Well I have a small space available to put a layout in, but haven’t had much luck in the way of ready made trackplans in the space I have, so I decided to try and come up with my own.
Have to go N scale due to the space and what I want, which is to have a continuous loop with a few spurs, mountains, tunnels, town, mine (cliche yes but still fun).
So this is what I have, any ideas on how to make it better are appreciated. I had also designed it for Kato Unitrack, but that will most likely have to change as I added up the pieces and it’s about $500 worth of track and switches, which is about $500 more than my budget allows for at the moment.
Always great to have the space, and its good you know a few of the things that you want.
Can you post the dimensions of the space you have to work with?
That benchwork looks very awkward, so it’d be nice to see what we can do with the space you have.
Right now you have two continuous loops connected by two crossovers (and one reversing loop), which would allow you to run two trains at the same time, or a train moving back & forth between them, at the expense of passing through the same scene twice per circuit (an issue which is more important to some people than others)
You also have a lot of track hidden, which I’m assuming that you’d reach from under the layout?
I wonder if you’d be happy with the amount of operations this layout design offers: one train roundyround with another stopping occasionally to switch out the mine, another for whatever those bottom industries are.
Not a lot of room for cars on the layout, and where would these cars be “going” / coming from?
Always good to draw up lots of plans and offer them up. Paper is cheap, and it is far better to think about benefits/drawbacks ahead of time than to end up with something that you don’t like. So here goes:
If this is fitting into the corner of a room, and assuming at least 9" radius for N, then the distance from your central operating station to that back corner is longer than you can reach, creating a “bear” to build, scenic, or operate.
As already mentioned, it looks like nearly half of the total trackage is hidden. Do you want to listen to trains running through a back tunnel or do you want to watch the trains run? Also, it appears that there is a cross-over under the mountain, creating a potential nightmare for maintenance and generating a need for you to have some signaling system to keep the operator(s) informed of which turnout is thrown which way.
Trains made up from those spur tracks have a difficult time getting out onto the “through” main to operate. And you will be reaching OVER the “main line” run with its operating trains to tend to coupling or other switching needs on the mine and business spurs. Some sort of real or implied connection with the outside world is needed, such as an interchange track running into one of the corners.
If you are certain that this is the space available, keep working with options which may address some of these potential difficulties. How about a bent “figure 8” on a slightly elevated grade where trains could run continiously INSIDE of the outer loop, then connected to the line that is closer to the table-front where you have the spurs and switching and town?
Hidden track that you can not reach easily will always have more trouble then track that you can get to just by reaching.[:'(]That is the way of the universe.[:O]
If you have to crawl under the layout to get to a derailed car or stall then make the table height at least 48 in or more.
Oops, forgot that no one besides myself knows the measurements of the space.
I have 6 feet out in either direction, have to clear a door on one side and a window on the other. The layout can be as wide as needed, and doesn’t have to be the odd shape.
I did the hidden track so it would seem more like just a piece of a longer line, yet still allow me to run trains continuously, but I can see where it could be a hassle.
Looks like it’s back to the drawing board, because the more I look at it the less I like this plan.
Thanks for the input folks, will report back when I have something new.
I’m not too worried about realistic operation, this is more of a beginner layout, like the ones in a how-to book, but I would like it to be a little larger than most that I’ve seen.
It might be worth taking a look at MR 2010 project layout, the Salt Lake Route, featured in MR December 2009 until April 2010.
It is a nice display layout, with a dramatic scenery, but not so much operation. Here is my adaption of the track plan (the original one features a double track mainline all around):
Well both of those plans look great, but each has issues for me. The first is too long and so wouldn’t fit without modification, and the second wrap around style I think overpower the size of the room, and my wife wouldn’t go for that.
I did however try to take some ideas from both and combine into a new plan.
Standard suggestions for anyone asking for advice on a track plan::
Discuss what you goal is. What era is this supposed to be? What type of place is this supposed to be? How long trains are you going to be running? What do you want to be be able to do with trains on your layout?
Draw the entire room (and indicate doors, windows and other uses of the room), so it is possible to see how a layout might be fitted into the room
See these 2 How to Build Special Issues: “102 Realistic Track Plans” and “43 Track Plans from the Experts” for apx. 150 trackplans, let alone, insightful layout planning considerations in addition to the trackplans. Ideas from a few different trackplans can easily be combined to suit your room dimensions, and layout theme.
