How do you know how much room to leave for structures?

[StrasburgNut]

I have been reading a lot on how to go about getting a model railroad going, and there has been a ton of excellent advice. I have seen in another thread that you should decide on three things right up front: Road Name, Era, Industries (thanks Spacemouse!).

I have decided on the three already (PRR, 1940's / 1950's, switching / coal / logging), but I am just a little bit perplexed when drawing out my track plan. If I want to model coal mining and logging on my layout, how do I know how much space each structure will take up?

Any advice?

 

[UP2CSX]

Either will take up as much or as little space as you have available. What you need to do is pick out a coal mine or logging operation as your prototype and then figure out how much selective compression you'll need to fit it in. You'll never get an entire operation on one layout so maybe it can be everything from the mine head to the tipple to loading tracks if you have space for a larger version of a coal mine. If you have less space, just a small tipple and one loading track would do. It's not a matter of how much space you need (almost unlimited for any good size industry) to how much space you have. That's one of the fun things about model railroading - making big things look smaller.

 

[SpaceMouse]

Look in the Walther's catalog, either online or in print. They will give you the footprint dimensions. Then just make a shape in XtrkCAD in the scale size. Move it, turn it, play with it and try to make it work. For roads create a line, then using the describe tool change the color and thickness.

 

[HaggisKennedy]

Well, most of the Walthers buildings have the footprint. But, the other manufacturers don't list them, so it's a guess.

Kennedy

 

[FunValleyLine]

Sometimes if you have your heart set on a certain building or industry then you can get it and design around it or downsize it to work. Many of the things you may want are probably smaller and will fit in different places. Draw it out the best you can. I have tons of room but on layouts in the past i laid it out on a piece of plywood to see in real size and used yarn for the tracks and it gave us a better perspective on what we could do before we started. Many good points above as well Good Luck and most of all have fun with it.