The first thing to do is define the space that you have, which you have done. How much of the room can you use? Do you need to have a workbench in the same room? You will get more running track if your layout is along the walls with a peninsula or two sticking out toward the center if you have room for it. The longest that you can reach things is about 24 inches. Thus quite a few folks make their bench work 24 inches wide and along the walls. Any peninsulas that stick out can be wider because you will have access from both sides and the end.
What I do for layout design (have done so far) is define my area and bench work first. Next I decide on a theme. (Mainline running, with a branch line(?) or other special interests.) Then I put in a mainline. I am fond of single track mainlines that run twice around the room types, divided by scenery and grades.
Since I have gotten into operations, I also have a staging area of some sort, whether it is a lay-over for entire trains, or a yard that simulates an interchange yard. One track in staging can be a through track for continuous running. If I put cars on it, the layout becomes point to point for operations.
Next I try and determine how many small towns I can have, and possibility one city with a yard and loco facilities, without them crowding one another. Usually small yards and facilities unless I have the room for larger ones. I will try to fit in a way-side industry or two just for variation as long as it won’t crowd things.
Then I go looking at plans for modular railroads. I look for ones that would make good towns or cities because their track plans are usually fairly compact, and most of the way they will be switched is already determined with a good track plan themselves.
Because I freelance, I don’t worry about town and city names etc., but if you want to model a specific prototype, you can name the towns as the railroad you are m
Around the walls is a good way to go, especially to get the wider radius curves that look good with HO.
(This also depends if your modeling the line during modern times or as one of its earlier incarnations).
When you say that the tables can go anywhere, does than include against the wall under the layout? That would leave space in the middle for a (small) industrial / branch peninsula.
Since you have a specific line and area you want to model (NorCal in the house!), I’d start with figuring out 4-6 specific “scenes” you want to include: which towns, which parts of towns (could even be a signature industry or building), a specific tunnel / pass / bridge, etc… The order of scenes will be determined by the prototype, but you will find you might have to scratch one off the list or combine some elements to get the flavor of the route in the space you have.
And do you want point-to-point with a continuous-run option (lift out) or ??
As a fellow Northern Californian, I’m looking forward to seeing how your layout comes to life!
Even though his “spare room” is 11’x12’ there are a lot of groovy ideas you can adapt to your space, such as scenic dividers, peninsulas and (most important) keeping it simple
I can put the tables for modeling work under the benches. They are flat tables so they can fit just about anywhere in the room.
I like Petaluma to Santa Rosa with Penngrove added for interest. PG has a trackage the runs diagonally to the street/town. Also, the main street in PG runs uphill. So the crossing would be fun to build and interesting in terms of the screen not being flat.
Petaluma back in it’s day had a produce plant east of the depot. SR had freight west and north of the depot. Also, in SR off 3rd st was a great lumber Co. just across 3rd st bridge.
I have all the maps that show the early years of the line. It run from the Bay to North of Cloverdale. I don’t have enough space to do ALL of it. And I am short on design skills. I know what I would like to do but have big trouble getting on paper so it works on the benches.
I can see the line in a straight line but when I try to bend it to fit in a room some how it just isn’t the same.
That said, I would like to have Petaluma depot and produce plant at one end and SR depot w/ freight at the other end. My kids like to watch the trains run so Yes to, “And do you want point-to-point with a continuous-run option (lift out) or ??”.
A yard at both ends would be great to handle staging. Might be able to do continuous-run via the yard.
About the room. I framed on most of the garage w/ roof making a 12’ x 14’ empty space ALL for my Man Cave/ MRR Room.
I strongly second two of the requests above. Start by:
Drawing your room. This can be a fancy CAD drawing, a simple PowerPoint slide, or pencil and graph paper. So long as it’s (reasonably) to scale, with all the obstructions and measurements marked. Once you get it done, make several copies of it (if it’s paper) or save the file name as “master” if it’s electronic. This way you can always go back to the “clean sheet” if things aren’t progressing well.
Decide on the half dozen or so “scenes” you want to include on your layout. Fix the era. If you want any major areas (coal mine, quarry, roundhouse, yard, etc.), make sure you include these.
Once you do this, you can decide where to place these main elements, and all the rest will fall into place.
A couple of other decisions you need to make:
a) Single or double train mainline?
b) Continuous loop or point to point?
c) What’s the longest train you will operate? (Determines length of passing sidings)
you could post the drawing of your room and your lineair translation from the prototype on here.
Two basic layout forms for your space could be:
Knowing what kind of basic footprints are possible in your space is worth exploring. Track Planning For Realistic Operation by John Armstrong could be very helpful. Finding place for your workbenches will be impossible with the plans above, so less complicated designs are needed. Only a narrow shelf in the center would be an option. Like on the following plan:
The San Jacinto District of the AT&SF, the original the design is by Andy Sperandeo.
Fitting your lineair plans in the space you have can be difficult. Often finding the few things you really want, or leaving out the less important parts is the hardest job. Selective compression of the remaining scenes is just as hard.
CTV should add to his points a #e): a brief description of the trains and the number of trains you want to run at the very same time.
#f) the era or the kind of equipment. Long coaches and long modern freight can’t run well on 22" radii.
How come you gents are asking him to draw the room layout? If I am not correct, didn’t he say the dimensions and then say there are two tables but they can be put anywhere thus making them irrelevant to the room drawing? Just wondering…
in most rooms are obstacles, not only the workbenches. Just to be sure, i made a few drawings. So he can tell if there are till now unclear obstacles.
Usually workbenches go together with additional spots where tools can be kept. Since his benches are 36" wide, it will be almost impossible to build a modelrailroad on top of them. Reaching in that far on a pretty heigh built layout seems not doable to me. Allow another 36" for working space in front of the benches, and only half of his space remains free for modelrailroad purposes.
The OP could make a drawing with his workbenches and working space. Maybe they can be placed in a L-form, maybe not. A lot for the OP to find out. I am not even sure if the room is built already. If not “replacement” of the door could be an important option.
BTW, considering all costs of a model railroad finding narrower workbenches could probably enhance the trackplanning possibilities.
As another (far) Nor Cal model railroader, I would like to see your progress and plan. I am planning on modeling the same line, just further north in a spare 15x13 room.
Speaking purely for myself, I give advice and assistance according to the following principle:
“Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”
So if someone comes in and says, “Here are my givens and druthers. Please design my track plan for me,” I might help, but I might not, because it’s a big undertaking, and ultimately, it has to please the owner, which my design might not do.
If someone says, “Help me design…”, I’ll try my best to walk him through the process, so that the design comes from his head with my help, not vice versa.
Ah ok. Makes sense to me now why you ask for the drawings. Thank you for informing this poor uneducated modeller (when ever I say I’m going to ‘model’ . "modeller’ or ‘do some modelling tonight’ I feel like lense flashes and cheering crowds should be accompanying those statements lol). I will be sure to remember to add all possible details to my posts forthwith if I want to tap into the fount of knowledge that CT have [;)]
I agree with this, “Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.”
All the advice so far has made me look at the space in my room w/ a different set of lens. I was looking only at the floor space. Now I’m looking at Wall space.
What I mean is the floor is for storage and work bench. The Wall is for the Pike. Also, I’ve been thinking about the space above the Pike. What “can” I do with it besides lighting? Not a question just my thinking.
I found some old ideas I had for a bedroom. I have to rework it to fit the new room. I’ll post a rough draft when I have it ready.
I basicly have to turn it over since the door in the drawing is on the wrong wall.
The plan calls for P to P w/ option for continuos runs. I am thinking of have a upper level going to a Mill that would be nice for my Shay.
I have one door in the South West corner. No windows. Power outlets not installed yet. I will be doing that later. I haven’t added outside plywood yet. I’ve kept it open so I can run the electrical easier. I think it would be easier to work from the back where I can see the studs so I don’t cut to many holes in the sheet rock.
Just another thought. How about starting at the Schellville Jct which would provide input traffic from theSP/UP. That whole branch to Santa Rosa is running now and could be a lot of fun. You have a great NWP support group here in Sonoma and Santa Rosa. Just ask.
Dick Foster - Editor CallBoard for Redwood Empire Division
