Planning track layout

[oplholik]

And I thought this would be easy! Off and on for the past few weeks I've been trying to figure out a layout to do. But the ideas I have in my head run out of room on the board. Doing N scale on a 46" X 80" area and trying to figure out how to go enough bigger to do some good ain't easy. Seems I can't have a long freight, desert scenes, mountainous, scenes and an intermodal yard in the space I have. I think I need at least a 6' X 10' board and there isn't room. I guess I have to learn to think small.

Paul

 

[UP2CSX]

Paul, maybe it's time to stop thinking terms of boards and think about space. How much wall space do you have available? Can you run a shelf around all or most of the room? If so, measure that and see how much run you have. I'll bet it's a lot more than any board. If you make a shelf that's 24" wide, you can pack of lot of N scale railroad in there. It's perfect for long mainline runs and things like intermodal yards. The other big advantage is you can reach everything. The average reach is only 33". On a 6'x10' bosrd, you will need at least pop-ups to be able to reach the interior of the layout. Take a look at http://home.earthlink.net/~bhender730/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/smv_2_4.jpg for an idea of a large N scale shelf layout in an 18'x20' foot room.

 

[Selector]

In addition to Jim's suggestions, an excellent book to beg, borrow, or steal, is the late John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation. He talks about the important elements that most layouts have in them and how to fit them into a schematic of squares. You break your space down into squares and figure out how much curvature you'll need, what turnouts, and so on, to get all the track you want. At some point you realize you can't shoehorn all of what you want into a given space. You'll have to give on something.

-Crandell

 

[oplholik]

In addition to Jim's suggestions, an excellent book to beg, borrow, or steal, is the late John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation. He talks about the important elements that most layouts have in them and how to fit them into a schematic of squares. You break your space down into squares and figure out how much curvature you'll need, what turnouts, and so on, to get all the track you want. At some point you realize you can't shoehorn all of what you want into a given space. You'll have to give on something.

-Crandell

Hmm, I see this book at Amazon. Might be worth getting that. Thanks.

Paul

 

[oplholik]

Paul, maybe it's time to stop thinking terms of boards and think about space. How much wall space do you have available? Can you run a shelf around all or most of the room? If so, measure that and see how much run you have. I'll bet it's a lot more than any board. If you make a shelf that's 24" wide, you can pack of lot of N scale railroad in there. It's perfect for long mainline runs and things like intermodal yards. The other big advantage is you can reach everything. The average reach is only 33". On a 6'x10' bosrd, you will need at least pop-ups to be able to reach the interior of the layout. Take a look at http://home.earthlink.net/~bhender730/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/smv_2_4.jpg for an idea of a large N scale shelf layout in an 18'x20' foot room.

The train board is in a 10X10 spare bedroom with a day bed on one wall, guitars hung on one wall, they could come down, windows on one wall, and closet on the last wall. If it weren't for the day bed, I could get 2 walls. The day bed has to stay, so I'm pretty much stuck with what I have.

Paul

 

[UP2CSX]

Paul, don't give up yet. The wall with the windows and the wall with the guitars, assuming they abut one another, will allow you to make an L shaped shelf layout. With N scale, you only need about 30" x 30" blobs on each end to make smoe nice curve to give you continuous running. The shelves themselves can be as narrow as 12" and still give you plenty of room for scenery. With a 10x10 room, any layout on a board is going to end up taking up almost all the useable space.

 

[dgwinup]

Hi, Paul.

Don't give up on your layout plans. Every new modeler wants everything in the world on his layout but soon learns the real meaning of compromise!

How high do you want your layout to sit? I ask because I have a similar situation with a desk and computer in my spare bedroom/train room. Windows on two walls, closet and entry on a third wall. My solution is to build the layout above the level of the computer monitor, placing the lowest edge of the layout about 44" off the floor. That means the tracks will be about 48-52" off the floor, a perfect height for me. Doing it at that height, I can easily run around three walls. I even have plans that are completely around the room with planned swing gate/liftout sections.

You said your room is 10x10. Will Annand built his layout in a 10x10 room. Take a look at what he has done:

http://www.muskokacomputes.com/CVR-Home.html

Impressive, yes? So don't get caught up in thinking that you can't do something. And don't fall into the trap that a layout has to be a certain size or done a certain way. Creativity is the driving force behind many a layout!

Additionally, UP2CSX is correct that even a small stand-alone layout will take up most of the space in the room. Going around the walls takes up less space and allows for more railroading. Your proposed 46"x80" layout, sitting in the middle of the room, will require a MINIMUM of 96"x120", allowing for 24" aisles on two sides and only 22" aisles on the ends. That 25.5 sq. ft. layout will utilize a whopping 82 2/3 sq. ft. in a 100 sq. ft. room! Not much room for anything else!

Now put an 18" wide shelf around the room. You now have twice as much layout (about 50 sq. ft.), but the center of the room is open and can be easily used. Raise the shelf to give good clearance for the day bed and you've got yourself a great layout room AND a spare bedroom! You'll need lift out sections for the entry and closet doors, unless you want to duck under the layout to get to the middle.

UP2CSX also suggested using turn-arounds on the ends of an "L" shaped layout. That's also a good idea. The turn-arounds can be as narrow as 24" which allows plenty of space for other activities in the room.

So there's several ways of getting yourself the layout that you want. Don't be afraid to experiment with different ideas!

Hope this helps.

Darrell, quiet...for now

 

[oplholik]

Hi, Paul.

Don't give up on your layout plans. Every new modeler wants everything in the world on his layout but soon learns the real meaning of compromise!


You said your room is 10x10. Will Annand built his layout in a 10x10 room. Take a look at what he has done:

http://www.muskokacomputes.com/CVR-Home.html

Impressive, yes? So don't get caught up in thinking that you can't do something. And don't fall into the trap that a layout has to be a certain size or done a certain way. Creativity is the driving force behind many a layout!


Now put an 18" wide shelf around the room. You now have twice as much layout (about 50 sq. ft.), but the center of the room is open and can be easily used. Raise the shelf to give good clearance for the day bed and you've got yourself a great layout room AND a spare bedroom! You'll need lift out sections for the entry and closet doors, unless you want to duck under the layout to get to the middle.

UP2CSX also suggested using turn-arounds on the ends of an "L" shaped layout. That's also a good idea. The turn-arounds can be as narrow as 24" which allows plenty of space for other activities in the room.

So there's several ways of getting yourself the layout that you want. Don't be afraid to experiment with different ideas!

Hope this helps.

Darrell, quiet...for now

Did some snipping to shorten the post a little. I came up with this while thinking and playing around with the Xtrkcad. Something like this could work. 11" radius, any inside would have to be 9 3/4" radius. Maybe I could get a intermodal yard in the large end.

Paul

 

[UP2CSX]

Looks like the beginnings of a good plan to me. The issue is those 9 3/4" curves. Those are pretty sharp if you want to do intermodal traffic. They would be fine for most trains with cars with a scale length of 60' or less. How important is an intermodal yard to you?

 

[oplholik]

Looks like the beginnings of a good plan to me. The issue is those 9 3/4" curves. Those are pretty sharp if you want to do intermodal traffic. They would be fine for most trains with cars with a scale length of 60' or less. How important is an intermodal yard to you?

The yard is just one of the ideas I've been thinking about. Really don't have a definite way I want to go yet. Can't get my mind set on one thing just yet.

Paul

 

[dgwinup]

The yard is just one of the ideas I've been thinking about. Really don't have a definite way I want to go yet. Can't get my mind set on one thing just yet.

Paul

Well, Paul, that could be part of the problem! LOL

There are soooooo many things that can be modeled, it's impossible to include them all. And that becomes a problem for many modelers: deciding what to model!

Here's a link to questions that help define what you want:

http://www.layoutvision.com/id13.html

Here are the questions I used when I started planning my Dream Layout:

How much space do you have available?
What scale are you modeling in?
What prototype (if any) are you following?
What time frame are you recreating?
What sort of equipment will you be running?
What construction techniques will you be using?
What do you want to do with the trains?
What types of scenery do you want?
What's on your 'wish list'?

Answers to these, and other, questions will help define what it is you want in a model railroad. Once you have some definition, you can begin to make a plan that meets as many goals as possible. The final result is more likely to achieve your model railroad vision.

Post your thoughts on the forum for feedback. Feedback is a most valuable tool in the layout planning process! It's best to have more than one brain working on possible solutions.

Good luck. Post your progress!

Darrell, quiet...for now