Well today is our 10th month anniversary of starting out on a track and layout plan and what a long strange trip it’s been.
The OL and I started out knowing nothing about Model railroading or real life railroads and nothing much about our chosen line, location and setting. We started with a simple idea ‘The ATSF line sometimes in the 1950’s where it runs along sections of Route 66’, it seemed pretty simple and so off we set.
Along the way we left behind the idea of converting our garage to a train because of expense and switched instead to using a spare bedroom which meant scraping the track plans we’d started for that space (four refined versions) and starting up a whole new one.
The move to a smaller space brought about a period of refinement – Just what was the right place to model in the space given that met our original idea? That meant learning as much about Route 66 and the ATSF as we could; along the way things narrowed and narrowed and we ended up with: 1954 late spring to early summer in northern Arizona, along the line between Pinta and Holbrook Arizona and a big change – a fictional town depicting as many of the elements we wanted as we could.
So we set out with a new set of design ideas for the new space. At first the idea of a small point to point was explored but many problems presented themselves. Concerns we had no idea of slowly surfaced, things like staging, passing sidings switchbacks, runarounds, yard designs – sometimes the lists of things to learn seemed endless but John Armstrong and Frank Ellison’s books were always close by and then came Ian Rice and many others.
Through it all there also was the single greatest and most invaluable aid – wonderful, giving, patient sagely members of the forums. From Trains.com to the Gauge, modelrailroadforums.com, and good folks along the way: Texas Zephyr, Leighant, SpaceMouse, Ereimer, Masonjar, Fred Wright, 60103, Joe Fugate, Byron Henderson and many, many mo
While I am far less experienced from the others that have contributed to your journey, I have from time to time watched your progress. You definitely have the dream and have done the planning. I am sure your plan will change still more, but my opinion, is that it is time to start the build. [^]
I always appreciate hearing from you and you have been of help as well sir. Thank you for your encouraging words; I agree with you. This week we will be laying the new flooring for the train room and getting the paint to do the walls and I’ll be removing the closet doors and taking them out to the garage - Then Benchwork! crosses fingers
in general the plan looks great , but i’m having trouble matching your layout with the real world . let’s assume for now that your staging represents both Flagstaff AZ in the west and Gallup NM in the east .
if a train leaves flagstaff (staging) and enters your layout it should be heading east . it looks like it’s heading west , as right to left movement always seems to be west to me , as it feels right for north to be at the top of the plan . the train then runs around the layout but it seems to me the only way for it to reverse is to go through the wye , then onto the ‘eastbound’ track to leave for gallup (staging) . likewise if a train leaves gallup (staging) and enters the layout heading towards flagstaff , it enters on the ‘eastbound’ track , turns around at the wye then heads off on the eastbound track (outer loop) to get to flagstaff which is actually west
maybe i’m just confused and if you write out how you plan to get a train on and off the layout you could straighten me out
maybe a solution would be a turnout on the track leading from staging to the inner loop in addition to the one from the outer loop .
maybe i’m just so focused on single track plans that i can’t figure out a double track mainline [:)]
Before laying that floor, have you considered altering the closet? I notice that there is 2/ 2FT doors. If you change the closet doors to 2/ 30" or 36"bi-pass you would have better access to staging and in the event the room is returned to a bedroom the closet would be actually better. It is only a minor framing job and install of frame / track. No swinging doors to contend with in the isles. Once you lay the floor, your done, it stays that way.
Bob K.
Let the fun begin. That is one of my favorite parts of the country and I have a small space on my layout that represents some of the mood. I will love to watch your progress.
I have a question : How do you access the centre of your layout ? A duck-under ?
I also have a suggestion : Looking at your yard (in the closet), you could gain a few extra inches of staging track if you can move your turnouts from C-18 to a place closer to the first turnout located at A-16. If you use curved turnouts, you won’t need to do much re-arranging of the track plans to fit them in.
RobertKnapp’s suggestion of changing the closet door from a pair of 24" swinging doors to a set of sliding doors is very good. An alternative is to install bi-fold doors.
No Sir, you weren’t confused I was! [B)] But your question and a suggestion from a few others helped sort it out I have added a Wye off the Mainline and into the staging plus reversed the direction of one crossover and added another - This should, I hope crosses fingers fix a lot of what you brought up in your question. I’ll post the new track plan today on the thread at the end of my replies.
Thanks as always for pointing a bright light where my eyes were not watching well enough. It was a great question that brought about some very good improvements, thanks.
Frankly I’d love to just pull out the whole darned closet, but part of the agreement I have with the OL for using the spare bedroom is that the closet stays as is door widths and all. I did get her to agree on the ‘small’ hole in the wall for the track though. [;)] Also the middle section of wall between the two doors holds electrical set up for light fixture and switch for the closet. shrugs it is what it is I’m lucky enough to have an OL that loves modeling. [:)] Thank you for the advice though sir, it goes in my “someday” box, thank again.
Thank you Sir. I love that part of the country as well, the OL and I had considered taking a trip out to the Grand Canyon this summer but the gas prices sure nixed that. I know I sure am looking forward to getting started on all this, the guys comes Tuesday of next week to lay the floor. I’m as excited as can be. I’ll post some pictures when the floor is down.
Hello sir. The entrance into the middle section is done via a lift out/pullout section marked off on the benchwork at the far right hand side.
I have done some work on the staging and will be posting it below; I have highlighted the lift out/pullout section in yellow so it can be seen more easily. Take a look and tell me what you think of the changes. Looking forward to hearing from you.
Well here we go again! Got some great advice this round and it was full of food for thought.
I have added a Wye set up from the Main into the staging so now trains can leave the staging heading in both directions, switched the direction of the crossover at F-13 and added a crossover at B-9 - this should enable trains to exit and enter either loop from staging onto the proper loop (inner or outer) and still be facing the correct directions for east bound or west bound traffic as well as allow trains to cross over to exit back out into staging from either loop - flipped the facing of the Concrete Plant at F so that I could extend out some track for the B-9 crossover, brought the closet staging benchwork out to 18", traded the #6 turnouts in the staging for #5 and reorganized the staging into a simple ladder giving me one more staging track, shifted the left hand most crossover in the staging tracks over giving me one staging track clear of any crossovers and making the smallest staging track a good place to run around and move engines (I hope/think?) and finally I highlighted the lift out/pullout section that leads into the main area in yellow (no duck under for me).
Well gang I think that is all the info this round. Tell me what you think, can’t wait to hear back from you all.
As always: Thank You -ALL- for your time, support and sagely advice.
Track Plan Info:
Scale: HO Name: Route 66 Railway. Locale: Northern Arizona alongside route 66. (In the fictional town of Gila, AZ) Period: 1954, late spring to early summer. Layout Height: Starting at 50". Track: Code 83. Turnouts:#6 on Mainline and inside Staging, #5 on industry spurs, #6 ½ curved leading to Staging, #7 ½ curved on Corner Crossovers, # 2 ½ wye on Wye and Industry spur. Curve Radii: 28" outside m
I use a program called 3rd PlanIt from El Dorado Software it is a great program that I strongly recommend to anyone looking for a train based, home CAD type program. It does have a rather sharp learning curve but there is a lot of great help for it on some various Yahoo groups and a pretty good manual.
You can find it at http://www.trackplanning.com/
and get a demo version there as well as far as I am concerned it is -the- tool.
I see your lift-out section and it now makes more sense. [:)]
However, your new staging area seems to have gotten shorter, even though you have added a 5th track.
Is there no way you can move your turnouts closer to the first one (located at A-16) ? By placing all the turnouts up closer to the one at A-16, you should be able to gain at least 12-18" of usable track just on the track closest to the back wall of the closet (you’d gain closer to 24" or more on the track nearest the edge of the benchwork).
If I were you, I’d put all the turnouts leading to staging tracks adjacent to each other in the area near the A-16 turnout. You would have no turnouts (except for your crossover/escape tracks) futher than C-17. This would give each staging track a minimum of 72" (D through I) of usable track length. As it stands now, your usable track lengths are about 36" +48" + 66"+ 60" + 72" = 282". My suggested changes could give you approximately 5 x 72" = 360", which is about 78" more than you have now.
the new plan is right on the money !
those changes make it obvious how trains move on and off the layout going from east to west or west to east . i think i’m almost as excited about this as you are [:)]
you know , your aisles are pretty big , you could expand the peninsula in both directions a bit and still have very usable aisles . even if you decide not to add more track there , you could include a bit more scenery , or have larger buildings