Hey guys, my name’s Christian and I’m new to the whole model railroad gig and I want to get started with my first layout in my garage.
I’ve worked for NS here in my town as a conductor for a while and while I enjoyed the job the lifestyle was so bad. We were constantly being called right off of our rest at 10 hours and working 12’s everyday. It took a toll on me, my family, and my relationship. My terminal in particular has been seemingly unable to dig itself out of a hole and guys have been bailing with 10-20 years seniority. Multiple higher ups have come and gone and we’ve had multiple superintendents in the 6 short months I’ve worked there. I found an opportunity that would offer me similar financial compensation I had at the railroad while still being able to fully maintain my life. So I took it. I often reminisce about the railroad because it was a truly unique experience, but it wasn’t the right lifestyle for me.
Anywho, I feel like getting into model railroading would satisfy my interests. I don’t really have a hobby so finding something to occupy my time and that I enjoy would be ideal. The area I’m working with is 19’x10’. I think I’ve decided to go with N scale just so I can fit more of what I want into the space I have and have modern loco’s and rolling stock. I’m having trouble with the bench work and if a 2 deck layout would practical. I don’t want it to just look pretty but I’d like to run some operations on it as well. I know that I want something more point to point and not a loop. Here’s a rough idea I came up with.
Like I said I’m really fond of running point to point for trying to be more prototypical. I want to make the most out of my space and would like to double deck the layout and have a helix coming down where the orange circle is to come back on the bottom deck and have a yard at the end of that line as well. But I’m unsure the practicality of having a double decked layout and trying to run operations. Especially in N scale it would make it difficult to be able to read car numbers properly. Incorporating JMRI into my layout and generating switch lists is something that I really would like to do. I want to have locals while also having road trains. Hence why I would like a yard to yard setup with industries in between. However, it might be better suited to opt for a reversing loop instead of a helix and just operate back into the same yard as far as road trains go. As much as I would love a double decked layout to have more trackage, I think a reversing loop would be more practical for the space that I have. This isn’t a permanent layout however as I’m just renting my home and trying to wait until a hopefully better opportunity to purchase a home whenever the market settles. So I’m trying to keep that in mind as well that I don’t necessarily need to go all out.
Any feedback would be appreciated. I’d like to know what more experienced modelers would recommend.
Thanks, Christian
I’ve worked for NS here in my town as a conductor for a while and while I enjoyed the job the lifestyle was so bad. We were constantly being called right off of our rest at 10 hours and working 12’s everyday. It took a toll on me, my family, and my relationship. My terminal in particular has been seemingly unable to dig itself out of a hole and guys have been bailing with 10-20 years seniority. Multiple higher ups have come and gone and we’ve had multiple superintendents in the 6 short months I’ve worked there. I found an opportunity that would offer me similar financial compensation I had at the railroad while still being able to fully maintain my life. So I took it. I often reminisce about the railroad because it was a truly unique experience, but it wasn’t the right lifestyle for me.
Anywho, I feel like getting into model railroading would satisfy my interests. I don’t really have a hobby so finding something to occupy my time and that I enjoy would be ideal. The area I’m working with is 19’x10’. I think I’ve decided to go with N scale just so I can fit more of what I want into the space I have and have modern loco’s and rolling stock. I’m having trouble with the bench work and if a 2 deck layout would practical. I don’t want it to just look pretty but I’d like to run some operations on it as well. I know that I want something more point to point and not a loop. Here’s a rough idea I came up with.
Like I said I’m really fond of running point to point for trying to be more prototypical. I want to make the most out of my space and would like to double deck the layout and have a helix coming down where the orange circle is to come back on the bottom deck and have a yard at the end of that line as well. But I’m unsure the practicality of having a double decked layout and trying to run operations. Especially in N scale it would make it difficult to be able to read car numbers properly. Incorporating JMRI into my layout and generating switch lists is something that I really would like to do. I want to have locals while also having road trains. Hence why I would like a yard to yard setup with industries in between. However, it might be better suited to opt for a reversing loop instead of a helix and just operate back into the same yard as far as road trains go. As much as I would love a double decked layout to have more trackage, I think a reversing loop would be more practical for the space that I have. This isn’t a permanent layout however as I’m just renting my home and trying to wait until a hopefully better opportunity to purchase a home whenever the market settles. So I’m trying to keep that in mind as well that I don’t necessarily need to go all out.
Any feedback would be appreciated. I’d like to know what more experienced modelers would recommend.
Thanks, Christian
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