layout plan


cheis

cheis

New Member
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This is close to what I am thinking for a final revision of my layout. In the space I have and the expense of track and benchwork I think this might be a good compromise between switching for my self (center of layout) and railfanning the mainline movement of large long modern diesel freight for my son (large outside modified loop).

I was considering multilevel but this will be a good starting point I believe with no grades and code 100 for mainline with super elevation and gradual 22" radius curves and possibly code 83 for switching yard work. I will likely go DCC at some point also. I am thinking of using a 6 to 8 inch tall divider wall between the outside loop from tunnel to tunnel and inside switching area as a scenery separator and painting a back drop on outside as country scenery and city on the interior.

Upper right inside area would be switching and maintenance with a possible diesel shed in the future. Left side of interior would be industry, plants, a factory and loading docks. Lower right interior would be a passenger station with multiple platforms and car storage.

Ideas, input, criticism, rotten fruit throwing?
 
You need a passing siding/run around somewhere. And a place to stage / interchange cars for the switching district.
 
I don't know a whole lot about layout and construction, but I am reading the track planning for realistic operations book, even though I don't like realistic operations. As RBMNfan pointed out, sidings add a huge dimension to realistic operations, but from what I am reading you are more interested in the yard and industry, and just having a train roaming around the track while you do it (that is what I am after). In that case, I am not totally sure the siding will aid you that much at the start. You can always add it later on at the top.

How big is this layout? I am guessing it is a 4'x6' without the bumpout. If you don't make the curve continue before the yard perhaps you can get more yard in. The last leg of the yard looks really short. I also think you can put those legs of the yard much closer together and therefore make them longer. It sure seems like they are spread out a lot.
 
I totally agree with RBMNfan. A run around track would be a big help to service the sidings above the tunnel on the right. Could be a problem as there isn't any room to spare. You could have the track on the top, the longest track inside the loop on the upper left and have it join the mainline. It would be hard to service all of the sidings with a run around track.
 
cheis said:
Left side of interior would be industry, plants, a factory and loading docks.
Ideas, input, criticism, rotten fruit throwing?
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I don't know how useful the two curved sidings are on the left. Cars do not couple and uncouple well on a corner not to mention a curved loading area on a structure doesn't work well. I think I would abandon the two that are 100% curved. Use that space where that turnout was to double back and make the run around. Then angle the one straight siding just a bit more to make it longer.
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Well, Seeing the diagram I don't like that last siding being so close to the angle of the other two on the inside of the loop. Looks too symmetrical. Perhaps the original "lay" was better.
 
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Iron is right, I just had a test track setup that was a double oval, and it is very difficult to couple cars in a curve. You just have to reach in and do it by hand.

I wonder if you might think about angling the yard across the whole layout to take advantage of the longest portion of the baseboard.
 
You may consider changing the location of the yard lead to the top of the diagram. This would leave you a bit more room for industries and then instead of having the cars go through the industrial area to the yard, now go out on the main line to the yard. A bit more operation. You probably would have to have some kind of track down there for a run around track.
 
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I was throwing your folks input around and this might be a bit more usable and within reach of the operational side of the layout also.

I am thinking of having a cutout in the layout in the large open area where a person could operate the far side easier.

I will retain the separator wall between the outside loop and the interior yards also but maybe add a passenger station over by the passing siding on the top of the layout to look like a country station for the passenger excursion steam loco.

Thanks to everybody so far.
 
cheis said:
this might be a bit more usable
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??? I don't see much about this one that is more usable. In fact, I would say the interior yard is totally unusable. It is almost 100% turnouts. Looks like the capacity on each of those six tracks is only 1 or 2 cars. Likewise the industries to the left are very short.

The only thing I like more about this new one is that it has two passing sidings so two trains can be run on the main simultaneously.
 
gregc said:
are you making the best use of your space? Layout Vision - Why waste space on a HO 4x8?

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Yes, I am making the best out of the space I have available.

Iron Horseman said:
??? I don't see much about this one that is more usable. In fact, I would say the interior yard is totally unusable. It is almost 100% turnouts. Looks like the capacity on each of those six tracks is only 1 or 2 cars. Likewise the industries to the left are very short.

The only thing I like more about this new one is that it has two passing sidings so two trains can be run on the main simultaneously.
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A high number of turnouts in a small switching yard for a small number of cars in a limited space sounds logical to me, am I missing something? I have never been around prototype operations so maybe yards don't have that many switches?
 
When I was planning my layout I was hard set on having a yard. I ended up giving up the idea for passing sidings instead. It gives me more space to do my scenery as I like. Not to mention I gained 2-3+ more cars for my sidings than I could with a yard that wouldn't kill my interior space. At any rate. Golden rule here is it is your layout. It is your world however you choose to build it. You don't have to be a pro to lay track. I snatch ideas out of thin air when I lay my track and just roll with it. Ofcourse I have mumbled quite a few curse words as well but in the end I'm satisfied. I even snatched up ideas for my layout from other sources as well. Especially with my branch line. So look into that as well. See what others are doing. Take some ideas from it and go at it.
 
I would keep the loop and the secondary tracks separated like your original plan and find a spot for a passing siding to run around several cars. That allows you to have two independent operations. The older I get the more I try to apply the KISS principal to my layout and actually all my hobbies.
 
cheis said:
A high number of turnouts in a small switching yard for a small number of cars in a limited space sounds logical to me, am I missing something?
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Well..., I guess it depends on what you are switching for? Are you wanting to just shuffle cars back and forth from track to track? The purpose of a prototype yard is to break a train down getting the cars going to the same destination onto the same track. Usually that is one yard track per destination town or industrial area served by the yard. Applying this to this layout plan, pretending there are off-layout towns, that would be 1 track for points east, 1 track for points west, and 1 track for the industries right here. Add an industrial track to the siding along the top making it a town would add 1 more track for a total of 4.

What would the other tracks be used for, a caboose track, RIP track, MOW, storage? All legitimate purposes, but usually left out of small model railroads due to space.

Concerning making them double ended, that is usually done for high volume yards where both ends need to be switched simultaneously, to easily get a train going in either direction, or to get to the opposite end of a really long cut of cars. In this case all trains arriving or departing have to go through the switchback to get to the main so they all arrive and depart the same direction anyway. If a switch engine would build a train from the right and then take it out to the main, it would end up on the wrong side of the train and have to run around it to get back into the yard. Likewise the longest cut of cars that can be in this yard is 2. It is much easier to cherry pick the car out than it would be to run to the other side, pick it up, and then run around it.
 
Again, I don't know anything about making a good railroad, but I think these guys who know a lot might be in a better position to help you if they knew how big the baseboard (layout) is you are working with, and what you want to achieve out of it. (unless I missed that you answered the question about the layout size before?)

What do you want to do with the space you have? How big is the space you have?
 
You can pull your cars from an interchange and skip the yard. You need to read the whole post. He is using the mainline for his son to run laps while he uses the other track to switch cars. They are separate for a reason. For a one man operation like mine I layout things differently.
 
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