Layout Design Questionnaire

(Questionnaire developed by John Cox of Total Layout Design and used with his permission.)

Railroad type – Short line
Region – Northeast
Specific Areas – Along the Susquehanna River in Williamsport, Pennsylvania
Geography – Hills/mountains
Landscape – Wooded forest, streams
Population – Town/village, rural
Time period – early 1952
Long Mainline, lots of track, operation <+-----+-----+-‡---+-----+> Scenery realism, "purity"

Lots of switching along the line <+-----+--‡--+-----+-----+> Trough trains / bridge route, mainline running

Track schematic – continuous oval with peninsula
Medium sized yard; Small yard; Hidden storage yard space; Industrial spurs, trackage; Service / RR maintenance trackage; Engine facilities steam and diesel; Local freight operations
Mainline – single track with passing sidings, through the scene once (preferred)
Primary operating philosophy – Switch lists
Turnout controls – Remote controls with controls at layout edge
Level/kind of signal system – none
Method of controlling trains – DCC
Number of people operating layout – 3 (mainline, main yard, industry yard)
Minimum aisle width – 25-in.
Yard arrangement – single ended
Minimum turnout radius – (see table above)
Eye level (not track height) – 64-in.
Equipment to be operated – Medium steam (2-8-0); small lightweight switching diesel; 4-axle diesel
Car length – 40-ft
Turntable – as required to support turning of motive power
Rolling stock is mostly all boxcars
Couplers – Kadee
Uncoupling – hand pic, with magnets in staging yard and in industrial yard on the left side.