Hi guys, I stumbled upon this forum not long ago, and thought this may be a good place to get feedback on my layout. I have a decent size room, its 14x18 and had planed on going HO scale, but in order to get decent curves it ate up mucho room. So I have decided to try Nscale, and alas It will be a 3 part project. The first part and what I consider the scenic center piece is my logging run. Its a small branch line on 36"x96" benchwork. It will be Open grid and cookie cutter built. Take a peek at the drawings I have. As you can see its an oval with a switchback going up 3 levels 4 counting the first level where the passanger area is. The left hand spur is the Engine shed, fueling area. The middle is a small passanger station ( this is where the new logging workers are droped off and or picked up if the get fired or quite . To the right is the Logging camp. A small speeder will transport people to and from the camp to station. Next to the station will be a small general goods store for the logging people. Speeder may also be used for transport to the logging area which is at the very top its the area with a 3 track spur. 1 Track for empties, one track for fulls, and one track for loading. This pic shows the exposed track, there is some hidden which also include the lead to the main line and the switch to the actual switch back. I know hidden turnouts suck, but since its cookie cutter build, I will have easy access to them if they foul. This pick shows the entire layout including the hidden track. Since some of the track basicly stacks on top of each other its hard to see whats what. No sawmill included, it will be on one of the other additions. For right now the basic ops will be: Get empties in the yard area, take them up to logging area. Grab loaded and bring back to yard. The yard will be used mainly for passanger and interchange, as I add the other layouts, I will have a frieght Loco come in to pick up the loadeds and haul them to the saw mill, and one to bring back empties. As well as passanger runs bringing in people and takeing them out. Anyhow, this is what I have so far, and its based off a layout I saw from another forum, but different a bit. 15" radi outside curve, 13.5 Middle curve, and 11.5 Inside. Once the other additions are added the mainline will have 20" and 18" curves. Those are to be added at a later time. Please feel free to offer any advice or critisism. Just be gentle this is my first layout. [ February 05, 2006, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: Lighting ]
Its hard to see with out it colored. Heres a pic that has the track colored. Look for the orange track, it switches off from the main line at the top left.
It looks pretty cool to me. My personal opinion is that I would want to avoid putting switches in tunnels. You mention open grid construction. Have you considered the doorpanel layout concept? You can layer foam ontop of a doorpanel for your elevations. I would say that the Atlas N scale shay would work well with this. you might want to try out a Bachmann Doodlebug for passenger service. It's a nice self powered unit. The best thing about this kind of line is that you can run specialized equipment but you do not need a lot of it. I would be tempted to combine styles of layouts on this branch. logging is good but you could also add a small mine of some kind. Adding the mine would increase types of freight cars you could use. A couple hoppers to haul coal out of the mine. You could build some tiny shacks and you have miners homes, adding more passenger service , or even mail service. People also need food and fuel and other supplies deliveries. The upper yard area seems large for a logging line. Maybe do a long passing siding up there so your engine can get around a string of cars. Your switch backs seem a little short. Overall I like the plan though. I look forward to hearing more about your layout and eventually seeing pictures of it.
traingeekboy, I actually plan on a mineing area, just not on this layout. It will be a later addition and have an area of its own. More then Likely Ill scratchbuild the Logging camp shacks on a flat bed if you know what I mean, and add another switch in the logging camp for them to sit on ready to move out when they need to relocate. When I did the switch backs I figured on 5% grades a small steamer or diesel would have to negotiate it. With that in mind i figure no more then 3-4 30-40 foot log cars per loco to climb it. The switchbacks are 18" long after the switch, that should give me enough room to actualy park one on the switchback if another comming down needs to pass. Basicly it should fit 2 loco, and 6-8 cars without issue. I know the upper yard is a bit big, but I really would like to have a load line, emptys line and loaded line. It may not be prototypical per say, but its something I invision in my head as being right. kinda a TLAR thing. Yes switches in a tunnel, I can see why this would be bad. But I need the main line to switch off back there, its the only way I can see it fitting into my general larger layout. To make it somewhat easier for me, the layout will be a minimum of 50" off the floor. Combine with open access at the bottom, it should be reaitivly easy to fix any derailments or fouled switches. Please dont think im dismissing your suggestions, im just trying to justify the reason for what I did. Every bit of info will be proccessed, and may change the outcome of this layout. Thank you
After redoing my math on a calculator My switchbacks are indeed a little small. I will need to lengthen them and possibly spread the first two apart a little. Im figuring the transition era for steam and desiel, so I may scratch up some 20' log cars as well.
Lighting: Welcome to Trainboard and to N scale. John Moore is the resident guru on logging railroads and track plans. You might want to e-mail John for some added advice. Stay cool and run steam....
Lighting - I expect you would get bored very quickly with operating the layout. I also feel if this is your first layout to go with something basic and work your way up. A door panal layout has been suggested and I do agree. Get something running. You can still do a logging rr on a door with a couple of inclines. Just my opinion.
Your correct Grey, there isnt alot of operations on this layout. But when added to the rest of the layout as this is just a small piece of it. I feel it will complement the large layout nicely? Main reason on starting this is its the only modual that will have a continous running by itself. That way I can watch em roll as Im building the rest of it. A door panel is 36''x80'' Im ony adding 16". So im not sure how this is hard. I work with wood for a living so using a door slab with foam would feel very unatural. Ill be going DCC to start so I wont need to block my layout yet I plan on running a single power buss with feeders every 3 feet. Later down the road I will consider blocking it for detection and computer control w/signaling. But for this part it wont be needed. I have done a 4x8 Ho layout simple oval with a mountain scape and a tunnel. But this will be my first thought out drawn and permenant layout. I dunno, it all looks very simple to me, I dont really know how to make it any easier.
Lighting: With DCC, you still could add blocks to your layout if you want to use signaling, block occupancy detection and feedback of operations. It's always wise to plan this well in advance, then to do it after the trackwork is down. Stay cool and run steam....
Powersteamguy1790 Your right, I really do need to research block detection with DCC more. Its something ive looked into and knew I would want to use it later, but never really put alot of research time into it.
I've been using DCC for 6+ years now, and when I started to lay out the trackplan, I incorporated blocks for the reasons I mentioned above. All you need for the blocks are plastic rail joiners at either end of the block. I set up about a dozen blocks on the JJJ&E which is more than adequate and allows me to do the signaling I want as well as block occupancy detection in certain areas. The wiring is the same as if you didn't use any blocks. Stay cool and run steam....
Thats simple enough. Do I only need to block the areas that will have signaling, or should I just block the entire layout, using flex track that would be every 30 inches, and at each turnout? And since Im blocking to start I imagine it would be that much easier to add seperate power districts by simply connecting the feeders to what ever power booster as needed since everything is isolated in 30" sections.
Welcome To TrainBoard! Keep us posted as the project progresses. Pictures are always interesting! Boxcab E50
I am looking at your layout and I think you could simply make the back be open so your hidden track would be very accesseible. So long as you can't see it from the front it's a tunnel right? But lots of access for track cleaning and maintenance. Trust me about the hidden switch. It will be the first thing to get fouled and need work.It will also be the one place where trains derail. I have torn apart perfectly designed layouts for this one flaw, no track access. BTW...I was not offended by your rejection of some of my comments. It's your layout. It's our job to throw curve balls at you so that you think about some of the design implications. This is my favorite part of the trainboard forum. I just love seeing how other people think up track plans. I had a lot of input on my layout design here, even some of the comments I rejected somehow had an influence on my final design. [ February 02, 2006, 12:41 AM: Message edited by: traingeekboy ]
That's the way mines work, anyway. I'm not sure about other industries, but it seems reasonable to me...
It's always good to have more yard space then you think you'll need, especially since you know this is going to be expanded. As far as bench work goes I can understand the comfort zone. For a permenent built in layout open grid is industructable. N scale is quite light weight, more so now that foam sheeting has become has become the popular scenery choice. Screen and paster scenery require rock solid benchwork in any scale. 5% grade is steep, REALLY steep. Beware of the roller coaster effect. Even for a logging line running shays it's gonna be a chore pulling even a couple of cars. At 50" high 36" is an awfully long way to reach for any mishaps in the upper yard. You may want to experiment with that before costruction. I'm a big fan of planning fo expansion and can tell this is just a small chunk of the master plan.
Well, i changed the layout slighty and I think I have a workable plan. Saturday I ran up to Kinkos and had a full size drawing printed out. Today I decided to do a little cutting and screwing and painting, and heres where I finnished. Getting ready to place my track order tonight. Anyone have any suggestions on where to buy some Atlas code 55 flex and #7 turnouts?
Not yet, once i get my track order, ill lay some test pieces and adjust the grades as needed. The supports are only held by 1 screw as of now, so changes can be made easily.
