OLD Layout Information and Trackplan - Version 3
Here is the basic information on the trackplan for the layout as of June 22,
2003. This trackplan has been replaced by a newer
version. For the most current trackplan, please select the "Trackplan"
link on the left.
| Prototype |
Western Maryland Railway |
| Prototype Locations |
Semi-prototypical MD Junction and Chaffee Theme |
| Main Modeling Interests |
Roundhouse and Engine Terminal Design and
Operation
Chaffee Branch Coal Operations
Basic Industrial Switching
Freight Operation
Occassional Small-time Passenger Operation
Scratch Building WM Prototype Structures
Scratch Building WM Steam Locomotives
General Model Building and Detailing
Model Photography
|
| Era |
Late Steam through Early Diesel (Transition Era
+/-), approximately 1947-1953 |
| Room Size |
11' 9" x 10' 6" |
| Scale |
HO |
| Ruling Mainline Radius |
24" |
| Ruling Mainline Grade |
3.25% |
| Ruling Chaffee Branch (Shay) Radius |
18" |
| Ruling Chaffee Branch (Shay) Grade |
6.5% |
| Trackwork |
Hand-laid Code 70 (TBD) track and #5 turnouts.
Possibly to Proto:87 standards. I need to test radius, as it is very
tight for something like P:87. Shay trackwork will be code 55 or 70 with
#4 turnouts |
| Sub Roadbed |
1/2" Plywood "table" for yard, and free-form
on risers for the rest of the layout |
| Roadbed |
Homabed on mainline and sidings, Homasote sheet in
main yard. |
| Track Design Software |
3rd PlanIt by
Eldorado Software |
About the Prototype
The Western Maryland Railway was one of the most photogenic and interesting
railways on the east coast. It ran all the way from Baltimore Maryland
through central Maryland and out to West Virginia in the west, and southern
Pennsylvania in the north. The WM was primarily thought of as a coal
carrier, although it did handle lots of types of traffic through its
participation in the Alphabet Route. Passenger operations were fairly
spartan, and consisted of very short passenger trains typically headed by one
of the Baldwin K2 4-6-2 locomotives.
Maryland Junction and the nearby Ridgely Yard were located near Cumberland
Maryland, on the West Virginia/Maryland border, nestled right next to the
Potomac River. While MD Junction did not have shops the size of those in
Hagerstown, it did have a very sizeable roundhouse, good shops, and one of the
more modern and more interesting A-shaped coal towers.
In the late steam era, the Maryland Junction roundhouse was home to, among
others, hulking H9 Consolidations, enormous J1 4-8-4 Potomacs and one of
the largest and most powerful classes of decapods ever built, the I2.
This mixture of serious road power makes MD Junction a natural place to model
if you are into building and / or detailing locomotives.
From Maryland Junction, trains left east towards Hagerstown and Baltimore, south
to Chaffee and on to Elkins, and north to Cumberland and other points.
Chaffee and Vindex are well known to WM fans as the home of the Shay
locomotives. The grades up to the coal mines on the chaffee branch were
so steep and the curves so severe, that only a geared locomotive like a shay
could handle the trip up and back. Even the massive Shay #6 (now run by
the Cass Scenic Railroad) could only handle a few loaded hoppers on its
downhill run back to the siding off the mainline.
If you are interested in Maryland Junction, track and other plans are available
from the Western Maryland Railway Historical Society.
Trackplan
Here is the latest version of the trackplan (updated 2003-06-20). It is a simple
"Out and Back" plan with a stub yard. It addresses the window access
problem as well as provides more places for the trains to go, a larger
operating pit and access to the closet. This was achieved mainly by
reducing the minimum radius from 26" to 24" and by making the coal mine
operation less prototypical (no switchback or engine house, and a reduced coal
yard). In addition, the round house is only a partial round house (it
ends at the walls). This means that I will have few full-length stalls,
but the view from the turntable will look very nice.
This version has a yard based upon the "Metro Yard" from the May 2003 Railmodel
Journal. I made some changes to that plan to allow for a larger radius
and turnouts (the plan in RMJ has 18" and 15" radiuses, and #4 turnouts,
definitely not appropriate for the motive power I want to use), to widen the
track spacing under the coal tower, and to allow for a larger roundhouse with a
larger turntable (16" instead of 12"). In doing so, I removed a lot of
the switching targets and industries from the RMJ plan. If you are
interested in switching and will run small locomotives and cars, I highly
recommend that you look at that yard plan - it fits a lot of nice "things"
in a 12' by 6'8" L-shaped area.
This plan is simple enough that I can just build this, and quit agonizing over
plans. After a year of trying plan after plan, it's time to build :-)
Of course, I'll have my hands full building turnouts and the one double slip
switch, but I was interested in trying those anyway. Plus, I think I'm
going to need to sell my soul to Circuitron to pay for all those
Tortiose Switch Machines!
I took some liberties with locations. For example, Cumberland station is
not (in the 12":1' version) in the way to Chaffee and Elkins. However, in
my world, it is :-)
To download the trackplan in 3rd Plan-It format for your own personal use, click
here.
Elevations
-
The roundhouse, engine terminal, main yard and switch lead are all at level
1 (48" off the floor, 0" elevation) - high enough to provide a
closer-to-track-level view, and to keep the cats from jumping on top when I
leave the door open. It also makes getting to the access locations
easier. For reference, I am 5'11" tall.
-
The hopper siding is at level 2 (53", 5" elevation)
-
The large coal mine is at level 3 (58" off the floor, 12" elevation
Engine Terminal Detail
3d Views
Here are some 3d views of the layout. They help visualize the above track
plan much better. You'll need to use your imagination when it comes to
scenary and benchwork
Here you can see the roundhouse and coal tower. It is modeled after
Maryland Junction, but is obviously heavily compressed. I'm really
looking forward to building that coal tower. I have some great photos
from the WMRHS and other sources. It is a very large, very
interesting timber frame structure.
Here is another view of the coal loader, sanding tower, water towers, turntable
and yard.
Here you see tracks coiled around a small mountain and leading up to two
coal mines. You can also see the mining village, and below that, the two
industries. Behind the village you can see the first coal mine. Up
and to the right, you can see the second coal mine. Keep in mind that I
never modeled the mountains, just the base "ground level", so the tracks appear
to be floating in air.
Interesting Prototypical Structures
These are some of the prototypical structures I made a point of putting in the
layout, as I want to build them.
-
Coal Mines (to be based on mines in Chaffee)
-
Western Maryland Cumberland Station (not in its correct location, plans
from MR "Millennium" Issue)
-
Maryland Junction Coal Tower (lots of photos, will have to infer plans)
-
Maryland Junction Water Pump House (will infer plans from photos)
-
Maryland Junction Sand Tower (will infer plans from photos)
-
Maryland Junction Water Towers (will infer plans from photos)
-
Maryland Junction Engineer's Bunk (Overnight) House (no photos yet)
-
Maryland Junction Ash Pit and Hoist (will infer plans from photos)
-
MY Tower (not in its correct location, will infer plans from photos)
-
Maryland Junction Engineer's Register Room and Tool House (no photos yet)
Main Operations (single operator)
Made up trains are sent out to the coal siding where they drop off empties and
pick up loads. The shay locomotive takes the empties up to the two mines
where it exchanges them for loads.
The mainline train also serves the two industries below the mine, and Cumberland
Station.
Yard Operations
The yard has a decent amount of operation in an of itself. Trains can be
assembled and broken down, of course, but there are also four "industries" (the
pump house, the overnight house and two other TBD), as well as the coal
dumper for the coal tower.
Problems / Open Issues
1) No staging. I may revisit this by providing cassette access off the end
of the switch lead or something.
2) Radius is not as large as I would like. I think this will prevent me
from building to proto:87 specs. However, if that ends up being the case,
I will go as far finescale as I can and still allow for operation.
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