Suggestions for 8' x 12'8" HO railroad

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
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Well, now that Mr. B has his answer, hopefully no one will mind a question of my own.

In the context of the thread, I’m looking for suggestions on a plan for an 8x12’8" area. The 12’8" is fixed, the 8’ is a little flexible. I am using one end of a 12’8" by 20+ foot room, so I have one 12+ foot and 2 8 foot walls to contend with. There is no 4th wall, not even a doorway. Below is my crieria:

Scale: HO

Era: 1957

Locale: Southern Railway based branchline, “proto-freelanced”

Minimum Radius: 22" “main”, 18" “industrial”

Minimum Turnout: #4

Maximum grade: 3%

NO Duckunders (Firm requirement), Lift-outs, swing or drop bridges might be acceptable (prefer none), NO ACCESS HATCHES (Firm requirement). Desire plenty of staging, under 1 level (layout height will probably be 36-42", for viewing/running while seated). Continuous running is a Must, an added branchline for switching and operational fun is also desired. Any branchline will run to a mine in “the hills”. Layout will eventually be DCC (but DC during construction). This will (probably) not be a class 1 mainline, but a branchline (and a branch off the branch).

I’m thinking the basis might be a glorified dogbone, but where the tracks run close together, I might want to raise one maybe 3-4" for a little visual separation. If anyone is thoughtful/creative enough, I like the “empties in/loads out, loads in/empties out” concept of having complementary industries on opposite sides of a scenic divider (and since this is mining, open hoppers are the order of the day here). Also, maximizing staging is another plus. Some will be static staging (as in, storing more modern equipment that only runs for shows/clubs), the rest will of course be more traditional “interchange” and “beyond the scenes” staging.

So, I figure I have a couple 4x4 foot “blobs” and some 2 foot shelving to connect them. A

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Brad,

I suggest that you start a new thread and place the contents of your message verbatim as the text of the new thread. It will get a lot more attention than being tacked onto this thread.

Also, a drawing of your layout space, including doors, windows, utilities, etc., would prove invaluable in helping others to visualize your available space.

Rich

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Hope you don’t mind, Brad, but I’ve split this into a new thread for you. You’ll get more attention (and replies) that way. Happy railroading!

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I would start with something that went around the walls and bridged the open area. Make the bench work about 24 inches wide since that is about the max reach you will have, however, the bench along the open end can be wider if needed. The back of the bench work that faces the rest of the room can be closed in with paneling so family and visitors don’t see under the layout until they are in side it.

I personally think turn-back-loops (blobs) take up too much room, and don’t use or recommend them. I also like single track main lines that go around the layout twice, on different scenic’ed levels. This is what my layout does. (A link is at the bottom if you want to look.)

Make a hinged lift up to get into the middle and operate it from there. Here is some info on Lift Bridges: (I have four of them.)

http://www.waynes-trains.com/site/LiftBridges/Lift-bridges.html

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Not that this 8’X10 HO layout from my website is a perfect plan for you, but an idea of what can be accomplished with no duckunders and no lift- or swing-gates.

With the extra length you have in the room, you could easily orient something like this within the space to eliminate the access hatches.

Best of luck.

Byron

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Thanks Steven.

Here’s a quick draft of what I had in mind so far. I’m not keen on a lift out or swing bridge, since I have 2 rather active kids and I can just see one of them crashing into it while a train is on it. Maybe later when kids are grown. For now a walk-in plan will work much better.

Of course I’m open for better ideas, and of course this is far from finished. I’m still wanting to work in a branch to a mine somewhere. And of course split off somewhere to drop down to staging. By the way, this plan is actually 9x12’8, as opposed to the 8’ I had posted earlier. For some reason, the “outside walls” was not in the image [:S]

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Follow up:

Moving along with design and preplanning, I have a need to draw on everyone’s collective wisdom, this time regarding staging yards. Specifically, is 6" vertical separation enough for a 24" wide/deep yard? I’m thinking of 36" height for staging, and 42" for the layout. Or do I need to add another turn to the helix, and make the separation 10", using 32" and 42" heights, respectively? Thanks in advance.

Brad

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Specifically, is 6" vertical separation enough for a 24" wide/deep yard? I’m thinking of 36" height for staging, and 42" for the layout.

Brad the problem is you don’t have 6" vertical separation. The track has to sit on something and that something has to be supported by something else - this all eats into that 6" of separation. With this you are looking at about 4" of separation at best. 4" is ok in HO if you don’t have to reach in past the first set of cars.

So if you can figure out how to have 24" sitting on say 1/2" ply and some form of support that is 1.5" then are you at just OK. I think you will be hard pressed to do that though

ratled

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Yeah, I kept thinking of that, too. 1/2" plywood for the “upper” part, and initially I was thinking 6" separation “railhead-to-railhead”. That would give 5-1/2" of headroom, except for where the supports are. But I think maybe 10" would be a little better, using 32" for the staging yard, and 42" for the upper part. Gives the old arm a bit of room to reach any wayward cars or stalled trains. Anyone else have any wisdom to share?

Brad

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Hi,

why a 2 feet wide yard? Do you want a 12 track staging-yard?

Having 4 or 5 tracks would be enough, so no reason to reach in more then a foot.

My guess is that 6 to 8 inches is enough, though going down 7 inches will take 25 feet with vertical easements and a grade just under 3%.; quite some length of underground track. Not even counting the staging yard or reversing loop itself.

Planning this underground empire and the entrance route first would be my choice.

Trying to draw your ideas i found the 22"radius just a bit to much, doable though i would go down to a 19 or 20" minimum radius.

BTW the label +9 is for the upper track.

A mine scene could be added on the right leg.

Smile
Paul

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Actually, I do want 10+ tracks in staging. Some folks here say (and rightly so) you can never have too much staging, not to mention I have a lot of rolling stock.

I’m figuring on a 10" separation, which will involve a 50’ or so run (approx 2% grade), most likely using a hidden “No-lix”, to maximize available storage space. I think I calculated one lap (on a folded dogbone type track arrangement) came up to about 56 feet, or thereabouts.

I kinda like the “roughed in” scenery idea you added Paul, I just might adapt this for my needs. And yes, somewhere I’ll have a mine; it ties in with my line’s premise. In fact, the mine I am basing this off of was quite literally alongside a river, there is (the remains of) a steel truss bridge still on the prototype site. It looks like a vehicle bridge, it doesn’t look heavy enough to support a train.

I have adopted a minimum 22" curve for “main” tracks, as I have some equipment that doesn’t like anything less, but there will be minimum 18" on sidings and secondary trackage.

Anyway, thanks for all your input so far, I’m sure I’ll have more questions and updates as I go