If I Had a Million Dollars

In a previous life (that's how we refer to our employment etc... prior to our current job at work) I worked in a machine shop. The guy that ran the shop was a huge fan of the Canadian band The Barenaked Ladies. For those who are unfamiliar with the group that brought us the song "One Week" , most likely those who have not been subjected to Canadian radio, as other than Nickelback and The Tragically Hip, The Barenaked Ladies seemed to get the most air time. I think there is a law or something dealing with giving Canadian artists airtime but maybe that's just a rumor started by us bloody Yanks who were forced to listen because no US radio stations, even the ones 30 minutes away, seemed to come in reliably.

Anyway to get back on track, The Barenaked Ladies have a song titled "If I Had $1000000" where the singer goes on and on about what he would do with that much money. The question of what we would do if we had a million dollars has even been used to gauge career satisfaction such as in the movie Office Space. Of course Luis' answer was "Two chicks..." wait this is a family friendly blog, well mostly family friendly.

So one day I asked myself what layout would I build if money was not an issue. Imagine for one minute that like John Hammond in Jurassic Park "We spared no expense" on our empires and cost and space were not an issue. What would we come up with? So I started planning what I dubbed early on as "The Million Dollar Layout". That said I got most the way done with this track plan when more ideas struck, but since I liked this plan I kept it and will start working on 2 other track plans  the 1.5 million and the 2 million dollar track plans.  The main purpose of these plans is to get more practice with XtrackCAD but also so I quit sitting bolt upright in bed with still more layout ideas.

So without further ado I present the track plan for the Million Dollar Layout:

Phase 1

The idea of this layout plan is to always have a functional layout but also be able to continue building for years without losing interest. It is for this reason that Phase 1 is a switching layout based on Yuma Arizona. The layout contains industrial switching as well as branchline running. A temporary reverse loop staging yard on the west end and a loop yard inside the proposed helix to connect to phase 3 allows for mainline trains to operated as well. The original plan was for phase 1 to be built on a raised platform above the floor and for the layout to sit 50 inches above this platform. This would eliminate the need for a duck under as a pit and stairs could be utilized to get under the layout at the crossing of the Colorado River. The primary function of phase 1 is to serve as a switching layout and most of the switching in an op session would occur here. By starting the layout construction here I can accomplish my goal of always having an operating layout as once the main yard area is completed the rest of phase 1 can be completed without disrupting the rest of the layout.

Phase 1 Yuma Area and Somerton Branchline

Phase 2

Phase 2 is the Yuma Subdivision portion of the layout. Some of the hidden trackage of Phase 2 is below the visible layout from Phase 1 and so it might be constructed concurrently with Phase 1 but not made operational until Phase 2.  Construction of Phase 2 would begin at the West Colton Staging area.  This two level staging yard will function similar to the actual west Colton Yard minus the hump and classification tracks and have a separate arrival  (lower level) and departure (upper level) yards. The layout will then progress around the room from staging until it joined and was connected to Phase 1 just railroad west of Araz Siding. The idea being that this connection would be made only after the rest of Phase 2 was ready for operation as it would require the removal of Phase 1's temporary west end staging. In Phase 1 the east end layout staging would be constructed on the mezzanine level with a direct connection to the helix that is being constructed in preparation of Phase 3. This Phase 3 bypass will allow for operations of only Phase 1 and 2 after completion of the layout if participation levels or time dictate.

Phase 2 Lower level staging




Phase 2 Sceniced Level Yuma Subdivision





Phase 2 East End Staging Tucson

Phase 3

The final phase will be the construction of the Tucson Division Phoenix and Gila Subs. While on this track plan the Tucson Division is not given as much attention as the Yuma Sub I feel many of the highlights have been covered. Phase 3 begins at the helix and utilizing a flyover crosses the aisle where it will run down the middle of the stairs to the mezzanine. Operations for this area will be from both sides of the layout until Wellton where the Phoenix and Gila Subs split. Double sided operations will resume on the short run from Picacho, where the subdivisions rejoin, to Tucson.

Phase 3 Tucson Division Phoenix & Gila Subdivisions

So there it is, I appologize that some of the disconects in the drawings such as different tools being used to draw layout edges. As I have stated previously I am still learning the program and perhaps by the time I finish the plan for the 2 million dollar layout I will have it all figured out. Until then lets just sit back and enjoy the journey.

Lessons learned from phase 3

All right time to get back on track and discuss layout design. For those of you that enjoyed the discussion brought on by the last couple posts fear not there are probably plenty more topics I can stir the pot on.  The point of the last post was to start a discussion and I feel that the discussion went well.  So many times in life we have one view point jammed down our throats and this is true of our hobby as well. Opposing views are something ee shouldnt shy away from or censor but rather hear out. Even if the other person is completely wrong we can usually find something positive in their viewpoint, even if it is more evidence that we are correct in our view.

So getting back to the YPG Lines, as stated previously I have finished the track plan for the million dollar layout and am now working on cleaning it up so it can be posted.  This however takes time and as we know hobby time is precious.  The last month has seen the start of the school year and as the spouse of a teacher it means there are many nights where I have to just git er done in terms of the household. Multitasking is not really my thing so getting our kindergartner to do her homework (yes you read that right), dinner on the table, everything prepped for the next day and the kid to bed is exhausting to say the least. Add to that my 50+ hour a week schedule which is working overnight, sometimes on my days off I just dont want to do anything and that includes hobbies. 

I have also been trying to organize the spare bedroom which houses my hobby work area as well as a lot of my gear for work. It also seems to be the defacto storage room when the wife decides to have company, so needless to say there was/is a lot of junk in there. 

Last month was also my 10th wedding anniversary and so what little hobby time I had got devoted to that. No I did not give my wife a train for our anniversary however I did put the woodworking skills I have learned through this hobby to good use. 

Finally writting this blog takes time, I am not complaining but rather offering insight into why it is taking me so long to publish the track plan.

So what lessons did I learn this time around, other than getting clubbed over the head by a few lessons from previous phases that hadn't sunk in.

So with out further ado here, in no particular order, are the lessons learned in the planning of phase 3:

It always looks better in your head

Track plans always look better in your head before they are bogged down by such irritating constraints such as maximum footprint, minimum radius, aisle width etc...  we can come up with some elaborate ideas in our head but until we put them on paper we dont see where they dont work.  

Sometimes putting them on paper isnt enough either, when I was doing track plans with pencil and paper it was easy to cheat and make it fit. Using CAD has definately helped lower the number of times something was made to fit but does not eliminate it.  

I had a very nice idea for how I would utilize the wasted space inside a turnback curve, however when put on paper it took more space than it actually saved. The phase 3 that made the final million dollar plan is much reduced from what I had envisioned, and that has given rise to the 1.5 Million and 2 Million dollar track plans. Stay tuned.

Triple check your clearances especially in aisle

I think last time I said double check your clearances, well I learned that perhaps we need to triple or even quadruple check them. Despite my best efforts I still found areas where my aisle pinchpoints were way too narrow.

Have a good idea of operations before you start

For the most part I just followed the track arrangement Southern Pacific had in place however when planning the few urban areas it would have been nice to have more information on the local operations and industries. I managed to find a 1981 SPINS book for the Phoenix Sub in the collection at the California State Railroad Museum and this yielded a plethora of information that I did not know. 

It also left me with a ton more questions, such as what type of cars service a Nuclear Power Plant and what do they haul?  I am still attempting to locate a SPINS book for the Gila Sub however there is more anecdotal evidence available on this subdivision than the Phoenix Subdivision. Unfortunately the information for Roll AZ and Wellton AZ appear to have been ommited from the Phoenix Sub SPINS book despite all or part of that location being on the Phoenix Sub.

Color code early and often

Finally color code your track plan early and often, most of the clean up work I have to do involves color coding as right now the plan is a bunch of black lines of the same width making it hard for someone unfamiliar with the plan to decifer it.  I am working on making all the lines representing backdrop blue. And using the layout edge tool to mark the edge of the layout instead of the lines I used to mark the aisles for reference while planning. 

The one downside is I have not figured out how to round corners with this tool, so claritys sake for now the corners will be angular with the understanding that they could be rounded during construction.

So those were the lessons learned this time, I am sure there will continue to be new lessons on each step of the journey, but hey that is what makes this fun.