Can someone design a track plan for me?


C

chris30901

Salute the Fallen Flags
I stink at track planning and I was wondering if anyone could design a plan for me. It will be a shelf layout/around the wall so I can still have the bed and things in it. The room is 10x11 room and I wanted it to be double main line, with a bit of switching. There is a sliding closet and a door, shown in the pic. Anything will work if no double mainline. So if anyone can design something that'd be great. Thanks!
 
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I actually suggest you get a copy of Iain Rice's "Shelf layouts".
Many good examples there which could be adapted to your situation.
 
Your layout has to fit what you want it to end up as. If you have built layouts in the past, you probably know a few things that you like and dislike about it. You use those points of reference in your next layout.
You provided a drawing of the room you want to build a layout in, but it doesn't provide the actual visual that only you have. How much clearance above the shelf layout do you have? How high off the floor do you want it to be? How do you want to control the turnouts, snap switch, tortis machines, Caboose ground throws or slide switches? How deep do you want the shelf?
Bottom line here, we can help you work out the bugs but the over all master idea has to come from you.
 
That's a rather lofty request. There are folks out there, some who use this forum, who make a living designing track plans. Considering the amount of time that goes into a thoughtful track plan AND the fact that most of us change our layouts several times, if not out of habit out of necessity, I doubt you'll get many takers. FWIW, my suggestion is to just lay down track, double main line if you wish, and start running your trains. Your 'track plan' will evolve with your individual interests and needs.

Happy Railroading. Jason in Colorado.
 
Best i can do with the info you gave.:D

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chris30901 said:
I stink at track planning and I was wondering if anyone could design a plan for me. It will be a shelf layout/around the wall so I can still have the bed and things in it. The room is 10x11 room and I wanted it to be double main line, with a bit of switching. There is a sliding closet and a door, shown in the pic. Anything will work if no double mainline. So if anyone can design something that'd be great. Thanks!
Click to expand...

To be serious for a moment.

This looks like a room for two people - maybe a children's bedroom or a college dorm or something like that, more than a bedroom for a married couple (where there usually would be one bigger bed instead of two beds on opposite sides of the room).

The challenge of running a shelf layout over beds located like these are is that beds usually are fairly wide - a standard sing/twin bed in the US is 39" wide and 75" long, while a twin extra long (standard for dorms) is 39" x 80".

So reach will be a problem unless you are getting up on and down from the bed while switching, which may not be a good option.

Likewise, that closet looks like it may have doors along most of it's middle. If this had been a guest bedroom, used only once or twice a year, with the closed used for long term storage instead of needing to be accessible more often, having removable sections in front of the closet might have been a realistic option.

So - without promising to make a track plan for you, we need to hear more from you about the room, and about what you are looking for.

What is this room? How is it used? Is someone else in there with you? Have you got his or her permission to build a layout over the other person's part of the room? Is there a window along the top wall which needs to not be blocked for fire safety reasons?

What are you looking for in your layout? What era? What kind of location? What will be the theme of your layout? What scale?

Are you hoping for a continuous run layout, or will you satisfied with a point-to-point layout, maybe just around two walls, modeling e.g. a small town passenger depot and a few industries along one wall, and some double track mainline along the other wall, doubling as staging?

Start coming up with answers, and maybe someone will have suggestions for you.

Smile,
Stein
 
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Around the walls would work in G scale for one loop and be 6'8" up to clear the doors. I would vote for an N scale layout that would fit under one of the beds. Pull it out and set it up then put it back. You could raise the bed if needing more height. A folded dog-bone in 72"x30" would keep you busy for a long time!
 
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