I’ve settled on using the Salt Lake Route track pack for my new N Scale layout. I have a few questions:
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How many trains can be run at once on this layout? I don’t plan on running DCC, at least, initially.
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I don’t really see a furniture factory (or whatever that one industry was) as being that 2010s in nature. Has anyone else used this layout and if so, what industry did you use if not the furniture factory.
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I probably will set mine in a suburban setting not the desert. Half the layout was sparse, just the bridge and mountains. Did anyone else set this layout elsewhere and what did you use for scenery or structures on the other half?
dear bnsf4ever,two trains is the most you can run on a dc layout by yourself .the saltlake route is all union pacific these days with the exception of the pass in california.ogdon,utah is an excellent city to model as it has a lot of railroad activity,depending on the era you would like to model.i have not modeled this route but have read a lot about it.there were quite a few mining industries in and around ogdon. good luck tuxedo.
I’d disagree with two things in this thread so far:
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you can run way more than two trains on a DC layout. DC is irrelevant to the question, really. Its a matter of the track plan and the electrical blocking, as well as the operate, more than DC or DCC.
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Furniture is very much a 2010s industry. The United States is still a major furniture producer and exporter. Its one of the few things we actually export TO China. They love American furniture over there.
Yes and no. There are so many factors here that it is hard to know where to start without overwhelming a newbie.
Technically, you of course in general can have more than two trains running at the same time on a layout controlled by DC - if you have enough operators and enough cabs, or if a number of those trains are running on auto pilot in some way - running continuously on a loop of it’s own, or the layout has been automated so trains will slow down and stop when they approach sections where another train will be crossing their path or where another train has stopped at a station in front of them.
Then again - if you want a single human being to keep adjusting speed and start and stop trains, a human can only keep track of so many things at the same time before accidents start happening - trains running into each other etc. So one train, one operator is actually a good ratio from the viewpoint of human attention spans 
Often, people compromise, and have one or two trains looping unattended on closed loops (where they cannot get into trouble), while a third train - switching industries - is being controlled by a human operator.
In this sense, the Salt Lake Route layout could be segmented into say six or seven electrical blocks, e.g:
one for inner loop,
one for the outer loop
one for the outer siding,
one for the container yard,
one for the short runaround on the inside,
one for the furniture plant and
one for the engine terminal.
Out of own experience, I can say that controlling more than two trains by a one individual is close to impossible. Even two is difficult.
Wiring for multi-cab control is quite an effort, which should not be underestimated. You may find it worth going directly into DCC, which minimizes the wiring effort considerably. With DCC, you don´t really need to worry about blocks in a layout as small as the Salt Lake route. DCC lets you control the locomotive, not the power routing.
One of the nice features of the Salt lake route is the division into two different kinds of scenery, separated from each other by the backdrop. It turns the layout from a “boring to look at” roundy-rounder into an eye catcher. Why would you want to give that up? You can still have an urban setting on one side, but have a beautiful mountain scenery on the other side, which needs not to be set in the dry area, but any mountain region.
From the descriptions above, you might get the idea that running multiple trains with DC is rather complicated, it is. There is alot of wiring involved to hook up all the blocks. You will also be spending a lot of time operating these block switches to get your trains to go where you want them to go, this only gets more complicated the more trains you want to run at once. You’ll also have to invest in multiple power packs, (one for each train, aka cabs). A two-cab system would be the best way toto go as a beginner and could be controlled with simple double pole double throw switches for each block and two power packs. You definitely should get a book on DC wiring and study it well before you start.
I know you said you didn’t want to go the DCC route (at this time), but you didn’t say why. A start up DCC system will cost about the same as a dual-cab DC system and the wiring is a lot easier and right out of the box you can control at least 4-6 trains (each train can have multiple locomotives) and many more with some accessory upgrades. If you still want to start with DC, just wire it as one block and run one train at a time, then when you do deside to go with DCC, it’s just a simple matter of changing the DC power pack for the DCC system.
I mentioned DCC, because if you start wiring a DC multi-cab system you’re going to waist a lot of time, money and effort, if you later decide to go with DCC, better to decide at the beginning. If you want to do a little reading up on DCC here’s a good place to start: http://www.tonystrains.com/tonystips/dccprimer/index.htm
Well to be fair - it is not a lot more complicated to run trains with DC. You turn a switch to decide what cab controls the track you want to run on, and turn the knob on the controller to move the train. In principle not harder than taking a DCC throttle, selecting a loco, and turning the knob.
Where DC can be harder is in wiring the cab selection electrical switches, and in segmenting the layout into electrical blocks when you build it - you have to think ahead about how many and how big blocks you need for the way you want to run your trains - so no two trains that are supposed to be controlled independent of each other are in the same electrical block at the same time.
Smile,
Stein, who is using DCC, but see the appeal of DC for some things - like automation of layouts
First, I apologize to the American furniture industry!
I am thinking of setting my layout in Western Illinois with Galesburg as the inspiration. I’ve ridden through there on the CZ and don’t remember too much high ground.
Also, I don’t have a ton of time to landscape this project so will be looking for anything out of the box or already done up in terms of buildings or scenery. I know this anathematic to some modelers but I need to balance my desire to have this layout with the rest of my schedule.
Finally, my question about trains and operators was not one operator doing switching tasks…I should have been more specific. How many trains can you set off on their own? It sounds like two plus perhaps one more doing switching tasks.
Depends on what you mean by the expression “set off on their own”. If you mean how many trains can run unattended at the same time, the practical answer is two - one on each loop.
Smile,
Stein