Ok I will swollow my pride and ask all you of greater imaginations for help.
I am building (more like looking at it all the time) my first HO scale layout that is bigger than a small oval on some carpet. My layout will be small at first and then added on to I have the benchwork started for a 4x14 foot layout. I realize now maby I went way to big to start but it done now. My problem is I am not artistic and not really good at laying out the plans I am more of a mechanical person show me what to do and I can make it. What I need is help on how to set this up. Like a track plan. I want to put as much operating track as i can with out making it into a staging yard and be able to operate it. My era will be the 80’s to current running a modern fleet of diesels like AC4400’s and SD units and utilizing a industrial customer base. If anyone or you can point me in the right direction I would really appreciate it. I have read several dozen books but still cant put the plan to paper…Thanks you all [:I]
Designing a track plan is a mechanical process–not really artistic. One problem I can foresee is that if you want to run modern diesels, you probably won’t be able to have an oval track plan. Since your plan is 4 feet wide, the biggest radius you can manage for your curves is maybe 20"–an awful tight squeeze for modern equipment.
You could either extend the track on either end for a “waterwings” plan, or narrow your shelf a bit for a dandy of a point-to-point industrial district.
But, if you’re mechanical, approach it like a mechanical problem. Track planning is like laying out any other sort of schematic–and if you start with a schematic of how you want the trains to move, you can proceed from there to exactly how to get them from point A to point B.
Draw, draw, draw those trackplans. That’s the only way to learn how to do them. Doodle them on scratch paper or napkins or whatever’s handy while you’re watching TV or in a staff meeting. Eventually you’ll hit that “Eureka!” point.
Brainstorm what kind of industries you like to serve, and where they would be found–that will provde insight as to what sort of scenery you might encounter. If you want to serve heavy industry, factories,etcetera, a city setting might work–but industries like strip mining or granaries would imply a more remote setting.
there are many books out there from kalmbach publications with designed layout plans …as jetrock said, the problem you are facing now is track radius…the AC4400’s and SD’s and rolling stock over 50’ scale feet will cause you problems in radii and turnouts…you may want to re-design the ends of the layout if you can to incorporate at least a 22" radii and the use of nothing less than #6 turnouts if you can…from experience, i had a layout that I could only fit 15" and 18" radii in (because the room was so small that’s all i could go with) and i found out very quickly that my SD units and AC4400 units had to be stored in a box until i built another layout…I did manage to get GP units to work fine, but the bigger stuff…well…it was in storage for years until the new bigger layout came along…something to consider when you build…Chuck[:D]
I have to disagree with Jetrock here on a few points. Atlas makes 18" and 22" radius curves for a reason. They do not make 20". 22" will fit on a 4’ wide table top. Yes, it will come close to the edge, but only for a few inches if you don’t just make a straight oval.
Let’s start with the basics. The benchwork is 4’ wide, which makes it easy to have 2 loops of track. The outer loop would use 22" radius, and the inner loop would use 18". I would recommend staying away from anything smaller than 18". That’s really all there is to the mechanical part, now it’s time to apply some imagination.
Do you want your railroad to be flat? if so some kind of dogbone would be a good place to start. With 14’ of length, you could easily have an over under type mainline. Tell us more about the kind of trains you like to run, and the scenery you like. That would help narrow the possibilities.
Check out the Kalmbach book store. They have some really great books on building a first layout, some of them step by step. A really great way to get into the hobby and learn.
Modern units like the AC4400 really look bad on small radius track. A dogbone approach with 5 foot wide sections on either end would make them look better. I’m assuming you are planning on running stack trains and modern auto racks, like I am, so go wider if you can. If you cannot, maybe a switching layout with a hidden staging yard on one side and an intermodal yard with some nearby industries would be an alternative.
One thing you might consider as a track planning tool is a computer program for track planning. I understand there are a number of very good ones available for purchase, but Atlas offers a fairly basic one that’s free to download off their website. I’ve learned to use it (not all the features, but what I need to design a track plan) which means that if you’re even slightly computer literate it might be useful to you. It’s called RTS and the link to download it is on their homepage.
One last suggestion. You mentioned in your post that you think the 4 x 14 might be too big to start with. You might want to think about keeping the final track plan relatively simple so the entire layout stays at a level that you can reasonably construct it through all the stages (benchwork, tracklaying, wiring, scenery). Think of it as a test layout that you can always change, upgrade, enlarge, later when you’ve got the experience of this one under your belt. But that’s just my opinion.
Computer design programs are good I find when I have all ready got a basic (but not scaled) plan in my head. They show how long the turnouts are etc, which I can’t draw by hand. They tell me if it fits. However, I am always draw plans in my notebooks. For ideas, try to look at plans of real-life places which are similar to what you want to model, and then modify them, and mix diffrent parts together.
Wow Thanks too all you for your reply I have reseached some books but none offers a plan I like and since this is a new thing for me I guess I am in for a whole lot of trial and error. My plan is to serve a area of light industrial and move freight. I have currently nuilt a flour mill an a fire station (I am a firemen after all) so those will both get incorperated in. I would like the layout to reflect the northeastern part of Ohio since I live here. So hills and things would need to be included as weel as possibly the Cuyahaoga river. I should probly add some width to the end of my layout so I can have a larger radius and possibly a wye. I have tried drawing track plans but I just cant figure out correct placement of turnouts and cross overs or anything more then an oval (artisticly challenged).
The secret to using the layout books if you don’t like their specific plans is to use them as the foundation for what you want your layout to look like. Nothing wrong with taking a bit from different plans and bashing it together into the layout you like.
If you prefer not to use a computer design program (which I also recommend), the Atlas book “HO Layouts for Every Space” has a whole chapter on designing your own plan. Best, it has actual track elements (made with Atlas track, of course) that show how #4 and #6 turnouts fit, their size, how to make cross-overs, yard ladders, building easements into curves, etc. Very handy for planning track on paper. Even though I’m now using 3rd PlanIt to design my layout, I keep photocopies of most of the pages of that chapter handy just because it provides good basic info. Definitely worth the investment to give you a basic idea of what fits where.
I have Downloaded that program and have tried it but I have yet to really figure it out yet so I will keep working on it thanks for the heads up.
To everyone else thanks for the info all of it is really helpful. I will probly have to scale my plan down and master a little at a time but then I feel I will be letting go of my dream layout. I have so much to learn and sometimes I get impatient and ru***hings a bit. Like most of the guys (and gals) on these forums I have such a passion for railroad modeling and I just want to operate my layout and move freight. boy if I didnt have to work for a living I could spend more time on the trains.
I visited a layout that was 4x14, the railroader that built it had a mountain range in the middle, a representative Bakersfield, CA SP yard and a helper district!. His shortest siding was four feet, his longest was ten feet and it did not dominate the layout ( half was in a tunnel ). He did have two ‘waterwings’ that pushed the width to five feet for part of the layout, but he made it fit into a two bedroom apartment and ran some of the modern power you mentioned. He used Atlas 22" radius nickle silver sectional track, and he added a second level to hide some of the staging and increase the sense of depth. The layout dominated the dining and living rooms of the apartment.
His recommendation was to draw ideas out full-size on large sheets of kraft paper, then as Dave Frary has done, build a semi scale model of the layout.
Sincerely,
Brewster Bird
If the big modern locomotive looks bad going around a corner, why not use a building (or two) as a viewblock? Locomotive heading eastward goes behind BigCustomer Manufacturing building, turns around (invisibly), and next is seen moving westward with train in tow. Be sure to leave enough clearance along both sides of the hidden curve for the long overhangs and inner-radius car midlines.