Introducing the GDP Lines

I am getting settled into the new place and it seems to have an extra room (11'x14') that just isn't being used for anything. Darn, what a shame. I do believe the Great Divide and Port Railway Corp. has secured its right of way. The GDP lines have existed in my head since I was a teenager (many, many years ago), it is basically the slice of world that was John Allen's Gorre and Daphetid but with some twists and more connections to the real world. This will be my third time to try to get the GDP Lines across the Akinbaks. There are a few major differences from the GD, most are the necessary implications of my love for large articulated steam loco's. Mallets, Challengers, and Big Boys will be pulling many trains. Curves must be broad, grades reasonable, and the rails heavy, none which are a problem in N scale.

The "Prototype"

The State of Jefferson lies between California and Oregon on the Pacific Coast. The state capitol and largest city is the City of Port sited on the inland side of a fairly large and navigible bay. Jefferson is very mountainous with forests from the coast into the mountains, and desert east of the mountains. The primary route for the GDP is from Salt Lake City and Ogden Utah west through southern Idaho, across the desert to the main hump yard at Great Divide and thence through Lazarus Pass in the Akinbaks and down to sea level at Port. The mainline then splits with a northern route to Portland and a southern line to Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area. This route has reasonable, though not easy grades and the curves aren't too tight. Ruling grade across Lazarus Pass is 1.5%, not as easy as the WP Feather River route but not as bad as SP's Mojave subdivision or Donner Pass route. The route is, however, much longer than the Gorre and Daphetid's route through the Akinbaks. Connections are with GN, NP, UP, WP, SP, ATSF, and several smaller railroads. The GDP does not serve any industry in Port. A subsidiary company, Port Docks Railway, handles the industry and dock traffic, even the GDP branded freight station and team tracks!

Layout Standards

The room is about 11'x12' with a 2' deep closet that is usable at the end of the room. Past experience and more recent testing on the kitchen table shows that 18" radius gives good performance but still looks hideously tight to me. 24" radius looks almost reasonable, and 30" looks good. Unfortunately, the room is a bit small for 30" radius. So, 24" minimum radius for visible mainline use and 18" minimum radius for hidden tracks. I will not use Atlas's heavy code N scale track, it looks more like HOn30" built to eastern class one standards. Atlas code 55 track looks pretty darn good. Code 40 looks a lot better, but it also looks like a lot of handlaying track. Code 55 it is. Turnouts also need to look good, #7's look fine in yards and seem to be reliable for even the longest rolling stock and loco's so it will also be used for "hidden" tracks such as staging yards. #10 looks pretty darn good on the mainline. #10 turnouts will be used for mainlines, all passenger service tracks, and engine facilities. I have not determined grade standards yet. I'd like to keep the grades down, but since the space is somewhat limited and I'll most likely be using multiple levels, grades may have to exceed 2%. Access, reach, and aisle widths are rather important. 30" maximum reach to turnouts at 42" rail height (from floor) is doable and comfortable, 24" is even better. 36" reach is OK if the track is put down very well and there are no turnouts or anything else with points or frogs. (These numbers are for me - 6'0" tall, longish arms and another hobby is rock climbing so reaching for small things far away is something I'm used to, YMMV.) Aisle minimums will be 30" wide, 36" preferable.

I'll get into operations requirements in another post.