On to the layout design

No blog posts in June but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been working on the railroad.  I have, in fact, completed the design of the layout and set up layout operations in JMRI.  Before discussing operations let’s talk about the design and layout plan.

For many years I have been using a CAD program from 3rdPlanIt for all my layout design work.  Like many computer programs, and CAD programs in particular, 3rdPlanIt has a fairly steep learning curve.  But, having an electronics / computer background has helped me with the program because I’ve used other programs of this type at work.  The website if you’re interested in the program is http://www.trackplanning.com/  While I don’t use anywhere near the full capability of this software I find it provides me with the features I need.

But now, on to the design.  As mentioned in previous posts I’ll be building a model railroad set in south central Oregon featuring the Southern Pacific as it was in 1984.  In addition, the Burlington Northern will be featured as it operated over the SP line on trackage rights left over from the Great Northern era.  The area modeled will run from Klamath Falls to Chemult which will allow me to run trains from the SP, BN and Amtrak from one end of the railroad to the other.

This first image is the lower level part of the layout.  In the center of the room is a loop style staging yard representing Dunsmuir for Amtrak and the SP while one track will be BN staging in Bieber.  Trains will emerge from staging and enter Klamath Falls yard.  Amtrak will make a station stop at the depot before continuing on while SP manifest trains will stop in the yard to pick up and set out cars as required.  SP piggyback trains will only stop for a crew change while the BN trains will run through as they did their crew change at their own yard just beyond the modeled portion of the layout.  Proceeding past Klamath Falls we pass through the small towns of Modoc Point and Chiloquin before starting up the 3% grade through Calimus and up to Diamond Lake.

This next image is the upper level of the layout located directly above the one below.  Here we can see the track climbing up from Calimus, through Diamond Lake and Gilchrist Junction before coming into Chemult.  In Chemult the BN branches off to continue on its own track to Bend and beyond, while the SP tracks proceed on to Eugene and Portland.  Amtrak makes a station stop in Chemult but other than that it’s a pretty sleepy little community.  Finally the trains proceed into Oakridge / Bend staging and end their runs.

In my next post I’ll talk about operations and how the various spur tracks serve the industries that keep the main line humming with traffic.  Until then, cheers, and enjoy whatever railroading comes your way.