Loco1999: What happened to the larger board you were going to use? Are you using the old layout board? What happened to your double mainline? Stay cool and run steam....
Thanks for the ideas Geeky. I am not sure how much surgery I can do on the old layout board. Bob, The new one is just too big. There is not enough room to work on it. It has been at a standstill. I will keep the double mainline that software has a limit on the number of track pieces. Thanks, Loco1999
Well I wasn'tthinking of surgery on the track board itself. Just thinking of having the extra space on the front edge be used for a yard. I'm curious to see what changes you come up with.
Ok, The old board is not going to work out. I cut down the new board to 3'x7'. ( Was 3'x8') I like it so far, the spurs may be rearranged when I build the structures. Where can I add a turnout or two for expansion or a staging expansion? Any other suggestions or ideas? Thanks, Loco1999
Very very nice! I like it. Curving the tracks running parallel to the edges is awesome. Play with it like that and see how you feel about it after a week or so. Looks like a keeper to me. I would add one of those kato double truss bridges somewhere. How about putting a divider like you had before down the middle, only this time at an angle, and leaving the two spur side unfished. atleast untill you can think of a good way to develop it into something more involved like a yard with turntable or something like that.
Loco, I like this one a lot. I agree with Geeky, try a backdrop or divider of some sort at an angle. As good as your scenery work is, you could hide the openings in it easily. Also, what radius are the curves on your layout? Maybe I'll steal some of your ideas!
Love it. that curve is stunning. 3'x7'. That would fit on a hollow core door and be a great first layout for anyone. Come to think of it I guess I better to that myself. Is there any chance of eventualy getting a drawing of the layout with part numbers. This thought goes back to my idea of putting together a slection of tried and true small track plans for people. Windingstream.com would be happy to set up some pages for it.
Thanks for the good ideas. I will run it for a while and see, then paint, foam, wire, ....... The min radius. Outer loop 15" Inner loop 13.75" Top of bone 28 1/4" Bottom of bone 19" Spurs 19" Turnouts are all #6 and a double crossover. The only software I have that does Kato Unitrack is a demo with a track piece limit. I could draw it this week with MS paint. Thanks, Loco1999
Dude, Maybe you could draw one half of the board as one drawing and the other half as another using your demo and then someone can photoshop it together for you. (hint hint)
Hi, Grey One, The software I believe is XTrkCAD, which can be found at: http://www.sillub.com/ And has a track library for Kato N scale Unitrack. They'll give you a free downloadable demo copy. I've used it, it has a limit on the number of track pieces (I think 50) and the size of the layout space that the demo version will support (I think 4' x 8'). However, it is useful to make and test out small portions of a layout. And while there may be others's, it's the only layout design program that I know of that has a N scale Kato Unitrack library. Because my little 4' x 4' layout is so small, I was able to use the free demo version of XTrkCAD to make the following diagram of my layout, here's what that looks like: (I put the track radius's on the diagram myself, XTrkCAD doesn't do that for you). Hope this helps!
Loco, I have Photoshop and would be glad to piece it together for you - even if it's 4 pieces, thats a snap to do. But come on... you're killing me with suspence knowing how well you do scenery - PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE get on with the scenicing!
I keep coming back and looking and saying OOOOHHH and AAAAAAHHHHH. That back section with only two spurs is so loaded with possibility for grande things like yards and engine terminals and big grain elevators.
Something about free registration here and provides a "free resgistration" code. I don't know what it is about.. http://www.sillub.com/freereg.html
Thanks for the help guys. Grey, That code works! Here is what I have on my board for now. How do I show the track labels? Here is some messing around with the back spurs.... Cool...... Thanks, Loco1999
That looks great. I wonder if kato is interested in new trackplans. Most of the ones on their brochure are kind of geared towards japanese prototypes. Yours is very US prototype. Maybe you could email it to them.
I really like the double mainline that I have. I would really like to make it expandable. Not sure what to do about that. The rest may be adjusted. I am not sure about operations. I have to admit two trains running is the main use right now. I think some switching would be nice. Some mix of Coal, Oil, and Freight. Loco1999
Since you've used UniTrack, I would think changes would be a sinch. (Exactly how DOES one mount UniTrack? ) I don't have much of a space for my layout and trying to fit the Feather River in a 3'x 6'..well, you get the idea... there are going to be things one needs to leave out. I've tossed around the idea of two different scenes on each side of a divider, a scene on one side and staging on the other. I think you're doing great with the space you have. Gives me no excuse for not having something done!
Loco1999: You can place a turnout on the upper left of the layout, running and and raising the siding about two inches and then cutting it in between your sidings on the left and right. The raised siding will become the divider. As the siding turns between your two main sidings to divide the layout add one or two turnouts to give you a raised staging area ( 2 1/2 " above the main layout). Stay cool and run steam.....
