Ok my benchwork is all done, the plywood and foam are installed and painted, cork bed all done, track mainline and several industry sidings plus 8’ long freight yard is all set… Where do I start next? I’m thinking I should do a semi scale blueprint on my computer to figure put where to put roads and buildings My layout is pretty free form, it’s a square made up of 12’x24" sections with a duck underhand you run everything from inside the square… One section is all freight yard, one section is for rural/farming, another will be a river and sea harbor and the fourth/last section has yet to be decided on, Suggestions? Matthew
Clearly you need a major city. but the tracks are all in, so what fits with your tracks. I guess you are not building a ten track commuter stations.
ROAR
Me personally,
I agree wiht Lion but hey im biased to people traveling by train…im not saying you need a huge terminal [:O] but a passenger station on that side doesn’t sound too bad and you can build up a small city/town in the space that you do have to serve that industry if you so choose. I would just say make sure your radius could handle the passenger cars you choose. Just my thoughts though.
Reggie
Personally, I think you would have been much better served by figuring all that out BEFORE you build benchwork and laid track. You’re going to be very limited in what you can do. But that’s kind of irrelevant at this point. Make a scale drawing of your track plan and shoehorn some stuff in. The Walthers website has the footprint dimensions of many of the structures they sell, which dhould help you. Then figure outnhowmto work in some realistic terrain. Take a crack at it and post a picture, and many of us will be happy to provide suggestions.
Matthew,
Now that is a really stupid question!!! NAW,JUST KIDDING,Does all your trackwork,work,all sidings,work,all wiring finished?? You can run anything you want nothing derails?? What kind of rolling stock do you have,or what do you like?? Mountains,tunnels,bridges,city,farm,and the list goes on,If you can post a rough sketch of the plan,I’m sure there will be a lot of advice given,but only you can decide what you want… Look at some old MR PICS,of finished layouts and see if anything catches your eye…
Have Fun,
Cheers,
Frank
I’ll agree with CTValley that planning ahead would have been best (do it for your next layout), but since you have gotten this far, I agree with Frank. Give us a track plan and a few of the things you would like to have on your layout and what buildings, rolling stock and the like that you already have or want.
One thing to remember is that you can have cars (that you like) that do not service anything on your layout, they can be run through, coming from somewhere, going somewhere.
Give us some ideas and someone will come up with some suggestions.
Good luck,
Richard
LION operates a model RAILROAD. On Railroad tracks come and go. Tracks that are not going to be used any more are removed: They are a liability and require on going inspections. If on the other hand, a railroad needs a track, a switch, or a siding, they put them in. Tracks serving an industry are usually installed by that industry and then connected to the railroad. The railroad is not going to build tracks in your plant, that is your work.
Here is a new oil loading facility, there are four tracks in the loop, a second loop has now been completed. The first loop loads oil from truck to train, the second loop unloads fracking sand from covered hoppers to trucks.
Kinda looks like something that someone could model.
Empty oil cans arrive from the east (right), and are filled as they move around the loop in a clockwise direction. Once filled, the locomotives uncouple from the west end of the train and move around the loop to grab its own tail. Someone moves Fred, and the train is inspected for departure.
ROAR
But who the flip should care how structures are “supposed” to fit or how they are “supposed” to be built. Make them fit what you want, and what works for you. Cut 'em up, chop 'em down, add on.
Do very basic scenery. I carved the mointains etc. and covered them with plaster cloth, and then zip textured the earth. Now I can go back and carve in anything I want but the layout looks semi done.
Do you have some basic idea as to what you want your RR to do? Much of this is done during the design stage, type of traffic, type of industries and any other supporting facilities, yards and engine facilities. Some thought as to basic scenery and landforms any additional sidings etc should be considered at this point.
If unsure, run the layout for a while as you may decide to make any changes. This would be the point to add or change any of the trackwork.
Leigant – perhaps the OP does. Not everyone is eager to run out and kitbash everything. But more importantly, it will give himan idea how big things are. No matter how you kitbash it, you’re not going to build a credible farmhouse in a 2"x 3"space. Whaile you csn do things with flats against your backdrop, some things don’t lend themselves to that.
From a different perspective - why? Do you have any ideas for structures and buildings you want on your layout? If yes, go ahead and build them. Here’s the heresy - move the track and/or change the track plan to suit your idea of where the buildings should go. It’s an old idea, dating back to Model Railroader project layouts of the '60s - nothing already done is sacred. Track can be removed, relocated, or changed to suit. Commercial turnouts can be cut and altered to fit. Scenery and buildings can be altered and relocated, too.
That makes it much easier to change as your desires, scenicking, or operations dictate.
Changing and modifying a layout is a great way to extend its life, and to make it better than you could have anticipated when you first designed it. When you buy a house, do you leave the landscaping totally unaltered because that’s the way the house was when you bought it? Even it means redoing infrastructure such as exterior electrical (lighting) and water, we generally change the landscaping to better suit our evolving tastes and desires.
I suggest we should view the infrastructure of our layouts in the same way. The infrastructure (benchwork, track support, wiring, and to some extent the track itself) is there to support a functioning layout, not dictate how the layout should function.
My bottom line - any part of the layout is subject to change at any time, depending on the owner’s whims.
Ok this is my layout…
Starting with the top section, this 4x8 is going to be the last finished part, it will have a small town centered around a river running from top to bottom where it will empty into a large Oceanside working harbor with a fish market and ancillary waterfront services and a couple of lobster boats.
to the right is the rural farming section which will have several farms and a couple of crops, plus a farmers market building and a feed and seed building along with a farmers supply store including tractors etc.
the bottom section doesn’t have a defined industry yet…
The left side is the freight yard.
Matthew
Matthew – thank you for that sketch. Really. So many people want to do a design without one, or with one that isn’t to scale. Two immediate observations. 1) can you get to the back side of that 4x8 section (that is, the extreme top of your sketch)? If not, you have a major accessability headache brewing there. Depending on how tall you are and how long your reach is, the top 18-24" is effectively out of reach unless you can get to the other side. 2) On the bottom and right sides, the main line runs through the center of the space. Moving it to either side will give you more space to work with. Also, if thse are passing sidings, they’re very short compared to the length of yiur yard tracks. You could easily build a trsin in that yard that won’t fit in the sidings. Anyway, you’ve mentioned some of the scenes you want to model (farm, river and harbor). Just drop those elements in now, and create the track to serve them. We can always move them later.
thanks for the feedback…
there is about 2 feet of space behind the 4x8 section
i figured with it being n scale i have plenty of room to build up on either side of the tracks
the turnouts aren’t really for passing, their meant for access for industries
matthew
Well, if they’re not passing tracks, then you need a few. If you’re in N scale, you do have lots of room, but you’re still better off moving the mainline to one side or the other, which will give you room for some absolutely huge industrial compexes, sawmills with ponds, detailed towns, maintenance facilites, a really big farm, complete with a couple of fields, you name it,
Matt, on my N-Scale layout the section shown here is approximately 2 1/2ft by 11ft. It shows how much room you have for any city or farm area you want. I would put long passing sidings on the right and bottom of your layout. Among other stuff.
Lake, thanks for the feedback, could you post some more pictures of that scene from the side ?