The Little Rock Line (N)

[Allen]

The Winnfield Local passes under the Wyatt Rd. bridge as a storm rolls in.

[Allen]

In 1986 a good friend of mine was sharing an apt, we both enjoyed N scale.
We had joined a local club right out of High School and had each built several N Trak modules, after a short while the group switched the modules to HO and we were left without a group to set them up with. One night we started brainstorming, trying to design a small layout in our apt so we could have something to run on. Jim tried to incorporate our modules into the layout but without much luck.

Jim, myself and some friends went to a train show in KC a few weeks later where we stumbled across an HOn3 layout that had tracks on both sides of one module. All the way home we discussed and doodled some ideas that that layout triggered with us.
What we ultimately came up with was a new design for N scale modules that we called Bend Track. You can find out more about it here: Bend Track

Our group was very active up until 1997 with some 20 members. Our last show was the 1997 NMRA National in Madison, WI; The Lakes Jct. Meet. After we got back home most wanted to take a break from doing shows for while and soon after, some of the members moved away, got married or had passed away. I had purchased a house by then and we had them setup in the basement until 2008 when Jim passed away suddenly.

By then I had was hankering for a real home layout, something I could go downstairs and work/play on whenever I wanted to at the drop of a hat, instead of having to deal with all the logistics that went into a weekend show for a few times a year. Not to mention the modules didn't hold the abilities for operations much, something which I was starting to get interested in. So instead of rebuilding the modules, I put them in storage and started working on a home layout that was going to be designed around Operations.

By the end of 2008 I had the biggest share of the benchwork up and had started laying down the track soon thereafter.
Instead of reposting everything I'll just post a link to the first page of my blog which I started soon after the construction began: The Little Rock Line

The image in the post above was the last thing I did on the layout before starting this forum: The Wyatt Rd. Overpass
My build thread here will just start from there.

[LorenC]

That is a photo that Lance Mindheim would approve off. Perfect balance of structure vs. nature, intersecting lines and sky replacement. Well worth printing, framing and putting on the wall.

[Allen]

I've decided to back the clock up a bit instead of starting this new build thread as just a continuation of the blog for the sake of anyone who is not familiar with my layout.

In the beginning I had chosen to model The Rock as if it had not gone under in 1980, but instead had made it through the last bankruptcy and it was now 1983 and they were actually on their way to making some profits.
You can read about it here: The Plan

A lot has changed since I started in 2008. The operations have changed several times, which caused the track plans to change including the main staging yard at Little Rock/ Alexandria and the yard in El Dorado.

This is pretty close to what I have at the present. The staging yard tracks have completely changed, and I have plans to redo the yard at El Dorado.



With the first round of Ops, El Dorado was the halfway point on the layout. At that time there were two "Out & Back" locals that originated there, a northbound and southbound. There were four freights that originated out of the staging yard (Little Rock/Alexandria) that fed cars to the yard in El Dorado and the two locals. The W&OV (Warren & Ouachita Valley served the town of Malvern after acquiring that branch from The Rock (yes, I rewrote history a bit) and it ran a train from Malvern to El Dorado and back to do their interchange. There is also a live interchange at Ruston between The Rock and the ICG.
We also had at least 8 through freights that ran from staging to staging which later grew to twelve.

All in all we moved between 16-22 trains per sessions and had a lot of fun with up to 8 crew members per session.

Moving the clock forward a few years, participation dwindled a bit and the crews dropped to around 3-5 per session, so setting a up a full session became a chore and a waste of time because we couldn't get everything moved in one session. We talked about splitting the sessions and running one half one session and the second half the next session, but that never materialized.

Finally one night I decided to go back and completely erase the history that I rewrote and operate it closer to the way it they did in the final few years with a few exceptions. I had been talking with a few friends about this, which included Joe Atkinson.
I had the privilege to Op Joe's layout a couple of times and had a chance to talk to him in depth about his Ops. What I came up with was focusing on one train that did all of the work. Which was pretty close to the way the real Rock did it towards the end and kind of the way Joe Op'ed his layout.

This would allow me to focus on moving cars and not trains, it also allowed me to slow things down, which is the way Joe ran his, at a much reduced speed which would stretch the time out and make things more relaxed. After a little bit of planning, a buddy and I ran a few test runs to see if things would gel. When I decided to give it a full run, we invited Joe down for a full session to give it a go. Quin and Joe worked the train while I watched and took mental notes. Everything went as planned.

So the plan now is to have just one train work the entire layout in an "Out and Back" style. The local will be staged in Little Rock and run southbound across the layout to Alexandria (in a CCW direction), it'll do any work that's needed, then tie onto another cut of cars that are also prestaged at Alexandria then run back northbound to Little Rock (in a CW direction).
The local will still interchange with the W&OV at Haskell and also with the ICG at Ruston.
If we have enough crews on hand, I'll have two through freights ready in the staging yard.

With the reduced operations set, changes could now be made to the staging yard and the yard at El Dorado. Last October I started by tearing up the old staging up completely and started over using a whole lot less track and a much smaller yard. Here's a link to the blog where I started: Staging Renovation

Here is what I started with



This is the general idea of what I had planned



At the time of this pic, all the track was down and in place.



Ballasted with some greenery started.



The start of the Wyatt Rd. overpass.



I plan to ballast the engine facility next, then to move to El Dorado and start the renovation there.
I would have been there by now, but a few friends had a crazy idea about starting up a new modeling forum...

[Paul S.]

What! You put off the most enjoyable and relaxing task in model railroading -- namely ballasting -- to start this forum?

You and your friends are a bunch of sickos!

[TomTheRockIslandGuy]

I was terrified of ballasting. Not particularly good at it when I tried it years ago, plus all the horror stories.

Then...I took my time. Used real rock.

It is relaxing. Even enjoyable.

[Ron McF]

participation dwindled a bit and the crews dropped to around 3-5 per session

Hi Allen.

After all the effort you went to, that must have been quite disheartening. Was there any particular reason for the declining crew numbers? I can still easily get the 8-9 operators that I want for a session to run properly, but I find that some of them now lose interest part way though the session and we don't move as many cars as we used to. I've even considered shedding a few guys who've been in the crew for a long time, and replacing them with guys who've shown more interest.

Regards,
Ron

[Allen]

Hi Allen.

After all the effort you went to, that must have been quite disheartening. Was there any particular reason for the declining crew numbers?

Hey Ron,yes, a little.
Not running everything that was staged was kind of a bummer, but more so doing all the work of staging so things ran smoothly (operational wise) and then not getting everything run is what was disheartening.

There's several reasons I think that may have caused the decline.
We've lost several older members.
A couple have moved away.
Others have moved on with life, family or jobs.

Most of the crews I had weren't really into Ops (but some wanted to learn), but would rather just run trains, which is fine. That's why I had so many staged through trains.
I think there were a couple who may have thought it was to hectic and confusing due to the fact they weren't big into Ops and didn't understand what to do? Some of this was due to one guy (I'm sure we have one in our midst) who LOVED trains and thought he knew everything. He enjoyed being a Yardmaster and instead of following the schedule for when to release trains, he'd shove them out the yard as fast as he could, then the whole layout would come to a standstill because of the limited sidings.

I can still easily get the 8-9 operators that I want for a session to run properly, but I find that some of them now lose interest part way though the session and we don't move as many cars as we used to. I've even considered shedding a few guys who've been in the crew for a long time, and replacing them with guys who've shown more interest.

Regards,
Ron

That would probably be a good thing to try Ron, maybe even have some sort of a rotating list of members?
An odd thing about the modelers in our community, we have quite a few, most with layouts, but the whole town seems kind of cliquish?
If you aren't close friends it seems , you won't be invited. Which is a shame...

I think with my new reduced Ops plan, i should be able to keep 4-6 guys busy for a few hours and keep things more relaxed and inviting?

[Allen]

What! You put off the most enjoyable and relaxing task in model railroading -- namely ballasting -- to start this forum?

You and your friends are a bunch of sickos!

Well what can I say Paul, I couldn't find a way to get away from that finger that was poking me in the back for the past year or so.
As far as ballasting, as much as I enjoy it, you need a break from it now and then and building the forum seemed to be the ticket, or at least I thought it was.

Sickos? I guess I need to take more time and examine my choice of friends better?

[Allen]

I was terrified of ballasting. Not particularly good at it when I tried it years ago, plus all the horror stories.

Then...I took my time. Used real rock.

It is relaxing. Even enjoyable.

The first time I tried it I figured "How hard can this be? Spread out the ballast and add a little glue...." Yeah my first attempt looked like Frosted Lumps when I got done! Ugh....

I just finished ballasting my new yard with the base layer and am very pleased with the results.


I'm trying my best to give it an appearance of an unmaintained yard. The track was laid right on the painted plywood. The ballast is a mixture of several colors of Woodland Scenics fine.
It was spread out just enough to partially cover the tracks and between them. To give it a look of half buried in dirt, I started out using a dirt colored Grout, but was having a hard time getting it to spread even. I wound up mixing the grout 50/50 with Woodland Scenics Earth fine ground foam which allowed me to spread it more evenly. The grout, even though dry changed the color of the fine foam. I used my fingers to spread the mixture over the painted plywood that didn't get covered with ballast and around the tracks.
There are still areas that need a little more covering, but I also plan to put down some grass colored ground foam as well as some static grass throughout the yard.

Like you, I've found it to actually be somewhat relaxing. To make it even better, I'll put on some good relaxing tunes as well. Most of the yard was ballasted while listening to the music from the Dino & Franky, while other nights I would listen to some of the good ol tunes from the 70's from the likes of John Denver and The Carpenters.

[Allen]

No I have not. It's just too fine and powdery, plu sit kind of clumps. Mixing it with the foam did the trick plus it gives it a bit of texture.

[herronpeter]

Allen I forgot to ask are you using SANDED grout? Plain grout is like flour and pretty useless for what we use it for….

[Allen]

It might be unsanded?
I agree with you about that.

[Michael Whiteman]

Boy, that's a far cry from your first yard in post #3. Looks very realistic to me.

[Allen]

Thank you Michael!

[Greg]

After seeing the new yard in person,,the pictures do not do it justice.

John Denver, the carpenters. Me I need music by disturbed, warkings, unleash the archers. But after a kick in the head, rainy days and mondays always get me down. Lol

[Allen]

Thanks for the kind words Greg.

[Allen]

When I designed the new yard it was planned to be just a simple staging yard. I wanted more focus on the main layout than yard operations.
There are two tracks for staging the north and south bound trains, another was for a through track for moving the consists around the yard.
There are two more shorter tracks that will hold cars that could be switched in the (yet to be built) industrial section down the middle of the yard.
There's also another longer track where I plan to hold several sets of consisted power, an idea that Joe Atkinson gave me a while back.
I also added an engine facility where I could store another set of power, a switcher and a couple cabooses.



I didn't want to have a lot of yard Ops, but wanted enough to give the crews a feeling of some. The plan is to have the road consist for the local be sitting at the house, ready for a session. When the crews come on duty, they'll grab the power and a caboose and tie it on the staged SB train then tie the consist on and head out of the yard. I figured this would be enough to give them the feeling of doing a little yard work but not get overwhelmed by completely making up the train.

The yet to be built industrial section in the yard will not really (at this time) be part of the actual session. It's more about something to do if we have some extra crews on hand. They can pull the cars out of the two yard tracks and switch out the industries, or it can be just another place that I can operate like a small independent switching layout if I feel like it.

I also had in mind that the industrial area and the buildings would also provide a three dimensional background to help hide the mainline and two green storage tracks along the actual backdrop to give the yard some visual depth. This section of the yard will come later as I get some of the building kits built and find a good position for them.

[Paul S.]

Yay, Spelking is here!

The switching district is a great idea, Allen. You have options for operations that way -- depending on time available, energy level, mood, whatever. ...

[Ron McF]

It seems to me that what you now currently have is
- a 3 track staging yard along the rear wall, and
- a small yard complete with loco service facility at the front.

Re your comment "The yet to be built industrial section in the yard will not really (at this time) be part of the actual session." This might not be so easy to achieve if the cars going to those industries also move between staging and/or other modelled industries. The problem is that if nobody is switching these industries during a session, cars will still be arriving in the yard for them and they will build up.

Regards,
Ron

[Allen]

It seems to me that what you now currently have is
- a 3 track staging yard along the rear wall, and
- a small yard complete with loco service facility at the front.

Actually there are only two hidden tracks (in green) along the backdrop.
The one closest to the backdrop is considered to be part of the mainline as the trains will use it to enter and exit the front tracks.
I'm gonna keep two manifest on the green tracks and they will be run opposite of the local if needed or if I have extra crews on hand.

Yes I suppose you could consider the tracks in front with the engine facility to be "a yard".
The yard I had there was what we used for our modules, it was the only module that I kept as I could make use of it for the layout. It was way more of a yard than I needed, but it worked and I always called the staging yard, so I still call a staging yard.

After reducing the overall operations, I didn't have a need for that much yard, so I changed it to what it is now. I had the intentions to make it with only three tracks, one each to prestage the North and South bound cars for the local plus one more.
As I kept fiddling with the design, it kept growing. Like I mentioned, I'm not into yard operations and it wasn't really needed for the reduced operations. But I thought of including a engine facility, so I added it. This would allow the crew to pull the locos and the caboose and add them to the staged cars, thus giving the feeling that they are doing a little yard work and not get caught up in switching the cars around. The plan is to 0-5-0 the cars and then have the crews attach the caboose and locos.
Joe Atkinson gave me the idea of the consist storage, so I added that. This will have several sets of consisted locos that i can swap out for each session thus giving the illusion of having different power each time we run.

By the time I had it all laid out I saw there was enough room down the middle of the yard, so the idea of using up some of kits that I had stashed away for years would be nice to fill it in and thought they might also serve as a 3D backdrop to somewhat conceal the three rear tracks. I also thought it might be nice to be able to see trains sitting behind the buildings which might give the illusion of depth? Then knowing the buildings would be there, the idea of having some industrial tracks installed to serve some of the buildings by rail might be a nice feature?

Re your comment "The yet to be built industrial section in the yard will not really (at this time) be part of the actual session." This might not be so easy to achieve if the cars going to those industries also move between staging and/or other modelled industries. The problem is that if nobody is switching these industries during a session, cars will still be arriving in the yard for them and they will build up.

Ron, I do not plan to have the cars that are sitting on the two short blue yard tracks be part of the overall ops on the main layout.
They are only sitting there so they can be moved in and out of the "yet to be built" industrial tracks.

Look at the industrial tracks (in blue) as nothing more than a mini switching layout within a layout.
Again if we have extra crews on hand, they can play around and switch the industrial tracks, or if I don't feel like setting up the entire layout, I can just screw around and play in the industrial area, something to scratch an itch as it were.

It's basically the same thing I can do in Malvern. That can be played with as a mini switching layout within the main layout without having to stage the entire layout. If we don't move the cars during a session, they'll serve a static scenery.

I hope that gives you a clearer idea of how things will work?

[Michael Whiteman]

I think you should "stick a fork in it" , call it done and start runnin' some trains.

[Russ C]

Yep, call it done Allen, the details can bog you down for years otherwise....