new layout

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

With much frustration, I am trying tio design my 2nd layout. My first was a 4x8 so there wasnt much design needed. Now I have a 18x12 room to use, but after about 3 months of trying to come up with a track plan I am still sitting here no further ahead. Could any of you experienced modelers give someone that knows nothing about track planning give me a hand? I cant have around the room, as it is not practical due to room design. It is an upstairs gameroom. I have gone over many magazine articles and track plan database, but I still seem to be stuck. I am going to use Kato track, and will be using the 31 1/8 in. radius as I want to run passenger service. I know I did not give you much to go on but any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. -Doc

2

first off, It would help if you gave a little more information. like, what scale are you modelling in? also, what are you looking for in a track plan, operation, full circut of track, what type of cargo do you want to focus on? a specific freight load, or passenger service? thirdly, what era and location are you modelling? without these answers I’m afraid your not going to get much help.

3

Thanks for the reply. I am modeling in HO scale. I would like to concentrate on passenger service and would like constant operation and not point to point. I have no other friends that like model railroading, so to be honest I just dont know where to start, I purchased some Kato track and have laid some on the floor to try to get a plan before the benchwork, but would just like some input from others if possible. It seems ost layouts are much bigger than I have room for. I have a 18x 12 room. -Doc

4

HI THERE

I will try to help

I need a basic sketch of room dimensions & doorways & WINDOWS & other things that may get in the way !

Keep ME POSTED!

William

WRGMILW@AOL.COM

5

Thanks William, How do I send you a scetch of the room? Do I drw on paper and scan and e-mail, or is there a way to draw it on my computer? Thanks for your time. -Doc

6

Hey Doc

Welcome to the forums [#welcome]

Do you have a digital camera? If so that’s the best way to show the room

Otherwise you’ll have to sketch it out on the paint brush program or similar.

There are different ways to do a layout. You have a bench style or the wrap around wall style.

Given the room dimensions you can do a pretty nice layout of about 15x8. or a round the wall type that would be a bit more difficult.

7

Also in the last month or so there has been a thread going of someone doing a 16x8 or something close.

It’s a good thread to read over.

I personally have a 15x8 in construction. It’s 15x8 and tapers to 6 foot wide on one end.

Here’s a couple of pics about a month ago. I don’t have new pics yet

8

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You can draw your room in many ways. Here are two simple ways that doesn’t demand that you download and learn to use track plan drawing programs - at this stage is is more sensible to focus on figuring out what the room affords and what you want to model.

  1. You can draw on paper with a pen or pencil, scan (on a printer/scanner) or take a digital photo, create a free account e.g. on http://www.photobucket.com and upload the picture. Then put a link to that picture in a post here. Search in the “search community” box in right margin on this web site for “photobucket” or “post picture” for more info.

  2. You can use one of those online planning tools for furniture shops to show the size of your room - I’ve seen people use e.g. this one from Bob’s discount furniture to draw up and share their room. Again - in the end you post your link here.

Welcome to the Model Railroader Magazine forums!

Smile,
Stein

10

Let me add to the previous posts. If you have a Scanner, you can scan the photo and the upload it to Photobucket. You set up a dedicated Album in your free Photobucket account. Insert the photo from scanner or digital camera in the My Album in Photobucet. Below the photo will be several options. You click on the IMG option and momentarily, it will say Copied" On my computer, I click on Edit in the upper left corner and then click on “Copy”. After you have typed out the Text on your Thread , you click on ctrl V and the lengthy code for the phot will appear. Scroll down to click on Post. A green message will assure you that your photo and text have been assigned to your Thread. Click on < until you text and photo appear at the end of the various Threads. Sounds complicated, but is really quite simple. Bob Hahn Following is a hand drawn and scanned photo of my 24’x24’ layout. To make corrections or additions to any Post you click on “More” and then on the Edit in the middle of the options. Don’t forget to “repost”