How does one or a club come up with a layout plan?
Our club seems to be constantly in the business of constructing. We are now looking for a space to build our 4th layout. Space is the first consideration. Then a general track plan idea to fit the space, incorporating the major items we might want (storage tracks, yard areas, particular industries, scenic elements, l o n g operating possibilities, and multi-train operations under DCC)
A couple of layouts ago, we even made a scale model of the layout using clay just to visualize the scenic elements.
But it is all trial and error. As we get around to laying track, a lot of options come up and some compromises have to be made. Scenery sometimes gets to be too steep or too plain, or too cramped together. Backdrops are a problem. Operating problems are discovered and sometimes it’s hard to solve them. Sometimes a new inspiration comes as a result of layout visits and magazine articles and we try to find a way to incorporate that new element.
Finally, as we get around the layout, we find ourselves constantly remodelling and trying to incorporate new ideas - thus the process is never done with.
We are now contemplating a completely level track layout without cookie cutter grades and without the spagetti bowl look. All the scenery would be styrofoam core and completely removable. The whole system would be free-form modular in case we need to move again. (We have experienced 5 moves in the last 15 years!) We’ve found that we like just running trains the most (rail-fanning) and that we all have way too many locomotives and pieces of rolling stock to ever run them all on any frequent basis. We also like building scenes and we have an inventory of tons of ready-built structures looking for a place to be. And with the advances in DCC and sound we have gradually purchased a lot of new stuff we want to run.
But most of all, model railroad layout building gives us something to occupy our time, our energies and p
In our club, we held a contest where people designed the layout and the members voted. In the end there were some elements added from one design to the other.
Since you specified, “Club,” a quote from Lazarus Long: “A camel is a horse designed by a committee.” Or, from other sources, substitute rhinocerous or hippopotamus for camel.
The problem with most club layouts is that the members all have different lists of ‘must have’ items, some of which are totally incompatible with others. One individual wants a single track running through the wide open spaces, someone else wants the Urban Jungle (circa 1950) with a multi-track main, street running and lots of switching. Still another wants to include the Keddie Wye (even though no one owns a single Western Pacific anything.)
The result is that all club layouts are compromises, much more so than individually built layouts. The other alternative is that a single individual designs the layout, then browbeats everyone else into building it HIS way. If the power freak is intelligent, likeable and has come up with a good design, that MIGHT work. OTOH, what happens if the ‘Driving Force’ leaves? Or if other people leave because they aren’t satisfied with the direction things are going? Unfortunately, there is no universally satisfactory answer.
I think the idea of designing a layout in modular form is a good one - especially for a club which may find itself homeless with little or no notice. N-Trak has shown itself to be a very successful system. The HO equivalents, although not as well known, have also proven their worth over the years. (My home layout is designed for easy disassembly into reasonably movable sections, even though I expect to leave this house for a funeral home. Future developments might change that plan.)
The idea of layout building as therapy is valid, as long as you don’t let yourselves get hung up on PERT charts and construction schedules. After all, model railroading is (supposed to be) fun.
I’ve worked with three clubs so far on layout designs. Two of these efforts were very successful, resulting in one design that was very freelanced and another that adhered pretty closely to a real-life stretch of railroad. A third project was not successful at all.
The difference? In the first two cases I mentioned, each club had appointed a layout design committee or project team that had the main responsibility for working with me to come up with the track plan. There was a time for input and commentary from the rest of the membership at each phase of planning, but a small group ultimately guided the design.
In the third case, each iteration of the track plan was thrown open to the full membership and twenty people had twenty different ideas. The club had not established a procedure for setting priorities and making decisions, so there were lots of changes in direction.
Finally, one long holiday weekend a member with a key to the building came into the club space and built a huge chunk of benchwork that didn’t match anything on any of the plan versions but established some “facts on the ground”, as the talking heads would say. Then they started working as the original poster mentioned, just building off in various directions with different visions. Years later, I think they are still not in regular operation.
This last situation I described was my first design effort with a club and I promised myself it would be my last club project unless the club has a smaller group for day-to-day interaction and a defined method for making decisions. If you have a club that’s full of independent thinkers without a consensus on layout vision, basing the design on a modular system like Free-Mo or OneTrak would be a really good way to maintain everyone’s sanity and actually get to something operating sooner. The modular approach also makes the sections of the
The real key to a successful layout design is clarity of concept. You have to have a clear vision of what the railroad does, where it goes, what it carries and what service it provides. Not that it has to follow a specific prototype (but that makes it easier). You can freelance the geography and the railroad and still be successful.
The problem with a lot of layouts is they have mixed concepts or “one of everything” concepts so you end up with the deepwater port in Denver.
By having a clear concept you are limiting your options, but when you actually build the layout, you will limit your options down to one, the track you have actually nailed down.
If you think of the more “successful” and well known layouts, club and private, they all have a a well defined focus.
There’s no way with a large group of people that everyone is going to agree. What is needed is a consensus on key design elements. It sounds like you are on the right track. Since running trains seems to be popular, a long simple mainline would seem to be the quickest way to get up and running. Building it as a modular layout is a must given you seem to have no permanent home. Where possible, include a few elements that the members in the minority asked for to try and keep them interested as well. Another advantage to a modular layout is that if something doesn’t work or somebody comes up with something better, it is fairly simple to pull modules out and replace them.
