Hey guys as you all know I listed the layout on ebay and I have bought new stuff to make a new one and I constructed a drawing of what seems to be a very cool layout with 8 switches, two bridges, a car bridge and two cool mountains. I will post a picture of it when I get home from work and you guys can tell me what you think of the design. It is placed in a 13' X 8' It is a backwords L like shape. [ 10. February 2004, 06:19: Message edited by: PARKERLEGEND ]
Ok I have the layout blueprint picture now. It is 13 Feet wide, 8 feet down, 4 feet wide on each end. Basically two 4x8 sheets of plywood will be cut and bolted together ACORDINGLY TO MAKE THAT SHAPE and to be a modular so if I move it can go with me safely disassembled. I will cut 3 feet off one END AND PLACE IT BETWEEN BOTH BOARDS FOR THE RIVER , and take note when viewing the picture. It looks like the river comes out another foot, but that is actually down. I will go down about a foot or so to make it a canyon or valley. I will place 8 switches in it as labeled A to I AND CIRCLED in the picture. NICE 22" CURVES FOR MY 6 AXLE BABIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! An 18" CURVE ON THE TOP LEFT for some of the smaller engines. IF YOU LOOK CLOSE I WILL HAVE IT ELEVATE ON THE BOTTOM RIGHT FROM THE MOUNTAIN ON THE TOP RIGHT , ALSO IT WILL ELEVATE ON THE TOP LEFT. THERE WILL BE THREE BRIDGES. ONE FOR CARS THE OTHER TWO FOR THE TRAINS. ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE RIVER THAT WILL BE THE "CITY LIKE AREA" AND ON THE RIGHT IT WILL BE THE FARMS, HOUSES, COUPLE OF INDUSTRY BUILDINGS, church, etc. THE COOL THING ABOUT THE PLAN IS THE TRAIN WILL BE ABLE TO SMOOTHLY GO IN EITHER DIRECTION AND THROUGH MUCH TRACK. I AM GOING TO MAKE THIS A UNION PACIFIC LAYOUT. ALL HELP IS VERY WELCOMED. SO WITHOUT FURTHER ADO CHECK OUT THE PICTURE. [ 10. February 2004, 06:16: Message edited by: PARKERLEGEND ]
Hi Al I really think you should try drawing this plan using RTS software. I think you will find that turnouts D and E are going to create very tight curves coming off them - they will blow your 22" limit. My pencil has always led me astray cheers Rob
I agree. Pencils work great for getting a general idea of what you want, but you really need some kind of CAD program that will draw it to scale in order to see what will fit and what won't. RTS is great. http://www.atlasrr.com/righttrack.htm
ok great, I will register on the rts and see how to arrange the layout. I have actually expanded the layout on the left side 2 ft downward, and I have decided not to cut the corners inside the layout. So it will allow for the radious to fit for sure. I will post a picture of the draft and then the rts final draft tonight. Thanks guys.
How does the modified layout plan look now? I have 9 switches planned and one reversing loop. I have decided to add 2 more feet to the left lower part so I can add the train yard in the middle. I will start the bench work in two days. Tomorrow will be primarily the basement clean up and light addition. Here is the picture that I will try to do on RTS. track laying will not be for a couple of weeks
You might want to switch your yard (upper left) with the pond and siding (lower right). Murphy's Law says the more complicated trackwork will always cause the most problems. It is a long reach to your yard... and that upper left corner in general. Andrew
I don't think you will be able to have a mountain that close to turnout D, seems like its only a few inches from the turnout to the tunnel portal, not sure you will have enough space between the tunnel track and the diverging track to make a tunnel / mountain look realistic. Also, your siding between E D looks very short, maybe only a few car length, so what is the purpose of that siding? And I agree with MasonJar, don't keep the yard all the way in the back, unless you can get 'behind' the layout. From your drawing I would assume that you can access the layout from all sides, if not, then you might have to rethink a 6 foot reach. Just my thoughts Jesper
I have to agree with MasonJar, Big Al, you would have better reach on the lower right side, at the foot of your mountain. Also, if you removed the switches A and I, you would eliminate another head ache "reversing loop" problem. By flipping the yard over the ladder tracks switches would more closely follow the curve along switch B's track if you wished to keep the lake.
Ok I will move the yard to the right lower. I will have access to all side except the back (complete 13ft) I wanted to have a reversing loop so my train could go either way in the layout, Will that be cool? As for the mountain on the top left, it will only rise at that area slightly where the train runs and on the top corner it will get higher as a mountain. E D siding will be extended. Where the C turnout is and it goes into the mountain that will be redefined to run along a high mountain side for a bit and then go throgh the mountain. So the tunnel will be relocated further to the right and lower and the other tunnel will come down too. Well I have done so far today I have constructed everthing west of the river and I am adding legs to it in about an hour. I have made a modular 2x5 ft board as shown in the picture for easy break down and removal if I want or to change and add more. I constructed the river area I made it 12" wide and 10" deep. I will have them screwed to the left layout and the right part of the layout using the L brackets and four screws. I just want to modify the track plan because I am moving way faster than expected. I will be into the track laying in about a week after I get the plan right. Please assist in anyway. ? Will the reversing loop be to hard to operate? How will That work on my layout so the train can travel east, west, north, and south on any track. The help is very much appreciated. Big Al
Al, If you go DCC you can put in a reversing module that will take care of that for you. Otherwise you will have to switch polarity with a switch.
SO if I do not go DCC I will only have hit a switch once to head in the other direction right? What does DCC offer to that I may consider going for? How much is a basic DCC setup? Please get back to me on this. Here is two pictures of the partial layout I built this afternoon from the river to the west. Looking good?
Bench-work looks good Al. Will it hold your weight if you need to climb up on it? If not, then be sure to keep all track no more than 30" away from the table edge you would have to lean over to retrieve a stalled or derailed engine or train. (Like in the corner there) You could damage buildings and knock trains off tracks near your body as you leaned over to reach cars 30" away, see? I had one reversing loop. On the control panel one SPDT switch would reverse the whole layout except that reverse loop. I had to add another SPDT switch so I could control that loop, because I was running on DC. So to answer your question; Yes, with DC you have to have the reversing loop's SPDT switch set "Forward", and the main layout direction SPDT switch set to "Forward" (you want the engine to go forward) and allow the engine to enter the reversing loop and get past the insulating gap in both rails. Now as the engine is traveling around the loop, you will want to set the main layout SPDT switch to "Reverse" and let the engine run out onto the main line going back in the other direction. Always a good idea to remember to set the loop's SPDT switch to "Reverse" after the engine has cleared the loop. Personally I have not gone to DCC merely because I could not afford to spend the money required to convert some 56 engines and buy the power supply, converter, booster, and controllers. Besides, I run alone, and can only operate up to four engines at one time, which DC does really well for me. As I understand the beauty of DCC, is that you can have friends over and every guy can operate his "own" engine regardless of where his engine is or which direction he wants to go. His operation does not affect any other engine. It is also very realistic, because you can actually have a head-on collision with DCC, which is almost impossible with DC. [ 12. February 2004, 11:00: Message edited by: watash ]
Hello today Watash, I want to tell you that I think you are the nicest and coolest guy around!! You really are. As for the SPDT switch it sounds really easy to run and I like it!! That is what I will do. For your question My table I made will definitely hold my weight. I built it! LOL I will have access to the side of that area so I will not have to reach to far over to get to the engine and cars. My maximum reach over is 30inches. Here is what I did today. I finished the whole benchwork for the most part and now I have to get the track and see how it looks in real life. I am suprised I did all the benchwork in a total of 4 hours with minimal tools and with such precise as on my drawing. I can say I am impressed also. The total cost was plywood (3) @ $14.99 a piece 1 1/2" drywall screws $2.57 1" drywal screws $2.57 a 1 or 2 lbs box 3" drywall screws $2.57 a 1or 2 lbs box (6) 2x3 studs @ 1.19 a piece (12) 2X4 studs @2.57 a piece 2" 5/16 bolts (4) with nuts and washers $1.75 total (3) bags of L shape brackets with 4 in it @ $2.99 a bag screws for the brackets $1.50 TOTAL cost of materials to build $104.30 and here is the result
Al, if I may make a suggestion, you might think about putting rollers on those legs. I don't know if you'll ever need to move it or not, but chances are you will.....and having casters on the legs makes it MUCH easier. After almost ripping the legs off of my layout trying to move it, I added casters. Makes all the difference in the world. They're about $2 a piece at Home Depot.
Hoss is right Al. I have casters on mine too so I can roll it out away from the wall if it makes it easier to reach to lay track over there. I forgot to mention that the other day. Sorry, you can discount that off my bill, but the $5.00 late fee still stands! (By the way, it looks like that left table is about 1/32" lower than the right hand table, or have I had too many tonight?) Don't you DARE sic Alky on me again, I'm leaving!.......
Parker, This is only a suggestion but I would seal that OSB board from underneath with something like primer or wood sealer. That stuff seems to fall apart if it gets damp or wet for too long a time. Wouldn't want to see the whole layout flake out onto the floor!!
Ok so I have put casters from home depot on the bottom of the layout for easy moving. i like it too. Its all good. As for the suggestion for primer to put underneath that is a great idea thats why I did so last night. I am just moving along I will post another picture of what I have done so far. After what I have done I am at a stand still till I get all the track to see where I will rise and all that harder stuff then the benchwork. I am now at the point where I feel it gets much harder and stressfull until I get past the track laying, and then the wiring. It will get more easier and fun when I get to the scenery detail part of it.
