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number9

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I have posted a few layouts, and one of them received a lot of attention, and then it turned into a large triangle in this thread.
I truly appreciate the help of fcwilt, who designed the last triangle layout and made sure it was ok. After many discussions with the boss, we have decided that the triangle with the duckunder might not be the best layout in the basement. I have also made a decision to ignore the door on the right hand side of the basement (reference this post for basement size/dimensions), so this will allow me to use the old layout baseboard. I present the "old" layout again here, and note a few things:

It was drawn in SCARM, for good or bad.
The layout has been fixed so no mainline curves are under 30" radius. No other curves are less than 22" (for example, the wye)
The layout has also been checked and fixed so that all parallel tracks meet NMRA S-8 guidelines. Again, the yard may look really tight, but it is within S-8 guidelines.

One of my questions is: the blob with the wye, does that seem ok for a wye and some industry? Also, I do realize that the upper right blob is a bit too large to reach the back. I will overcome this problem by making the baseboard layout follow the curve more closely on the upper right curve, I just did not want to go back and redo the baseboard in SCARM.

Opinions?

Thank you for any input.

baseboard5f-test.jpg
 
i liked that plan more than the triangle. how much distance is there between the blob with the wye's and the blob on the right? id probably extend the wye blob a little more for longer industries.
 
The distance between those two blobs is 84". I can extend it if I have enough wood on hand. I have to go back and figure out if my wood supply is going to make it.

Thanks.

wright2626 said:
i liked that plan more than the triangle. how much distance is there between the blob with the wye's and the blob on the right? id probably extend the wye blob a little more for longer industries.
Click to expand...
 
it would be up to you, id probably extend the benchwork to have a 30 inch gap between the blobs. you can extend the right blob to maybe ease the s curves and get a little longer main line run, or extend the left blob and get more industries to switch. or another option is both. it would also be fine the way it is, just throwing it out there.
 
I keep forgetting about the S curve on the right hand side. This certainly makes me want to extend that out, even if it is just a foot or two, so I can put some straight track in the middle of the S curve. Thanks for pointing that out.

I still wonder if the wye is OK. Is it even wise to have all of that off of the mainline?

wright2626 said:
it would be up to you, id probably extend the benchwork to have a 30 inch gap between the blobs. you can extend the right blob to maybe ease the s curves and get a little longer main line run, or extend the left blob and get more industries to switch. or another option is both. it would also be fine the way it is, just throwing it out there.
Click to expand...
 
the wye could be an interchange track. not sure what your intentions are for it. maybe lay it out and see if you like it. i probably would not use it, but that is me.
 
Well, the blob with the wye originally had another large curve in it, and it was causing problems (making it too tight to get to the top section), so I had put straight track, but then I noted that there is no place on the layout to turn an engine around. Simultaneously, I felt like I wanted the two blobs on the left to be industry, so I thought a wye would be good there to support a turn around and some industry.

In a nutshell, the intentions for the blob with the wye is industry and industrial scenery. I might add a scrap yard there also. If I extend it out more, I can add another turn out on one of the spurs and have a few more small industry items.

Thanks.

wright2626 said:
the wye could be an interchange track. not sure what your intentions are for it. maybe lay it out and see if you like it. i probably would not use it, but that is me.
Click to expand...
 
I enlarged the blobs a bit and kept my radius over 30". Still unsure about the wye area. The distance in between the blobs is 48".
baseboard5g-test.jpg
 
i dont like the wye as laid out, but keep in mind that is my opinion. what type of industries are you planning for that area?
 
We like modern industries. No coal or grain or steel plants. They might be small distribution centres, like soft drinks or electronics. Truth be told, the layout I include below has really nice industry, which I robbed off the internet and forgot where it came from so I can not give credit. The layout is far too much for my blob, but the idea is that there is a lot of industry packed into a small area, making it a busy, interesting and fun feature. Looking at the part that comes down off the top, there is a small yard in it, which I don't really need to replicate, but note there are 10 industries there! I need to shoot for this idea, but make it happen in the blob I have. Is the wye mandatory? Maybe not, but how would I turn a train around? Do I need to turn a train around?

Picture3.png

Thank you for your input.

wright2626 said:
i dont like the wye as laid out, but keep in mind that is my opinion. what type of industries are you planning for that area?
Click to expand...
 
Question about the yard

I have planned to put off site staging on the bottom left of this layout (hence the turnout coming off the mainline on the bottom left). I just realized that if trains come from the bottom left, they will have to back into the yard, otherwise, they will have to go through the crossover from the outside to inside loop, go once around the track, and then use the A/D track and then disconnect the engine and come around on the mainline and then back freight into the yard.

Is this a "normal" realistic operation, or should I attempt to redo the yard in the other direction, or should I make some portion of the yard double ended?

Thanks.
 
railroads are going to reverse as little as possible. i imagine that at some point there was a yard where they backed the train in. are you planning on running in one direction only? to run counter clockwise you would have to back out of the yard. how much room do you have for the staging area?
 
The staging area is about ten feet. The question of running in one direction only is also interesting, again, if I take out the wye, I have no place to turn a train around. Is it that big a deal, or do diesels go on long trips "backwards"? I think my problem is that I need to have one or two tracks double ended in the yard so that I can go train in first and then get the engine out, or am I thinking about this all wrong?

Thanks.
 
will it be strictly staging, or are you actually going to use it to store the train you are going to run? are you going to park your trains there or use and start out of the yard most of the time? you could use the staging more of like an interchange where you start out by getting the cars from the staging track and pulling them to the yard. that is something that may be more prototypical when you are done, you back the train into the staging siding for another railroad to pick up.
 
as far as turning the train around, are you going to run two engines together? if so, you can use a runaround track to get the engine on the right side of the train. norfolk southern used to run their trains long hood forward for years.
 
It would most likely be some sort of staging/storage. I should have plenty of room in the yard for a while, but I can see a time when the staging would start to become storage.

I think for now, most of the time they would come out of the yard. I think it may end up working out, I am just now questioning if I should make the first two tracks in the yard double-ended. I have the A/D track, but I think I could get more use out of having one or two yard legs be double-ended.

wright2626 said:
will it be strictly staging, or are you actually going to use it to store the train you are going to run? are you going to park your trains there or use and start out of the yard most of the time? you could use the staging more of like an interchange where you start out by getting the cars from the staging track and pulling them to the yard. that is something that may be more prototypical when you are done, you back the train into the staging siding for another railroad to pick up.
Click to expand...
 
having a couple double ended wouldnt be bad. that way you can pull a train in and have a way for the loco to escape, instead of having to back in. sometimes you just have to start laying track before you make final decisions. have you ran through an operating session in your head once or twice? 10 feet is going to be about 8-10 cars, not including engines. if you have it printed out maybe simulate an operating session on paper. not as good as the real thing, but maybe give you an idea on your potential challenges. if the staging is just storage, i would leave it as is.
 
I have done some operating sessions in my head. Keep in mind, I don't like "operations" per-se, but I do want to keep it more prototypical than a toy, so there is this strange push-pull between reality and this layout.

I will admit, the layout with the wye is not pleasing to me. A part of me wants to put a ton of industry in there (I mean, there is a huge yard, which I want, so where are these trains going? I need enough industry to support this yard), but at the same time I don't see how I can fit a good amount in there without each industry being small (which will look unrealistic). Here is one compromise I made up, but I don't think this is enough. I need to read some more, or I need some help with this wye blob to figure out how much goes in and how to put it there.

baseboard5j-test.jpg

Thanks.
 
What was the reason for the angle (45deg approx) on the right side, is there a wall continuing down along that side, or was there something else in that space?
 
number9 said:
I will admit, the layout with the wye is not pleasing to me. A part of me wants to put a ton of industry in there (I mean, there is a huge yard, which I want, so where are these trains going? I need enough industry to support this yard), but at the same time I don't see how I can fit a good amount in there without each industry being small (which will look unrealistic). Here is one compromise I made up, but I don't think this is enough. I need to read some more, or I need some help with this wye blob to figure out how much goes in and how to put it there.
Click to expand...

The purpose of the wye is to turn a train around, right? Sorry, I didn't read the entire thread, hopefully this wasn't covered. Why not put a crossover on the right, where the two tracks come closest? You would be able to go straight through to the other direction by crossing from one side to the other.

Just a though.
 
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