howdy. I have several track plan drawn up but the more i read about trains,operations ect the more my plans dont appeal to me. (maybe i should just stop reading so darn much ) hahaha any way my current plan has 3 loops and the 2 out side loops on the west side raised about 3" give or take . the west side of plan is 11 foot give or take a few inches , the north end of plan is 10 foot give or take a few inches and the whole table is 24" wide except for the ends...............pic inclosed 2 towns (smallish )on each end Can cut out one if need be. want cows small farm some place. want lumber house/barn some where close to town want beef packing plant want other small industrial ?? some place in there want small loco repair shop or open space yard want yard for cars switching ect smallish is fine want small junk yard maybe too many wants for space i have ??? track plan as drawn is must have for 3 loops . HELP sid is lost again. OH every thing is kato track but i can adapt Maybe some body can pencil in something for me.. Table's are almost built. but got put on hold for a month or two. hahahahahaha EDIT : passenger train 5 cars is also running on track
I'd say so. Well, we could stick tracks in here, there and everywhere. But you know what you want it to look like, and which of those things are most important to you. Do you intend to have exactly three trains? If so, what you have is a fine start. You can park each one on its own loop. You'll want any engine service facility on the left, where you can get engines in from the outside tracks. Or you'll need to add crossovers to the outside tracks closer to the facility. Roundhouses are seriously tempting, but take up acres of ground, and are unrealistic in the modern diesel age. A two stall engine house is more realistic. If you want to have a choice of more than three trains, you'll need a long yard--long enough to swallow entire trains. But it can still be only a few tracks wide. If you just want a yard for parking, it can be simple and narrow. Make it easy to get in and out of, to each loop. If you want to switch things around in there, you need an empty runaround track in there so the switcher can reach either end of the strings of cars. If you're happy parking each train on its own track, and all you want the yard for is shuffling cars around, remember some industries have more than one track. Some used to run tiny switchers, and others paid the railroads extra to have the local freight shuffle cars around. But an engine facility looks funny if it's not next to a proper railroad yard. You don't need us to add sidings for you. Just add a switch and a spur of track, right? But there are a few things to think about. Only a train on the inside loop can get to industries at each end of the layout, inside the end loops. The rest of the industries could all be connected to the innermost track, or some could be connected to the middle track. Do you want just one local freight confined to its own track? Do you want your local to have to cross over to the middle track to work some sidings? Do you want to run a bigger freight on the middle track, and have it make a stop or two? Think about coupling and uncoupling. That works much, much better on straight track. You need enough straight track for the two cars you're coupling. You need this in the siding where you're dropping cars, and you need this on the main line where you're leaving the back end of the train. You could align all the sidings the same direction. That would be easiest. Just figure out if your train will run the inside loop clockwise or counterclockwise, and arrange every siding so that train can back up into that spur. But it sounds like you want a little more of a challenge than that. Since the inside loop is a dogbone, that's no problem. You can have some switches lead off to the left, and others lead off to the right. But in order to work them all, you'll need crossovers from one side of the inside track to the other. Even with DCC, you'll need to insulate the rails from each other in the middle of the crossover, or you'll have a short circuit. Even with DCC, the easiest way to arrange it so a train can cross over onto the oncoming track is to insulate one side of the inside loop and connect it through a toggle switch wired to reverse polarity. I'm trying not to write a book here, so maybe I didn't make spell some of this out enough to be clear. Don't be afraid to ask questions!
I have 6 engines 2 in consist around out side track. 1 on inside second track and 2 switchers 1 is pulling the passenger cars 5 of those and 1 is moving cars here and there the 2 engines in consist will be run only on out side loop. the 2nd inside loop engine will be in an out of the 3rd inside loop. the passenger train will be every where on all three loops. most wanted is junk yard, at least one town, and some industrie. the lumber building i have will be put next to town or in town someplace. small yard to part and switch a few cars around. . OK here is a cleaner copy of my basic track plan before i moved tracks around
That's a very nice yard, with a ladder track and a runaround track running diagonally. I'd add a track or two, perhaps for an engine house, and connect all the tracks to the ladder. You'll want more crossovers, or you'll want to move your crossovers closer to the yard, so trains can move in to the yard from the outside track. And I'd use number eight switches on those two diagonal tracks (the ladder and the runaround). That allows you to park a longer train on the runaround, and you'll have fewer derailments pushing cars through the ladder switches. At the other end (lower left) you don't need to run the sidings through those busy, bad reverse curves that interfere with the other track. People are sometimes afraid to run the main line through the curved side of a switch and the siding through the straight side. But if it's, say, a number eight switch, there's nothing to fear. Everything so far is perfectly aligned for a train running counter-clockwise on the inside loop but the two spurs on the upper left, in the crook if the elbow. But you have a runaround track there, so that's perfect. Add a spur from that diagonal piece of blue track pointing down toward town, and you've really got something there!
Looks like fun to me. I'd still run those two sidings way down inside the town loop off of the straight leg of a left hand switch. I think that's important, that ESS curve looks like a hundred future derailments to me. The third track parallel to the ladder track is interesting. That would be a great place for a grain elevator. The way you forked the two sidings you added is nice--put the industry that uses the short track between the tracks and the other one just "south" of it. That top northernmost yard track in the top right "northeast" corner could be the engine track. Add a left hand switch in the bulge of the loop. Beyond that switch, you have a two track engine house. Between the ladder and the engine house you have a place to park the switcher. I like it. Do you like it?
ok had some time to rework it a bit. had to make more room for town. I think its better , gives me trains lots ta do plus have one or 2 running all the time.
here is a plain jane track that im working off of if any body wishes to tackle this. 11 foot on west side and 10 foot on north end
