Hello to everyone, I am new.


H

hotwinger

HO Switchman
Greetings to everyone!! Proud to be apart of this forum.

I just got into model railroading a few weeks ago and been doing tons of research. I bought some magazines, books, and did a lot of reading online. I'm very excited about starting my new layout. I'm lucky I have a pretty good hobby shop right down the street, so I know I will be taking many trips there in the near future. But first I have to plan it all out.

I talked my girlfirend into letting me start a 4x8 layout in our spare bedroom. which is not all that big.
So right now I am at the staging process to get it ready before the benchwork.
I have had this layout in my head for a while now but i'm sure it could use a bit more tweaking before its finalized.

MyModelLayoutcopy.png


The only thing I'm not sure about is the road where the residential area would be. Not sure If I should have the road in between the houses and the track or the houses in between the road and the track. Or just not have a road there all togather.
I'm trying to utilize as much space since you are very limited with a 4x8 area.

Any feedback would be much apreciated.
Thanks!!
 
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Welcome aboard. Should I call you Hot or Mr. Winger? :)

I'm sure Chip (SpaceMouse) will chime in here since he's our 4x8 expert but there are some issues I'd look at right off the bat. You have an area labeled "Industrial and Business" but no trackage to serve any industries. Unless you like modeling trucks more than trains, most modelers have at least a few industrial tracks so the trains have something to do but run in a circle.

What era are you going to model, what prototype railroad are you using as inspiration, and what part of the country will your layout be set in? These are all important questions because it sets a scene to what looks right or doesn't. For example, if you are modeling a coal road anywhere from the 20's through the 60's, having a residential street running along the tracks with the houses facing the tracks would look right. If this is an eastern industrial town, it's more likely that the back of the houses would face the tracks. I think having a residential area, even a small one, makes a layout more interesting and believable. Having the right kind of residential area in the right place is equally important.

The area you have labeled "Train Park" has me confused also. I'm assuming you mean a place to spot engines but you need to have at least a small yard to hold cars for interchange. You have enough space for at least a three track yard plus a two track engine facility in that space and that would serve operations better.

I like the way you have the roads angled. It makes a 4x8 look larger. You might think about having the residential street come directly off the main street and angle toward the tracks. It would give you plenty of space for five or six houses and free up some space for the yard.

The basic plan is OK but you need to think about some of the issues I've bought up and maybe revise the plan to take into account some more trackage for operations.
 
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Hello, Welcome to the friendly community :), don't forget to come to the coffee shop to grab some doughnuts & a cup o coffee :) there's also a friendly waitress there.

BTW since U r new, did you get rid of all your wrappings and styrene peanuts :p
 
Hey thanks for the welcomes.

UP2CSX, You do have some great advice. I used it to develope a more understandable layout.
I added a track for the industrial area and 2 more to the
track yard . Yeah the "train park" indacated a track yard.
I need to work on my termanology.
MyModellayout2copy.png


I think I might leave the residential and town area where they are. I would just make more sence to have the town near the track yard, and the industries.
I think my residents would complain with the noise.
I'm leaning more toward the late 50s early 60s era. In an east industrial setting. This will be a freelance layout though.

Thanks for the info!!
 
Welcome to your new home...we hope. You'll get lots of advice, some good already given.

The benchwork can be started to keep you interested and focused, but I would agree that your plan needs a bit more learning behind it if you'd like it to still be fun six months from now. Honestly. It needs more complexity, or variety in movement and purpose for the trains...and operator.

Have you considered what you will operate for rolling stock and an engine or two? Will they be okay on the curves you have and with the turnouts you intend to use?

Just examples of things to very very sure to research.

Good luck, and post some images once in a while so that we can enjoy your progress.
 
Hi Hotwinger and welcome to the forum,
It good that your asking questions and giving thought to the various issues about where to place things but depending on how congested you want things to be will detemine what can be fit in. As you mention the space on a 4x8 layout as well as other sizes can be limiting as to what you can model depending on what your trying to model. For example a few figures and a car or two in the scenes here and there say the individuals got there somehow and the road/s going across the layout tell how. Just a road itself denote individuals comming into and leaving an area by one means or another so possibly a row of houses is not needed to provide more industry space!?

Chip in another post, Layout design Contest I believe, shows a 4x8 layout he too created with XTrk that really has a lot of operation to it but being a long time MRR'er I can't see how all of that can be fit in once a person gets to laying track, but maybe but it can but it would sure seem to be a squeeze!
It's always been my experience that on paper, or in this case on the computer, it's alway easy to fit things in than when you actually get to building the layout. Anyway his track plan is definitely worth taking a look at!

Selector brings up some very good points, such as the type of equipment you'd like to run verses the curves and switch your layout requires to fit everything in. Will these engines be able to navigate the tighter curves and even the tighter switches assuming your going to use #4 and if you choose #6 how will the greater space required affect your layout design from the standpoint of everything fiting in?

While I'm not trying to be critical of your use of Xtrk, I myself can't even seem to get the understanding to lay any track, I notice that you added in an additional switch at such a severe angle that no train would be able to negociate that and that thererfore throws off your perception of what you can do and what will fit in. Now if you came off the curve leading into the newly added switch by using a Left hand curve switch than very possibly yes
that could be fit in.

So you need to do some research not only as to the engines your looking at and what radiuses they will handle but also the length cars and their ability to handle tighter curves?

Say Hotwinger,
I just noticed something that may change most of what I posted and that is that your layout is only 2.5' wide by 7' long which would imply your going to be running N scale so that make a big difference!!

HTH, David
 
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Mr Hot Winger, as in Hooters, or Fridays Hot wings!?

Welcome to the forum, nice track plan you have there!
 
Guys,

If you will look closely you will see he is running N scale on a 30" door.


Welcome and Howdy,

You've got a good start. I might suggest you push back from the keyboard and do a little thinking on what you want. A good place to start is my Beginner's Guide clickable from my signature. Takes about 5 minutes to read.

But mainly, close your eyes and dream a little. What do you see when you think for having a layout? Before you can plan you need a vision. So you see steam engines or diesels. Do you see coal cars or passenger cars? What color are the engines. What part of the country is the layout located in?

Get more of the specifics and the layout will start to take shape. After you have that figured out, we'll talk about what your railroad's purpose is.
 
You've made some good changes so far. As Selector wrote, the switch you've added from the yard track to the engine facility is so sharp that it doesn't make sense. You'd also have to leave a fairly large stretch of yard track vacant so engines can reach the service facilities. Check out the yard in SpaceMouse's post at http://www.modelrailroadforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=7075. It's an HO plan but will work just as well in N scale. You'll see the track that leads to each yard track. That's called a ladder track. Chip's ladder track is two sided, which makes it much easier to move cars around. You'll also see he uses the upper ladder track to get to his engine facilities, thus not obstructing any of the yard tracks. This same kind of yard could be flipped and used on your layout.

You also need to think about the kinds of industries you'll have. One track will not serve more than one industry in real life. You'll need an industry lead with switches leading to the various industries. The track that's shown on your second plan will serve as an industrial lead but you'll need to add tracks for other industries off this lead.

I wouldn't worry about where to place the town until you have your industry locations nailed down. Residential areas have a "good" and "bad" side of the tracks so you can put houses in a number of places.

One other thing that catches my eye is that you main street dead ends at the bottom of the layout. That's not very likely to happen in real life. You can make a right hand jog in the road so it can cross the tracks and not have to cross a switch. Even better, you can plan an underpass or overpass for the main street, something that would add a lot of visual interest to your layout.

Keep thinking about what you want on your layout and check out the layout pictures section here. I know you want to get started building tomorrow but the more thought you put in things now, the happier a modeler you'll be in the future.
 
Thats hotwinger as in buffolo wild wings hotwings. I'm a Hot wing fein.

I apreciate all of the feedback everyone has thrown out.
I agree its not a very well thought out plan.
I am actually doing a HO scale on 4x8.
When I was using the software I didn't know it was setup for "N"
Anyways I am scratching that layout idea and just keeping my eye out for other layout ideas and sooner or later I will come up with or find the ultimate Layout.

As far The era, Locatation. I figuered that out.
This might help me get on my feet in the right direction.

Location: West , America
Era: 1960’s
Engines: Desiels
Theme: Freight
Area: Countryside
Built on: 4x8 ft.
Layout Style: Walk-Around
Scale: HO

If anyone has a layout that I could use to get an idea or to start with that would be great. This will be my first MMR.

I checked out SpaceMouse's post of his layout. Incredable.
I'm not sure that layout would work for a Frieght theme.
But i was considering it.
 
If you are talking about this one, freight is what it is about. I actually pictured a modern day short line using GP-38s, but you could do the 60's with Geeps.

4x802.gif



Is there a way you could go with 5 x 8? 4 x 8 is the worst possible layout for HO.
 
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Say Chip,
I noticed something before in your layout plan, actually two things that would be very east to change/add and add considerably to the operation and created a run-around track too in the bargin!

1st. the spur track that almost touches the center divider could very easily be connected to the center loop via a curved switch right there on the curve. That would allow a train headed in that direction easy access to the various facilities and also create a run-around track if a second switch was added at the other end of that spur or maybe just after the switch to the crossing to again access the inner loop from the freight area from either direction. Now I realize that the inner loop just goes to the main staging area but if that inner loop was to connet with the inner upper station siding that would allow all the functionality of your plan with the added benefit of accessing the freight area easily from either direction as well a easier access to the main staging area for pick-up and exchange of cars.

What do you think?

David
 
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David,

I was deliberately trying to eliminate the roundy rounder feel.

If the center track connects with the industrial area, then the person delivering cars simply goes from the yard to switching and back and never needs to go out on the main.

As it is now, if you are standing on the switching side, your train coming out of the yard leaves your vision and has at least a slight illusion of distance.

When you are done switching you can either continue on in the same direction and make your runaround move to return on the other side of the layout, or you can runaround where you are and go back.

Yes, you create short cuts.
 
SpaceMouse,
If its ok with you. I would like to make a complete mock up copy MRR with you layout. I'm Only working with a room the size of 11'x9' Which is not all that big. So a 4x8 is about as larg as I can go for now.
Did you have the buildings labeled as to what they are or was that just still up in the air?

I will post pics and record the building process.

The only thing I would add in is a valley of some sort and a stream of water below track level somewhere.

As I looked closer this layout would be perfect for frieght.
I'll definitely have to buy a starter DCC set. I have a hobby shop down the street that has everything for MRR imaginable . So getting anything I need is not a problem.
 
hotwinger said:
SpaceMouse,
If its ok with you. I would like to make a complete mock up copy MRR with you layout. I'm Only working with a room the size of 11'x9' Which is not all that big. So a 4x8 is about as larg as I can go for now.
Did you have the buildings labeled as to what they are or was that just still up in the air?

I will post pics and record the building process.

The only thing I would add in is a valley of some sort and a stream of water below track level somewhere.

As I looked closer this layout would be perfect for frieght.
I'll definitely have to buy a starter DCC set. I have a hobby shop down the street that has everything for MRR imaginable . So getting anything I need is not a problem.
Click to expand...

Someone should build it.

I left the buildings vague so you could futz with them according to your era/location. Your Walther's catalog is your friend.
 
could you do both GP-38s and GP9s? Or would that not work as far as era. I need to catch up on my history I think haha.
 
Welcome to the forum, HW!

hotwinger said:
could you do both GP-38s and GP9s? Or would that not work as far as era...
Click to expand...

Certainly. If you're modeling the late-sixties to mid-seventies, several Class I rr's had both on their rosters. For present-day, only the shortlines and regionals have GP9's.
 
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