I have a five year old son who is enamored with trains. He got his first Lionel for Christmas. It is the NY Central Flyer and came with the 40"x60" loop of Fastrack.
I, like many, am limited by my wife as to how much space I am allotted. Right now, its not much. I have purchased a second loop of Fastrack and am getting ready to add a few turnouts and build a small layout.
Here is my question. I can take the 40x60 and add a straight or two to all four sides. I would like to run an inner loop but need a little advice as to what radius curves I need to do this? The loop comes with O36. I have been all over the internet looking for Fastrack plans that might work for me…including Thorstrains.com. They have some great layouts but I need to start with something basic like this before I go crazy.
Any advice?
Thanks in advance. By the way I have been checking the forums on this site for the last month and half or so and have learned some valuable info.
You can do an inner loop of O36 with fewer straights to make it fit inside. Lionel doesn’t make anything tighter than O36 in Fastrack. The other option would be to replace the curves in the outer loop with wider track. I think they make an O48 or something along those lines. But two loops of track the same radius isn’t bad–it’ll work fine. You can connect the two loops with switches to make it a bit more interesting.
Starting with a simple layout and getting it working well is very wise. If you start with something too elaborate, it’s easy to get in over your head and get frustrated. That’s not good. This is supposed to be fun.
The next larger curve for Fastrack is O-48. You would need 12 pieces, plus enough straight pieces to enclose your O-36 loop. You can use turnouts to connect the two loops if you wish, or leave them separate.
Your other option would be to have a 40X60 loop and surround it with a broader loop using O-36 curves and more straights to separate the “corners.” I think you would like the O-48 curves on your outer loop as this would allow you to run bigger engines and passenger cars if you wished.
I run trains on two or more independent loops on the floor. Like you I don’t have much available space for a large layout. It’s the easiest way to go. Simple wireing, and you can run many trains at the same time.
Here’s an example with my kids. We run O and HO together on seperate loops.
Another option is to run 027 inside the fastrak. However 027 is not a good floor runner like fastrak. It is fine if you mount it to a board (I use two 30" hollow core doors for a total of 60" wide by 80" deep). Another option (easier to assemble) is k-line supersnap track (although K-line is bankrupt).
You will only save about 5" in total width by using two 36" loops. I have a small 2-loop layout using 36" and 48" FasTrack. In the rear of the layout, the straight tracks are right next to each other. In the front, the 5" space between the 2 loops holds a station platform, milk loading platform, and other scenics. Joe