Model Railroading > The 2016 PC - Starting to build a major junction.

The biggest junction on the layout "CP 221", or STEEL JCT, is now underway. Roadbed and some track is in place. The design is shown in the first picture. 

Along the right hand wall, is the south lead out of the steel mill, passing the scap handling areas. Down at the lowe RH corner is part of the BOF. The double track running roughly parallel and at a slight angle to the right wall is the NB mainline, with "up" being SB. . The triple track  diamonds are the NB mainline running into the staging below - running from lower left center, to the upper right ....the oppoiste set of tracks in the SB line into staging. The under-layout staging yard holds 10 trains of up to 50 cars each.

To the immediate left of the triple diamonds, is the location of the railfan park/observation platform. Continuing left and down will take you to the port facilities....the 2 track by 1 track diamond across the main allows the steel mill (NSMR) railroad to run to the port to grab ore and mineral loads and take them to the mill. The small portion of a peninsula showing at the top is Watertown. 

The second picture shows the full scale track template and the diamonds test fit to it. the SB mains to staging are curving in from the upper right, the lines of the NB mains are drawn to the upper left. 

Picture 3 is looking at the  SB mains just being laid.

That's it for this week :)

Bob

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Nice shots.  Layout progressing well.  Looks like your work is "cut out" for you.  Thanks for the update.  Looking forward to an update when you "cross" that line...

Looking great Bob - coming along nicely.

Cheers, Jim Fitch

Very PC-ish.  I like the plan! Looking forward to more photos.

There will be lotsa clunkin going on.

tomstp Wrote:
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> There will be lotsa clunkin going on.

Clackin too

Wow!

Nice track arrangement, I can see the ops potential at Steel Jct.

Did you an actual CAD program or model railroad specific track planning software? I like the fullsize printed out plans for complicated trackwork like you've shown. Makes it much easier to see what really fits.

SV

 

I, too, am curious about whether you're using full-blown CAD or other software. I will shortly begin planning a large-ish layout and need some direction on software!
Thanks,
-Alex

Thanks to all for the compliments.....I will be building the benchwork that the track you see will run onto off the diamonds next week....pictures will be posted when there is something to see :)

I use CAD programs - in my ship design company we use AVICAD and DraftSight for 2D drawing, both of which are fully AutoCAD compatible. DraftSight is available for free less some of the more exotic features you might never use anyway....

http://www.3ds.com/products-services/draftsight-cad-software/free-download/   

AVICAD is a lower cost alternative to AutoCAD which is every bit as functional at a fraction of the cost. 

www.avicad.com

Both will do the job for you.....you may note that while I do not design easements into many of my curves, when I lay the roadbed and track I build them in by eye automatically...the benefit of being a naval architect is that we work obsessively to obtain "fair " curves as part of designing smooth hull shapes. 

Bob


SandingValve Wrote:
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> Wow!
>
> Nice track arrangement, I can see the ops
> potential at Steel Jct.
>
> Did you an actual CAD program or model railroad
> specific track planning software? I like the
> fullsize printed out plans for complicated
> trackwork like you've shown. Makes it much easier
> to see what really fits.
>
> SV
>
>  

Moving along nicely Bob. That junction will be very nice to see when complete. ---  Ken