Hello all, I grew up playing with the original O scale back in the day and recently made a rather large investment in a N Scale setup for my 6yr old, technically... I started with the Woodland Scenics - Scenic Ridge 2 SD70ace's and a variety of mixed rolling stock. Here it is mid January and I haven't even plastered the thing yet...lol My plan is to addon to the setup, I want to run the 2 layouts separate and in a continuous loop with the ability to reverse rotation(CW,CCW). The Scenic Ridge is a 3x6 layout, I have enough room for a 3x4 - 3x5(tight) extension. I have attatched 2 pictures of a rough draft of what I am thinking. One thing I have noticed is the Atlas track plan does not "piece together properly" in SCARM... First one is the Scenic Ridge with a basic turn around up top and a more advanced one with switch-yard on bottom. It's a rough draft and I just used flex track to get the curves to line up. Second one is the same with the The Lake District Ry, from 101 Track Plans off of Mike's Small Track Plans. This will give the opportunity to run multiple trains separate or combined loops.
I believe, if no mistaken, that Woodland Scenics makes two other modules that will attach to Scenic Ridge. One to the left side and the other may be a corner? Seems like I saw them on line on their site. If that helps... Anyway, good luck!
Yes, they do make a straight section and corner section. My plan is a bit different. Plus I am not make the Scenic Ridge look anything like the picture. I am a Stargate Fan and a Walking Dead junky. The left side is going to be 1 big ass mountain, while the right where the town would be is most likely going to have a Zombi infested prison...lol Yeah I know, kinda extreme but my 6yr old is goin "HELL YEAH!"..in his own words. Yeah I have noticed that, luckily the curves on the scenic ridge are a mix of 9 3/4" and 11" Radius turns. The only 2 really messed up spot are the internal curve that goes in the left side innner circle, it does pinch and you have to "flex" the curve tighter, this is a nasty design flaw of their track layout. Also the 2 bottom straight sections to not match i have a 1/4" gap in my inner most straight section. I have run both trains in collation mode(or whatever its called) as 1 unit pulling all the stock, only hicup were some uncouplings on the risers to to a sudden drop after a rise. Had a few derails due to sloppy soldering on my part. And 1 massive crash due to a Godzilla moment with the cats. I didn't think a train could get that much air...
The reverse loop in #1 doesn't really serve a purpose that I can see and appears to have a pretty tight S to it. IMO #2 looks like Scenic Ridge with a bowl of spaghetti tacked on. I do think though that Scenic Ridge is a great way to cut your teeth, it covers the essentials well and all the scenic ridges I've seen are just a little different. Everyone puts their own touches on them. Spookshow documented his version pretty well http://spookshow.net/layout2.html. Another great track plan to cut your teeth on is the Carolina Central plan. It's not a kit like the Scenic Ridge, but it's well documented in a book and some old MRR magazines. There's also a ton of people who have built a version of this and posted on many forums.
The reverse loop in #1 is needed to get back to the main loop on the right with the rail yard. Without it you are stuck in the left loop.
Ahh I see... I don't care for reverse loops, they add unnecessary wiring complexity IMO, and having two of them to contend with doesn't sound like any fun at all! Couldn't you just chop the top reverse loop off, then instead of having the reverse loop on the bottom, connect it back up to the top?
Yeah, i neglected to figure in the polarity shifts. Looks like I have just 1 on the bottom (see pic). Though on DCC all i need to do is insulate that joint and we should run fine. A polarity shift should affect the train...should it? OOPS, I have 2 shifts, missed the one on the top loop.
No, you'll need to insulate the whole loop, or at least a section of it large enough to store all the locos on the train. You then have that section set to "normal", pull the train in, stop, switch to "reverse" and pull out. It's a PITA. There are some automated options available for DCC operation, and I believe I have seen some auto sensing reversers for DC too but they all add complexity that is best avoided. This site actually has a really good description of the problem/solution. http://www.examiner.com/article/gotcha-wiring-a-model-train-reverse-loop
Yeah , facepalm moment... Hence why I was leaning towards the 2 option, no polarity switch and can run separate or 1 loop. Granted this is down the road, I still havent finished the woodland scenics, to much work not alotta time...
WT. The 6 axle engines will derail on the 9 3/4 curves and if one does make it it will derail any car behind it. When I started the layout I now have, I only had 4 axle GP38-2's so I used 9 3/4 curves. They sold them so I thought they must work. Will they did until I got a SD50 and SD40. Well, after months of frustration, I finally started to tear out all of the tight curves. (took about 6 months) Except for a few industrial places that only 4 axles engines go. So now 11" is the tightest with much wider where possible. Next layout will be 11' minimum.
I have been running the 2 locos single and consist mode. Single mode 1 works flawlessly, the other(the one that caught air when my cat went Godzilla and slapped the train) seems to not like even the slightest bump. If I run them in consist, I notice the lead gets shoved off rail. I haven't done anything but set them both to consist with the default speedstep of 28 on my Prodigy Express. I also got my first batch of flex track in the mail, I was excited, UNTILL I saw the damn package...
Holy Moly! Looks like someone went to the trouble of pulling the rails out of the ties! So I wonder if this package was shipped by way of Afghanistan or Iran maybe?
I am glad that where I buy my flex track always includes a 1x2 that the track is attached to with rubber bands.
Yeah, earlier I took a trip to Hobbytown here in SA. My GF just happens to look under the bottom shelf and there was a sign that said "Code 80, 55 and Cork roadbed in drawer". I was like, I dont see any drawer and walk off, she starts yankin on the shelf and HOLY CRAP! I hit the mother load, 1 FULL BOX of code 55(i'm talking 200-300 at least) and a crapload of code 80. I walked out with 12 of the 30" ones for $4.15 each. I could have cleaned them out(and almost did) but only took what I needed, i tried to stay within my budget...lol
K so I bought the Scenic Ridge layout for the "kid" for Christmas, had it about 50% done. Well I could NOT keep the damn trains on the track so... A 6yr old, a Flat Bar and Styrofoam..oh yeah I am still deciding if I want to use a modified version of the Scenic Ridge( make everything 11 rad or more) or the 2 other choices, I want "runaround" for my son to just watch and im not a switching maniac. The first might be a bit much but I really like the looks of the "Lake District Rye". It looks like my SD70ace's should run fine on either. I am also going to expand the current 3x5 to a 4x7 or 4x8.
