4x8 layout series - Black River Junction

NICNAC

New member
Hey everyone

Since the last layout (Foxshire Light Railway) took so long to complete (started it a few months before i announced it and then stalled) I have decided to revive the 4x8 layout designs often ignored by creators in this community. As you may be aware I have built a few of these 4x8s before and released them on the DLS.

I will be taking the trackplans for these layouts from Model Railroader '102 Realistic track plans: How to build realistic layouts No.5' and I intend to crank out these layouts fairly quickly using only items available on the DLS or built in to TS12.

The first layout I have been working on is the 'Black River Junction'


The layout's Description is as follows:

The Black River Junction plan is for a freelance railroad junction town set someplace in Ohio in the 1950s. Here, a Baltimore & Ohio branch line meets up with a New York Central main line.
Having an operating Junction between two railroads works on this small layout thanks in part to a 1-6" x 6'-o" four-track staging yard that runs along one edge of the railroad.

Both the B&O and the NYC keep active passenger stations in Black River, and the NYC also has a small commuter station on the outskirts of the town at 'East Switch'.

The original plan was designed for Kato Unitrack but you could easily build it with flextrack and turnouts.
And you could extend the B&O main line through the NYC's curve at the left of the plan to extend the layout onto another shelf for more staging or another town.

Don't want to set the railroad in Ohio? you could easily adapt the plan for your favorite railroads and region. The curve radii would work with four-axle diesels and 50-foot boxcars.


My intention is to release this layout in short order, just to get back into the swing of things.

Future layouts in this series are:

Deer Mountain
Dorrville Branch, NYNH&H
Havaphew Central
Illinois Midlan
Spokane Valley & Northern
The $500 Layout

BlackRiverJunction.jpg







More to follow as work progresses. This Layout has reached this stage in only 5 hours or actual construction, so expect updates to come hard and fast from now on.
 
Looks good, Are you winging it on the track layout or is there a way to do model railroad scale layouts like DEMS?
 
That's a great route and can easily be expanded.

I did Atlas' N-Scale Scenic and Relaxed and followed the plan pretty faithfully. It came out quite well and it's fun to drive. Driving it is much the same as driving the actual layout which I had built years ago.

John
 


mother nature is taking hold on this layout now :)

Also, i have no idea why this thread was shifted to the 'Screenshots' section, if anyone has any idea why, please let me know.
 
While waiting, try my Elko and Lincoln in three versions, UTC, TRS2004 and TC1 on the DLS. They work well in TS2009 sp3. They are one base board recreations of my 5.5 foot by 10 foot N scale layout. 5.5 x 10 would fill maybe 40% of a base board so I made it fill the board with broader curve and longer straights. This gave me more sidings and a bigger yard. Best of all, no dirty tracks.:eek:
 
Here is the latest batch of screenshots from the layout progress. A large amount of scenery has been completed but work is continuing fairly quickly. I am going to leave the staging area without scenery, so once released feel free to finish that area to your heart's content. There will be another version released at the same time with extra track and possibly I will redo another version as a modern-ish shortline as well. Anyway, on to the shots.







On another note, anyone know where i can get other B&O and NYC locomotives?
 
This layout has now been uploaded and is waiting to be processed. I fixed a few little issues with it and hopefully it runs smooth on everyone's computers. It is a little basic but I do not want to go overboard with the detailing like i did with the 'Foxshire Light Railway' layout i did previously. Anyone is welcome to enhance/expand this layout as long as I get credit for work already completed. Enjoy.
 
I'm intrigued by the Name Boards between the rails in Surveyor at certain locations. How was that accomplished? I'm on TRS2019 and keep forgetting where I am on the layout.
 
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