I have the bench work planned for my upcoming layout expansion allowing for three foot isles everywhere. But I am currently stymied by the task of getting a track plan to fit my space and provide the type of operation I am looking for. I have studied endless books and magazines but nothing has clicked yet. The thought crossed my mind that a professional track planner might help. This will be my last layout so I need to do it right.
How do you contact these guys and does anyone have an idea of what they charge?
Check out Byron Henderson at www.layoutvision.com and he’ll open your eyes. Seems like a sharp guy, full of good ideas. He’s a contributor here from time to time and has a blog you can access from his site when you’ve exhausted yourself on his regular site content. Have fun.
Decide what you’d like to have the layout do and be prepared to make compromises with yourself. You’ll need to work closely with the layout planner on this.
As Markpierce suggested," Don’t build the benchwork until you have a definite plan that you are satisfied with. The hand made drawing below is a quick copy of a Marklin track design, with all the scenery shown.on their plan. Know exactly, the footprint of all the structures that you plan to place on your layout. Make paper footprints, and/or cardboard mock-ups of these structures, and place them where you desire . Make sure that the tracks of the planned layout will pass the structure loading docks.(Especially, on curved tracks.) Make paper or cardboard templates of roadways rivers, harbors, forest canopy,etc.,etc. Note that ths layout includes lift-out raised terrain, to hide trains on loops and to allow the operator to reach derailed trains. This particular plan is designed for access on all four sides, or as a peninsula. The original Marklin drawing had sharp corners, that I have rounded off. This adds to the idea of free flow, and allows better designed aisles and access areas. I also, changed some of the spurs and yard tracks., to allow access to any track, from any track, without having to leave the yard. Plan for lengthy approaches for pass-overs, so that the grade will be 2% or. Whereas, sectional track dictates the curvature of tracks, Flex-track allows one to bend curves of any radius. At first, I could not decipher the ins and outs of the Marklin plan, but by using red for the lower level, and black for the pass-over level, it shows that this layout can be run as two separate layouts, or by modifying the grade up and down, the two layouts can interchange, to become one layout, if a double cross-over is included. If a double-slip switch is added to the parallel red tracks above, a reverse loop is formed, which allows trains traveling in either direction, to change direction. This, of course, implies the use of DCC and Auto-Reverse-Modules. Click on the photo to enlarge it. Then, click on the photo series to the left, to view other parts of my layout, and SceniKing background photo panorama. I us
Design the track first and then put the benchwork underneath it. Benchwork is easy to plan, track is harder and trying to force it to a predetermined footprint is even harder still.
People tend to design layouts from the bottom up when the best layouts are designed from the top down. Concept >> operation >> trackplan >> benchwork.
If space is not a limitation, design the layout and then build the benchwork. But, if space is a limitation, draw out the footprint(s) for the benchwork that will fit the space, and then use them as a template for the design.
I’ve done this twice (1993 & 2008), for my layout room is 11 x 15 with a door opening. I did a number of scale drawings (copy machine comes in handy) of the room, and then figured out the minimum open space I needed - and then worked from there.
In any case, I think the design - or the idea of what you are after - needs to come first.
Thanks to all who wrote. Good ideas from everyone. The link from Lou was very helpful and leads to the type of hard questions one needs to ask.
After some reflection though, I have decided to go with a membership in the NMRA LayoutDesign SIG group. I think they would fit my budget better and provide very good assistance.