this sounds like an “if you build it , they will come” type of project . i’m sure once the local closet model railroaders see that you’re actually going to build this massive layout they’ll want to be involved . help them out a bit by advertising in the local papers that you’re starting a model railroad club and you’re looking for a few members . the downside to this of course is they’ll want to be included in the decisions about what to build . drive carefully if you head down this road !
about the yard … if you go for double ended i’m not sure a peninsula with the mainline running around it would be the best place , i’d think about putting it at one of the ends of the building so you have tracks running into it from both ends , and also have tracks running past it so trains can run around the layout without fouling the yard
To ereimer: I thought of the club idea but decided against that just for the reason of having to give up control on the design. I have approached a couple of the closet guys about helping build in return for running rights on layout. One expressed interest, the other two just looked at me like I was dumb. The peninsula for the yard is one end of the running loop along the building that is why it will be so long. The yard peninsula will be near the center of the room with its connection angled across the north-eastern front window to the northern wall which will have the base the other peninsulas extend out from. Have not decided on the width of the base yet - thinking of almost a shelf type (narrow with some scenery). Those peninsulas will only be 4’ wide X 6 to 8’ long. That gives a 6’ south walkway and 3’ walkway between the yard and the wall connected peninsulas. There will be 3’ walkways between each of the smaller peninsulas. The peninsula at the other end of the room from the yard will be almost “U” shaped for a big harbor scene. Each section built will be able to operate as a stand-alone layout if desired or ganged together for the open houses (to give really long runs for the trains). Also allows for the big layout to be built in smaller sections and still run trains during open houses.
As for my wife (30+ years) - it only took three years to get her agreement to buy the building. YES, she is a great woman for allowing me to spend that much on my hobby. I have set up the old office area for her to work on her crafts (needlepoint, plastic beads and plastic canvas). I always try to spend dollar for dollar on her crafts and my trains, that keeps her happy.
After months of reading, study and much confusion…I stumbled on this http://www.housatonicrr.com/[url][/url]
about 1/2 way down under 10 commandments of yard design.
quick and easy explanations of what this track is; any how / why its use.
5 minutes later, the light is still dim, but its getting brighter…
I got more from this than from 30 pounds of layout design books.
Hope this helps.
The books suggested are all great sources of info. I have a friend who is an engineer on the Illinois Central that I persuaded to come over and check my layout over. He is not a model railroader, but the things he showed me and told me to change were miraculous to say the least. That experience of real railroading just can’t be bought. He broke everything down for me to be able to understand and use common sense in yard design. He also explained that the real railroads don’t always get it right the first time so don’t be afraid of making a mistake every now and then. I used RTR TO’s on my main ladders, but learned to lay my own which was a big help when a special situation pops up and you can make any track configuration called for. BTW are you going to use conventional DC or DCC?and I’m guessing HO scal?
OOPPS - Forgot to state layout will be HO. I have so many older engines, would not be able to use DCC. Besides I am old fashioned - like conventional DC.
Sounds great that you get to build your dream layout. Some yards i have seen use both double ended
and dead tracks. many dead tracks to park engines in for refueling porposes.
If you have a chance to operate a layout with DCC, do so. It may be scary now, but in the long run DCC will simplify your life on a large layout. Especially if you will be operating a big (area) layout by yourself or with one or two people.
A couple thoughts on the overall design. If you anticipate only have yourself and 3 or four other guys running the layout, you have to give some serious consideration to what kind of railroad you want to have. With a small crew you can model a fairly low traffic branchline with a lot of local work (even to the point of only running 2 or 3 trains per session, but having 2 man crews on each train) or you can run a large mainline operation where you run many trains, but don’t switch that much. Which one you pick makes a big difference in what the yard and for that matter the whole layout looks like.
In the words of G Bush 41, its the “vision thing”. Building a layout that requires 12 guys to operate and only being able to come up with 5 will be very frustrating. If you design a large layout to operate with 4 people, you usually can over double that amount if required. For example if you normally have 1 yard job, 1 local and 2 road haul jobs, that’s 4 guys. By adding a second yard engine, a dispatcher, train order operator, and using 2 man crews on the road you can up the “body count” to 10 people easy.