Hello all. I am a “newbie” to model railroading. Have bought Bachmann Acela train set which uses a 22" radius EZ track. Would anyone know where I can find layouts that would fit a 4’ x 8’ area using 22" radius EZ track? I’m looking for something more interesting than just a plain oval.
Thanks
Alan
Alan,
First off: [#welcome] to the forum! Good to have you aboard! [:)]
You can go to the Atlas web site: http://www.atlasrr.com
Up at the top of the page they have a tab entitled Layout. Click on your scale and then either gallery. On the HO Code 100/Code 83 gallery, they have about 36 layouts to look at. Take them with a grain of salt.
Alan, my advice is to look at some just to “get ideas” from but to eventually come up with your own layout. With a 4 x 8, it’s best to make it fairly simple at first. The concept “less is more” goes a long way: your layout is easier to construct and put together and looks less cluttered.
Here’s another site that has a whole slew of layouts to get ideas from.
http://www.cwrr.com/nmra/Layout-HO.html
There may even be a few Acela ones, too. Hope that’s a help…
Tom
Hi Tom and thanks for the tips. Unfortunately, I didn’t see anything that specifically addressed 22" radius track on the Atlas site or the Acela layout site which would fit a 4 x 8 layout. Will keep looking though.
Thanks again.
Alan
Alan,
Another thing to try is to download the Atlas RTS (Right Tracks Software) from the Atlas web site. The software uses Atlas sectional and flex-track and allows you to connect them together to try out your ideas. It will even list a bill of materials to let you know how many of each kind of track you have on your layout drawing. You can then save your layout drawing as a file and/or print it out as a reference. It’s a bit quirky to use but it’s FREE, comes with a tutorial, and is worth a look.
Tom
Thanks Tom. I’ll give it a try.