New Train Room


Lateral-G

Lateral-G

Chief Test Pilot
Well, after about a 5 year hiatus I'm getting back into model railroading. My previous N-scale layout was a shelf one of about 25' x 6' filling up an entire wall of the basement in my old house. Unfortunately a divorce required me to sell the house and the layout was not portable. I had to abandon it in place. The equipment, locos, rolling stock and everything else went up on ebay.

Now I got the itch to run trains again. This time it'll be in HO and narrow gauge. One of my favorite layouts was the San Juan Central by Malcolm Furlow. I still have the book he wrote on building it. After a bit of head scratching, measuring, playing with photodraw, Train Player (w/Track Layer) and tossing out a lot of junk in the basement I'll be able to build a dedicated 11x14 room for it. Although I wish it could be bigger it's not going to happen. That's the space I've ended up with and that's what I have to work with.

It wasn't without it's challenges, however. Fixed locations of a window, sump pump and circuit breaker panel made planning how to make things fit a bit difficult. I've attached a plan of the room and layout. I've even tried it out in Train Player and have had a few good sessions.

I poured through many, many track plans (in Linn Wescott's book plus back issues of MR as well as the internet) and tried a few of my own designs but I kept coming back to the SJC one. Track planning is not my forte and I'd rather not do a design and then end up hating it several years down the road. The SJC can give me continuous running as well as some switching operations to make things interesting.

I'll be using ME code 55 flex track and making my own turnouts with Fast Tracks turnout building jigs. Curve radii are between 19" and 20". The plan is to use DigiTrax DCC. I've already got a Blackstone K-27.

Let me know what you guys think....

-G-
 
I like it, looks like the circuit panel and sump pump still have adequate space for getting into when needed and the layout itself looks good too. Can't wait to see it getting going.
 
I like the way the layout is being built. Most plans end up with too much track and your plan looks a good mixture of track and scenery.

Two issues I see. The first needs to get solved before construction. You'll need a pop-up in the left corner (as the operator is facing) to be able to get to that loop. Actually, almost everything from the middle of the layout to the loop looks like it's well past the normal 33" reach limit so you'll need to plan some way to get to those places.

The second thng that makes me nervous is that sump pump well. How much water do you usually get in the basement and in that well? Humidity will do more damage to a layout than almost any other environmental factor. Do have plans for a dehumidifier or is there so little water that you're not worried about it?
 
Looks like you have a well thought out plan ! Welcome to the forum BTW. I like Jim am a bit nervous about the amount of humidity in the basement . Do you get a lot of water in the sump ? Is any of your household sewage going into it ? Do you have enough ventilation ? Just a thought .
 
I think it is a good start and will be a fun layout to watch your trains run and throw a little switching action. The lion's share of the layout looks like it will work easily enough with a couple exceptions.

1) The grade in the loop where everyone wants a pop-up is pretty steep, especailly if we are talking narrow-guage small steam. You might be disappointed on how much they can pull on a 3% grade.

2) There is a balance between realism and making a layout work. If you go by the premise that a real railroad only passes through a scene once, you have a lot of opportunity you are not using. You use of tunnels and track placement suggest you want to be in one place and see the whole layout.

The alternative is to make your San Juan mountains high enough (our use a low backdrop to split the scene in the peninsula. You then put the return route along the wall in a tunnel.

*********************

The real problem with the layout is in the grey area. I cannot conceive of a scenario where it makes sense. Perhaps if you had buildings and streets shown, I could get it.

But let's look at things one at a time.

1) You have multiple switch backs that destroy any chance of using any but the end of the line points for industries.

2) You have no place to store trains.

3) In order to make the mauevers you have to run way out on to the mainline track.

4) You need two switchback moves to get to your roundhouse when a straight shot would do.

5) You have a track that can only be accessed off the turntable. This stub is really long and crosses an inlet. Unless you have really small engines and really small cars, all that will go back there is an engine. If the engineer has a girlfriend at the end of the line that might be great, but without getting freight back there, there's no point to go. You can't even have engine service unless you can get coal, sand, water and spare parts back there. You would never take a broken car back there via a turntable.

The good news is all this is fixable.
 
SpaceMouse said:
I think it is a good start and will be a fun layout to watch your trains run and throw a little switching action. The lion's share of the layout looks like it will work easily enough with a couple exceptions.

1) The grade in the loop where everyone wants a pop-up is pretty steep, especailly if we are talking narrow-guage small steam. You might be disappointed on how much they can pull on a 3% grade.

2) There is a balance between realism and making a layout work. If you go by the premise that a real railroad only passes through a scene once, you have a lot of opportunity you are not using. You use of tunnels and track placement suggest you want to be in one place and see the whole layout.

The alternative is to make your San Juan mountains high enough (our use a low backdrop to split the scene in the peninsula. You then put the return route along the wall in a tunnel.

*********************

The real problem with the layout is in the grey area. I cannot conceive of a scenario where it makes sense. Perhaps if you had buildings and streets shown, I could get it.

But let's look at things one at a time.

1) You have multiple switch backs that destroy any chance of using any but the end of the line points for industries.

2) You have no place to store trains.

3) In order to make the mauevers you have to run way out on to the mainline track.

4) You need two switchback moves to get to your roundhouse when a straight shot would do.

5) You have a track that can only be accessed off the turntable. This stub is really long and crosses an inlet. Unless you have really small engines and really small cars, all that will go back there is an engine. If the engineer has a girlfriend at the end of the line that might be great, but without getting freight back there, there's no point to go. You can't even have engine service unless you can get coal, sand, water and spare parts back there. You would never take a broken car back there via a turntable.

The good news is all this is fixable.
Click to expand...

Chip,

Can you provide a "fixed" track plan?

Thanks,

-G-
 
OldGettysk said:
Looks like you have a well thought out plan ! Welcome to the forum BTW. I like Jim am a bit nervous about the amount of humidity in the basement . Do you get a lot of water in the sump ? Is any of your household sewage going into it ? Do you have enough ventilation ? Just a thought .
Click to expand...

No worries on the sump. It's always dry (no sewage ever :eek: ). We had it put in when the house was built as just a precaution. The basement is always a constant temp and humidity year round.

The first needs to get solved before construction. You'll need a pop-up in the left corner (as the operator is facing) to be able to get to that loop. Actually, almost everything from the middle of the layout to the loop looks like it's well past the normal 33" reach limit so you'll need to plan some way to get to those places.
Click to expand...

There will be access from under the layout. I had this same situation on my old N-scale layout. One end had a huge loop covered by hardshell mountains. The hollowed-out underside and 50" bench height allowed easy access.

Thanks for the replies and inputs.

-G-
 
I'm afraid that doesn't change my observations then. Remember that Furlow is a provessional artist. For him what is important is that things look cool. If you want to copy him, fine, but I believe you can get a great operating layout and still get the feel artistic of his layout.

Layout design has come a long way since his day. Don't get me wrong, I love Furlow's work. It's just that I like the track to make sense as well. For Furlow, that has never been a consideration.
 
Since the opinions weren't that favorable here's a revision to the plan.

I'm 99% satisfied with it..........

-G-
 
I think you've got a really good plan there. It makes good sense, as it captures the rickety, sparse feel of a narrow gauge line. Short trains, steep grades, clinging to the mountainside by the skin of their teeth... :)

Some people seem to think that a MRR has to be a spaghetti bowl of track with trains, trains, trains... which might be fine if you're modelling a class-I standard gauge line. But for narrow gauge line, you really want a sparse look... as little track as possible, with lots of scenery.

I like the small scenes you've got, with really good view blocks, and there seems to be 3 areas for operation, so it's not just going to be a 'roundy-round.

Looking forward to seeing your progress!
 
Looks like a challenging plan to build and operate. I agree with the track to scenery ratio. Narrow gauge should look like it blends with the scenery instead of punching its way through every canyon and mountain.
 
Thanks guys.

I like watching the trains run through the scenery as well as having some car drops/pick-ups.

I started construction on the new train room this afternoon. The journey has begun......

-G-
 
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