Garage Railroad Plan

I've always looked at those 4x8 project railroads in the model train magazines with an eye for what could be.  Sometimes there is great potential, sometimes they just don't work that well.  Granted, there has been much ink spilled over how to create a better plan using the same space required for a 4x8 (much greater than 4x8, considering aisles and access to three sides) so I won't go into that here.  But I will posit a contrary view for the utility of such plans as they are - a rectangle in the middle of a room.  When you have a room in which you can't use the walls, one of these space-hogging 4x's may be just the answer.

I have space in our house for a nice railroad on a shelf, but barring some sections that must be put up to run and taken down when done, that doesn't make for easy loop running.  Sometimes (quite often) I like to just sit back and watch a train roll.  In order to do that I need to build something larger, and the only space for that is our garage.  Bob Smaus once wrote an article in Model Railroader about the hazards of building in the garage, and I recommend it if you can find it.  Summer heat, winter cold, dust, spiders (black widows, and not the Southern Pacific RR kind!) and clutter all make for a challenging environment in which to build a model railroad.

However, I have decided I'm up for the challenge.  I recently set up a test loop of EZ track in the garage, ostensibly for testing the 2-6-0.  This is actually our Christmas loop but only when there's a tree in the middle.  I've been having so much fun running trains on that loop - despite the rough conditions in the garage - that I decided I could be very happy with a layout out there.

After much cogitation (the details of which I will spare you), I returned to a simple plan.  Behold the HO scale Morgan Valley RR, first featured in the January 1989 issue of Model Railroader in an article by Rick Henderson (click for larger, or right click and open in a new tab):

This plan has always stuck with me, dating back to the first days of my subscription to Model Railroader.  However, I've learned much since then about railroad operations, model and prototype, and right away I knew I'd need to modify this plan.  I started by removing the short switchback siding and a few others.

I added a parallel siding to an existing one, and shifted a few tracks to align on 90 degree lines.  This was because I was already envisioning a grid of streets.

The dark gray are major roads while the lighter gray are secondary alleys and parking areas.  I believe this should be a consideration in the earliest stages of a plan, as this is often how city planners would view development.  People inhabit cities, and need a way to get around.  On so many model railroads, particularly smaller ones like this, roads seem to be an afterthought and consequently the scene lacks believability.  Roads lead to structures, or in the case of the driveways, connect structures to streets.

Here the olive drab colored shapes represent industries or railroad structures, the blue colored blocks represent city buildings and the dusty rose colored shapes are residential homes.  Trees and water features have been added and some track features labeled.   It is my intention that the streets and buildings will provide a strong grid-like structural element.  The tracks interact with this structure as if, in some cases, they were put in place after the grid was laid down, and in others in concert with it or before it.  The tracks follow a small creek in one corner and pass through a low cut in another, next to the orange grove; otherwise the topography is essentially flat.

While I will discuss operating this layout in another post, suffice it to say for now that the railroad can handle both freight and passenger trains as it stands.  With a connection to staging (most likely a train-length turntable) as a fiddle yard, the variety of equipment increases.  For now it can be built using track I already own, and using many key structures which I already own.  One final note - the 'Motorcycle Cop' is a nod to a scene from an extinct Epcot Center attraction, the World of Motion.  Find a good video of this ride on YouTube and see if you can spot the cop behind the billboard.

Let there be...

Layout!

AND, light.  Both are important, almost equally so.  You can have a layout poorly lit and all your hard work isn't shown in its best light, literally.  OR, you can have a well-lit space with no layout, yet.  That's nice but it isn't always the order it happens.  A space might look well lit until you put a layout in it and realize you need more light.

That was the case here in my living room.  I pulled out the timesaver and set it on a shelf unit next to the workbench.  I knew the workbench needed additional light and so I found a terrific vintage fluorescent desk lamp that made all the difference in the world.  Yet somehow I didn't think about future layout space and how it would be lit until the layout was in the space.

After a trip to our local hardware store I brought home a pair of basic T-12 two-bulb four foot shop lights.  A few moments later I had found the rafter above the ceiling, conveniently placed 32" from the wall.  Four holes in the ceiling, four hooks followed, and then...I needed S hooks!  Why is it every project takes multiple hardware store trips?  I've heard three is average.

Eventually I got the lights up with no trouble.  The cords are plugged into a medium duty grounded extension cord that runs down the wall along a strip of molding for the workbench window.  The MRC Prodigy Express came out of its packing and within moments I had a train running. 

Here are three images; before the lights, before with flash, and after (without flash).  Camera set to auto for all three.  Pay attention to the shadows.

I can stand with my head and shoulders over the layout and the area in front is still adequately lit thanks to the broad, even light reflected off the wall.  Eventually some of the old blue backdrop I brought with me from the bonus-room layout will hang here like a picture.  But for now I have not let the perfect stand in the way of the good, and I am having a ball running trains again.