63 year old kid


My opinion only.

The turntable and engine tracks are wasting space that could be used for a modest freight yard.

You need a place to switch out store trains, then send them out on the road.

I'd suggest 3 or possibly 4 yard tracks, with an engine servicing track on the side.
You have a very good idea here and we must have similar thoughts as this is the plan to which I have switched . The turntable and roundhouse are items my Dad and I had dreams of some 50 years ago and they are a priority in this layout. I have negotiated with the wife and gained some switchyard.space after my last post. Do you think this will work?
20200927_183911.jpg
 
Several things I see,

First the roundhouse is facing away from the viewer/operator .A roundhouse is a lot of modeling effort that your not going to get much operating use out of so I would at least have the roundhouse facing the other way , Backsides of roundhouses are not that photogenic , you really want to be able to see the locomotives in the shed and the interior , for aesthetics and photo ops .
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Second , I am not sure that you not creating yourself a nightmare control issue with two reversing tracks , one is hard enough to deal with . You could control them with just simple DPDT switches , but if you try to automate them I 'm not sure what happens then. Two

Third , industry tracks should be reasonably straight , otherwise you can have issues coupling . If the radius is much less than 30 in you wont be able to couple.

Fourth , this is more subjective and it depends on how you intend to operate... I dont see any runarounds for switching , you have to use the reversing loops.


All your switches except for two will have to be remote controlled , the reach distances are to far for ground throws.
 
Several things I see,

First the roundhouse is facing away from the viewer/operator .A roundhouse is a lot of modeling effort that your not going to get much operating use out of so I would at least have the roundhouse facing the other way , Backsides of roundhouses are not that photogenic , you really want to be able to see the locomotives in the shed and the interior , for aesthetics and photo ops .
,
Second , I am not sure that you not creating yourself a nightmare control issue with two reversing tracks , one is hard enough to deal with . You could control them with just simple DPDT switches , but if you try to automate them I 'm not sure what happens then. Two

Third , industry tracks should be reasonably straight , otherwise you can have issues coupling . If the radius is much less than 30 in you wont be able to couple.

Fourth , this is more subjective and it depends on how you intend to operate... I dont see any runarounds for switching , you have to use the reversing loops.


All your switches except for two will have to be remote controlled , the reach distances are to far for ground throws.
Thank you for your thoughts. All very good points but often times, a layout must have compromises because of space or other concerns. This layout has several.

The roundhouse will be visible to the operator as he/she will be sitting in the middle. The reason it is placed in that location is to give it operating room below. This is a portion of a large family room and base cabinets will support some of this layout. The ends of the layout have 3 sided access and the center reaches are 30 and 36 inches.

Straight sections were not planned for this layout as it will be winding through the hills of a 1930's time frame. It will have a small coal mine, lumber yard and a few other buildings on the edge of a small town. The blue road is the only way I could get scarm to simulate a stream.

All of the turnouts will be remote and DPDT switches are planned for the two reverse loops.
This is a steam only layout with as much space as I could get in negotiations with the wife but I do have expansion plans which she is not aware. We'll just keep that secret for now.
 
You need expansion plans kept from the wife. Mine has the potential, but I was told I couldn't expand any further into the basement family room as well. She never goes down there as her knees are worse than mine. I'm waiting for the daughter who lived with us to get her stuff out once her new home is finished.
 
You need expansion plans kept from the wife. Mine has the potential, but I was told I couldn't expand any further into the basement family room as well. She never goes down there as her knees are worse than mine. I'm waiting for the daughter who lived with us to get her stuff out once her new home is finished.
Our girls are grown and have their own places but we need space for the grandkids. Who woulda thought?
 
My layout is progressing but trying to figure out what to use as groundcover around the turntable. I am not really wanting to use ballast in this area because of conflicts with the turntable mechanics. Any suggestions?
 

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My layout is progressing but trying to figure out what to use as groundcover around the turntable. I am not really wanting to use ballast in this area because of conflicts with the turntable mechanics. Any suggestions?

Hi, late to the game, but I know what works for ground cover. I use dried native clay or dirt, broken up finely. If possibly, use an old coffee strainer to get the larger particles out. I paint the area with scenic cement first then sprinkle the dirt on using the strainer to alleviate clumps, then affix the cover with a fine mist. Areas of Woodland Scenics fine ground covers or small clumps of grass can be scattered in lower traffic areas.

Here is an example of the native soil used as ground cover:

feed 2.jpg


You can dry the dirt/soil in an old pan on the stovetop, watching it and stirring occasionally. Let it cool.

Hope this helps--Dave
 
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Hi, late to the game, but I know what works for ground cover. I use dried native clay or dirt, broken up finely. If possibly, use an old coffee strainer to get the larger particles out. I paint the area with scenic cement first then sprinkle the dirt on using the strainer to alleviate clumps, then affix the cover with a fine mist. Areas of Woodland Scenics fine ground covers or small clumps of grass can be scattered in lower traffic areas.

Here is an example of the native soil used as ground cover:

View attachment 121366

You can dry the dirt/soil in an old pan on the stovetop, watching it and stirring occasionally. Let it cool.

Hope this helps--Dave
That looks really nice Dave and a great idea. I guess I was thinking in the roundhouse/turntable area associated with the tracks that more ballast or similar would be used. I was hoping to find a solution which would help to prevent the abrasive ballast from dropping into the pit.
 
Here is the other thing I used, sheet rock joint compound. Can be smoothed to make sidewalks, blacktop, or concrete. Cracks can add realism. Water based paints can tint to get the desired appearance, will probably not gunk up your mechanism.

View attachment 121387

hope this helps, Dave
Another good idea. This might be cleaner and less chance of getting something unfriendly in the pit. I picked a couple rolls of 1/16" thick cork at the local Menards and was thinking of gluing that down and then painting. I'm not to the scenery stage yet but I need to allow for surface thicknesses to get the track to match up correctly.
 
Here is the other thing I used, sheetrock joint compound. Can be smoothed to make sidewalks, blacktop, or concrete. Cracks can add realism. Water-based paints can tint to get the desired appearance, will probably not gunk up your mechanism.

View attachment 121387

hope this helps, Dave
You could also use the compound, and while still wet, put your ballast or dirt into that to hold it.

Something to think about in the future are lights and signals. I buy them from WeHonest on eBay. Here is the link https://www.ebay.com/sch/wehonest_cn/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
I have ordered a lot from them and have not been disappointed. It does take a while to get them to the US since they are shipping from China.

What brand kit will you use for your roundhouse?

Luke Welte
 
You could also use the compound, and while still wet, put your ballast or dirt into that to hold it.

Something to think about in the future are lights and signals. I buy them from WeHonest on eBay. Here is the link https://www.ebay.com/sch/wehonest_cn/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_ipg=&_from=
I have ordered a lot from them and have not been disappointed. It does take a while to get them to the US since they are shipping from China.

What brand kit will you use for your roundhouse?

Luke Welte
When I bought the turntable I bought the Walthers 3 stall. I am planning to scratch build an extension. Trying to model 1930s Colorado foothills. Small town with dirt roads etc. My layout is fictitional but I have named it Deer Creek.

I like your idea of burying ballast in wet plaster. I'll have to experiment with mixing paint in to get the right color.
 
I realized it had been quite awhile since I posted to this thread. As you can see from my plan the layout has expanded. The track is all down and scenery is about 30 percent complete. I also went dcc but contrary to a prior post, I have a couple grades around 3.5%. I have added weight to most of my big steam and by being conservative on train length, my locos can pull those grades. I also put new trucks, couplers and metal wheels on my old cars which helped tremendously.
D44B0E02-FB06-4B52-8788-1C7D514F6FE4.jpeg
 
I see that you were also able to turn the roundhouse a bit to allow for a more favorable viewing angle. it looks like you're burrowing through a wall on the right. Lot's of running room there.
Yes, this is an upstairs family room above our attached garage. It is a steep pitch roof with storage on each side where the headroom gets too short. I can stand straight up right by the knee wall but further out gets really tight. This area makes for a really nice 24’ long single track tunnel. I use a back up camera for viewing in that area.
 
A few pics. Still a lot to do.
 

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I realized it had been quite awhile since I posted to this thread. As you can see from my plan the layout has expanded. The track is all down and scenery is about 30 percent complete. I also went dcc but contrary to a prior post, I have a couple grades around 3.5%. I have added weight to most of my big steam and by being conservative on train length, my locos can pull those grades. I also put new trucks, couplers and metal wheels on my old cars which helped tremendously.
Wow, that has become quite a massive pike. I'm a little envious, someday, maybe I'll get some permanent track down.....
 



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