Buck Creek Junction- Fictional Fun

Here are a couple of shots for tonight.

Now that I have had a day to look over the physical track plan, I am going to make a change to the bridges. The bridges I am using are not pleasing to the eye as I look at the layout. The length and height of the Lionel extension bridge blocks part of the layout I want to view. In order to accommodate the AtlasO deck bridge, I will have to raise the base of the layout 4", making the walls of the river a scale 16'. That is too high for what I have in mind.

I would rather spend money for other layout needs than on new bridges, so I have made some changes to the track plan. First, I rotated the plan 180 degrees. Instead of two bridges, I will now have one. I think the Lionel bridge would look better as a background piece. I moved the siding to the other side of the layout and added a second 90 degree crossing to the junction. The tower crew is upset with the decision as they now have to watch over a third crossing. Talks are in progress.

Looks like it will be a great layout

Could you butter up the tower crew with a diner in close proximity? 

TM Terry posted:

Could you butter up the tower crew with a diner in close proximity? 

That's an excellent suggestion! I'll take it up with them first thing in the morning. That knocks out one of two roadside structures I want to fill the space near the tower with. 

The DT&I, and certainly others of that list of railroads, hauled coal through Springfield.  That is why Henry Ford bought it, improved it, and owned it for a while, to haul coal from mines around Ironton, Ohio (at one time), and from across the Ohio River.  There is a DT&I group on the net that talks about Springfield.  The road ran through Lima and, obviously, Toledo, on its way to River Rouge.  So running coal trains is certainly legit.

Very nice layout.  However, I would make an important change to the near side of your plan...

I would add another switch immediately after the track comes out of the tunnel, connecting the two parallel tracks.  This would create a "passing siding" along the front of the layout, which will give your loco a path to "run around" its train, without going all the way around the loop.  This makes for much more prototypical switching operations.  Coupling and uncoupling aren't a problem, because access to the front of the layout is excellent.

And unless it's your intention to add another tunnel portal, instead of having the stub-end of the outside track going to the left into mountainous terrain, I would have it go off to the right, to some unknown destination.

For your consideration I've attached a similar plan that I made a while ago, as an idea for a 4 x 8 project layout.  Thanks for sharing!

Ted,

Thank you for your input and the layout you designed looks nice. From the start, I had planned for the stub to be a staging track where I can change out locomotives and rolling stock or park a train. It will be electrically isolated so I can program engines or test repairs. I do plan to extend the mountain from the back to the front of the layout and add another tunnel portal. One of my goals is to use only the turnouts and track I already have. To make a passing siding and to continue the siding into the mountain, I would need to purchase a pair of turnouts. While I might revisit the idea later, the amount of money required to purchase those turnouts would buy a lot of scenery and accessories.

Colorado Highrailer,

You are correct, many coal trains ran through Springfield. We had the Ohio Edison Mad River power plant that was fueled by coal and received some of those trains. It sat where Buck Creek empties into the Mad River.(Ironically, when they demolished the plant smoke stack, it fell the wrong way and knocked out power, lol.) The fantasy part of the layout is the mountain full of coal.

Any progress since then?