any real railroad plans?

hi all. i'm designing the plan for my railroad model. one of the biggest problems i'm encountering is i don't know how the things work in real life. i mean that since railroads companies has engineers spending their lives in studying the best layouts, probably i won't be as smart as they are (at least because they've got much experience in the field).

i'm here to ask if any of you has plans of real railroads, and expecially of real rail stations. i'd like to learn as much as possible before starting working on my layout.

oh, another thing: i checked on amazon.com for some books on this argument and i found tens and tens of books showing many layouts of any size. can you give me some advices?

thanks in advance.

cheers.

ps: excuse my poor english :)

Reply to
Gianni Rondinini
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Reply to
David P Harris

Most of the freight yards are a combination of the needs and what land is available. There are several parts of the yard and each of them needs access to the other parts in a certain order. Going out on the road, the track tends to want to try and stay as level as possible without bad curves and moving dirt about as best possible. There the price of each path is calculated for how much it is going to cost to make and how much it is going to cost to run compared to a straight line. I think that Linn Wescott wrote a book on the basics of railroad layout but it may have been somebody else.

-- There are more Democrats on the Calif. Special Election than Republicans! Go count if you don't believe me! Bob May

Reply to
Bob May

Go back to amazon.com and pick up the book "Track Planning for Realistic Operation: Prototype Railroad Concepts for Your Model Railroad" by John Armstrong. Model railroading requires comprimise, and this book will do a great job of helping you make the transition between the prototype and the model.

Lynn Gobin Rochester, MN

Reply to
Lynn Gobin

Lynn=A0Gobin replied: Go back to amazon.com and pick up the book "Track Planning for Realistic Operation: Prototype Railroad Concepts for Your Model Railroad" by John Armstrong. Model railroading requires comprimise, and this book will do a great job of helping you make the transition between the prototype and the model.

---------------------------------------------------- I agree with Lynn. This has been one of the most helpful books I have. John Armstrong is a master when it comes to layout planning.

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Another good book is "Classic Railroads You Can Model":
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Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:
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History of N Scale:
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Links to over 700 helpful sites:
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Reply to
Bill

Absolutely!!! Outstanding book.

Get this book. Then read it about seven times. No, read it three times, then draw some track plans, read it again, draw some track plans, read it again... do *that* seven times. Then build.

-dave

Reply to
Dave Curtis

You can look at maps on the Topozone site for free.

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Go to the town or place you want and set the scale to 1-10,000. Yards with lots of track are a bit hard to see well but smaller yards, sidings and other track arangements are fairly easy to make out. You can also find old grades that were abandoned long ago in the topo detail. I was able to trace the right of way for the long abandoned Texas Midland for most all of its

130 mile route. Bruce

Reply to
Bruce Favinger

''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' Hi,

You're english is better than mine at times!

Anyway, here are a couple links which may also be of help and/or interest to you. You don't have to actually read and memorize every word, but just pick and choose what looks of interest to you. It should be informative if nothing else in your planning.

Paul - "The CB&Q Guy" Illinois, * USA *

Reply to
Paul K - The CB&Q Guy

Gianni wrote: showing many layouts of any size. can you give me some advices?

-------------------------------------------------- Gianni, I have several good sites with layout plans on my favorite sites page:

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Maybe you'll find something you like!

Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:

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History of N Scale:
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Links to over 700 helpful sites:
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Reply to
Bill

Gianni wrote: showing many layouts of any size. can you give me some advices?

----------------------------------------------------- Gianni, there are more sites with layout plans on the Model Railroad FAQ page:

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Bill Bill's Railroad Empire N Scale Model Railroad:
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History of N Scale:
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Links to over 700 helpful sites:
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Reply to
Bill

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