The Kayton Short Line - 2
2. Track plan for the Kayton Short Line.
2
trundles in and services the industries. I love the ’60s and ’70s
era of first- and second-generation diesels, so I aimed for the
late ’60s and use 40 and 50 foot cars plus some 36 foot covered
hoppers. I switch with either a GE 44-ton loco or an Alco S4,
both of which are nicely sized for the layout.
My main constraint is space. I had a 4x8-foot area already from
an earlier project that fell through, so I reused it. The key ele-
ments I wanted were:
Lots of car spots
A two- or three-car runaround track
Easy reach to all car spots for coupling and uncoupling
An inbound / outbound track to serve as a staging track
Did I mention lots of car spots?
As with all model railways, the first issue is coming to grips
with compromise. I wanted 22 inch and 24 inch radius curves
with long spurs. I very quickly realized that 18 inch radius
curves may not look as good but they let me get more track
into a tight space. Of course, the key element is having lots of
car spots even if coupling and uncoupling on an 18 inch radius
curve is not the easiest thing to do.
The track plan evolved as I tested various combinations of
switches and lengths of flex to get enough operating room. The
plan drawn has one significant difference to the railroad actu-
ally built, in that the runaround is better fitted and longer on
the plan than on the layout.
The track plan evolved as I
tested various combinations ...
The “U” shape of the layout means it can easily butt against a
wall as, unlike an oval 4x8 layout access from both sides is not
required. It also ensures that all switches and car spots are in
easy reach for the operator.
The final layout [2] as described has 16 car spots, space for six
cars and a loco on the staging track and some spare room for
handling cars during switching. However, if you run it with 22
cars it would probably get a little busy. I started operating with
only eight freight cars and have slowly increased that num-
ber so that now I run with 19 freight cars and loco. This leaves
enough room to shuffle cars but causes some enjoyable operat-
ing “headaches.”
Track descriptions
Track 1
serves Fergus Fine Foods, a large commercial food
operation receiving fruit, flour and food oils whilst constantly
MRH-Aug 2014
