Here is my route description in the program:
Route Author: Jonathan Bailey
Date Started: November 2017
Date Completed: December 2017
Route Name: Jonstown Double 8
This fictitious route represents a table-top scale-model train layout in a small American lakefront town setting with a snow-capped mountain and pine forest in the background on the south end of the layout. Ground-cover grass is a rich, darker Alpine green. Around Lincoln Lake (so named for my favorite American President and my favorite American luxury car), in the northwest part of the route, there is a small lakefront residential neighborhood with private boat docks, a private boys school (Barrow Boys School, a school house with bell tower founded by Frank Barrow, grandfather of the Barrow Brothers in town) with old Mrs. Banks teaching and her blue 1959 Chevrolet Impala parked up front, the front entrance to a dairy farm (Boone Farm) with Holstein cows, a rural log cabin home (the Groves Homestead with a married couple named Mr. Robert Groves and Mr. John Groves Peterson) with goats and a milk cow and the Lincoln Lake sportsman access area. Oaks, apple trees and sugar maple trees are prominent in this area. Also in downtown Jonstown, in the northeast part of the layout, nearby is a fire station, an old-west bank, a diesel refueling station (Don's Diesel Stop, owned and operated by Pastor Bob Vernon's brother, Don) for commercial trucks and buses, a gas station/convenience store/general store (Paul Johnson's Market), a doughnut shop, a jail house (which also serves as the town hall, the county seat and the post office with John Barrow, brother of David Barrow, as sheriff, mayor and postmaster), a gun shop (David Barrow Guns guarded by two German shepherd dogs in back), Dave's [railcar ] Diner (owned and operated by Dave Johnson, brother of Paul Johnson) at the train station and a small community church called First American Church with a flag pole outside and an old-fashioned preacher named Pastor Bob Vernon with his blue '53 Chevy parked outside. The mainline and Lincoln Avenue both cross over Lincoln Strait which divides Lincoln Lake from Lake Drummond (named for the 10 olive green Pullman heavyweights featured on this layout). The fictitious town on this layout with a train station also so named is Jonstown (named after yours truly). Jonstown, a county seat municipality, resides in the fictitious Pine County in some undisclosed Pacific Northwest American state west of the Rockies. Greyhound buses, taxis and even a hackney serve people in town by getting them to and from the train station. The hackney also connects folks in town with the park at Lake Drummond. 1950's and 1960's American automobiles as well as classic Mack, International and Kenworth diesel trucks dominate the scenery. The fictitious railroad, Jonathan Home RR, has one customer freight siding and a Lake Drummond yard nearby the station platform in the larger lobe of the figure 8. Lake Drummond, in the large (northern) lobe of the figure 8, also has a park with a public boat ramp. The smaller rural (southern) lobe of the figure 8 has a mountain rail tunnel with a surrounding pine forest and rural scenes as wildlife, cowboys, cattle, old-west horse wagons on a dusty trail and sheep-herder scenes. The fictitious mountain is Pine Mountain. There is a small pond toward the middle of these pine woods called Squatch Pond as the big hairy fellow has been purported to have been sighted in those parts frequently. This is a favorite watering hole of animals. Buffalo River connects Squatch Pond with Lake Drummond. The river flows through the figure 8 crossover from northwest to southeast. The ground-level tracks bridge this river only about 3 feet above the water surface and the horse wagon trail runs along the river bank near the figure 8 crossover. The horse wagon trail, as well as the cross-under track river bridge and the river, is bridged by the overhead tracks of the figure 8 crossover. This is an interesting figure 8 crossover as there is a high train bridge crossing another much-lower train bridge underneath. Squatch Dam, masonry stone and arched, on the east side of the pond forms Squatch Pond by impeding the Buffalo River. Buffalo River flows from the [imaginary] overflow spillway of Squatch Dam in an easterly direction away from the figure 8 crossover under a low horse-wagon bridge in the pine forest , under a high and short railroad bridge just before the eastern high tunnel portal, under another low horse-wagon bridge paralleling Highway 25 East, under a low bridge on Highway 25 East and then terminates at the eastern edge of the train table with Table Edge Dam. This dam is straight and dark masonry. The river flows into the [imaginary] dam overflow ports. Since this is a layout representing a portion of the world, everything disappears at table's edge into oblivion anyway. But real flowing water at the edge of the world has to be dealt with accordingly. The river even at the edge has to flow somewhere. In a physical layout, the water would flow into this dam's intake ports, down the hollow dam wall and into a water collection tank under the table with about 50 gallons of water in it at all times. The water would be pumped back into the water system via a culvert pipe (running under the road near this lake shore) at the western shore of Lincoln Lake thus creating an artificial current. Buffalo River would be a lower water surface level east of Squatch Dam. There is a road construction scene near the front entrance of the northern train yard on Drummond Road which also goes the other way to the southern boat launch area.
-G scale figure-8 double-track system mainline for two-way train traffic with graded track on sloping embankment (raised earth, not trestles) leading to and from a central rail bridge where the 8 mainline tracks cross over and under
-L-shaped trainboard
-inside track curve radius: 17.50 feet
-track spacing on mainline loop center to center is about 0.90 feet
-mainline loop (figure 8) lap distance is about 1.10 scale miles or about 181.50 actual feet
-trainboard actual dimensions: a L-shaped table 106.4' long at stem of L x 90.4' across at base of L
-trainboard actual area: about 7,064 sq. ft.
-bridge clearance from ground-level track rails at figure-8 overpass: about 0.72 feet or about 23 scale feet: there is adequate clearance for TTX triple-decker Autorack railcars
-railroad and motor roadway bridge clearances over Lincoln Strait at lowest parts of sloping bridge decks: about 9.60 scale feet (3.60 inches actual) from water surface below which is about 0.75 scale meters below trainboard ground level zero (real water would be used on physical layouts)
-Buffalo River is not navigable by boats from Lake Drummond as the Drummond Road bridge over the river near the mouth and leading into the boat launch area and the railroad track river bridge of the figure 8 crossover have only about three feet of bridge clearance from the water surface
-G-scale boats should not have air drafts exceeding 3.50 actual inches
-maximum grade percentage on RR tracks used: about 2.27%
-super-elevation: no, but this may be used on a physical model layout
-easement curves: no, but physical layouts may use them
-mainline max. speed limit: 25 mph
-roadway max. speed limit: 35 mph
-horse-drawn vehicle speeds: 8 scale mph with trotting-gait animals
-boat speed under bridges: 5 mph max.
NOTE: There is a scale-model Bell Jet Ranger helicopter to take you for a birds-eye view of the layout overhead.
This is my vision of the future of the scale-model transportation hobby. Trains, road vehicles, animal-drawn vehicles, boats and aircraft constructed with Swiss-watch precision and all operating autonomously. The trains, of course, would also offer manual operation as in Digital Command Control layouts.
This layout is set inside a building with rural American wall backdrop scenery, floor to ceiling.
This route gives the impression of rural, Pacific Northwest America with big panoramic skyline, pine forest, lakes, a river, cattle ranches, small farms, cow towns, wildlife, lush green vegetation, big trees and big mountains.
This is a Trainz TS12, Build 61388, simulated (virtual) route.
