A Model Railroad plan by Peter K. Matthews | Created 5/20/00. Pictures added 2/16/03.
Starting last spring, we have built several oNeTrak modules to fill the time and keep busy until our basement is finished and the next Columbia & Okanogan Railway can be built.
oNeTrak is a variant upon NTrak that is based upon a single-track mainline built of 1x4-foot modules. Actually the modules may be any whole number of feet long and can vary in width from one to two feet by adding up to six inches to the front and rear of the module. Corners are usually 2x2-feet lozenge-shaped units, but 3x3-foot and 4x4-foot modules are also common. Another common module type has a one-foot offset along its length, so that while it has one-foot wide ends, the ends are offset a foot along the length of the module. This produces a visually pleasing S-curve. To make simple loops, a 2x4-foot semi-circular end-unit is also common.
Wiring follows NTrak standards, but the emphasis of oNeTrak is single-track operations and the intent at the time the standard was developed (or, I should say, is developing), digital command control was the preferred control system. This is how we operate the layout and modules presented here.
All of the modules we have built have been simple 1x4-foot rectangular units. The framing is built of 1x3-inch stock ripped from 3/4-inch plywood. Corners are reinforced with glue-blocks made of similar stock. The deck is 1/4-inch plywood. At first that may seem too thin, but the span of the sheet is only 10 3/4 inches across the width of the modules and less than 16 inches lengthwise. I have found this to be stable enough. When the scenery base material, extruded styrofoam sheet, is applied, the sandwich of plywood and styrofoam has plenty enough stiffness.
Track is layed either on ballast material (cork or foam rubber strips) or directly on the plywood. It is secured with glue, either white glue or Woodland Scenics' tacky scenery glue. Track is held in place with track nails until the glue has cured when they are removed. White glue is more forgiving, being able to be removed with warm water over night. The drawback is that when applying scenic materials with water, the track can lift. The tacky glue is very strong and not very forgiving once it has set. But it does not loosen when the track is ballasted.
Trackplans are based on Linda Sand's very good article in Model Railroad Planning 1999. Her article emphasize that even a small industry, one receiving only ten cars or so, could have lots of operating potential by noting what kinds of cars can be spotted at various locations within the industrial plant. Even the same type of car could be spotted at specific locations for different loadings or unloadings. Within a flour mill, you may have tracks for macaroni flour, baking flour, car cleaning, grain receiving, bagged flour, propane delivery, and so on. Note that the first four kinds of locations all receive covered hoppers.
Using her examples and looking at others, we have come up with three industrial modules. We also have an interchange yard, a junction with interchange tracks, two end-units, and a module built just to model a prototype location (actually, it was the first built and served as the impetus for building all the others).
With the exception of the end-units which are 2x4-feet, the modules shown here are all 1x4-feet. The oNeTrak main track is set back 4 inches. Sunset Falls is set back just over 5 inches. Quite frankly, that was a mistake, but not a critical one since the oNeTrak specifications permit some flexibility in set-back distance. NOTE: The modules are shown with the front of the module at the bottom of each view. In the Whole Layout view, they are oriented so that the mainline is outside of the central pit. Generally, though, the main track is closer to the front of the module.
Sunset Falls is located not far from Index, Washington, along the former Great Northern, then Burlington Northern, now Burlington Northern Santa Fe route along the Skykomish River on the west side of the Cascade Mountains. The railroad bridge at this point consists of several plate-girder spans with a central truss-girder span. The actual bridge is about 640-feet long. On this module we used four Micro Engineering 80-foot plate-girder spans for the approaching spans. We then kitbashed two Kato through-truss bridges to make the central truss-deck span. The track was removed from within the bridges, the end structures removed, and the two spliced together to make a single 11-inch long span. Overall the bridge is 35 inches or about 465 scale feet long. The module is six inches deep to accomodate the bridge and the river. The river "flows" towards the rear of the module, so the view from the front looks downstream with the crest of the falls dropping away from the viewer.
Above is the view downstream towards the falls behind the bridge. More trees will be added after the bridge detailing is completed. I'll overspray the backdrop to mute the colors a bit. I'll use a bit more white spray over the falls to imply a watery spray rising from the falls themselves.
In the view above you can see the road under the left approach spans. One of the neatest effects is the shadows of the bridge itelf which show the light passing through the structure. Further detailing of the bridge will follow including addition of the walkways and a fair amount of weathering. While this is a relatively new bridge, it has been exposed to western Washington rain and snow fall for over three decades and has acquired a thorough patina of rust and grime. (Although they're hard to see in this scanned photo, a couple deer have been frozen into inactivity by the sudden appearance of the train coasting downgrade overhead.)
Return to top.
In order to stage cars into and off the layout, we needed a junction. This module is very simple and is made to mate with the Interchange Yard below. It represents the crossing, a 30-degree crossing in this case, with the interchange track and a parallel siding. Together the two tracks can accommodate about twelve fifty-foot cars.
As this module has evolved, and as I went through a crate of old structures, I found my old fruit packing plant and it just fits behind the interchange tracks. So I have taken one interchange track over for use as a industrial spur (and a one-car tram track, too). The following photo was taken during a set up with the new fruit factory.
Treetop Fruit Company
W-O Tower
Return to top.
A small classification yard with a two-track locomotive service facility, as well as a short runaround track, are found on this module. There is no yard lead, partly because of space constraints, but also because this is a branch line. Once a train leaves the yard to switch the industries along the branch,the yard switching can use the main without worrying about interfering with passing trains.
This view shows the yard along its axis from the direction of the throat. (Note: This and the other modules below have only minimal scenicking, mostly just buildings placed to indicate the scene.) To the left are the three classification tracks with an SW12 parked beyond the small shed. The two trains occupy the runaround track and main. To the right are the two locomotive service tracks as well as caboose storage. The longer lumber train is passing a shorter grain train in the hole on the main. In the distance you can make out the junction module. The crossing track is a dummy and the two interchange tracks sweep towards the left (rear) of the module.
Service facility and interchange yard
Return to top.
This facility can share its siding with the Flour Mill below.The mill accepts box cars, centerbeam flat cars, bulkhead flat cars, tank cars (for fuel), and wood chip gondolas. It consists of a mill building, a pneumatic wood-chip gondola loader, catwalks for putting chip-restraining screens over the chip-gons, a flat car loading area, as well as a place to load box cars, bulkhead flat cars, and unload tank cars. The loading areas can hold up to three centerbeam flat cars, three wood-chip gondolas, and up to five 50-foot box cars and bulkhead flat cars; the tank car spot can accommodate one car. That amounts to 12 cars.
.
Overview of main mill and chip loading
area.
Overview of the centerbeam loading
area. 
The mill office block and ramp are visible behind the centerbeam flat cars.
Return to top.
This large mill ships both baking flour and macaroni flour. Cars shipped and received are mostly covered hoppers. The larger mill can accommodate nine hoppers on three tracks, with room for three more on the grain receiving module at the back of the larger mill. The smaller, and older mill (Walther's Redwing Mill) accepts both covered hoppers and box cars, the latter to ship bagged flour. There is room for six hoppers on the mill approach tracks, as well as up to five on the grain receiving tracks, making for a total of 23 cars.
Flour mill at set-up, February 6-9, 2003
The flour mill local swtiches the main mill building. There are four tracks serving the mill. The far right is the grain arrival track. I'll add some bins in the backdrop when I get around to it. The three tracks that enter the building are for loading various types and grades of flour. Another mill building is off the frame to the right.
Return to top.
Janis, Washington, hosts a carbonate crusher. Limestone and marble from the local hills are trucked to the the crusher where the material is crushed, graded, and shipped in specialized two-bay covered hoppers. On the layout, I used Walther's Glacier Gravel kit as the basis of this scene. The crusher ships not only powdered carbonate (for making both cement and fertilizer) but also crushed limestone and marble (used for road construction and landscaping). The track has been realigned since the track diagram was drawn, so you only see a single track with a double-track spur serving the crusher.
The Carbonate Crusher and Loader
Return to top.
End-units are simple semi-circular modules that allow for the completion of a simple oval layout. They are 2x4-feet with 18-inch radius curves. We super-elevated the curves, although we found out that super-elevation using .010 styrene over Woodland Scenics foam roadbed doesn't work. The risers simply press down into the foam and don't elevate the curve. If we had used cork roadbed, the super-elevation would have worked fine.
The end units are simply half-loops to close the oval of the layout. They are nice and open spaces so we planted a townscape for this particular set-up. My wife's hometown has an old theater that dates back to vaudeville times, the Nifty Theater. It is quite an interesting structure and I fully intend to model it someday. Until then, I use this kit. The station, along with the one visible in the interchange yard and a third, are scratchbuilt from plans found in an early issue of N Scale magazine. The rest of the town is composed of various kits, primarily DPM structures which give the town the look of my wife's home town. The Mustang at the station is a Road Apples (Lineside) kit. My wife and I are on the bench in front of the station watching trains roll by. My (prototype) daugher sits reading at the far end of the oval.
To provide more flexibility in set-up, we built some 2-foot corners, each with an eased 15-inch radius 90-degree curve. To match up with the straight modules, a pair of corners have a second track, either inboard or outboard of the main track. (The flour mill and lumber mill modules have a siding in front of the mainline and the interchange and interchange yard modules have a siding to the rear of the mainline.) One corner has a single track. The curves are super-elevated, but experience has shown that sidings that are used during switching should not be elevated, or only elevated slightly, otherwise derailments are common (due to stringlining or simple toppling).
Here are some pictures of the corner modules from a recent set up (Feb 6-9, 2003). Simple assemblages of structures and vehicles provide the only scenery, per se. I'm thinking of making some coved corner backdrops. I know that sounds strange, but I like the mock-up and I'll post some images once I've tried it for real.
Chelan Falls grain elevator
Farm scene (complete with a vintage aircraft hobbyist)
Oroville townscape
A warehouse, stores, and a small freight depot
Return to top.
At home, we don't have room to set up an 8x12-foot layout as yet. Instead, we set it up as shown here with the two end units making a 4x16-foot layout. Typically, though, I set up only four of the straight modules, thus making for a 4x12-foot layout.The end-units are presently the domain of our ten- and seven-year-old daughters. Several of the structures from our old Longworthe Square layout make up a town on one end and small village and farmstead on the other. My older daughter, Sarah, wants to make an Alaskan scene with a sled-dog team. We do have several N scale dogs to pull the sled, but have yet to actually build a sled\! My younger daughter, Susan, is content to drive cars from town to farm and back. She has the Model Power Sinatra house as her own and has taken the grain elevator (another Walther's kit) as her "business" as well as claiming city hall in the larger town. Makes you wonder what she'll be later in life, no?
This was the most recent full set-up of the layout. The four corner modules connect all six straight modules. This set up actually increases the siding lengths which helps in show operations, permitting longer trains to run opposite one another, or a "orbitting train" while we do some operations at one or another industry. This layout is 8x12-feet and we can have a full Kato Amtrak Superliner consist orbiting while a way-freight works the line.
Return to top.