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Just a couple questions.
Can I assume that you are planning on running everything clockwise?
What do the numbers mean?
Are the grey areas tunnels?
What are your rulling radius and grades?
What is the theme of your layout? Watching trains run? Operations?
Just trying to get your sense of what the layout represents.
I’m running off to train club. The “glitch” I saw was that without runnarounds, all your switching works from a clockwise running train. I’ll look closer later.
Looks like a very good start, wickman. I see what Chip means, so it might be worth a thought or two in terms of altering switching. Also, if it wouldn’t lead to a too-busy lower loop area, could you bend your yard a bit left and still fit in a turntable and two or three stall house? For variety, you know. Mine is an important change of pace from running trains through switches and around the main. Think about it, will you?
Is there any way you could post a larger picture. My eyes go fuzzy before my brain can engage.
Which is more important to you, whatching trains run through beautiful scenery, or putting cars out and taking them away from industries? If you say both, tell what you like about each one.
Okay, you are telling me you want switching, but the way the layout is designed, it’s great for watching your train run. There are 2 places to set out cars, and those place are accessible from one direction, but not the other. Your yard as well is the same direction. You have one passing siding which means that trains must either run the same direction or be very lucky in arriving at the passing siding at relatively the same time.
If you want switching, you need to plan for it. For instance, if you are going to have a brewery, you can pick-up beer and drop off empties, and there’s always enough beer made for you to pick-up just like at a liquor store–just magically there. That is one level. Or you can make deliveries of hops, barley, chemicals, glass, aluminum, etc. You can’t really all these put these things on your layout, there’s not enough space. So to maximize your operations, you need a staging yard the represents the rest of the world where the hos, barley, glass, etc comes from.
Ideally, the trains come from the rest of the world into your yard, you switch them into outgoing trains that will go, to among other places, your brewery. That train can either pick-up empties and or full cars of beer. Some of the beer will go to a local distributor, and the rest of it goes, along with the empties to the rest of the world–organized at your yard into through freights.
So, if switching is your focus, you need an operational plan. If you just want to set out a car here and there, maybe move cars around the yard without a real reason, you can do that too. But it won’t be as interesting.
In other words, by building realism into your track plan, you build ‘legs’ for your layout. You will quickly tire of seeing trains loop again and again, with an occasional reverse onto a siding or spur to stop momentarily at one or two functional sites, like a mine or a plant of some kind. Loco maintenance is always important, as is car classification and the switching that goes with it. To enjoy your layout for many months, you need to create a theme that has strong appeal for you, and to then engineer that theme into your track plan and layout scenics and structure.
Since I don’t see any reversing loops, I’m guessing you don’t want your trains to change direction (without being broken up in your yard and the locomotive turned on a turntable which you have yet to locate). [:)]
However, if you would like a reversing loop (you need only one), you can work it in in the upper left corner with the burgundy coloured tracks. As your mainline curves down and to the right, you can put a left-hand turnout there with the diverging route curving up to join the siding (near where you have a number 3). I hope you can understand what I’ve tried to describe.
(BTW, even when you click on your images, they don’t get very large and are, therefore, still very difficult to make out any details. Perhaps if you uploaded larger sized images to begin with ?)
Wow, I thought I was looking at my tran plan [:)]
I think Spacemouse is right, you want both directions to be able to switch from, run-arounds etc. Also what your preferences are, running, switching, operations and such.
Also that back corner is going to be a bear to rerail cars and clean, I know, mine is a tough one to reach.
Also what scale? I am guessing HO?
I wouldn’t get more then 1-2 inches from the edge, unless you put in a plexiglass facia, for those unsuspecting bumps against the layout or reaching ins. Mine is about 1/2 from the edge, I am awaiting the day one of my engines get sent to the scrap line [xx(]
How about moving the yard to a different location? say to the left area?
What program are you using to draw the plan? Maybe you could email me the drawing and I could work on getting something we can see.
Mine is in n-scale, and is 3 1/2 feet by 12 on the left and the dogbone is 3 by 7 feet.
I ened up with a pretty decent mainline, almost looks double tracked but tis only an illusion [:D]
Slow speed runs take about 25 minutes to make a full lap.
I would move things around some more and see what strikes you and keep posting here. I used to design and build web sites, I always told the client you need to be positive you are happy with the look, because once it’s done it will cost $$ to change, or as I always put it, if you paint your house purple, you will have to be happy with purple [8D]
Dave just posted a good example os what I was talking about. Notice that within close proximity to every switching area is a runaround track. That allows your engines to get in to all the areas. Also notice that he has a unifed theme with his structures.
One thing I would add to Dave’s layout would be a staging area–if only one track.
XtraCAD is a free program with an excellent tutorial. I was up and running on it in one day. I strongly recommend you do your work in a program made for model railroading. If you edit the .jpg, you are bound to run into trouble when it comes time to lay the trackwork.
You are VERY CORRECT!!! I wish I would have planned that in. Come this winter I am going to be ripping or maybe even try my hand at hand laying a couple of switches for staging, I do have the room.
Keep working at it, it took me almost 2 months non-stop of trying different ideas, I would then print them out and sit back in bed and dream/imagine how it would run. That was actually a very fun part of the process.
Keep in mind even the best laid plans will change once you start laying track, mine deviated a little from the original. I need to now redo my plan to show the true layout, though it is 95% that plan.
Very nice[:)]
Only draw back to me is the switch back, I was determined to keep them out, though I did have one on mine, it sort of leads from a secondary yard.
I was in my planning remembering the different companies I worked at and how their tracks were laid out. I always remembered that almost all had at least 2 run-arounds.
Here’s an article by Byron Henderson.
http://home.earthlink.net/~mrsvc/id16.html
See, Byron I do listen.
How about this idea, I know it’s been brought up before as well as in MR, decide on what the lay of the land will be, I think you stated you sort of do, then decide what industries you want, and how the towns should flow, I would almost make a schmatic of the RR. Then with all those items start designing, I wonder if you did them as they talk in MR, as LDE’s layout Design Elements?
I think the biggest obstable you are hitting is like spacemouse said, one way switching and the stub end yards.
I would select the sections I liked on mine, pull them out of the design and hold them “off layout” and then move them around into different areas, change how the main went etc. Again “wickman” I have dozens of plans, some were way cool, and I wanted to go with them, but when I took them to the LHS, I have a pretty cool shop in town, he pointed out all this compound reverse loops that he said would make my life h#ll. So I started cutting out certian switches and crossovers. I was wanting a simpler life [;)], also I run mine as DC. Not sure if what way you power track also has a bearing on design???
The thing is you are asking AND listening so you will have the cool design in the end. Look at spacemouse, he is still looking at benchwork, and I think be is from all regards an old-timer (no offense). My point is he is willing to take the time to get it right and not rush himself, something I am terrible at…
See Dave’s post above. No “canned” layout is going to fit your space and fit your givens and druthers. (Which if you haven’t written out your givens an druthers, should be your next step.) So you have to make compromises. This leads me back to the idea of the model railroad software. You are going to have to take control of your design some time and the sooner the better. You’ll never know which of your ideas will actually work until you do.
Anyway, once you have your givens an druthers firmly in your mind, you can start experimenting. Obviously your mountain and waterfalls are a strong druther–mine was redwoods and tressel bridges. You design them in to be your center pieces. From there you experiment with mainline, making it work. You then add your industries and other design elments. Some will work, some will not. You go back and adjust your mainline, and work a few more. You get a wild idea and you swtich whole sections around. Then you make it work again. You make compromises and you get opinions.
Get a program. Learn it. Start experimenting. XtraCAD is good free one.
Have a reason for everything you do.
Hi!!! You have a good start and many fine suggestions. Won’t try to add at this time, except to say, I hope you are planning to use somekind of roadbed. It wasn’t clear to me from your pictures. Cork or homasote make good roadbeds. If you are not familar with the noise level of unprotected plywood, you might be unhappy when done without some noise deadening roadbed. Just for the record, I have been working this hobby for some 35 or 40 years. Not trying to brag, just info.
tfox65