First layout - criticism requested. This is stressing me out a little LOL


TheZeke

New Member
Hello,

I just purchased AnyRail a week or so ago and I've been drawing several track layouts with it. I figured it was time I settled on something or at least got some feedback on what I've been doing. I already have the benchwork up and foam glued but I'm very concerned thinking about what to put on it.

I think sometimes it actually keeps me awake at night.

What I have so far is a bench that is L-shaped taking up two walls. Each wall is 9'4" (112"). The right hand side of the bench, from bench front to wall, is 36" deep while the other, on the left, is 30" deep. The other critical detail I should mention is that I've actually put extruded poly down on both sides of the bench. The 36" bench has 1" foam while the 30" bench has 2 inch foam. I'm not afraid to carefully create grades between them with some thin plywood and carefully measured blocking. I'll need to carve out some of the 2" foam to accomodate part of the grade as it gets up to 2" height.

I've attached a drawing of what I've drawn so far. Despite being drawn with a lot of sectional track the trackwork will actually be done with Peco flex (wood). Are there any traps or operational issues I might experience with the sidings and staging area?

The idea behind the layout is *either*:
- A large industrial area on the lower (right hand) section with metal refining and then the residual chemicals from that process goes up to the 2" section on the left to be turned into fertilizer or whatever. Housing and town area in between where they two sides meet in the corner of the "L".
*or*
- A grain or lumber situation on the upper 2" area (on the left) and then down to retail or light manufacturing like furniture on the right. Again, a housing and town area in between where they two sides meet in the corner of the "L".

I have 90 feet of brand new Peco flex track at my disposal. I'll have to purchase more turnouts once I know what I need.

Please, if anyone has any constructive criticism or ideas for an L shaped layout please let me know. I've been searching for a layout this shape for a few weeks now and I'm finding very little except a lot of point-to-point layouts which I'm not necessarily interested in.

Thanks for reading!
 
Relax!

This is a hobby, it is supposed to be fun!

If you can't decide what you want there, consider that either you are just rushing into this and need to stop or that maybe... you should just leave that space empty!

Seriously, it's better to leave it blank than put something there just to fill space and later have to be torn out when you do get your vision. Build the part you feel you KNOW you want and leave the rest just some bare basic track to complete the loop and be able to run trains.

Having a layout with an unfinished section but still able to run trains will be much more satisfying than looking at a layout you are unhappy with and stresses you out.
 
Hello, I like your layout. It is nice and clean.

Let me check with a couple things.

It appears you have two sections of "reversing" track which will turn a train running counter clockwise to clockwise. I LOVE reversing track. Just make sure you are aware of how to isolate and power it.

This is HO scale? I always ASSUME so. Do I see a 15" curve in the bottom left and 18" top right? 18" works for me but is tight for some folks with larger equipment. 15" and you better watch your equipment size. Would it be possible to add on to the bench to allow for an 18" curve (36" Circle plus clearance) and let it curve back to just 30" wide for your main body of the bench?
 
Presumably N scale (based on benchwork depth)?

Couple of points:
- two reversing sections. Doing the same thing two times on a small layout without added functionality is generally a waste of time and space

- Tracks runs right on the edge of the table - both a risk of an accident and you lose the railroad running through landscape look - swing into the landscape when you are done with the turnback curves at the end.

- Yard tracks are at a hard to access location at maximum depth - hard to uncouple and couple cars right at the edge of your reach, hard to see which car is which when there are cars on a track closer to the edge - put your yard more out towards the fascia than in by the wall.

- You will often get an operationally more interesting layout if you don't try to model shipments between two on layout paired industries (lumber to mill, plant to fertilizer), but instead model a connection to the rest of the world - a track going off the end of the layout, where inbound cars from other places to your industries (loaded or empty) will be placed by another railroad (i.e you put them there by hand before you start a session), and outbound cars from your railroad can be placed there at the end of the switching session.

That way you can model lots of different shipments, and do things like sorting outbound cars into different blocks based on whether they will go north or south once they are picked up from the interchange track.

It is also possible to model a live interchange - by having another locomotive (possibly from another railroad) arrive from a hidden track to your yard pulling inbound cars, drop off the cars and return to the other railroad (i.e. drive into the hidden track again).

Smile,
Stein
 
One question I have pertains to access to the 36" deep area, especially the track near the wall in that section. How high above floor level (AFL) is the top of the layout. If it is more than about 32" AFL you'll have trouble reaching the track along the back wall. If you already have the benchwork up, you may be stuck with it. Otherwise, I'd suggest tucking in the area about 3 ft. x 3 ft. from the corner where the walls join. Also at 15" radius is going to limit you to smaller equipment (presuming HO scale, of course). You might want to bring that area of the bench out far enough to permit 18" radius track.

Hope this helps.
 
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Zeke, don't stress out trying to decide on a layout. There is plenty of time to develop one that you can live with for many years.

Would it help you to know that I spent 15 years developing mine? I didn't work on it everyday, there were times in that 15 years that I didn't think about it for many months. I found it to be relaxing and rewarding personally to know that over that time, I was developing a life time layout that would satisfy me for many, many years.

Although you won't spend the same amount of time planning yours, RELAX! Take it easy! You do this, often times you'll find that a track plan will develop itself.
 
When I first returned to this hobby I wrestled with layout ideas. I have one that I'm sorta sticking to until it actually becomes time to lay the track. As per advice I received here, I'm doing a series of dioramas. What I'm going to do is go with the plan and place the dioramas where they make sense. Where they don't, the plan goes a little out the window and I'll try something else. No biggie.
 
If you're gonna have two reversing tracks.. might as well have them work in opposite directions.. else trains get "trapped" in one direction.

Attached is a rough idea.. all black track can be treated as a continuous-run loop; with sidings, spurs, etc.. the two reversing sections are red, and blue.

This plan gives you an interesting diamond/interchange-track/yard/siding scene, with an industrial area for local switching.
 
Yo Zeke - are you still around? It has been four days since you started this thread. You have now gotten several responses.

Discussions tend to work much better with some actual interaction between the thread starter, and the various people responding :)
 
Hi Folks,

Thanks for all the replies. I've taken a ton of it into consideration and revamped my layout. Also what I remembered as cutting 30" for the left hand bench turns out I cut it at 32" and just forgot. I've attached my latest drawing. The guys over at AnyRail (software) forum basically drew this for me after I submitted my basic .any file.
 
That one is a go for me. It is what I would enjoy. Many posting here would look at that and wonder how they could ever be happy with it. They would want more operations, more switching, more 'puzzles' or problems. But I like this plan. For me, the clincher is the turning wye. It affords a nice diversion every once in a while to turn an entire train, and it turns the train.
 
A wye is good to have especially when you want to run different ways.

I will just say make your layout how you like, think about what you will be happy doing with your trains. If you like just running laps and that satisfies you, then so be it:cool: Whats cool for you may not be cool for others, but thats ok since everyone likes different things.

Some people like the challenge of having a switching puzzle, it keeps them thinking... I do believe a person should atleast have one or two different places to drop off and pick up cars, Passenger or freight cars...

Me, I want to be able to run laps and be able to switch at my biggest industry a paper mill. I want to be able to switch cars just like the real thing. Drop off empties, pick up loads, and out for a few runs. Im trying to design my layout so it has both switching and main line running. The problem i have is i keep trying to fit as many different structures/industries as i can, and i keep running out of room, so my layout keeps growing, grrrr
 
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It's hard to tell from what you posted, but are you sure that the over-under grades work? From a quick glance, it doesn't seem that track length was allowed for vertical transitions from level to grade by whoever drew the plan. This is a common problem with many CAD designs for layouts published in forums.

vert_transition.gif


You'll absolutely need those transitions when you actually build -- but if they haven't been allowed for in the design, the grades will end up much shorter, and thus, much steeper, than shown on your drawing.

That, in turn, could make your layout less reliable. Note that you can't change grades sharply in the middle of a turnout or just before or after a turnout when actually building a layout -- but many people do it in CAD without thinking about it.

Best of luck.
 
True about the grades. I've kept this in mind for construction. I'm also not going to go the full 2.5" for height but 2" instead and then ensure that the underpass has ample clearance by using thin material and reinforce it without lowering the height of the underside of said material.

A good example of this is the length of track from the bench (zero") to the top of the current East Ramp (pictured on my railroading blog at the URL above) is 89". The height at that point is 1 and 11/16ths inches. I need just 5/16ths of an inch over the next 11" of track to get my 2" height coming out of that incline to be at a 2% grade. I know there's some argument about the limitations of grade percentage but I've decided that I won't be running super long trains anyway and that 2% might not be that bad. Besides - If after I get some track laid down and things are terrible I can always rip it out and start over. It's a hobby. I'm tryin to relax about it and go for it. Gotta stop being deathly afraid to make mistakes or at least try some things that might work fine.

I've started on the construction slowly...
http://www.railroadprojects.com/did-some-more-benchwork-making-the-grades/

On the west ramp there are some turnouts that are on an incline but they will be 'flat' relative to eachother. The turnouts themselves will live on the incline but gradually flatten out after a transitional length.

An important note here is that I am currently doing the mainline only and will build out where needed for turnouts. I may totally redesign the Upper station area but it will connect to the rest of the layout the same. Hell, I might even rip it all out and do something entirely different, who knows.
 
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If you have trouble with clearances, you can make the nether tracks dip a bit. This is done in the real world as well. That way, both tracks do part of the 'lifting', but neither has to do all of it.
 



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