Here are some photos of the layout during both
the initial stages of track layout and since it's done.
Notice the full size print outs of the track diagram.
These were done on an HP Design-Jet 350C plotter
and made the job of figuring out what pieces fit where. There
were few changes to the turnouts I decided to make during the
track laying process, because these seemed to be more realistic.
As you can see from the following photos..some changes always
seem to take place. If you're just starting with a layout...
HAVE FUN!
This is the North Yard with Passenger Station in the rear. Also you can just see the Z Stuff crossing gates.
There is still a lot of work on the scenery, but I just want to be sure everything works as it is. I also have
plans to add another 081 loop around the outer perimeter giving two complete running tracks for trains.
This is the beginning of the North Yard. The outer tracks are passing tracks and
I have plans on adding another O81 outer loop to the
entire layout. This will offer two complete main lines for operation with at least 2 passing tracks per main.
The Z-Stuff Crossing Gates are activated by optical detectors included in the pack.
As I have trains running in both directions on these tracks,
I followed their directions for the use of two additional optical block detectors and it works great.
This is the early stages of the North Yard as you can see the major switching has not yet been installed.
Pretty simple start for a busy yard.
It's not too hard to fill in the space with track and switches. Perfect yard for my soon to be converted CNJ SW9
Low close up of the Atlas SF Dash 8 coming out of the North Yard with a consist of Atlas center feed cars.
The tank train is headed by a lash up of 2 Atlas NS Dash 8's. A little artistic license with Adobe provided a pseudo ballast
effect between the tracks. Eventually, coarse black ballast will work in the yards with coarse dark grey or mixed color
on the remaining main lines.
This track section (above)is the west transition from the North Yard to South Yard and tracks.
As the yard feeds off the center track of the three, the turnouts provide a means of direction change
and yard access without taking a full circuit of the layout.
In this early stage photo, you can see the full size templates for laying out the track.
In the photo below you can see how things changed.
I've added two turnouts at the Eastern end of the yard, one being an O72 and the second being an O72/O54.
The Atlas 21 Century Track system provides the best all around performance and appearance.
Roadbed material is the ever popular Midwest Cork.
Currently I've used about 300 feet of roadbed, as the turnouts take a little more than
a standard straight or curved track section.
Here are some of the newest revisions to the KFNRR Empire. I've added an additional 072/054 turnout into the south yard
and removed the 072 turnouts into the yard. This gave a smoother transition to the yard entrance. The major addition is
an 081 loop around the outer perimeter as well as a secondary 063 inner loop. Compare the photos above and those below.
Atlas 40" flex track makes the transitions easy and look great. I still have not finished the bench support work for the 081 loop,
so you may notice limited support for some of the track sections.
Quite a bit different than the original design...but that's the fun of it
In the Photo below, Looking East down the South Yard you can see the O72 loop at the far end
as well as the 4 sidings, two of which have a complete run through off the main line.
The future, additional O81, outer loop may be elevated to pass over the near end of this yard.
This is still in the planning stages. I'm really waiting to get the new Atlas bridge...or maybe two.
Equipment: Atlas Dash 8's SF, 2x NS; Atlas SD-35 Chessie; Atlas CNJ SW-9; K-Line NYC RS-3
and the recently reserved 3rd Rail PRR M1B Mountain which had been used for double duty (freight and passenger car service).
All engines run under TMCC with Railsounds.
A DCS setup has been ordered out of speculation, should I ever consider or get a PS2 loco.
Although I do have a couple of MTH PS1 engines, these also have Equalizers on the waiting list at Digital Dynamics and will be
fixed to run in TMCC mode.
