Okay, I'm trying to design a layout for my 11.5' x 13.5' room. The helix is a mountain climb, with the loop tunneling through at ground level for longer trains off of the main line. There is a coal mine to the east of the mountain, and a coal power plant on the west side of the layout (these are the only two industries I've put on the layout so far.) The yard on the east side of the layout is extremely small, I'm considering moving that to a lower level of the layout and replacing it with another industry. The Grid is 1 foot. It's kid of hard to tell what's going on without the track heights marked, but helix starts at 3" at the west entrance and goes up to 8" high at the west exit, for about a 1.9% grade. The track coming out of the helix rises to 9" and levels off to create a high route, thinking about nolixing that back down to grade, or maybe have another mountain helix at the south/west end of the layout.. Not sure.. Anyway, this is my first attempt at designing a layout of this size, so please be nice. Oh and its obviously not yet complete
Looks like you're off to a good start. I agree with your description of the the yard being short. Would you be interested in a stub ended yard instead of double-ended? Maybe with just an escape for locos from the arrival-departure track, but no turnouts for the south/east (lower right corner) of the plan? Or you could make a balloon loop out to about 36 inches to hold a helix like your center (mountain) helix to take trains down to a lower level yard. If you made it circle downward clockwise, you'd be able to have turnouts at the front of the lower level to minimize access issues. Depending on the thickness of your upper level, you may want to have an extra loop or 2 to get more space between the decks (12" would be good... but make the difference between decks to YOUR preference, not someone else's). If you have a thin upper deck (4 inches or less) and track on the lower level is on the front half of the lower shelf, your shouldn't have too much trouble...and even if you put track toward the back, you can probably still see/reach it if you carefully plan how high the two decks will be (36 and 48 inches, 30 and 42, 48 and 60). Again, the heights that might work for one person will not necessarily be right for you. It is really important to test actual mock ups of the height of BOTH decks as well as thickness of the framing and depth of the upper level. All these factors interact with each other as well as with the difference between the 2 deck levels and the width of the aisle you're standing in to affect how well you can see into the back of the lower level. plaugh:Yeah, even aisle width, because with a wider aisle, you can see deeper into the lower level without bending if you aren't as close to the shelf). For the tracks that run along the top of the track plan (behind the helix/mountain peninsula): if there is any way possible, ensure that the highest track is the one that is closest to the backdrop. Running the tracks as close together as you are will make maintenance and repair a pain in the caboose if the tracks in back are lower than tracks in front. This applies for 3rd and 4th tracks as well...so if you have tracks at 0, 3, 6 and 9 inches elevation, then the 9 inch level should be toward the back and the 0 inch in front of the 3 inch level which should be in front of the 6 inch level. It looks like you have a pyramid or wedding cake helix. Rising, as you do, from the lower deck before entering the helix and rising some more after leaving the top of the helix, are both very good ways to minimize time spent on the helix. If you enlarge the lowest loop a little more, you can keep the train visible for most of the first loop...and then have the train reappear for most of the top loop as well...further reducing time hidden in the helix. Some people like to have their trains visible only as they move in just one direction (always right to left as they proceed around the layout or else always left to right) instead of moving through a layout section first to the left and immediately back to the right. You have set your helix to rise as it circles counterclockwise. As a result, trains would leave the yard on the right side of the plan moving right to left, but as they enter the helix, they will be visible at some point moving left to right. If you revise the helix design to rise as it circles clockwise, then the train could be visible all the way from the yard across the top right of the plan, then down the right side of the peninsula and around the end to disappear into the helix portal on the left side of the peninsula...all the time traveling right to left. After making the loop (or loops) hidden inside the mountain, the train would exit on the right side of the peninsula, travel around the end of the peninsula and back to the top of the plan on the left side of the peninsula and then down the left wall of the room (visible from the right side of the peninsula all the way to the left wall of the layout room...and moving right to left the whole time. If you are uncomfortable running twice around the end of the peninsula while visible both times, then you could position the helix portals at the end of the peninsula so the train enters the helix on the right front end of the peninsula and exits on the left front, just 4 or 5 inches higher.
