General Theme

The Hudson Central is a mix of freight and passenger traffic in Northern New Jersey.  It will include an industrial, center-city switching area, links to suburban suppliers and passenger rail, similar to the existing PATH (Port Authority Trans Hudson) trains that run from Newark, NJ into Manhattan. 

The first phase is a 2' x 17' shelf switching layout, as shown below.   This is the Arlington Industrial District; the main line, shown in red, will connect to future districts.  I wanted to have several industries that would service one another which would add a little challenge to the operating sessions.  Roadways will be added as well as truck traffic between the industries using the Faller Car System.

Track is Atlas code 83 and turnouts are Walthers #6 controlled by Tortoise switch machines.  DCC will be provided a 5-amp Power Pro from NCE. 

Later phases are still being developed but will include extending the mainline track to a suburban setting and finally to a dockside district.  This will also provide continuous operation, an engine service area and a larger fiddle yard.

The layout was designed using AnyRail (formally DRail), which is available from www.anyrail.com.  I have used many other model railroad CAD programs and this is by far the easiest to master.  I also use TrainPlayer/TrainLayer Deluxe, which is available from www.trainplayer.com, to "test" my layouts before I build.    I know that several products are available that do both, such as 3rd Plan-It, that can allow you to design a layout and run your trains.  I bought 3rd Plan-It and it is a very powerful CAD program with a learning curve that is much steeper than AnyRail and TrainPlayer combined.  

For a compressed copy of both AnyRail & TrainPlayer layout files, please click here and save: HUDC- Shelf Layout 13.rar

This Layout was Created with:

This Layout was Tested with: