In my enthusiasm to "just do it" I have pretty much jumped the gun and worked myself into a pickle. I had been thinking of track plans for my L shaped HO scale layout for quite some time but I had a weekend to work on it and in my haste just sort of half planned my approach figuring it would all work it's self out. Well one change in plan lead to another and now I think I need to rip the whole thing apart again and undo about 2 days worth of work.
He's my deal, I have 2 4x8 table tops I want to use in a L configuration in the corner of my garage. The benchwork has been sitting for over a year so I figured I better get going. On one of the tabletops I glued down 2 inches of pink foam. Then, on top of that I started adding layers of foam strategically so I could have 2 levels. I wanted to create a high outer loop going counter clockwise with a low inner loop going clockwise but somehow tie them together so you could choose to circulate the trains on the upper of lower loops.
Well, needless to say, I think I should have just stuck with a flat layout. Given the amount of room the HO takes up my grades are too steep and at least one of my turns is too tight and basically goes nowhere now as I can figure out a good way to connect it and complete the circuit.
I am going to be totally humble here and admit I am somewhat lost and need help cause I am developing a new appreciation for the thought and effort that goes into making even a small layout. I am going with a whole new track plan from scratch. Any L shape HO suggestions please? I would like something of a medium complexity that isn't too hard to maintain.
The other issues is I will try to construct the whole layout using flex track but find it might be a little difficult to maintain the shape on this pink foam. My basic thoughts are to just rip up everything but the 2 inch flat foam base and glue all my straights in place. Then once those are dry and are stable start adding the curves using the anchored straights to help the curves hold there shapes. After that I figured I would just form the roadbed my digging away at foam the around the tracks.
I'll post pics when I get a chance.
He's my deal, I have 2 4x8 table tops I want to use in a L configuration in the corner of my garage. The benchwork has been sitting for over a year so I figured I better get going. On one of the tabletops I glued down 2 inches of pink foam. Then, on top of that I started adding layers of foam strategically so I could have 2 levels. I wanted to create a high outer loop going counter clockwise with a low inner loop going clockwise but somehow tie them together so you could choose to circulate the trains on the upper of lower loops.
Well, needless to say, I think I should have just stuck with a flat layout. Given the amount of room the HO takes up my grades are too steep and at least one of my turns is too tight and basically goes nowhere now as I can figure out a good way to connect it and complete the circuit.
I am going to be totally humble here and admit I am somewhat lost and need help cause I am developing a new appreciation for the thought and effort that goes into making even a small layout. I am going with a whole new track plan from scratch. Any L shape HO suggestions please? I would like something of a medium complexity that isn't too hard to maintain.
The other issues is I will try to construct the whole layout using flex track but find it might be a little difficult to maintain the shape on this pink foam. My basic thoughts are to just rip up everything but the 2 inch flat foam base and glue all my straights in place. Then once those are dry and are stable start adding the curves using the anchored straights to help the curves hold there shapes. After that I figured I would just form the roadbed my digging away at foam the around the tracks.
I'll post pics when I get a chance.
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