How much switching for a small layout to be interesting?

traingeekboy Jan 9, 2015

  1. Alan

    Alan Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    You got it Kenneth, deliberate complication! My son has something similar on his layout and it makes operation interesting!
     
  2. MarkInLA

    MarkInLA Permanently dispatched

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    I see it like this : Except for trolley, some subway lines, and belt lines, Real RRs don't go in circles. Size is meaningless. What ever size you have it should be point to point like the 1:1 scale in order to enjoy the feeling of running a RR as the 1:1 scalers do. The reason is that the novelty of trains running in a circle (circle can be folded over itself or any shape. It's still a circle.) wears thin fast as it tends to not do much realistic commerce. I have a 35' HO point to point switchback branch which shuttles cars to from one end to the other as a service for an interchange at each end; one is at water level, the other at is a higher altitude. There a a couple spurs enroute on 'our' line that we serve along the way, also. I get loads of enjoyment realistically working the line, spotting and collecting cars for the 2 ends to take or bring cars to from the outer world. Lots of shoving, and drawing cars to make or break trains. Upper interchange has a Wye and 'our' engine house. No turntable needed (were Y is instead). I can't sit back and laze. I have to run the railroad or our clients start crabbing at us ! For myself this is the only way go. Sessions are shorter but the work is more fulfilling. It feels like I'm accomplishing proto activity. My 2 small steam and an RS3 are idling, awaiting orders as each 'day' or trick begins ( I.E. DCC power on). I wish everyone with little or lots of room would consider point to point for the above reasons...Mark.... BTW, I do consider very small switching layouts to be point to point.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 14, 2015
  3. ScaleCraft

    ScaleCraft TrainBoard Member

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    Not necessarily. Belt Lines are usually circular. The old D&RGW narrow gauge was a circle route. I could show you fairly locally several circles, one about 70 miles, two more hundreds of miles. All on one railroad.
    Then you have mines with HUGE reverse loops.
    Rule 72 states: There is a prototype for everything.
     
  4. ScaleCraft

    ScaleCraft TrainBoard Member

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    Just to give a graphic. Find Glencoe MN on Google satellite. Go west on 212 to Brownton. Go just a bit further to road 15, just past that look on the north side of the old Milwaukee line (now Twin Cities Western). Won't show on maps, just satellite. Even looks like EZ track, flat sided circle, the whole bit.
     
  5. MarkInLA

    MarkInLA Permanently dispatched

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    I do agree there is a prototype for everything. I did not know that there were huge RRs in a circle. I believe, though they were not originally designed and built this way. I may be wrong but I'd think the circular rail line was born out of mergers of the hundreds of seperate, privately owned RRs ; that the buyers may have sought out this opportunity. Anyway, I think you can agree that a model that is a perfect circle or oval is pretty square ! Also you replied as if I hadn't said belt lines are circular. I said they are circular, as are trolley, some subway, et al. The D&RGW and other US narrow gauge RRs are just that, narrow gauge which are set in mountainous regions, dedicated to moving loggers or miners/prospectors and their families, and the local mail, foods and machinery. They also interchanged with Standard gauge RRs at certain towns that had built up around the these RRs. Their sole main purpose was to support the logging/milling, or mining industries, to extract these resources as quickly and cheaply as possible. I think the op wants contemporary RRing. There is one standard gauge switch-back still in use, Hagans switch back in Kentucky. I think it's NS or CSX. This then legitimizes building a SB MRR. There were many at one time. Mine is a welcomed hassle to deal with. Once train enters the tail of the SB about half way up it then reverses direction from what it was running in, and continues up to or down from a summit. If I had had the room I'd not have made a SB RR. But it solved a need for longer running time in a some what short distance (allotted length of benchwork). 35' in HO is not that much. But it's in my apartment to boot, not a house. This is my last post in this thread. I do hope geeky can derive something from all the input and advice..
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 15, 2015
  6. Beaumont Yard

    Beaumont Yard TrainBoard Member

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    The original point of "How much switching is needed to keep things interesting?" is I think a different answer for different folks.

    After starting (and not completing) several larger layouts, I finally went back to what I had done before which was a small, portable, switching layout. I had one once before and it saw the most use of any layout I had tried to build. My current layout is below.

    Track Plan:
    [​IMG]

    Overhead views - left side then right side.
    [​IMG]
    [​IMG]

    Overall, the layout is 14" by 53". N Scale. It's built inside a hard side rifle case. The power (standard DC) connects to 2 bus wires. I can have it up and running within 10 minutes and have taken to several different locations with me. When I need it out of the way, it's 10 minutes and its closed up and slides under a bed or in the closet.

    The layout has 4 customers and 5 sidings. The yard, two tracks at the lower right, operates as the yard and staging. The one thing I miss is room for more staging for cars to actually leave the layout. Cars go from the yard to industries, and loaded cars go back to the yard where its imagined they are picked up by trains coming through.

    A "trick" lasts about 30 minutes. After that, I can run it again, or decide I've had enough for the evening.

    This may not meet everyone's needs, but I can tell you it gets a lot more use and enjoyment than the larger layouts I've started in the past. My wife also likes that we don't have a whole room that constantly looks like its under construction!

    A few more pics:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  7. Alan

    Alan Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Looks good to me. I am a big fan of switching layouts, and here in the UK many layouts are portable. Is switching reliable in N scale?
     
  8. Beaumont Yard

    Beaumont Yard TrainBoard Member

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    I think it is. Now to be clear, I don't use the magnetic decoupling. I use the bamboo skewer method.

    This will probably differ from what most will say, but I prefer the accumate couplers to the micro trains. Simply because its easier to get the skewer between them and separate them. That being said, about 1/3 of my cars do have the micro trains couplers and they are reliable as well.

    With clean track and reliable couplers, I can often go through a whole session without having to touch or move any cars by hand.
     
  9. Alan

    Alan Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Good to hear. I use skewer method on my HO scale switching layout.
     
  10. traingeekboy

    traingeekboy TrainBoard Member

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    WOw! nice little layout Beaumont. Is that all unitrack?
     
  11. Beaumont Yard

    Beaumont Yard TrainBoard Member

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    It is unitrack. Not my preferred route as it doesn't look as good as ballasted track. But, I find it hard to ballast switches and keep them working well. So I went thus route to ensure good operation.

    Given that its supposed to be a run down industrial area, if I ever do it again, I'm going to build the ground up more to cover up a lot of the unitrack's plastic roadbed.
     

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