I’m finally getting back to model railroading as I finally have the time where I can work on a model railroad. I have built some around the wall benchwork and put on top of it 2" foam board as the base. The layout will be ~10x12 and I have to still build in 2 lift out bridges so that if a washer and dryer need to be replaced they can get to the area.
My biggest challenge as I don’t have a lot of creativity in me is where to begin desinging my layout. I go into my train room and look at it and I just say where do I start.
With the way I built the benchwork I really don’t have any possibilites to place in bridges or anything like that unless I pull up the foam board and go with open benchwork which I wouldmn’t be opposed to doing.
Looking for guidance on how others who have had layouts go there started.
I am new into this hobby as well. Down load the free train cad software SCARM Simple Computer Aided Railroad Modeller. There are also very easy to learn videos on youtube that explains how to use this very easy software. You pick which track you want to use ( Atlas, Peco, ect ). Have fun figuring out your layout and when you think you’ve got what you want, the program can generate a list of track you will need to buy.
Although most people seem not to have the patience to do some studying before they plan their layouts, it pays great dividends. John Armstrong’s Track Planning for Realistic Operation in a great resource. Building benchwork first creates some constraints, but you can probably work around them.
If you would like help from folks on this forum, posting a drawing of what you have built so far will help others help you.
It also helps to decide what sort of railroading you want to have on your layout: purposeful movement of trains and individual carloads, just running for fun, replicating some real-life scenes (or a combination).
Most people who don’t specify a scale are doing HO, so I’ll make that assumption in your case.
A variety of different layouts will fit in your space, depending on where the room entrances and exits are located, in what direction the door(s) swing, etc. Here are a few HO examples in the same or less space overall.
Agree. John Armstrongs “Track Planning for Realistic Operation” is IMO a must read! Reading his book plus looking at lots of track plans will give you ideas!
I have 2 different editions of it even. Read. Then read again. Continue re-reading until you understand all teh concepts. That full layout case study - I think in later editions they cut some pages from it to make more room for the added chapter on modern railroading, so an earlier edition is the better - is one of the best summaries of all the concepts you could want. Starts off with “here’s my available space” and goes on from there to design a workable layout meeting the needs and desires of the hypothetical owner. INCLUDING some options that then didn;t quite work out, forcing a re-think of the design. Track Planning for Realistic Operation is absolutely worth the money for anyone moving beyond the train set level. I’ll add a second plug for Creative Model Railroad Design, also by Armstrong - this one is more of a how to adapt various space, scale, or operating desires to fint a given area, with various specific example layout. TPFRO definitely comes first, you can then see these concepts at work in his designs in CMRD. My personal favorite in there is the last one, the PRR-inspired O scale layout, mainly because it is chock full of John’s wonderful humor - towns like Llawn Mawr (take on real town of Bryn Mawr, which is near me), and the town of Bee Haven, which, as he puts it, annually holds a pageant to crown a new Miss Bee Haven - yet also near me are towns like Schuylkill Haven, so it’s not a huge stretch. Funny, and punny, without being way out there. And the layout includes many of Armstrong’s concepts, like loads in/empties out paired industries.
These books are well worth the read and will go a long way towards getting you the layout you want within the restrictions you have. Even if you end up having a professional design the layotu for you - by understanding the concepts in these books, particularly TPFRO, you can better communicate with a professional who will no doubt apply these concepts to design your layout. The pro can’t read your m
“A model railroad should probably start with a concept, but seldom will a first model railroad have one. Why? Because much knowledge about railroading, experience in model railroading and thought are required before a proper concept for a model railroad can be formed. These requirements are seldom possible on a first pike. Mine was no exception.” - -John Allen; modeler of the Gorre & Daphetid Railroad.
Some folks have a clear concept of what they want to model. Some will limit their modeling endeavors to as little as a single day. While others might model a time frame, or a specific actual railroad. While other just want to build and run trains regardless of a concept or time frame.
There’s nothing wrong with any of this.
For some the planning can be as much fun as the actual building or running of their pike.
There are some great suggestions posted here on layouts. Study them and don’t be afraid to adapt them to your space.
Like you, I too have a space limitatation. Mine is a 4x8 sheet of plywood. I run HO scale. I can’t build bench work because it sits on the spare bed in the computer/spare bedroom now railroad room. I have to be able to pack it away so the bed is usable if we have guests. The one condition my wife insisted upon.
Because we live in an area rich in mining history (and our house is an old miners cabin) I decided on a mining theme. I’m also a big fan of diesel-electric motive power. I decided that my pike would be a coal branch-loop in the mountains of Colorado during the 1980’s. Buckskin & Platte Rail Road (BS&P R.R.), Coal Brick Loop, prop. Consolidated Materials Group. Yeah…I planned that out way too much.
With the space limitations I decided on a loop or spiral to be the transition between the upper and lower levels of my pike on one end with a 3% grade on the other end.
I then went about sketching various configurations; some feasible and some just “spit-b
I have a similar space, and the room still had to allow a double bed in the middle for guests. The shelf layout could be 2’ deep around two walls, and then extending into the closet (I took off the doors to the closet). I knew that was all of the space that was available, and like you went ahead an built the shelf before completely deciding on the track plan.
With the shelf and Homosote in place, I laid out turnouts on the surface to see what would work. I had the turntable/roundhouse assembly from the prior layout and I just sat that on the completed shelf in a couple places while deciding what would “work”. Instead of considering possibilities on paper on on a computer drafting screen, I considered them on the actual site, knowing that the actual space available was indeed limited to what I had built.
I’m now 7 years past building that “undefined” shelf", and have a fully operational and functional layout that is complete for most practical purposes (one building to add, operations conducted regularly). I’m pleased with the results… and the dern thing even works!
If you have some shelf or layout table completed, lay out turnouts on the surface and see what will actually work. Give each option a couple days as you look at it. Good luck
Who says you can’t have bridges?? 2" is about 14.5 scale feet in HO, so we’re not talking gorges, but you could easily carve a river or ravine into that and span it with a bridge of your choice. You could also build the track up with more foam to get more depth. I’m in a similar boat, with 2" over ply over open grid, and am planning to do that-- the terrain in the area I’m modeling isn’t too vertical, so the 2" drop should be more than enough.
There are a lot of factors that could influence a track plan, few (if any) of which anybody here can prescribe for you. Do you have ideas about what kind of model railroading you want to do? There are lots of options-- continuous loop running, switching yards or local industries, point-to-point operation, junctions between two rail lines, freight vs. passenger traffic, engine terminals, etc.-- as well as what sorts of industries and operations you might like to include. If you have a prototype or a specific region in mind, or one upon which you want to freelance your own invented railroad, that can influence your plan as well. Others with way more experience than I have already said so, but the Armstrong book is a must because it explains not just important design elements for model pikes, but also ties these into how real railroads operate and design their track plans.
Then why did you put the two-inch foam down??? The reason that we use it is so we can cut down in it to make rivers and such to put bridges across. You can also add foam to build up to higher levels.
As for geting started on a track plan, start with a loop of track that goes around the room on the layout. I favor a single track mainline that goes around the room twice, so one line has to be higher or lower than the other and must cross over the other track somewhere. Once you have the mainline in or drawn, you can figure out where to place a town or two.
In it’s simplest form, you need to remember that a railroad is a transportation system that delivers goods and things from one place to another. You just need to figure out from where to where.
I have ordered the Track planning book and I expect it later this week early next week. Being from the New England area the big railroads for me are the Boston & Maine, CSX and Providence and Worcester. I’m planning on having both passenger and freight running.
I also planning on having a circus area as I have some Ringling Bros freight and passenger cars. My railroad will have a lot of potential and once I get started I’m sure it will start to take shape.
