I’m not sure how to ask this so please bear with me. How do you know if a layout design as put down on paper will translate into an interesting layout to operate? In other words, can one test operate a design prior to building it?
I read so many articles in MRR about people building a layout and scrapping it before finishing it. Sometimes even doing that during the benchwork stage. It seems so wasteful given to cost of construction and time involved.
Probably the most important thing is, how do YOU define satisfying operation? Do you want to play put-N-take with individual cars, be the yardmaster at a busy yard or just sit in your La-Z-Boy and watch trains roll through the scenery? Layouts designed for any of the above will have their partisans, and others who will take one look and run screaming into the night.
If you already have a track plan, draw it out as a straight line schematic in 1:24 scale, then make little cutouts for trains and slide them around on the schematic. Use a soft backing (like a sheet of foam) so you can represent cars to be picked up or dropped with map pins or thumbtacks.
Then consider just what kind of railroad you’re trying to represent. If it’s a short line with one locomotive, pickups and drops are simple - the crew owns the railroad. At the opposite extreme, if trains are so frequent that crossing the tracks at a grade crossing is an adventure, just how does the local get time to switch the mattress factory? With the schematic and cutouts, you can try either extreme, and/or anything in between.
So, how do I operate, and how did I get there? I cheated. My layout is based on a real ten-kilometer stretch of a real railroad (and another thirteen kilometers taken from a different place.) My trains use train numbers found in the public and employee timetables in effect during September, 1964. Since I knew that the prototype did what I wanted to simulate (146 trains per fast-clock ‘day’) I was sure that my plan would be satisfying - to me. I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone else.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Excellent advice Chuck!
if you post a plan on this forum, you’re sure to get lots of advice regarding problems: curve radii, reach lengths, lengths of track for various operations, plan in general regarding single or double train operation, switching as well as operation.
you could build you’re own simulation, but it’s hard to beat the experience of the members of this forum.
Print out or draw out your design – to scale is best. Cut some paper strips to scale to represent trains and cuts of cars of your desired train lengths. Try the movements out on your layout to match your desired amount of activity. (Bear in mind how much longer it takes to switch cars in a yard than it does to run the train around the layout.)
Then modify and repeat until it seems to work well.
Posting here to get advice from folks is a good idea. Many posters here are knowledgeable.
Another option is to purchase one of the pieces of software, like Trainplayer, that allows you to build up your track plan in the program, place locomotives and rolling stock in the plan, and then operate the layout virtually.
Or another option. Like a poor model railroader who uses old train set track and new track and map it on the floor. Using coins with pencil and paper tracking down the measurements of lengths. Write down the width, length, and dimensions of track, industrial sidings.
Therb are also free programs. They contain extensive track librarys which are very useful for testing the fit of everything. And they also let you run trains on the proposed layout.
One program is XTRAKCAD, another is SCARM. The price is right.
MJ4562:
Most track planning software will allow you to run trains so you can identify some of the flaws in your plan. Unfortunately however they will not design your layout for you so they won’t show you potential improvements that could make your layout a whole lot better.
My suggestion is to definately post your track plan here. There are a lot of very knowledgeable guys on the forum who can quickly identify problems and perhaps more importantly make suggestions for improvements. It would be very helpful if you were to let us know the scale, era and type of operations you want to have, as well as the equipment you want to run. Also include any target goals like minimum radii, turnout sizes, grades etc. if you have them, and please show us a plan of your layout room with all the obstructions like windows, doors, furnaces, stairs, laundry etc.
One other excellent source of information is John Armstrong’s book “Track Planning for Realistic Operation” available from Kalmbach, Amazon or eBay. I thought I had designed a great railroad, that is until I read Armstrong’s book. It showed me that my plan was seriously flawed and the sort of operations that I had envisaged were mostly impossible with my original plan.
Dave