A journal following the history, design, construction and operation of Bernard Kempinski's O Scale model railroad depicting the U. S. Military Railroad (USMRR) Aquia-Falmouth line in 1863, and other model railroad projects.
©Bernard Kempinski All text and images, except as noted, on this blog are copyrighted by the author and may not be used without permission.
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November 18, 2010

Updated Track Plan

Here is the updated track plan based on the "as-built" sections of the new benchwork. The main differences from before are that the Yuba Dam peninsula is only 4 feet wide instead of 5, and the land area at the wye is reduced. Both of these changes were done to maximize the aisles, and in the case of the wye, to allow better access to my spray booth, which is located just under the upper legs of the wye. As Joe Fugate once wrote, the least expensive feature to add to a layout is the aisle.




I added the turntable to the inside of the wye. This isn't necessary from an operational view point, but would add visual interest and operational flexibility. 

Included in the drawing is a scale drawing of the ironclad Passiac. It's hard to see where it could fit in. One possible solution is to make the ships removable so they can be replaced or rotated for variety. One drawback would be that the seam between the modeled water and the ship waterline would be visible. This can be fixed in photos using Photoshop, but might be unsightly in person.

4 comments:

  1. Bernie:

    Looks like a smart revision. One of the issues that I have discovered with O scale is the reach into corners dictated by the larger radii, and Wyes make it worse. I bet you will be much happier skinnying this down.

    Can't wait to see a 1/48 Ironclad.

    Matt

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  2. Looks good, Bernie! Like the changes, and think you're being very smart about access and aisle width.
    Norm

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  3. Nice plan Bernie. What software did you use to draw these plans?
    ...tried to email, but have old email acct.

    Frolin Marek

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  4. Frolin,
    I used Adobe Illustrator CS4.

    You can use info@alkemscalemodels.com to reach me direct.

    ReplyDelete