Hi all. Starting my first 4x8 layout and would like some critique on the track plan I’ve drawn up. General theme is a Granger road (CB&Q?) in my home state of Nebraska. Road power won’t be a problem. Small switchers and early Geeps mostly. I would like to run 54’ covered grain hoppers and 50’ boxcars. General concerns I have are how well they would handle the s-curves and reverse curves in the lower left hand portion of the industry side. I’m flexible in the yard area; maybe down to 3 tracks. Would the industry side maybe be better off as a switch back instead of the 25 degree crossing?
Personally, I think the crossing is better than a switchback.
You have tracks very close to the edge of the benchwork. Any derailment could prove fatal to equipment taking the long drop. Why limit yourself to a 4X8? Whatever benchwork you choose, it’s usually best to allow 2-3" or more from the track center to the edge. Even a passing belly or sleeve could derail trains right at the edge.
The s-curves at the lower left could be reworked without too much effort. They might not cause trouble as-is – but then again they might.
This HO 4X8 reworking of the classic “Red Wing” layout could be set in granger country fairly easily (the original was). But this version is drawn with flex track and wouldn’t fit in 4X8 with sectional track, most likely. But in 5X9 or 5X10 it would probably work fine with sectional track.
I’m not a huge fan of reaching over mainlines to access industries or yards, but there’s not much you can do on a 4x8 to counteract this. I’d advise employing a sight-blocking divider of some kind, or another trick (a bluff, a forest, etc.) to break the layout into two distinct scenes, thereby resulting in a slightly more prototypical appearance.
Of course, if you REALLY wanted to some something more accurate, you could cut the board in half and do a 16x2’ (or an L-shape) point-to-point shelf layout, which would involve far fewer curves, and better represent a flat-and-straight granger route.
Thanks guys. Yes, i had planned on doing some sort of divider down the middle. Hoping for a good sized, tree covered, Nebraska Sand Hill or bluff down the middle but will settle for a back drop divider. I did re-work the yard down to three tracks that I think will work better and give me more scenery room.
When you work the yard at the top of the plan, you cannot do so without fouling the main line. I think I would move the yard to the bottom, so that the curved passing track can be used as a switching lead. The switching area can be moved to the top of the plan because that passing track would be a more convenient and appropriate runaround for local switching.
