Layout for my son and I.

[metalnwood]

Hello all, like a lot of boys my son has gone train mad! it started at about 1 1/2 and now he is a little over 3 and it's still going strong.

When he was just over two I got a hornby DCC set for us to use together, hoping that it might be a little more entertaining for me as I need to give him good quality train time, all the time, it seems

After a few times out with it I knew it was no good. He wanted to grab the trains every time they went past. A few weeks ago he asked for it again so we took it down. to my surprise he was using it properly! No grabbing the trains and using the controller for everything, forward , backwards and he would move the points when he wanted.

I shouldn't be surprised as he is always using my iphone to look at trains on youtube

Given this new turn of events I thought about doing more, although I think I need to start from scratch.

I attached a picture of the area I have to play with. If I am lucky I might get to use the section on the bottom right. If the wife approves, otherwise it will be about 2 metres on each long side rather than 4metres on the long side as in the picture.

I dimensioned it incorrectly, it should only be 1/10th this size, E.g. 2m, not 20m.

Now I need to decide which scale, N or HO. I am not concerned abot reusing any of the hornby gear, except the DCC station if I can. The idea is that we would use this together and the little one would use his thomas trains by himself so I am not sure if I should be concerned if N is too small for him? Certainly I get a lot more space with N in my small area. Too bad I loike the scale of the HO trains better, I just reckon I would need more space for an interesting layout mr me and a young one.

I know I want a few industries but I don't think I am up to designing a layout that will be usable. OK, I probably could with time but my son is impatient! Me too, a little

I will probably get one of the plan books and see if I can modify the layout to fit in my area while keeping the functional parts.

BTW, I am really keen to hand build some points, this looks like a rewarding thing to do as well as saving money. Points are expensive in New Zealand.

I suppose this is more of an intro, but if someone knows a layout off the top of thier headthat could work in that space please point me in a direction.

Thanks,
Jason

 

[SpaceMouse]

The place to start is my "Beginner's Guide to Layout Design. It takes about 5-10 minutes and will point you in the right direction. Click below.

 

[metalnwood]

Hi Chip, I have been all over your site already. Thanks you very much, I appreciate people who go to the trouble of putting things down for new guys. I am trying to do similar things on my website for others as well - in other areas.

I am off work at the moment and inbetween building a cnc router, for which I see many possibilities for it's use in this hobby. Apart from doing that I have spent an awful long time on forums and sites.

I have got past the need to order a bunch of things and then see what I can do with it A bit of planning will be done but there's a lot to figure out, hence thinking about an existing track plan with the hope that it will be operational.

Thanks,
Jasln

 

[UP2CSX]

Hi, Jason, and welcome aboard. While there are no track plans that will exactly match your odd shape, have a look at http://www.trainplayer.com/Site2/User Track Plans.html. There are a lot of bits and pieces you could use for your layout.

With the space you have available, N scale seems like the only reasonable choice if you want more than a few switching tracks. Your most important first step will be to decide what you want your railroad to do. Do you want an urban scene, countryside, or some of both? What will your railroad deliver and haul out? Get these ideas fixed in your mind and then build a railroad that matches your vision rather than just using someone else's trackplan and hope it's still enjoyable six months after you finish.

 

[DougM]

If you want to play around with track plans you might try xtrcad http://www.xtrkcad.org/.
It is free and open source.

I made a file with your space in it and put two HO scale loops to get an idea of size. The smaller one is 18" radius atlas snap track, the larger one is 22".

 

[DougM]

If you want some idea of what radius curves you might want to use there is a good article in this free online magazine http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/

Look in issue 1, Jan 2009

It describes how train cars should run and look as a function of car length, so it is scale independent.

 

[metalnwood]

Thanks Doug. I had a look at the article you mentioned as well.

I went to our local shop and decided to buy some N flexitrack and some carriages and a loco - as cheap as I could get just so I could get an idea about it's scale in my space.

A couple of things I noticed. At a radius of about 18" it looked pretty good. Unfortunately that doesn't let me turn the train around at the two ends of the layout as they are only half that.

The second is that HO looks so much nicer than N, giving me so much less space and I don't think my son is going to keep interested in a fiddle yard on HO.

Like so many things, this is going to be full of compromises..

Jason

 

[DougM]

The zip file attached to my previous post had the xtrkcad file if you want it.

I suppose you could always try a turntable, transfer table or cassettes, but that still doesn't get you continuous running in HO other than maybe one tight loop in the middle. I even saw someone with a working ferry mounted on a hidden turntable.

I think you could put some tight N curves in to make it to the upper and part of the right hand areas. N sectional track seems to come in 9.75", 11" and 19".

This picture has loops of kato unitrack in 9.75" and 11".

 

[lmackattack]

can you make the ends of the layout larger to make an L shaped "dog bone"

this will give you a full circle track mainline and you can add sidings and switch tracks in the middle section. One tip.. try not to let tracks exceed more than 3' depth from the layout edge at any one point on your layout. your reach will be limitied and wont be anle to work on that part of the layout easy

Trent

 

[DougM]

If you could expand the one end you could do something like this.

The curves are a fairly tight 22". I threw in an inside 18" loop for kicks. I didn't make everything quite line up but you get the idea.

 

[Wastrel]

I know you like the look on HO, but realistically in the space you have to play with N or maybe even Z are your only options unless you are willing to put in a Timesaver or Inglenook. The advantages of either of these is hours of operation and the ability to use any of the hundreds of variations listed on the web, the downside is no continuous run and a very steep learning curve for a young child. A compromise which may work and would satisfy both of your needs would be to build an N scale layout, and above it on a shelf build you a timesaver in HO. That way your son gets continuous run and a layout that he can grow with, and you get someplace to play with the nicer details of HO.