(n scale) i have started a 3'x7' layout, i have done one small practice layout (flextrack nailed not glued, joiners not soldered). i have a stack of trackplans and another of photos. i am using different elements from each. thing is, i am drawing on the foam as i go, using a beam compass for curves. if i draw and don't like it, i change it. seems most here put a lot into design before starting. any others fly by the seat of thier pants? david
David, Even IF you design first, you STILL fly by the seat of your pants! You do your best designing it, but you still modify and tweak it as you build it. Even if it's completed, you still want to rip out and modify pieces here and there to make it look better, change the season, or even change the entire theme based on something that you seen on another layout. Some people say that it's part of the fun of the hobby. I call it part of the psychosis of the hobby. Mark in Uath
Yes,I design as I go on my industrial and branch line layouts..I simply move the track around till I like what I see on my branch line layouts.On my industrial switching layouts I place the buildings where I would like to have them and then place the track to fit..To my mind what looks good on paper may not work in reality so one spends more time redesigning the layout,redoing the track work once its in place or worst tearing out a poorly design layout once its built..
I think that I do a little of both. Back when I was in HO, (and on a tighter budget!!!) I would even design based on what turnouts I had available from previous layouts! Currently, there are pieces of my layout plan that are constantly changing and will likely to continue to change after the fact. Plus I have some 3-dimensional issues, like how close can a track be to a sloping wall at a given height, (a height that is dependant on the same answer two feet further down the wall, which is dependant on maintaining a 2% grade on a nolix that runs into the same answer but on the next level down...you get the picture) that are probably gonna end up being trial and error unless I employ CAD which I doubt is gonna happen before I get to that stage of the layout. So, short answer...YES!!!
Yup. I agree. No matter how much time I put in it, on paper, I find that as I have gone along, something doesn't quite work as imagineered, a new item comes along, etc. So there are inevitably changes. Minor, and major. But it does not detract from my fun. The small challenges seem instead to add. Boxcab E50
Totally fly by the seat of your pants. My first layout was on a 4x8' table top in HO. The track plan was a plan from 101 plans. When I moved to another location I took it with me. In the new place I added a foot on both sides and one end and expanded the layout to run around a bar and eventually around the wall. The layout ended up being about 500' of track. Only the 4x8 was done off a track plan. The rest was done as I took up more space, no planning just laying track and doing the scenery as I went along. Would I do it again, Well I will wait for that answer My new layout is already done on the drawing board. The room for the layout is being built. Soooo we shall wait and see.
Don't think I have ever built a layout exactly as designed on paper! Usually they get 'redesigned' several times during their life
cool! to all of the replies. the layout i liked the best was one posted somewhere that had been built by a custom layout builder. looking at it i discovered it was all railroad with little area for scenery industry mining towns, etc. i want all the rail i can get but am leaving a lot of room for structures. figure 8's with inclines and bridges look good but eat up a lot of room. david
The other night I got a particular charge of finding the first conceptual sketches of my current layout, on the back of a used notepad from 1981. Pretty much the "Eureka!" moment when I figured out how to split the tables to do the desert vs. forest scenery in Flagstaff and Winslow. A lot of it turned out pretty close. I had no where near the room in the Winslow yard area I thought I would. I 'really' wanted to put in a Canyon Diablo Bridge..... that didn't work (way too short, no vertical room, would trash hidden storage)..... The intermodal loading at Winslow actually got built and then later torn out as unrealistic and impractical..... The main line is still pretty close to the first concept, but in retrospect it looks like I designed the industrial and yard trackage in Z scale on that first conceptual sketch!
My entire 16'-11" x 12' -0" n scale layout was done, with no plans, no nothing. I just laid track as to what I thought looks good. As of today Sept 15th. I completed the double main line. Just did a count, I have 66 tunouts installed, and that does not include the industries that are yet to come. Probally after it is all said and done, right around 85-90 turnouts will be in place. The key is, none of the track was laid according to plan. All just what I thought looked right. I even invested in a MR cad program, and after all that I still did it by " eye". Adiso fer now, wyatt
I am doing exactly that and I am very satisfied with results so far. It has given me a sense of freedom that I don't think I would have had otherwise. Of course, as someone once said "If you run naked in the rain , you might paint yourself into a corner." Bryant http://www.railimages.com/gallery/Bryant-Mansfield
We shall see in my case. I have completely planned my layout in 3rd PlanIt (at least trackage-wise). I am still building the benchwork, so no actual track has been layed. What I keep finding is that there are ways to change and improve the CAD drawing, its much easier to move and change track using electrons. I need to stop mucking with it and start laying track.
I started out with a rough drawing for my N layout, my first. As I began laying track I discovered that what was drawn and was actually happening didn't jibe. Measurements were off. With what I wanted in mind, I decided to build what was in my brain. It's turned out fairly well. I've made a few changes from the original and they work fine. I'm waiting for four insulfrog turnouts (I didn't have enough on hand when I started) that will enable me to complete the tracks. Then I'll lay track permanently. I've finally figured out the track plan in my head and think that works best. I'm glad I did a preliminary drawing, but what a drew and what is reality are different. I hope to have a train running on part of the layout by the weekend and, after the turnouts arrive and are installed, over the entire layout in a week or so.
I am building an S Scale layout. I started with a rough design on paper, which at least let me figure out what track components I needed. Now, I am laying things out as I go and adjusting as necessary. I have taken this approach with indoor layouts in N, HO, and S as well as for two garden railways, and it works just fine for me.
Very interesting thread..... I;ve been planning and planning, but I think it will come down to just laying it all out THEN figuring whats i like and what I dont. Might draw a picture of it AFTEr its down
Some old wise man once said, "a layout is never finished." I've only done some real basic preliminary drawings for a couple of the items I'd like to see on my future (maybe never) layout. I based them on a few sites of the prototype in my area. Other than that, I plan to go free for all. Part of the fun!!!
You can spend so much time planning that you never get the model railroad started let alone built. Develop some sort of basic idea (sketch, mental image, whatever works for you) then work it out on the fly. You can always modify things you don't like later. At least that way, you get going on the layout.
Following this train of thought, I designed the benchwork for my 23x20 room and thres in a 'rough' continuous run loop roght around it. The rest I will just freelance, and the exact location of the track that I DID draw will be very 'loose'. Personally, I think its a good way to go!
I am by no means an expert here and to be honest I've never even come close to 'finishing' a layout. But to be honest I take a great deal of satisfaction from putting down track, playing with it, wiring it and then trying a new layout. I don't really enjoy building models but I do love to work out switching puzzles and to find new ways of "playing chess" with my trains. With that in mind I recently got into N scale and adapted an 8' x 4' plan that I am planning on finishing while leaving the switching and my 'lay out and tear up' meantality to my HO models. (Besides I absolutly love my HO engine roster)
