~ Original Plans ~
I drew up the plans for the MANNM Railroad which was to be a raised "wedding cake" design. The base level is three feet off the ground which allows for easier working conditions and viewing. Main 1 is on the "ground level" or base tier of the cake. Main 2 is one inch above that. The RhB is an inch above Main 2. The Orient Express is 12 inches above the RhB, and crosses above it twice. The Shay is 12 inches above the Orient Express and crosses above it twice as well. The Forney is 13 inches below the Shay line and passes under it four times. The rack railway runs through the layout and passes over the Orient Express and RhB. This sounds complicated - and it was to construct! Every step of the process required forethought in planning. As stated on the main page, the design of the layout is very important. I spent a lot of time perfecting the design and seeing it through to completion. It is a very technical railroad with each train crossing over and under each other. Pictured below are the original plans for the MANNM Railroad. First drawn up in 2002, the plans have remained relatively unchanged. I will refer to individual tracks by name throughout the rest of this site. Please refer to the paragraph below for the location and names of each track.
The outline of the block retaining wall is in black. Main 1 (green) and Main 2 (orange) run the perimeter of the layout. Each mainline run is approximately 250 feet. The waterfall is at the top of the plan and the water will be directed into two rivers. These waterways run around the perimeter, but are inside of main 1 and 2. All water will collect at the lake on the far right of the plan. Inside the water ways, four trains will run simultaneously on four different levels. These lines are named after the train they were designed for. Yellow is the "Forney" line. Brown is the "Shay" line. Grey is the "Orient Express" line and red is the "RhB" line.
Looking back at the plans today,
it is amazing to see the design come to life
2005
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2012
