RIT show layout redesign

Redesigning the club's "large" annual display. - 2017

Annually, every December since 2005, the GGGRS has been invited to the large RIT train show:

http://www.ritmrc.org/tigertracks

A great show! the largest in the Rochester region. We have always made a large "oval" display, using tables provided by RIT, with usually a 3-track mainline around the perimeter, and an open center area for club members to hang out and run the trains:

December 2012 RIT show, photo by Matt Langworthy.

December 2012 RIT show, photo by Matt Langworthy.

December 2016 RIT show, photo by Scot Lawrence.

December 2016 RIT show, photo by Scot Lawrence.

It's a good plan, and it has served us well for over ten years, but it has one major drawback..a crawl-under to access the center of the layout, to operate the trains. All club members need to crawl on their hands-and-knees multiple times a day during the show, to get in and out of that center area. That's a major inconvenience! So we got to talking at the 2016 show, while we were sitting in that center section, after crawling to get there..how can we eliminate the crawl-under? There are two possibilities:

1. A dog-bone plan that needs no crawl-under.

2. Some sort of of draw-bridge or swing-bridge.

So I decided to see if a Dog-bone type plan could work in the same space..It can! :) using the same number of tables, and the same footprint! The only drawback is 10-foot maximum diameter for the outermost loop, rather than 15-foot.

It works! and its not a bad plan! It has 3-loops for 3 trains, same as the other plan. It has sidings for other trains on the inner and outer loops, same as the other plan. It actually has *more* empty table space for scenery than the old plan. it has a space in the middle for chairs. The two 3x3 openings can be used for access when setting up track and scenery, but wont need to be used as a regular part of operations, and, its the same footprint and the same number of tables as the old plan! Here is the new potential plan compared to the old actual plan:

 Major benefit to the dog-bone plan: No crawl-under!

Largest drawback to the dog-bone plan: Largest diameter would need to be reduced from 15-foot to 10-foot.

Personally, I like it! Further discussion will take place on this idea at future club meetings.

Part 2: Drawbridge?

There is also the possibility of retaining the old design, but eliminating the crawl-under by the use of some kind of draw-bridge, drop-bridge or swing-bridge. There was some early discussion on that at the January 2017 meeting. I will add more info on that proposal as plans and ideas develop. Nothing more right now, but more to come.

- Scot, January 2017.

Update! October 2017. I modified the plan to include more yard trackage. We have the 16-foot width (same as the pervious trackplan) might as well use it fully:

Update! December 2017.

The 2017 show has arrived! and we tried out the new trackplan for the first time! We used the "work table" and the table next to it, but pushed them together, and didnt use a 2.5 foot bridge. (It says 4-foot bridge on the trackplan above, 4-foot is wrong, it would have a 2.5 foot bridge, if we had used one, but we didnt)

Friday December 8, 2017, setting up:

Jim, Tony, Tom, Dave, Tony and Scot (who took the photos) begin setting up the tables.

Looks good so far!

Getting the track to fit was a challenge at first, getting the three circles to align was tricky. 

But it came together in the end.

The left side circles ended up coming together according to the plan, with three consecutive circles, 8-foot, 9-foot and 10-foot diameter. But the right side (photo above) ended up being a problem, because we didnt have enough 10-foot diameter track. After a bit of frustration and probably 45 minutes of trying to get something to work, without success, Jim Melton saved the day by figuring out a way to extend the outer loop using 8-foot diameter track, it worked! thanks Jim! We ended up with 8-9-10 foot on the left side, and 8-9-8 on the right! ;) but thats ok, it ended up working great. The only drawback to this new dog-bone plan was 9-foot diameter *max* on the railroad..which limits large diesels, (we had 15-foot diameter on the old plan) but the trade-off is worth it to eliminate the crawl-under.

Set-up complete on Friday.

Saturday December 9, 2017, Day-1 of the show:

Scot's Bachmann Outside-frame 2-8-0 kitbash (now a 2-8-2) makes its first run.

Dennis' Shay doubleheader passes his large scratch-built structure.

The new trackplan was a success! :) No one had to crawl under any tables! :) 

This will clearly be our new RIT trackplan going forward.

Update! March 2019:

The new track plan has been successfully used three times up to now: RIT December 2017, RIT December 2018, and Greenberg March 2019. However, each of the three times we did *not* have the full compliment of curves needed. We did have two full circles of 8' and 9' diameter, but we did not have two full circles of 10' diameter for the outermost loop, which resulted in a fair amount of fudging of random track bits to make it work. 

After some discussion at the 2019 Greenberg show, Scot drew up a proposal to see if a 15' diameter outer loop could be incorporated into the new dogbone plan. It can, but with a larger footprint than the current plan.

It was decided at the March 2019 meeting to stick to the original plan, this one:

But to get all the correct track needed to make the proper curves! ;) At the 2019 RIT show we will build the layout with the correct curves, then document all the track pieces to create one "set" of track that can always be set up the same way.

For posterity and reference, here (below) is the proposed 15-foot diameter plan, placed here so everyone can see it. perhaps it can be re-visited in the future. (the main reason for the 15-foot diameter loop is for the running of large 6-axle diesels, such as Alco PA's, E-units  and long passenger cars, SD45's and SD40-2's, which can't be run on 10-foot diameter.)

On the diagram below:

Version 1 is our *old* RIT plan, with the duck-under. No longer being used.

Version 2 is out current dog-bone plan, and will continue to be our current plan.

Version 3 is the proposed plan with the 15-foot diameter loop. not being pursued at this time.

All three plans are in 1:1 scale with each other.

The proposed version 3 with V1 and V2 overlayed on top:

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