Impasse reached and starting over..

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Well I’ve being constructing my current layout for over 4 years now and I think I’ve reached an impasse.

I wanted to have a layout with hight variation to help prevent the “going round in circles” origial layout of my childhood.

Well I’ve got so far and I’m starting to see the faults in my figure 8 layout. The gradiants are too steep and the trains strain to get to the top. And once they’ve passed that test the tight corners mean instant derailment. And that then also means that nothing longer than a short boxcar can make it round.

My original intention was to have at least one passenger train (not nessarcarily long) but as you can imagine that was a no go too.

Plus, my moderate sized city is a cramped after thought (well that’s how it looks to me).

And lighting is a no go as under the thin card supporting the town is a 3 inch void followed by polystyrene and then the bench work.

Today I’ve come to the conclusion that I probably will have to start over. Underneath everything is the original 8x4 table plus another 2x8 extension.

In a brief moment of “Blue Sky” I’ve thought maybe a roundhouse and turntable might work.

I thought I’d just ask for opinions on how best to have something along the lines of

  • roundhouse and turntable

  • island platform with at least 3 tracks going through the station

  • a loop track so trains can go “off scene”

Or am I asking just too much? Any comments would be welcome.

2

How about a hint as to scale?

Dave H.

3

Hahahahaha that would be of help wouldn’t it? Good old HO. (I love the look of N but its just too small for me).

4

I used a full 5x9 for a roundhouse, turn table, circle of track and a small yard. The real layout is elswhere in the room. With your space you can do one thing well. With a logging layout you can do more. I have one 4x8 with a switch back up a mountain to the logging camp. My long term solution was 3 different 4x8s with shelf layout connecting. I have a circle on the outside of each 4x8 and that gives me the main line. Before I had the space I limited myself to single scenes.

5

Well I had intended to have a logging camp on the layout as it stands. I guess I could incorporate one into the revised layout.

I’m thinking maybe a turntable is a no go… (having just seen the price of them!), but I still might consider an engine shed.

6

In N scale, my roundhouse and turntable take up a 28"x32" space. This is an Atlas roundhouse/turntable. I paid about $75 for the turntable, motor unit, and six-stall roundhouse. They work fine. But they do take up a lot of space. If you have a lot of locomotives, this gives you a great display space.

7

Well at the moment I’ve only got the two. I was thinking of maybe just having a 3 engine shed.

I’m still trying to find a track plan that will convince me that I can do everything “on the flat”.

Is the Atlas track program worth downloading?

8

Yes, the Atlas RTS program is worth downloading. Do you think you are going to get more room soon? If you are, you could start with switching modules.

How about taking a look at this track plan: http://www.hogrr.com/. It takes up about the same space as a 4x8 if you take into consideration that you have to walk around the 4x8.

9

Thanks for the link! :slight_smile: I’m kinda stuck with the space I’ve got at the moment, but that is something to think about though.

I went and had a look at the layout earlier and thought to myslef “do I really want to dismantle it all?” but part of me still says “its not working and you know it” lol

Just had a look at the plans on MRR and its certainly started me thinking its possible again.

10

So… any suggestions to allow continous running without seeming like its “chasing its tail” ?

11

Scene blocks? Good idea or bad idea? I guess if done right on a 4x8 they’re fine but could stick out like a sore thumb if not.

Anyone else have opinions?

12

For the art of a 4x8 layout, see http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com/. Harold tried different divider techniques, according to the site. The web site is being taken down in a few days, so see it soon.

Fred W

13

Thanks for that. Looks like it can take up a lot of space when viewed sidewards.

Scratch that one off the list then!

14

At the risk of invoking the Wrath of the Forum, I’d suggest you not limit yourself to a 4x8 table-form as the main part of the layout.

Based on your description, you sound as if you could do much better with a more free-form design.

15

I could, but I’ve already got the 4x8 sitting there. Hoever I guess I could use the 2x8 extention to make an ‘L’ shape. I wonder would 2 foot be enough depth for a roundhouse/turntable?

16

Yeah, but you’re staring over anyway. Why not take the opportunity to do something better?

17

Well true, but I don’t want to let the old 4x8 go to waste. Its perfectly fine, its the mess atop of it that’s the probelm… [;)]