This is my first attempt at posting photos or anything else not text related. I have been reading up on MR related things for over a year now, as my wife told me I must get a hobby … I was in a small apartment, and didn’t have room for much more than a very small switching layout, and I didn’t get started on that while there. Then we bought a house. It had a basement … and a dream (nightmare at times?) was born.
Well, the move is over, and I finally got some benchwork up. I was maximizing the space in the basement that was allowed me for the layout. Since right now I am just new at this, the track is mostly for moving the trains around, while practicing scenery, building structures, and learning basics.
This is the schematic (grid is 12") of the benchwork. It is a combination of hollow core doors with foam on top. The layout is at 36" in height, as I spend the majority of time at work on my feet, so will be sitting in the inside. I also have a wife who doesn’t understand the whole higher is better (will just have to build a second deck in the next few months (read 10 years from now). Will be doing a midwestern theme, small agricultural town, so hills are not large, but present. Will have a lumberyard, grain elevator, small non railroad buildings. This will be with GP 38s, with mainly 50’ cars. I will be doing this in HO, and most of the curves are 22 or greater. Why HO, well, I like the size, and I deal with things the size of N scale at work, and don’t need to for relaxation[:D].
I was trying find a layout that would work, looking over many different layout designs, as well as doing a lot of guessing, and couldn’t find one I really liked.&
What I did was settle on a loop for my plan in a similar situation with my spare room. However I use a duck under to get to the middle as a lift out is too much of a hassle with wife wanting to get to closet in the morning.
With that loop, one end is the industry drill track for the entire layout. There is a train length passing siding inside the main with a short runaround just enough to fit the longest cut of cars plus switch engines.
I pull in from one direction, run a few loops clockwise (Westbound) then arrive at the industry with a inside passing siding serving as a arrival departure track. Drop off the road engines and send them to the office at the end of the drill to wait for the industry switcher to finish the work.
When the required work is done, the caboose is taked onto the other end of the train and I depart counterclockwise for 4 laps presuming a road trip back to yard or whatever. The direction then is “EASTBOUND.” back to a point defined in my imaginary semi prototype modeling area.
The loop is strictly to give all engines a chance to break in, give a visitor a oppertunity to enjoy train watching, but when it is time to operate, that loop is part of a imaginary connection to and from a single point outside of the layout.
What did my reply have to do with a town? Well, consider my town. All of it is in boxes ready to be placed onto the future addition or built to suit the space in the future, whatever it may be. A train will arrive into town, switch the industries in that town and continue on. There is a tower in that town because traffic to the industry I descibed eariler is a dead end branch line and trains will need to get past each other in the future town.
Finally, consider your structures. Where they fit is where you run track to them.
I had an original plan in mind, then I read more, that plan went the way of the dodo rather quickly, and here is why:
This is virtually the only way the benchwork can go in. It is an 11x11 space, and as I was adding the space up, the powers that be (who likes tunnels) decided there needed to be a walkway through that section of the basement (even though it is easier to go through another way), and I lost 2.5-3 feet of space off of the bottom side on the plan, as well as an additional 8-10 square feet in another section. Thus, the extinction of the original plan. Just for fun, I had already bought the materials for this with a different area for a bridge/liftout.
I’m not sure if your wife has detailed specs on the tunnel, but a couple of prototype midwestern rail tunnels are the ones in Detroit and Port Huron that go under rivers to Ontario. They’re not quite as dramatic as the through-the-mountain variety, though. You could also do some iron ore handling in the upper midwest, in which a tunnel might be plausible.
And there’s always the “it’s there because it’s my layout and I want one” trump card [:)]
Russ, I am a big fan of the donut bench work, my next bench will be one. Looks like some of the bench is 24" wide and some around 28" or so. So you cut down the width of the hollow doors?
Lets call the out side track the A line and inside the B line. One idea is to push the B line out a little more and add a C line or branch line more toward the center. If you make the lift out wider the C line could all so be a loop. If you don’t want a wider lift out you could make the branch line a point to point.
What I envision for my next bench will be a donut like yours, but will be three foot wide at all the way around. On the outer edge of the bench there will be a raised section apx 12 inch above the lower level and about 8 inch’s wide. On the upper level there will be 2 main lines that do not hook to the lower level, they will be a independent lines. Lower level will have 2 Main lines and a branch line all the way around.
It was a response to the guests sneaking thread about how some people feel that some will not post for fear of flaming. I was not actually too worried, as everyone has been quite helpful on so many topics for us newbies, whether basic or not. I should remember not to post when tired and distracted.
This is trully crap…I am under the belief that this is a forum dealing with a hobby, something that one usually would do for enjoyment and entertainment etc., why would anyone with a genuine interest in the hobby “Flame you”? Anyone inclined to do so isn’t worth a pinch of sh#t.
I too am a fan of such design layout.
My previous layouts of years back where of such a design, and my next is going to be also, if for no other reason than logistically it can’t be any other way, being located in a 40’ shipping container. I plan to have three levels, the base level having maybe twin mainline, the second level around 10" higher a single main, and the third level, maybe a further 8" will consist of several seperate narrow gauge operations.
Scenicaly it will be based in mountain country, possibly following the course of a river to a bay.
But it has all been put on hold for almost a year now, as in the real world the shipping container has just been moved a thousand kilometres and a world away from where it was in the swamps of South Australia to the high country of Victoria.
You described available space and room configuration, you described your givens and preferences, some thoughts on what kind of trains and how to run the trains on the layout, you have a realistic idea about what you can fit onto a layout this size, you have sensible curve radii, you have Track Planning for Realistic Operations coming soon, and you have told people that you do not have an ego too fragile to take a constructive comments on your plans.
From my point of view, I’d say you have made an excellent start on the design process - far better than what I did when I presented my first design for comments a few years ago.
You seem to be picturing as your focal point of your layout (your vision) a smallish midwestern town with the typical elements like a grain elevator, a lumber yard and a
Why don’t you go to Internet “Track Plans” (then click on “User Track Plans”, or go to 101 Track Plans Lin Westcott’s book is great! With this size layout you can use run arounds, overpasses, reverse loops and wyes, to add interest to a multi-train operation.
I will likely have two trains running when I sit and watch, if I want to start operating more, will use sequential running.
Junction, and I have a section off the corner of the layout to make a yard (more for staging, but will be visible). I am working on the space in another corner for a similar yard. I also plan to have a little more trackage than what is there, must read the Christmas present before continuing (it came last night).
I was probably not going to run more than 8-9 cars at a time, and possibly less (only have 15 right now). Current “sidings” from one section to another are approximately 5.5 feet (if outer track is main, inner is passing siding when running single track. As far as states, a combination of norther Indiana and soutwest Michigan are in my head, with some of the industry being based in Plai
