This is essentially the trackplan for the Centreville Railroad… The entire layout is built with Kato Unitrack and is powered by a Digitrax Zephyr Express DCS52 Command Station/Throttle. Currently all of the switches are controlled using Kato switch controllers connected to a Kato power pack. At some point I may shift the switches to DCC control, but there’s another reason for keeping the Kato power pack around – I still have quite a few trains that aren’t DCC and it’s relatively easy for me to switch from DCC to DC if I want to cut the layout over.
While the layout is built in the inverted U shape you see above – there were a few changes made to the track plan during construction. Some of those changes include-
-Expanded the layout of the West (left) Yard. The runaround track in the plan was removed to allow for longer station platforms. The West Yard is now 4 tracks with the longest track deep enough for a 5 car passenger train with locomotive.
-Reduced the layout of the East (right) Yard. The East Yard is only 3 tracks deep.
-Elevation changes. The outside track on the west begins a climb starting from the station platform ends and around the bend using Kato Double Track Viaduct and at the top of the incline and the end of the curve transitions from the viaduct to standard double track. Despite my best intentions the incline on the West side is close to 4%. The track stays at the higher elevation all the way around and across the bridge, only dropping as it turns towards the wall on the right side with the incline finishing at the end of the large curve on the right. This grade is still close to 3%.
All of the track in use is Kato Unitrak.