Contact: John Johnston.
| Size: | 13 feet by 23 feet | |
| Scale: | N Scale | |
| Prototype: | Pennsylvania Railroad between Works Tower and MO Tower. The layout represent the East Slope area between the west entrance to Altoona Yard, including Altoona Station, and MO Tower at the east entrance to the Town of Cresson. | |
| Era: | 1966-1967, the last years of the Pennsylvania Railroad prior to its merger with the New York Central to form Penn Central. | |
| Track: | Atlas Code 55 on the modeled portion of the railroad, Peco Code 80 in staging yards and helix. | |
| Control: | Digitrax Wireless DCC | |
| Benchwork: | Three level, using 3/4" plywood. |
Overview: This is my second N scale model railroad based on the Horseshoe Curve west of Altoona, Pennsylvania. The first layout, several photos of which are shown, was based on the Conrail years on the Curve. The present layout represents the Eastern Slope and the Curve in the last years of the Pennsy. Significant research was done to determine actual track locations before the layout was designed. Care was then taken to try and replicate the prototype as accurately as possible within the confines of the space available for the railroad.
Design: My previous N scale layout had incorporated a model of the Horseshoe Curve which occupied an area 8ft by 11ft and was the dominant feature of the layout. In redesigning the layout a decision had to be made whether the Curve would continue to be the dominant layout feature or whether an alternate PRR line should be looked at. The previous layout had incorporated the Curve by folding the mainline back over itself and the Curve was actually a single track main line going in opposite directions with Tracks 1 and 4 being passing sidings. This meant that a train operating between the two staging yards would pass through the Curve twice, once upbound, once downbound, or vice versa. One of my goals was to eliminate traveling through the same scene twice.
I made the decision that I wanted to model the Curve again and I also made the decision that trains would only pass through a scene once. I also wanted to achieve a mainline run of approximately 200ft. In order to maintain traffic flow around the Curve, the entire layout would have to incorporate the four track mainline. I have extensive experience in layout operations, both on a large HO scale club, and currently on a large N scale home layout, so I started by researching prototype PRR schedules for the mid 60Ős to determine the frequency of train movement and then designed a schedule for the layout. From this process I determined that a typical operating session would require the movement of 20 to 25 trains across the layout. This determined the size of the staging yards.
The next step was to look at the size of the Curve and the square footage it would occupy. After some soul searching, the inside track radius was downsized from the previous 36 inches to a more room friendly 27 inches. The new Curve would require an area 7 ft by 9 ft.
A total of 8 different plans were drawn up, leading to the final design which is a three level plan with a single helix, and two staging yards.
Operations: With the focus on the Horseshoe Curve and the four track mainline across the Alleghenies, the majority of operations will be mainline operation with an emphasis on the snapper (helper) activities between Altoona and Cresson. I had hoped to provide enough switching opportunities to include a car card operation on the layout, however, this just wasn't possible giving the constraints of the area the layout is located in.
A schedule for 1967 has been obtained and operations will replicate an actual portion of the schedule. A dispatcher will control movement over the Curve and will make helper assignments.
Progress to Date:
Current Projects Underway:
Goals:
Copyright 1996 - 2008
Last modified: November 23 2007.
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