center of the room, at least with a turn back loop. A single ended island could work, but will make it harder to follow the trains around the mainline.

So far, the towns that will be included are: Brookfield, Bucklin, Bevier and Macon

Givens & Druthers

Givens

Layout space

The layout room is approximately 9 x 19 feet. There are two windows and a door. The windows can be spanned, but these sections of the layout must be removable so that maintenance is possible. The door can be spanned with removable sections.

Multiple levels is a must to support a long enough mainline.

The layout room will also include my workbench, though a modest one. I usually do most of the kit building in the living room.

Model scale

HO

Prototype

Chicago Burlington & Quincy RR, Brookfield, Mo to Bevier, Mo

Timeframe

Fall 1953, as this is after the Kansas City shortcut opened, and fall as that gives a lot of grain and live stock traffic.

Operation

The railroad must support operation for one to four operators.

Control system

DCC will be used. I currently own a Wangrow System One. It may be upgraded to NCE in the future.

Equipment

Equipment will be both steam and diesel and both brass and plastic. I have brass steam locomotives that dictate the minimum radius.

Staging

Staging yards are a must for both ends of the modeled railroad.

Druthers

Minimum radius

30 inches. I have tested my Challenger S-4A and Oriental O-5A on a 30 inches curve, and through a S-curve with two #6 switches (Peco Code 83) and they ran fine.

Train length

Minimum 12 freight cars plus locomotive and waycar. 15 cars are prefered. Short passenger trains like the Kansas City Zephyr, American Royal Zephyr and the Pioneer Zephyr.

Layout levels

Two main levels with railroad. Separate levels below and on top for staging.

Twice through a scene may become necessary to reduce the percentage of the mainline that is located in the helix.

Staging

At a minimum stub ended staging. If possible staging yards with a loop for turning the equipment will be preferred.