GTW Romeo Sub

[Dan M]

With all the talk of the Romeo Sub on Dale's boards (MI LP and MI Hx Boards) lately I thought I would give a stab at making a layout fit into the layout room. Not sure if this is the direction I want to go with the Romeo Sub, but I have considered it.
The basics: 22 x 19 foot room, 30" min. radius, DCC, room for two through trains (Port Huron Pontiac each way), a local to the elevators, etc. and any traffic to the busy tractor plant in Romeo.


A staging yard would be located under Romeo with enough room for staged trains. Additional staging yards / storage could be added under other sections. This is a quick and very basic plan. Lots of orchards and farm land for scenery. Rochester Jct. and other areas are modeled closely after track plans I have received or viewed over the years, though scaled and adjusted to fit. What's next, the Bay City Branch???

Dan

[AARR]

I like it, DAn. When do you start

[Ben Higdon]

looks good! What program did you use to make that map?

[Dan M]

I used Xtrackcad to draw this... best of all it is freeware. http://www.xtrkcad.org/Wikka/HomePage it is well worth the download and is fully functional and you also can experiment with running trains.

I am not sure when or if I will build this. I have thought of combining parts of the Pere Marquette Almont branch with the GTW Romeo sub and having some sort of Shared Asset use like the Conrail Sterling Secondary. The line from Armada to Richmond would be abandoned east of Armada, though a junction would be built going north east to Memphis to join up the PM Almont line. PM would have trackage rights to Wixom on the old Air Line to Jackson, and the GTW would have trackage rights to Port Huron from Armada Jct. to Tappen (Tunnel Yard). Space and enjoyment of the hobby are an important thing, so possibly modeling Romeo, the Ford tractor plant / industrial area, and Armada would be the layout. If I could squeeze Rochester Jct in I would for operations sake.

We'll see... so many plans, so limited space and $$.

Dan

[pfs]

I like it as well.

You didn't try to cram as much track as possible into your space, well done!

[Racer]

I like the trackplan, but may I suggest some more industries. With Rochester to Pontiac would be cool with a more suburbian feel like northern Oakland County is today, but as it was back in the mid 1990s or even make it a twist of what-if the line still exhisted today and ran by CN. The trackplan is great and the possiblities for it are endless!

[AARR]

Gravel pit between Washington and Romeo? Or concrete company that receives cement? Either one could be added in and it would fit the area.

[Dan M]

I kept it pretty simple to make a workable plan. An additional spur or two in Rochester would do as well as one in Washington or Romeo (Wicks Lumber). Also possibly a cold storage for fruit or canning?

Modeling an era modern would be interesting too. You could revamp the Ford tractor into something else, but I wanted to have some more complex switching. In another plan I put a long passing siding between Romeo and Washington along VanDyke. That would allow for an open staged train coming from Port Huron to meet one going there. No monster trains, no large yards, no engine terminals, just a rural look with some light industrial areas, just like Macomb county used to be.

If one had the room, it would be really neat to do a club sized layout of the line from east of Pontiac to Richmond.

Dan M