The Canadian Pacific in Western Canada layout gets started

My N Scale layout will be based on the Canadian Pacific Railway from Golden, British Columbia to Rocanville, Saskatchewan. The footprint of the layout is an 8 foot by 7 foot L-shape with a maximum depth of 36”. The layout will be two levels with a 15” difference between levels connected by a five-turn helix. The lower level will be taken up by a staging yard based on Canadian Pacific’s yard at Golden, British Columbia. All of this in a 1-bedroom condo!

Lower Level: The lower level will be hand-laid using Micro Engineering Code 55 rail with some Atlas Code 55 rerailers used in hard to reach areas. The yard will be six tracks and will have a coal hopper servicing shop.

Helix: Once leaving the yard in Golden, trains will travel up a helix (the spiral tunnels) to the upper level. The helix will consist of two tracks of Atlas Code 80 flex track making five turns, gaining 2.5” each turn, for a total elevation gain of 12.5”. The outside track will have a radius of 16” and the inside track will have a radius of 14.5 inches.

Upper Level: Once emerging from the helix, trains will travel up an additional 2.5” along two hidden tracks hand-laid using Micro Engineering Code 55 rail. Once emerging from the hidden tracks, the track will be hand-laid using Micro Engineering Code 40 rail. The track will gain another 2.5” above the helix location simulating the Canadian Rockies, with an appearance by Morant’s Curve. Continuing on the track will descend into the Alberta plains where several grain elevators will await. The track will then continue to the Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan’s facility in Rocanville, Saskatchewan.