Man, i’m glad your all here cause there is no hobby shop here and no one to ask. I’m trying to decide and see where i want to put my yard and engine service tracks, but to do that i need to know how my main line curves will fit in and decide on the radius. I want to run SD-40’S and some steam a little bigger than the SD’S too. I’m not good at math and during math class i just dreamed of trains. So where do i begin? I want to see if it will be better to run the main above or below the yard and i have to see how both would look before i decide. What tools do i need and what do i do first? Thank you for your help.
You could draw your plan on paper with 1" squares (= 1’). Then transfer that to large paper (newsprint) with 12" squares (full size). You can make a “compass” for drawing curves from a yard stick with a nail through one end. I cut a yard stick down to 24" and put several holes for the nail so I could draw several radii.
When you get the full-size plan finished you can use something like a pizza cutter to transfer the lines to your plywood.
Also get a good track planning book. [:-^]
Have fun,
Along the yard stick idea, this proved invaluable for me. 48" piece of scrap with holes drilled (same size as pen) every 1 inch. “Ruler” has a hole for a nail, when center of circle is on “terra firma”. When center of circle is out in space, the tripod works just great. Needed a hole of a different size for the tripod mount but no big deal - what’s one more hole [:)]
Regards,
First things first: where is it all gonna go, and how much room do you have where it’s all gonna go?
Mark that perimeter out with an outline on the floor using masking tape. Be precise!
Next, using your desired track plan schematic (ideally one whose scale you can work with, but that is not essential) make a masking tape schematic on the floor…inside your tape permiter, of course.
Next, use a tramel or string to measure the tighter looking radii. Anything less than 18" radius will severely limit you to what you can do with your trains…including which trains you can run on them. (hint- 22" should be your minimum if you want a 4-8-4 steamer to run on your layout).
Once you actually lay your curves, you can fudge a few things, and your curves will be nicer and more consistent than the ones you lay using tape…the tape is just an indicator of your overall plan, and if you were reasonably accurate (honest) about matching everything up, your plan should work in the space you have.
Don’t forget that no trackage should come within 3" of the edge of your layout for the safety of your expensive locomotives. That is a minimum, with 5" being much better.