Contents .......................... 4 22 Alexandria Waterfront — O INTRODUCTION urban switching during the Civil War ............. 48 23 Trans-Iranian Railway — HO Lend Lease over the Persian Corridor ............ 50 SMALL PLANS (under 140 square feet) 24 EMD Progress Rail — HO modeling a locomotive factory.................. 52 1 Canton Railroad — HO 25 Ballard Terminal Railroad — HO switching a soap factory ....................... 6 a Seattle shore-front short line .................. 54 2 American Can — HO or N 26 Sunon Motors — HO modeling a full-sized industry................... 8 switching auto trains during a shift change ........ 56 3 Free-mo Steel — HO 27 Powder River Basin — N or Z a heavy industry on a modular layout............. 10 a BNSF-UP joint coal line ...................... 58 4 Bear Island Paper Mill — N 28 DaniCa Forest Products — HO a paper mill served by CSX .................... 12 a southeastern chemical paper mill .............. 60 5 Mower Lumber — N 29 Rockport & Weak — On30 a West Virgina lumber railroad .................. 14 a Maine narrow gauge freight hauler ............. 62 6 Warrenton — HO 30 Soldier Summit — N a British-style layout of a stub terminal ........... 16 running three railroads over the Wasatch ......... 64 7 First Steel — HO a steel mill railroad that can grow ............... 18 8 Keystone Viaduct — N Ntrak modules for home or show................ 20 LARGE PLANS (over 300 square feet) 9 Brooke Yard — HO 31 Winding Gulf — HO a pocket terminal in a tricky space ............... 22 modeling two coal railroads in one valley ......... 66 10 Overland Route — HO 32 Wiscasset — On30 a tribute to the transcontinental railroad .......... 24 the WW&F, past and present ................... 68 11 Menil-La-Tour — On30 or O14 33 Everett Street Station — HO running a WWI narrow gauge railroad ............ 26 Milwaukee Road’s Hiawatha at home............. 70 12 WWII Stateside Port — HO 34 Chili Line — HO and HOn3 loading naval convoys from trains ............... 28 narrow gauge action in a double-deck mushroom... 72 13 Fort Miles — HO 35 Riverside — HO modeling U.S. coastal railway artillery in WWII ..... 30 a citrus-based industrial hot spot ................ 74 14 Cape Canaveral — HO 36 Handley Yard — N a model railroad that launches rockets............ 32 moving coal loads in two directions .............. 76 15 Victoria Crater Railway — Sn30 37 Montgomery — HO a mining railroad on Mars...................... 34 BNSF mainline running and local switching ........ 78 38 White River Junction — HO modeling four live routes ...................... 80 MEDIUM PLANS (140 to 300 square feet) 39 Maryland Midland — N a oNetrak shortline layout ..................... 82 16 Cowan Country — N 40 Horseshoe Curve — N mainline operation with helpers on three decks .... 36 a subdivision for an Ntrak club .................. 84 17 West Bottoms — O 41 Sunset Route — HO early MoPac steam in Kansas City ............... 38 modern freight action in Arizona ................ 86 18 NYC High Line — HO 42 Tennessee Pass — O Manhattan’s elevated industrial line .............. 40 Rio Grande steam across the Rockies ............ 88 19 SNE Air Line — HO 43 Tehachapi Loop — N modeling the SNE in Providence ................ 42 running long trains over an iconic location ........ 90 20 Trans-Andes Railway — HO 44 Carrington Subdivision — S Peruvian railroading at 15,000 feet .............. 44 North Dakota’s Soo Line in the transition era ...... 92 21 Alnwick Branch — OO 45 Lampasas Subdivision — HO from the English coast to castle ................. 46 BNSF deep in the heart of Texas ................ 94 Introduction Stone Farmhouse & Barn Redoubt Brick Tavern Cookhouse Warehouse Small Farmhouse Blacksmith USMRR Depot on burned RF&P station Occasionally, I will make a perspective drawing of a planned scene on a layout to investigate how the elements might look to the viewer. For example, this is a scene planned for my home layout. enjoy layout planning. It is my favorite I do some freelancing in my designs, The layouts part of this great hobby. This book is a they are mostly based on prototype In selecting the layouts for this book, compendium of layout designs that I practice. I aimed for a wide variety of subjects, Ihave developed for my own use or for Keep hidden track to a minimum. scales, and sizes. They are organized other people and organizations. In my experience, the hassle of into small, medium, and large designs, I keep notebooks handy and scribble operating hidden track far outweighs and range from shelf layouts to those plans as the ideas come to me. My any added benefits. that can fill a basement or a garage. home office is cluttered with more Create a sincere design. Sincere is There is a slight bias to East Coast than a dozen notebooks and sketch a term coined by model railroaders to railroads because I know them the pads filled with design ideas. When I describe a layout where the trains run best, but I have included several from haven’t had a notebook handy, I have through the scene only once in a ses- other regions of the United States. Five used napkins, scrap paper, pizza boxes, sion. My layouts try to give a strong of the railroads are not in the United and even a foggy door in the shower sense of going someplace, and a sincere States, including one that is set on to work out ideas for a layout problem design helps create that feeling. Mars about 75–100 years from now. that has been vexing me. Maintain a high scenery to Most of these layouts have a theme Of the thousands of plans I have track ratio. I try not to cram track that tells a story. sketched out, this book features 45 into every available square inch of a I tried to pick subjects that could that have reached the final stage of layout design. I like to give the trains be built without having to scratchbuild presentation. breathing space. This includes simple a majority of the rolling stock and/or areas I call “country running” between structures. I also tried to include tips Design principles busy scenes. on obtaining specific rolling stock and When designing layouts, I adhere to Use a walkaround design with constructing buildings and scenery. the following general principles. aisles that are as wide as possible. The Some of the smaller layout designs Be prototype based. I usually base aisles are the easiest part of the layout in the book feature a single industry my layouts on actual prototypes. While to build. Make them big. or activity. Most of these plans can be 4 easily expanded into bigger layouts. For example, the Canton Railroad design (pages 6–7) could easily be tacked on to a larger layout as an industry to switch. Other layout designs are intended for public display at train shows, museums, and other exhibitions. I have been heavily involved in modular model railroads over the past 20 years and have built many modules and por- table layouts, as well as some museum displays. I find the interaction with the public while displaying a modular or portable layout to be interesting and satisfying. Designing a layout for a gym- nasium might be a fun theoretical exercise, but almost no one has that much space, except maybe modular clubs at exhibitions, and even they can be limited on space. In all the layouts designed for homes in this book, I used actual layout spaces from places I have either visited or seen in publications. I enjoy designing alternate layouts for these spaces. Several of the layouts I designed for clients in accordance with their requirements. I find it rewarding to see someone build one of my layout designs. Even if my layout does not get built, it usually aids in the design process of the one that eventually does get built. These are some of the notebooks in which I have been scribbling layout Design software designs over the years. I like to do the early conceptual work for a layout I frequently get asked about the kind of in pencil on graph paper. software I use to draw my final plans. I have tried several drawing packages but I prefer using Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. For most of the design work, I use Illustrator, which is a drawing program with some computer-aided design tools. Photoshop is an industry stan- dard for photo manipulation, but I also use it for advanced graphic work. I use it to add textures and scenery to my drawings. I find a flatbed scanner and a Wacom drawing tablet also useful in doing track plan designs. I hope you enjoy viewing these plans as much as I did in creating them. Perhaps you will find some ideas useful to your own situation. And if I use Adobe Illustrator for the precise drawing, including the layout of you decide to build one, please drop me track components, easements, and curve radii. Once the engineering a line to let me know how it goes. design is finished, I use Photoshop to add textures and scenic elements. 5 Yard Slag dump Plywood cutting diagram for extension (smaller scale than main drawing) Coke hoppers wait in a yard in Slag dump front of the blast furnaces at Detroit Steel. 22" radius 18" radius Original 4 x 8 layout Stockyard Begin 4% grade Elevated high-line trestle Open hearth No. 4 turnout Mixer Ingot stripper Rolling mill Blast furnace no. 1 Ore bridges Blower house Blooming mill Customized cast house 18" radius 18" radius Blast furnace no. 2 Room walls FIRST STEEL — HO scale Locale: Northeast United States Turnouts: No. 6 (and one No. 4) Era: 1950–1990 Maximum grade: 4 percent Size: 4 x 8, expanded to 10 x 13 feet Style: Walk-in Train length: 6–12 cars Prototype: Freelanced Mainline run: 38 feet Minimum radius: 18" Scale of plan: ½" = 1 foot, 12" grid 19 15 Victoria Crater Railway This concept sketch shows a string of loaded ore cars at the mine load-out on the Victoria Crater Railway on Mars.