Well I was just wondering what you guys thought of this layout design.
I have always liked Shelf layouts and they seem to be pretty good for space.
This is a close representation of what it might look like. It’s HO scale. The room is a 15 by 15 or so.
Most of the layout is one and a hlf feet wide. The only areas that are a little wider are were the engine shed is which is 3 feet wide and then tapers down to one and a half foot.
The yard at the bottom is about two to two and a half feet wide.
It gives you an idea of what I want to do. Just would like some suggestions about it if you have any?
My first thought is that it is too dense. It seems like solid tracks. Second thought is that too many of the tracks are parallel with the edge of the shelf. But I need to look at it for a while longer to make any really constructive comments. Especially since, as drawn, it looks more like a 15 x 7.5 room, so I am assuming there is some more “open space” somewhere on the left that is not showing.
Given the size of the room available it seems to offer lots of switching and could keep 2 or 3 folks busy for some time. There seem to be enough run around tracks – always a planning issue for a small layout and one the professionals such as Don Mitchell are careful to provide for.
Just for myself though, my own feeling on a fairly small layout is, is a locomotive shed really needed or does it take up space that could more actively be used in each operation session for switching or yard work? I think engine service facilities as a rule take up valuable space on a smaller layout. For example of the loco shed was a shallow relief building – just the front side with tracks seeming to go inside it – at the very end of the benchwork on those same tracks you’d have more space for locos on “ready tracks” if that is what you need the track for. Just a thought.
One observation or warning or whatever. Looking at the leads that are available such as those at the extreme ends of the layout – make sure there really is enough room for an engine and car or cars to actually use the turnouts you have provided. That is one of the great dangers with track plans that use lines rather than actual representations of track – not to consider the actual space needed in real inches. Most of us have had the experience of building a spur or siding and learn that if we had only made it a half inch longer it could hold two cars instead of one, and so on.
Put a lift out in the final plan so you can run continuously. Here’s a pic of mine. Its in a 11X7 room shelf around the walls, with a 4’ and a 2.5’ liftout section.
I’ve since added plexiglass 1.5" sides to the liftouts for security.
Ya sorry, I should have mentioned that the left hand of the layout would be more like 8 to 9 feet. But here I have a wall that is 15 feet so I extended it. So I didn’t mention it, sorry.
Now dknelson had mentioned that you really wouldn’t need the locomotive shed. I see what he’s getting at. But I also have a really tiny locomotive shed. it’s about 11 inches long and only 7 inches wide. So it’s a more tiny shed then most.
and I also noted, from Driline, the lift out section, which is a nice setup. I like that. So I could figure to add that in. I’ll see what I can do.
Along with Texas Zephyr, I have a feeling of too dense also. I traced my reasoning to the fact of no open main line running; it seems like one continuous urban district. If that is your goal, then my comments don’t apply.
However, if each wall is supposed to represent separate “towns”, then the towns are too close - any train will be in 2 towns at once. To me that is the real danger in designing linear layouts - keeping the towns 1.5 train lengths or more apart. This is a problem in most of my plans, too. It is so tempting to use that linear space that is so dear for something besides main line and scenery.
I like it! I wouldn’t call that a “small layout,” though. My layout plan is somewhat similar, although currently I have only built 15 feet of shelf layout in a 24x11 space.
I’d say that the shelf by the loco shed wouldn’t need to be 3 feet thick: more like 30" at most. It’s not hard to fit four tracks on 12" of board (most of my layout is 12" deep shelf) so you could conceivably fit it in 24" deep and make the area to the left of the loco shed 12-15" deep.
A nice thing about shelf layouts is that you can build the layout and not lose the room. Obviously, a big layout room’s primary business is trains, but you still have room in the middle for many visitors, tons of storage space underneath the layout (or above it) and lots of flexibility. With the right sort of spouse, you could even put this sort of layout in your living room or den, if you could install nice enough fascia boards, and then add sofas/entertainment center/etcetera.
Now the layout consists of one town. Just like the other. It was a like a short line within a city or town. It was made to do switching in. But I saw how crowded the last one was and came up with this new one.
Is this a little better? Same 15 by 15 room, but all the tables are 2 foot all the way around. The lift out section is 6 inches wide.
I really like it. The trackplan says INDUSTRY and that’s a lot of operation and interchange, tranfers, and such. The continuous-run connection is a nice improvement, too. The makin’s of a terminal railroad it seems.
Are those passing tracks or run arounds in the left and top industrial areas?
Seems like the corners are wasted space. A corner is a really neat place to wedge in an industry. It not only makes the space useful, it helps hide the corner.
Sort of the same for the industry sidings. I know they are placed that way to fit the corner better. If they were against the wall then flats of buildings could be used rather than full space consuming structures.
The main yard in the bottom need works. I don’t see an obvious design. I cannot pick out an arrival/departure track. It seems to have too many excapes or run-arounds. Unless you have a ton of cars that need to be stored there, I would make it smaller and add some more industries around it.
The lift-out section looks a little large: maybe 6-8 feet wide! It probably doesn’t need to be more than 3 feet wide unless you have a very wide door. Having a long section of straight mainline track can be a good thing, though–kind of a change of setting from the otherwise heavy industrial feel of the layout. I would agree that the yard needs a little attention and planning: it is kind of hard to tell what purposes each track serves.
I’m worried that the track is thrown in because of concept rather than purpose. You like the concept of industry tracks, but you have no real industry in mind. what happens is then you then have to adjust the industry to fit the tracks.
I suggest that the proper order of doing things would be. Determine the road name and location. That will determine the terrain and scenery. Find suitable industries that would work in that location. Then figure out what you need to do to model that industry correctly. Look up available models and determine their size. Then you will know how to lay your track work to service those industries. Create scenes that will work in the available space.
Alright. I took some time and looked up some buildings that would be possible with this layout, as Spacemouse had pointed out. It helped.
I think I came up with a more reasonable layout plan.
I took into consideration, the yard. I have it now joining the mainline so continuous traffic can go in and out of the yard.
I also have three industries to serve. One is in the lower right hand corner. A type of loading dock for boxcars and gons. The other on is located at the top. Its a grain elevator that I have and have been wanting to put it up.
The other is going to be located at the left near the town. It will probably be a ethanol loading facility. I have a few tank cars. The town is a new addition. I thought it would be a good little eye catcher. I also added a crossing there too.
I have also taken the time to add in some hill sides in the top left hand corner. This should add a realistic touch. I also have a small industry in the lower left hand corner of the layout with the road running out to it.
I took into consideration, Motard98’s idea. But have found it to be impratical. Because the railroad I will be modeling is the Minnesota valley railway. This is a Shortline RR, that does not have double track. The railroads headquarters are located in Morton, Minnesota. So the town above is Morton, Minnesota. The railroad deals with a lot of grain, and mixed goods. They also are going to be hauling a lot of Ethanol soon too. So added in the ethanol loading facility.
Need room for industry, scenery (A little will go a long way) and a little bit of single track continous run.
It would be a very good time right now to evaluate what industries you do have and look over your rolling stock to decide how you would like to run your railroad. That way if you do like the final plan, you can commence construction without any regrets.
This latest version does look a lot less cluttered and the yard makes a lot more sense: obvious A/D track and some body tracks. I’d recommend having a single-ended spur off to one side for a RIP track or a caboose track, otherwise the yard is looking fine. The industry in the lower right is a nice way to camouflage the corner, but the switch there will be strictly cosmetic: the stub of track off of it is probably too short to actually hold a car. But that might be the intent–I have at least one bit of my railroad that will include a cut-off section of the end of a boxcar to disguise the backdrop next to a building flat!
Ya, there is a small loading dock in Morton, and they get about a car a-day. They have just enough room to fit a 50 foot gon or box car. I don’t know what exactly they put in that box car or gon. I might have to take a small trip down there and take a look. And I will put in a track off the yard for other things. like you said.
Thanks Spacemouse for all the help. I think I will be getting a long with this quite fine.
I will see what I can do about one of the lead yard track.[tup]
