I am eager to share this drawing of the K&BH layout with you. I hope you will find something here that will be of interest to you, something that will allow us to continue the conversation about layout design and the creation of one's own railroad. As you look at the drawing (and the two photos of the corner mock-up, which appear below), please keep the following in mind about this DCC layout:
1. As I continue to work on the scale drawing, I am thankful that pencils have erasers!
2. This layout is not drawn to scale. The idea here is to present an overview so that you have a better idea of where this is going once construction begins in September.
3. When you look at the UP main line, you see a single black line but please know that it is a double-track main (even though all five staging tracks are drawn individually). All track (mains, sidings, and staging) will be laid on 3" center lines.
4. How big is the layout? The Kearney (EAR) straightaway is 17 feet long. Kearney Junction (KYJ) is 18 feet long. The viewing area between corners #1 and #3 is over seven feet wide. It is over five feet wide up at curve #2. The two main line curves have radii of 36" and 39". All curves have easements and will be super-elevated. The longest staging track is over 37 feet long and the shortest is 30 feet long. We are going to run some nice long freight and passenger trains.
5. Track height is 53+" above the floor.
6. Where you see the sky backdrop end near the KBH and BNSF staging areas, the backdrop will curve over the main lines at those points and (a) the scenery ends and (b) the track disappears through an opening in the backdrop. The casual observer will not see the staging tracks at all.
7. The three big curves are obviously important to the design of the layout. I wish the radii could have been bigger than 36" and 39" but, with easements, they should work fine. These two photos will give you an idea of what the finished corners (1 and 3) will look like:
 |
This is a wood and masonite mock-up
only. When you come off the basement stairs, you will be looking
directly
at corner #1 pretty much as it is presented in the first photo — with
Art Jones standing beside it. You see the valance at the top, designed to hide the lighting and to blend in with the top border that will span all of the layout that has scenery. The next lower section will be the sky backdrop, and Art suggests that we use bendable wallboard for all of this backdrop. Below that you see the shelf that will carry the two mains around the curve. It is 12" wide and the rail and cork roadbed will be glued to 2" foam board on the plywood base. The fascia will cover that edge and it will mask the wiring that will be readily accessible from below. Finally, you see masonite on the lower portion that will give the corners a finished look. Behind the sky backdrop here on the corner, the KBH and the BNSF exit onto another 12" track shelf, providing a route to their staging areas on 27" and 24" radii. |
| When you look at the second photo (viewing the
corner from the back), you can see both the main line shelf and
the BNSF/KBH shelf wrapping around on the inside of the corner
unit.
Keep in mind, please, that the unit photographed here was a mock-up to test the idea of the corner only. The new one will be constructed in an entirely different manner. |  |
8. We are building the layout with steel studs rather than with wood (faster, less expensive, less waste). We'll describe this in more detail (and with photos) during the construction phase. This will provide a unique approach to layout construction and it will be interesting to see it go together. Some real surprises await you (me, too!) later in this process.
9. There is full access all the way around the layout. There will be a duck-under used to reach the interior KBH and BNSF staging areas.
One of the great pleasures of doing this design work is the opportunity to learn from the skills and ideas of Art Jones. This gentleman has proven to be a patient teacher and skilled craftsman as we have worked through much of the process together. We do seem to be on the same page and communication is easy and fun for me. I'm not sure that Art would say the same thing after I ask him how to calculate an easement for the sixth time, but this friendship has already added immensely to the pleasure I have found in this dimension of my lifetime hobby.
In closing this introductory view of the new layout, I want to give a plug to the new 2003 Kalmbach book by Iain Rice, Mid-sized & Manageable Track Plans. It came out in July and I swear he wrote Chapter 8 with this layout in mind! (See my layout's Concept and Goals article for some great quotations.) I recommend it highly.