My wife gave me the green light! board will be 12’ by 8’ Berkshire passenger, El capitan passenger 2-4-2 steamer freight (the old standby), Plus, mth PCC elec streetcar and 2 superstreets vehicles, I would like suggestions or layout ideas, trying to keep costs down (she gave me the green light not the checkbook) no whipped jokes please, so no switches or superfancy stuff, I am creating some nice scratchbuilt houses, shops, and multi-storied business buildings but I’m not able to see the big picture, anyone in the Fresno Madera area I’ll buy the coffee and we’ll talk Thanks Oh, I’m a child of the 50’s and 60’s so the layout will reflect that.
Is this going to be by chance a Lionel type 3 rail layout (2-4-2 and MTH suggest that to me)… If so, you might get better response and ideas over in the classic toy trains forums. Otherwise, a little more detail would be helpful. Scale to start with…
Keep the CEO happy and she’ll let go of the checkbook too. [:)]
Well, in general use the largest radius curves you can, especially important if (as it sounds)you’re running large equipment like passenger cars and big steam. You’ll probably need a few switches / turnouts to get from one track to another, and to serve industries on the layout. Watching trains run is great, but in time, you’ll find it can be even more fun to set out and pick up cars like the real freights do. [:)]
Thank you! I really appreciate the large radius idea but now I have to pick 42, 54, or 72! I’ve even seen 81 I’m going to have to re-think the layout, thanks again.