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Subject: 
Re: Track layout for next show.
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.org.ca.vlc
Date: 
Sun, 3 Jun 2001 03:22:09 GMT
Reply-To: 
robinsather@hotmail.comAVOIDSPAM
Viewed: 
677 times
  
I took Kevin's idea and ran with it ...

Filename is "2-R0003K.tdl", at http://akasa.ca/vlc
(2 for second VLC design, R for Robin, 0003 for the number of this
design, K for Kevin who was the designer of the file I started with).

Notes:

General:
- I cleaned up Kevin's track geometry a bit.  There's only one spot
where the very slightest bit of cheating is required (over the water,
probably on the bidge).
- I changed the table arrangement a little.  The layout now is 12' by
19', which is closer to what I've told the show organizers.
- I've tried to spread out everything so that we will have people
viewing on all sides, and less crowding in any one area (see Dean's
drivein notes)

Monorail:
- I've laid out a possible monorail track.  It's smallish, elevated
the entire length, with 2 stations, one near the train passenger
station, and one downtown.  (I've put one other control point in the
line since we can't actually reach the front station from the inside
of the layout).

Trolley:
- I've shown a trolley layout running along the east side, beside the
town.  I've shown it as 4.5 volt blue track, and this might actually
be the easiest way to do it (if we don't do it as 9v with Dean
controlling it somehow).  4.5v trains can sit there and auto switch
back and forth from end to end.  At the road crossings, we can build
them up with some grey tiles, and put those flag switches in to stop
the train.  Of course, we can't reach those things from inside, but I
know that some of us will always be "floating" out and around anyway.

Hogwarts Section (Northwest corner):
- The yellow sections show where I see the ridge/mountain
approximately sitting.  I'd like to see the train go quite a long way
under the mountain.  The lower part would be the highest part of the
mountain.  The top right section wouldn't be much more than a ridge,
perhaps just high enough to provide a small tunnel for the train, or
maybe the train will just sneak around the edge of the mountain.
- The Hogsmeade station will be quite small and sit just south of the
section of track immediately to the left of the top part of the
mountain ridge.
- There is a lake at Hogwarts.  I'll build a "Whomping Willow"
(probably with a micromotor making it move a little), as well as
Hagrid's hut, and the edge of the forbidden forest.
- The castle will sit to the right of the lake, and sit against/on the
mountain.

Mountain (South side of Hogwart's section):
- This would be the highest section of mountain
- We'd put the gondola here, with a base station somewhere on the
baseplates, and a mountain station on the top of the mountain (where
else would you put it!).  Hopefully we can automate this somehow, so
that it slowly goes up and down.  There should probably be two
gondolas, one going up, and one coming down.
- I'd like to see skiers and a couple of ski runs down that side of
the mountain.
- The base station could be "disguised" as a ski chalet
- The rest of the flat area could be a forested / wiilderness area
with some hikers, perhaps horses, a cabin, a river, canoe, etc.

Freight Yard (North Side):
- Reorganized the freight yard to have "stuff" in the middle (trucks,
containers, cranes).
- I added another spur in the middle, just for fun and a little
variety (short train, extra cars, etc.)
- I would love to see a road bridge going up and over the tracks at
the top right end, where I've got the street plates.  It shouldn't be
too hard to do.  It will be steep, but that's OK.  It will add some
variety.
- The uppermost and lowermost sidings could both be lengthened by one
straight track.

Industrial Area (Northeast Corner):
- Factory?
- Dean's tanks
- Warehouse?

Town (East side):
- There's lots of space to the east of the train tracks, with lots of
streets (because we'll need all the green baseplates we can get our
hands on!).  The monorail should be able to squeeze out and back
between a few buildings in the town.
- Lots of street space for tons of vehicles, sidewalks, people, cool
scenes, etc.
- There are several prime spots for a nice park

Passenger Station, etc. (South side):
- Dean's controlled crossing over the tracks at the entrance to the
station
- Elevated monorail station
- A very small Trolley station between the trolley tracks and the 9v
passenger main line.  I see a platform going over the 9v tracks at
this point (perhaps an extension of the monorail, perhaps just coming
over from the road roundabout).  We could extend the trolley line a
little more if needed.
- The crossroad at the far left represents a parking lot
- The yellow plates represent the main passenger station and
platforms.  I moved the building to the rear so that it will be more
visible, and not block any rolling stock, especially for our viewers
of "short stature" (and greasy fingers).
- The main freight line passes behind the building
- We can put small narrow platforms between the tracks, with
containers, handcarts, waiting passengers, benches, lights, etc.
We'll connect them with an overhead walkway, or perhaps more than one.
- I've put the Hogwarts platform (9 3/4) at the extreme south (and
west) end of the station.  We'll do something creative to distinguish
it from the rest, maybe a secret doorway, revolving wall segment,
spinning stairway to a special bridge, etc.

Outskirts of Town (Southwest corner):
- I rerouted the main freight line a little more south, to line up the
tracks for a loooong straight stretch over the bridge.  I've also
lengthened the water, to allow for a larger bridge and perhaps a
section of track on pilings over the water.
- The small airfield is at the extreme southwest corner.  The yellow
area represents a "round" (or as round as we can get) roofed hangar.
The crossroad represents a parking lot with perhaps another smallish
building for the airport office, windsock, other parked planes,
helicopter pad, etc.
- Immediately to the right of the airport, I've put Dean's drive-in.
I KNOW that we're going to have a crowd around this thing constantly,
so I thought I'd put where there's not too much else going on.

Water:
- What can I say, I like water!  I also like changing the levels a
bit, so the water should be lower than the rest (of course), so I made
it little larger.
- Container ship, whales, whalewatcher boat, fishermen, maybe a tiny
lighthouse on one of the tiny island baseplates, with just a flashing
light.
- The green "island" baseplate represents where I think we should
stick some brochures, etc.  I don't think we should have as much stuff
(sets, boxes, models, etc.) out as we had last time, or, if we do it
should be on a separate table, or even inside the middle, available to
show to people (train boxes, etc.).  We could even put a small, low,
round table in the "walkway" if we wanted to.

Bridge:
- I'd like to see the bridge be the full 5 baseplates long (50"), even
though it will be supported on pilings for over half its length.  I'd
still like to see a fairly tall suspension or cable stayed bridge.



Message has 2 Replies:
  Re: Track layout for next show.
 
(...) I also uploaded a gif image of the design, same filename with .gif extension. Robin (23 years ago, 3-Jun-01, to lugnet.org.ca.vlc)
  Re: Track layout for next show.
 
Robin Sather wrote in message <3b19ad33.14192695@l...et.com>... (...) OK, I had another go at this - it's looking way better! You did a great job improving the track layout, Robin. Next filename is 2-K0004R.tdl and .gif. Here's comments: North end (...) (23 years ago, 3-Jun-01, to lugnet.org.ca.vlc)

Message is in Reply To:
  Track layout for next show.
 
I have a TD layout that I put together last night ready to upload - as soon as I can get through to the shared area on Dean's server I'll put the TD file and a GIF of the layout up. I managed to get the track layout I sketched last night, onto a (...) (23 years ago, 2-Jun-01, to lugnet.org.ca.vlc)

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