HI, I am building a small model railroad, and designed this trak-plan. I was wondering if some of the vet's on this forum could givee me some advice to improve upon it. I want a yard, room for a town room for scenery, and want to be abble to run two trains simultaneously. Thanks for any help.
hey sb54, im not a veteran, im actually at the same place as you, look at my post "my first layout" just a few below yours. what program did you use to make that plan? im still trying to figure out how big i need to make my bench work to hold the plan im wanting. good luck jody
Hello SB54, and welcome to Trainboard, im sure you will love this place as much as i do. It's great! Unfortunately i dont think i'd be of much help with your track plan, im relatively new at those sorts of things, and am still working on my simple one But it might be good to leave a good area for some nice hills, thats what i would do I'm sure someone else here will be of great assistance
I'm no vet either as well I tend to go a little over the top in the track department so bear that in mind with some of my sugestions. #1 I'd single track it rather than double. It should add more intrest and save a little space. Seeing running two trains is importanat to you you may want to try haveing an "alternate route" or a branch off the main line so one train can be going round in circles while you switch the other. #2 Kind of goes along with #1 I'd maybe try make the track pass over or under itself so you can have an extra loop so that the main line is longer. This may be going a little over the top (as I like track) especially as a simple layout will help you get thinks done quicker if this is your first. #3You may want to slide the yard to the left a little more so that the yard tracks are a little longer so you can fit more in them. #4 maybe add a turntable, roundhouse, passing siding and yard lead to the yard so you can make up some trains and turn your engines. #5 I assume the bottom of you're plan is the front and the back is against a wall. You may want to move the yard to the front where it's easy to access and clearly visible. #6 I'd add a few more sidings maybe something a little complex where you can do some interesting switcing problems when you don't feel like running trains. Like I said These are just ideas. You've got to decide what's right for you. It's important to get something that you will like and that will keep you interested but what's even more important is to decide something and get started. Don't procrastinate.
I've also just noticed you've got a couple of S-curves at the bottom middle. You'll probably want to have a straight section of track at least as long as you're longest car so that you won't have reliability problems.
Firstly SB54 welcome to Trainboard itis always great to welcome new members. I gather this is your first layout? I would have a look at a few other designs and read a few modelling books before building. Although double track looks interesting you need to consider what will interest you once the layout is built. I would definately add more industries and you certainly need to increase the side of your yard and consider through running rather than a stub ended yard. I'm sure the guys will give you lots of advice. Look forwrd to seeing progress of your layout. If you go to my website you can see a plan of my current layout and lots of pics. Good luck with your layout and welcome to Trainboard.
Hey sb54, I just played around with you're space and here's what I came up with. I tried to keep you're criteria in mind. It can probably support 2-3 locomotives - 1 in the yard making up trains, 1 switching the industries and maybe an occational through freight (1-2x around) However there is probably enough space to double track it if you wanted. I tried to draw the plan generously but it's not guarenteed to fit. Also the yard is still not particually accessable unless you can walk all the way around. The back should probably be the front but would need to be shifted around a bit to fit in with the contours of the benchwork. There is aslo no way to turn an engine. It would be nice to fit in a turntable even without roundhouse so that things could be turned. Also trains from the wrong direction cannot put trains into the yard. either the yard switcher need to pull it in or one of the yard sidings needs to be double ended or have a crossover to an adjacent yard track to that the locomotive can escape. Anyhow I hope I've given you some ideas. [ 29. October 2002, 08:05: Message edited by: Paul Davis ]
You've got a few problems with S curves and I also don't think you've maximized the amount of straghtaways you could get if you went away from following the edges of the benchwork. Here is a sketch I did up of some ideas to get more out of the space while retaining your basic idea. Note that I now have an extensive switching area up front, which not only adds another layer of interesting operations you can do, but also gives you a neat railroady scene to run your trains thru. Please forgive it's crudeness, it was only cobbled together in about 10 minutes time.
First, I'd Like to thank everyone for the great advice. I was trying to come up with something better earlier tonight, and just couldn't make anything as nice as the Plans Submitted by Paul and Acraghead. Second, for Trans Texas Rail, I used RTS 5.0 freeware to do my plan, I downloaded it for free off the Atlas website. I can never get the track to fit quite right in the program, and always end up using flex track. I'd Just Like to say thanks again for all the help.
I'd recommend scetching your ideas on paper first as you should be able to draw fairly quickly. The only important thing is to try not to draw the curves too tight or the turnouts too short. purposly do them longer than you think nessisary. Then once you have something you like draw it in the software to make sure it fits. I like to also draw in some of the basic scenery. often times I'll remove a track or two because things have become too cramped. The next step is to identify any problems and try and resolve them. usually you'll have to pick a different way of doing something, move a track or remove something this should help you understand what you're really interested in as you won't want to change those parts. That's just how I do it anyhow.
Gosh - looks like you hardly need your Layout Design Moderators on this thread. Much like Rick, I have little to add. Great stuff guys - good advice and some great alternate plans too. [ 30. October 2002, 08:18: Message edited by: yankinoz ]
Once Again I would like to thank everybody for their help. Above is what I decided to go with. I tried to base it on what I wanted to do and mix it with some of the sugestions I got here. I kind of stole Acraghead's Idea, simplified it to fit, and modified it for what I wanted to do. I liked your Idea Paul, but I wanted to do something a little more urban. guess I should have said City instead of town. The real track plan is going to look better the end of the yards will be semetricle, and I am going to try to use flex track, but am uneasy about it. The guy at the local hobby shop recomended a dremmel tool for cutting, and I hope it works.
That seems to be a great improvement on your first design. The only comment I will add is the 2 stub ended sidings on the left hand side. You might want to consider joining them to the mainline so you can bring trains off the mainline and store into the yard then leave the yard again without having to switch the train. It is hard to explain so i have included a picture from my layout. To cut flexi track I used a special pair of cutters that i bought from my local hobby shop. They look similar to wire cutters, they are very effective but you do need to file the ends of the rail slightly so the rail joiners will install properly. Keep us up to date with your progress it's great to see a members layout progress
That is excellent! And those of you who know me, I'm always looking for a nice long drill track (yard lead) at the end of a yard - you have it! Perfect - this means you can sort a train using the two classification tracks and the Arrival departure track with a train doing laps (or switchig the industry). Then send the new train on it's way - have a 'meet' at the siding - bring the first train into the A/D track and re-arrange that train. Hours of Fun!!
I use those Xuron rail nippers too, and do very little filing, sometimes none at all, on nickle silver rail HO.
Just a few things. #1 and the most important. Can you change that turnout in the bottom left hand corner to the other hand? Changing it to a right handed one would improve the flow of the track and eliminate a little bit of an S curve you've got going there. #2 you may want a runaround track just to the right of your yard ladder between the lead and the engine terminal track so that you can rearrange the trains in the yard without the yard switcher having to go onto the main and block it. #3 those tracks on the turntable look just a little too short to be usefull. If you extended most fo them by about 3" I think you'll find that things will fit on them better. [ 02. November 2002, 05:28: Message edited by: Paul Davis ]
I like Colonel's idea of making those stubs double ended, but have a feeling it won't fit. (Waaa!!!) Looks to me like you have eliminated all the S curves, which is a great improvement. As for the turntable tracks, I agree with the person above who said they ought to be longer. Or, at least, some of them should be. Three inches is about right as that'd make some of them 12 inches long, fairly generous for the 4 axle units you'd probably be using on this size of a layout. Good luck and keep us posted!
