Working on the Railroad

Layout Design Element and a 4x10 track plan
by Mark Stephens. See the old planning page for previous plans.

: A - old lead, used as storage track for empties from Weyerhauser; B - unknown, not used; C - distributor, infrequent; D - unknown, not used.

The primary customer is Weyerhauser, receiving numerous cars a week. The train runs forward from Sharonville yard (about 4 miles south of this area) and backs onto the siding. The train then backs all the way to Weyerhauser (there is a light on an old Conrail blue caboose) and works the lumber yard using the very short run around and drill track. Empties are taken from the lumber yard and shoved unto the unused siding (A). By late in the week this siding is full of empty boxcars. The other active customer is Continental Minerals. This siding usually has 2 or 3 small hoppers. A distributor (C) also receives some rail traffic according to the local crew, but I haven't seen any cars on the siding.

I am using this area as the basis for a 4x10 HO railroad that my son and I are building. The lumber and mineral dealer are present, along with a juice distribution center (based on Tropicana located across town). I added an extra run around to make operation of the juice warehouse more reasonable.

The prototype for this area in the late 60's to early 70's would have been NYC, PennC, or Conrail. I don't plan on sticking with either of these prototypes. Right now I am using a Western Maryland RS3 from Atlas. Below is the track plan and photos taken of this area.

Name: Sharonville
Scale: HO (1:87)
Overall size: 4' x 10'
Prototype: Conrail (NYC)
Locale: Cincinnati, OH
Era: 1970's
Layout height: 42"
Benchwork: framed
Roadbed: foam
Track: Atlas code 83
Length of main line: ?
Turnout minimum: #4
Minimum radius: 18"
Maximum grade: none
Scenery construction: foam board
Backdrop: foam board
Control: DC

Click on image to see a larger size.

Some links:

Layout Design SIG

3rd Planit track planning software

the end