St Paul Pass II - Level 3

After exiting St Paul Pass tunnel, we are at an inconvienient height - that's why there will be steps located on the floor for the convenience of the operators.

Now, we are on the east side of the pass and have reached Montana at (1) when we leave the helix representing St Paul Pass.
At (2) we have East Portal siding and head straight for Bryson (3). Maybe, I should try to put more curves in this stretch?
The track between Bryson and Saltese (4) whith the low trestle should also be located nearer to the edge of the benchwork.
We pass through a last tunnel (it's here because it passes over the staging runaround track!) and arrive at Haugan, Montana (5) with the wye and the shed for the snow plow. (6)
There is no way to model the NP connection in any way, but I can live with that. And the wye is on the wrong side of the track, but again - I can live with that, too.
The track makes one last horseshoe curve and heads into East Staging (not drawn with all 18 tracks). To gain room for the second entrance the runaround track (7) runs over the line between Saltese and Haugan, but parallel to the helix coning from level 2. It crosses under the approach track of the helix at (1)

That's it - we have done a journey from Plummer Junction, Idaho to Haugan, Montana on the St Paul Pass II.

I'll have to plan how to make the central part (the long tongue) and think about how to make the duckunders but other than that it's pretty much straightforward.

Dismantling of StPP I will start after our video session in July when we'll have documented StPP I in all it's glory. The layout served me well for over 15 years. The kids have grown and start to leave home, I got older and wider, have a very good (and demanding) job, so let's do it.

Start of construction is scheduled for early 2012, I'll just make the new dispatcher's cabin and the relocation of the electrical components in 2011 to give me more time for re-thinking....

St Paul Pass II - Level 2

..and we continue our journey eastward through the valley of the St Joe river when our train emerges from the helix at (1) and continues to Kyle siding (2).

Between Kyle and the next siding at Falcon (4) there are 5 tunnels and 4 trestles. I'll have to lower the ground here to give the trestles some height.
Falcon is the place where our huge cement plant (5) is located - on the StPP I it was at Adair.It's now in the foreground and easily reachable, although it interferes with Avery west yard below, but that is one of the compromises that are necessary.

And it's here where I have to cheat a bit. In order to be able to pass under the cement plant the mainline is actually dropping a few centimeters here, while the long spur to the plant rises 1.7% in order to gain altitude.
The line continues on to Adair siding (6) which will only have a short log loading spur, again located near the edge to make it easier to access.

Behind Adair the loop follows - unfortunately it should be located west of Adair siding - but again....

The follows Kelly Creek trestle, whose footings will be located on the level below. If you take a look at the drawing of level 1 you might notice that the track is somewhat awkwardly curved between (4) and (5). That's because the trestle towers need space! And I won't repeat the mistake of StPP I, a tower footing exactly over the lower track.

And then it goes up to Roland siding (7) and into St Paul Pass tunnel (8), which is not open any more but represented by the third helix.

St Paul Pass II - Level 1

Level 1 is the upper St Joe River valley between St Joe and Stetson sidings.

We start at (1) where we leave the helix between levels 0 and 1.

(2) is Zane siding which we leave behind for Calder (4). In between there is a long tunnel at (3).
One of the lessons learned from StPP I is that an active track between an active yard and the fascia is not a good idea.

In Calder (4) was a small sawmill which will be modelled here.

(5) is Herrick spur for the loading of logs.

(6) is Pocono siding and (7) Ethelton siding, where another switching puzzle waits. It is here where Marmoraton Mining will be located. To make it somewhat easier a short runaround track will be located here.

And (8) is Avery West yard, with turntable and service tracks. I tried to locate it further away from Avery East yard (9) to make it a challenge for the yardmaster and have a startup job for guests, as they all will start as hostler here.

Following the track to (10) the grade up the pass starts and Stetson siding is higher than neighbouring Calder siding at (4).

Then follows Stetson viaduct which leads into the second helix uo to level 2.

St Paul Pass II - Level 0

Here is Level 0 - it depicts basically the broad St Joe River valley between Plummer Junction and St.Joe.

We start where we left Level 0, at (1). Here the track becomes visible and Code 55.

At (2) we reach the east switch of Plummer Junction yard. In reality, there was a small yard there.

At (3) is the focus of the action - it's where the Spokane line rejoins and the Union Pacific Wallace branch diverges. The turnout arrangement is nearly that of the 1970ies.

Plummer Junction is (was) a switching puzzle as follows: First the Metaline Falls job arrives via the Spokane line and backs it's train into Plummer yard and then splits it up between east- and westbound cars. Second, the UP turn from Wallace arrives and leaves the cars to be interchanged for the locos from the Metaline Falls job on the Spokane line.
Third, the St Maries-Plummer local arrives with cars bound for Spokane and Metaline Falls, which are taken over by the engines of the Metaline Falls Job.
Fourth, the Metaline Falls Job leaves.
Fifth, the UP turn to Wallace arrives and gets cars from the Plummer turn and leaves.
Sixth, road trains take & set out Spokane cars.
Seven, the Plummer-St Maries turn leaves for St Maries.

Operators demanded switching puzzles - here it is!

(4) is Pedee siding
(5) is Lake Benewah trestle - almost as long as it is in reality. It is such a beauty that I have to include it!
(6) is Silvertip Landing - at last a real destination for the log cars! It was here where logs were dumped into Lake Benewah.
(7) is St Maries.It had a lot of local industries (found them in an old shippers guide, but also in TMR. (The Milwaukee Roader - the magazine of the MRHA) So again, this will keep any yardmaster busy. This will be the homebase of the big hook (crane) and a small car repair shop.
Leaving St Maries brings us to (8), the wye of the Clarkia branch, today abandoned but very much alive here. One shortcoming is that it is on the wrong side of the track and the curve on the branch is very small. So this will be 4-axle engines and short cars country - which is correct anyway.
(9) is where the Regulus mill spur diverges (also on the wrong side of the tracks, but I digress) and a combination truss & girder bridge is located.
(10) is Omega siding
(11) is St Joe siding

and (12) is what I intended to never use again - a helix. The truth is - I cannot do without.
I will be using 60 cm (approx. 2ft) radius at a minimum and keep the grade at 1.4% plus it will be accessible easily.
 It's location forces me to use longer tunnels that were not really there, but cometimes you gotta compromise...
There are no spurs or industries on this level except in St Maries whose yardmaster has a corner all for himself.

St Paul Pass II - Level -1

The fun starts here - the lowest level will be at a height of 70cm (or slightly more than 2 ft). That's pretty low, but it's a storage level only. I hope I can use one rolling armchair at this height.

(1) is West Staging yard, complete with 18 tracks - just the same that it is now, except that it will get a second ladder. Today, it is one-ended only and that has proven to be a major headache. It costs precious time to rearrange the trains and it is not good for the locos to be handled every time.

(2) is a new storage yard for unit trains and unused cars, I hope that I can re-use Peco track from the old layout.

Between (1) and (3) is a long but straight ramp up to Level 0, which it reaches at (5), at which point the tracks will be 20 cm higher than before.

At (3) are the west switches of Plummer Junction, still hidden.

At (4) the Spokane-Marengo line splits from No.3 track and finds it's way to Level 0 separated from Plummer yard. This represents, as the name implies, the passenger line via Spokane and will only be used by passenger trains and the Metaline Falls Job and the Union Pacific's Wallace trains. All this - and the 2 yard tracks just visible near (5) will make Plummer Junction an interesting spot on the layout.

At (5) we've reached 90cm (approx. 3ft)  from the ground and the visible part of the layout.

I've changed a lot of my premisses of St Paul Pass I (StPP I):
First, the long hidden track I was to avoid at all cost on StPP I - I might be hiding a WebCam in there to help the engineers. What I've learned is: it is only important that hidden track is easily reachable, it's length is not important. I could have used a helix here but that would have gained me nothing.

Second, the orientation of the tracks: East is always to the right when facing the layout. There is no running against the direction and seeing the same scene twice, but from different directions.

Sprachenen>de GoogleDicKE

direction, quarter

What lies ahead

After talking with a nice guy from Wiengas, who assured me that the  replacement of the gas line that's going through the layout room will not be replaced within the next 2 years, but certainly thereafter, I decided to give it a go.

So, the last session on the St Paul Pass I will be held on June 18th. After that, there might be a limited video session to document the old layout, but after that it will be history.

The new layout will be having the following features (which will hopefully increase our fun):

Atlas Code 55 turnouts

Atlas Code 55 track on mainline

Handlaid Code 40 with wooden ties on selected sidings

Switching puzzles will be conveniently located near the edge of the layout. Most levels will not be deeper than 50 cm.

Cork roadbed, 3 mm high.

Intermediate blocks cut halfway

1.6mm diam. Bus wires

18mm Plywood as subroadbed, fastened to the wall by shelf brackets.

9mm Plywood as subroadbes in every helix.

I got my main ideas from Tony Koesters book"Designing and Building Multi-Deck Model Railroads", published by Kalmbach, ISBN 978-0-89024-741-9

After the Video session the layout will be dismantled and the rolling stock stored.

The dismantling procedure is scheduled to take 4 months at least. It will include several changes to the electrical outfit and the rebuilding of a blocked doorway.

About at the end of 2011 we will be able to start the new benchwork and lay the first tracks. A first test session with a few selected guests is scheduled for June, 2012.

Stay tuned!

A first glimpse

as to what might be coming.
My first tries with 3dPlanIt, the lower level of the new St Paul Pass line. On top is Avery. To the right is east, to the left is west.
Ethelton, Pocono and Calder are already where they should be.
This is a preliminary version, subject to many changes....
View the first try