The last train has left the yard on the Cape Cod Northern updated now updated 01/31/21

Best of luck on this endeavor; looks like a great plan.

Always tough to tear a layout down. The new plan looks great. Keep us posted.

Bob

Looks like the new layout will be awesome. Best of luck in the construction! Like my colleagues have said, keep us posted as the work progresses.

Pat

Frank Ellison would have approved of your new trackplan and so do I. Designed for very railroad-like operations.

Good luck in building your next layout. Quite an endeavor to start but when you complete it I think you will be more then happy running it. Looks like a lot of thought went into this plan. Hope you post pics during construction.....Paul

Can't wait to see your progress. Wow track plan well thought out.

Aww gee, we missed it!  Oh well, maybe we can put a plan together to see the new layout... will it be ready in a few weeks or so?

I know that some parts of your layout have had their "ups and downs."  The new design looks great!

Ed

Nice use of space, I enjoy following the train rather than the God's eye approach where everything can be seen at the same time.  The railroad seems larger IMO even if you already have a very large space.  Plus you have a jump start with the benchwork and Ross turnouts.  

What about the bridge over the aisle?  Any way to design that out?  Duck unders can get old faster then we do. 

My present layout is around the wall with peninsulas and bump out fingers.   Lots of walking but no ducking.

Good luck with the new RR and above all have fun building it!!!!

Hmm. This is a point-to-loop trackplan. The bridge will have to be lifted for every train leaving the yard and replaced when that train returns home. I think I would construct a swing-away gate bridge as requiring the least effort and attention to operate. Also easy to leave in the open position. It would need to be power-interlocked to prevent disaster but that would be simple to implement. 

So now you've got another 18 tears of building in store.  Good luck, have fun and enjoy the process.

I have enjoyed following your old layout very much.  Your industries and intermodal yard were all very well done.  It's a big decision to dismantle a large layout, but I love your new track plan.  The comments about your bridge (duck under) I would echo, but making it a swing bridge will easily solve that problem.   You didn't mention how high your benchwork will be, but if it is high enough that will greatly minimize the hardship.

Best of luck.  Can't wait to see progress shots.

Art

Thanks for all the best wishes and nice words. They provide further encouragement. The layout is being somewhat conceived as two separate layouts with a lift out bridge be the connection between the two. As some may know, I am associated with Tim Foley of Mianne Benchwork and help out in the booth at the shows he attends. I have the first produced lift-up that he made. At that time it was manually operated with no lifting mechanics. I added that and then Tim came up with his pulley/lifting motor system for it. It was installed some 8-10 years ago into my existing layout which already used his benchwork. Besides it, I have also added a swing bridge to provide access to another part of the layout. But served there purpose well.

The back and sidewall yard layout has arrival and departure tracks for freight trains. (Maine Central had ended passenger service prior to 1962 so there will be very little passenger train presence on the layout). It will also have the turntable, roundhouse, diesel service facility (all have been added with the license granted to all model railroaders that if one looks hard and long enough they will find that it is prototypical somewhere. There will also be a rising grade branch line (closest to the back wall) that will service a mine, either coal or gravel. A spur off of that line at the extreme right will terminate into a tunnel at the end of the layout. An elevated rolling cart will be used to accept cars at the tunnel terminus, lower those cars to the height of a lower level staging yard and be pulled in by a dedicated switcher (and vise versa). The main layout will be able to completely function on it's own with trains being able to be reversed thru passes landscaped cuts in the scenic divider. Ninety-nine present of the time I will be the only operator ( not a whole lot of model railroaders on outer Cape Cod). Being as how I can really only operate one layout at a time, we have chosen for the bridge to be a complete lift out unit. Only when a train is leaving the yard or returning does the bridge need to be in place. There will be no duck unders to worry about.

Eddie and coach Joe: Yes, I have planned out my activity for the next 18 years. If were around at that time you can be the first to possibly view the completed layout.

Here are a few shots of the way the layout use to look like and progress of teardown as of today.

When pulling long cuts from the yard tracks won't it be necessary to use the track across the bridge as the yard lead? Meaning the bridge will have to be in place while classifying and building a train? It looks like there is room to add a dedicated switch lead by installing a track switch between the yard throat and the bridge and laying the lead track at yard elevation in front of and below the mine.

Lew

Sad to see it go.......but I know you will do a great job on the new one!

Peter

Lew,

Thanks for your input and concerns. I will be considering your point. An early plan did have a different approach to the yard lead but the adding of a three inch or so grade to the branch line changed things to what you see now. The yard at one time was larger also due to the # of freight cars I had and want to be on the layout. The yard then look too big and somewhat barren in relationship to the rest of the plan. Even now, the yard still looks a little too large. It is a work in progress. I foresee that most of my trains will consist of 5-8 cars plus a caboose. More like locals going out and setting out cars and making pick-ups before returning to the yard. There may be some longer thru freight runs but not the norm. Other than an early E8 diesel, all the MEC motive power were smaller 4 wheel trucked diesels. I will not be running mu power as a rule. I enjoy operations. Smoke, sounds and long trains are primarily for the visitors to the layout.

I look forward to construction pics. Even more so though, I look forward to your future experience with operations on the new pike (although that will be awhile).

Will you lay all track work and test the operations potential before building any scenery? In case tweaking is in order? Or have you done enough previous tweaking that your final track plan will be pre-tweaked? 

Lew

Lew,

I gave the go ahead to Kris Foondel, my trackplan creator to begin the process of converting the hand drawn plan to a computer program that has the Ross track and turnouts in it. That will tell if things will fit in the allotted space as planed. It will also give me an inventory list of track and turnouts to be used. I would think I have all the track and turnouts from the old layout needed with the exception of some fixed radius curves. We are trying to keep aisle width to a 30"minimum but some concessions may have to be made. All the industries are from the old layout so an accurate footprint was made to place them in the plan. Sure, sidings may need to be tweaked some. Basic landforms, mountains, bodies of water will be incorporated into the benchwork design but not physically added until all the trackwork is known to be operational and correctly spaced. This layout will be a little smaller than the old one and again I should think I can reuse all the benchwork (Mianne)and still have some left over. I know it does not show well on the trackplan diagram but almost all of the mainline layout will have a 2' or so scenic divider between the single mains including the loops. 

Overall the plan looks beautiful.  But how do you get from the stairs to the yard layout?  Where are the walls on the bottom of the diagram? 

Bill,

None of the pictures show it but from the end of the steps the wall of the basement is another 43" away.

WOW, I can't believe you are tearing that layout down. Good Luck with the new one. See you in York. Ed

I remember visiting your layout at the end of October, 2014 while I was visiting Cape Cod. It inspired me to carry on with my own. It is now on the Mianne benchwork which is 13 1/2 by 26 feet with walk through. Your new layout looks awesome.  Good Luck. I know you will create another fun layout.                                                                                                                                                                                         Fred in New Hope, PA

Wow, this is a very interesting article and as always I really liked your trackwork, and the HUGH size of your layout.  I like your new track plan and I know you will have lots of fun changing to this super creative design. Thank you for the great pictures of the past, and keep us posted on the progress with your new adventure... There is nothing so constant as Change.  Happy Railroading. 

I remember visiting you and your lovely wife in 2008, how impressed I was with your layout.  I look forward to another visit when the new one is complete 

Good luck Al. Warm wishes to Stephanie.

Took delivery this AM of the computer generated trackplan. and Kris Foondle, the designer, was able to make his freehand drawn design fit within the allotted space I have. The plan is easier to read in this format. The heavy dark lines represent the 2' scenic divider spanning almost all of the main layout. Existing industries have been put in their places. He also sent a plan for a lower staging yard which will be accessed in a unique way. More on that later. Isle going to be about 30" wide, a little snug but I have been on a diet.

Plan will be going on to Tim Foley for benchwork plan.

PPhoto is the progress of demolition to date. 

The design looks awesome Al !

Al, that looks like a great plan. I really like the view blocks which will make the trains appear to be going somewhere.

Al.....looking forward to catching up in a few weeks!

Peter

Well, I really screwed up by giving my layout designer erroneous measurements and forgot to tell him about the furnace in the basement. I was in the train room last weekend continuing to dismantle the old layout and realized I would not be able to pass by the right side of the main layout if it was built as planned. Emails were exchanged which result in me and my wife making another basement footprint this time with accurate measurements and fixed obstructions that needed to be dealt with. Frankly, I thought the original plan was now dead and we would have to start all over. It was a stressful week for me waiting to hear back from Kris Foondle, designer, who lives in Saline Michigan. That week saw many apologies to him for my screw up. In the end, he said it was a lot easier to move pixels and bytes on a computer than it was to construct and deconstruct a layout.

This weekend he provided me with a new plan which keeps the flavor and a lot of the integrity of the original plan. Most of the changes are to the right side main layout to accommodate for the furnace and lolly column spacing. Also need room for an aisle. He had to shorten up the middle of the main layout to accommodate the changes but trackage pretty much stayed the same.

As of now the old layout has been completely dismantled. All the trains have been packed up. All Mianne benchwork, Ross switches and Gargraves track has been inventoried in preparation for the rebuild. Here is a look at the revised plan. The brown area on the right middle of the main layout is a mountain that the trains will pass thru and also hide the end lolly column. The second plan is exactly like the first except the outside tracks will be exposed on cliffs of the mountain. I think I like that better.

Pete,

Always enjoy hooking up with you!

Al, both plans are great. But I also like the second plan better!

Al, that would have been a pretty big oopsie but you'd have recognized it with the first piece of benchwork you tried to install through the furnace FWIW I like the second plan better as well. Short tunnels lack believability as the mind sees the scenery just hiding track.

Lew

Al - it was great seeing and talking with you at the Amherst show. I'm glad I could help lighten the load by taking custody of the Intermodal Crane.

Looking forward to taking a trip from the North Shore down to the Cape for a visit when the new layout is completed - it looks terrific. 

Thanks guys for your input. I have told Kris that the plan with the exposed track is the one I will go with. This Friday, my wife and I will be make the 1 1/2 hour trip up to see Tim and Lynn Foley of Mianne Benchwork. My wife will be spending the day with Lynn shopping while Tim and I discuss the new layout so that he can start to develop a benchwork plan. I will spend the rest of the day building benchwork pieces at his shop. Perhaps some of them might be for my layout! 

Have decided that the yard layout will be at 46" and the main layout will be at 40". The lower level on the yard layout will be at about 36". Still waiting on the plan that will identify all the Ross turnouts and fixed radius curves so that I can compare it to what I have and what I will have to purchase. I do know that I will have some 50 turnouts that I will not be needing on the new layout. Look for a posting of them in the future on the forum. I will also be making a post this weekend of some of the larger items (turntable, MTH passenger station, 4' long laser cut bridge) that I would like to sell and deliver to York.

Al,

How is this project coming? Did you ever get beyond the design stage? 
It is hard to imagine that you don’t have some train project to work on.

Nice AL but wow when I talked to you at York I had no idea what you were working on. The new one looks as though it will be great. Hope to see you and Tim in 2021 at York. Good luck my friend and keep us posted.

When last I left you some 20 months ago, I was about to embark on a new layout. Well, in the last 19 months I have not touched my trains. I started a project in another interest of mine and devoted all my spare time to it. It has since gotten too cold too work on it so it has been put to bed until the spring. That meant I had no excuse to get involved with my trains again. I got back in touch with Tim Foley of Mianne Benchwork and made some visits with him to plan out the benchwork for the new layout. I also gave him a complete inventory of all the benchwork pieces that I had from the old layout. In the plan he took that into account and he was able to use almost 90% of my old benchwork. At that point, my wife and I started to assemble the new benchwork which took a couple of weeks of evenings and weekends. After picking up the balance of the parts I needed from Tim, we completed the benchwork this weekend. Even got to run the electrical bus wires prior to putting on the table top which was a easy job. Next step is the plywood, soundboard and then laying some track.