Spaghetti Bowl Layouts/Trackplans


B

beiland

Well-Known Member
In the past I have taken a fair bit of criticism about my latest layout construction being a classic 'spaghetti bowl' plan. Several months ago I was over at a train show near Deland FL, and I revisited the local club located there in one of the fairground's building. My thoughts were that it might also be described as a spaghetti bowl design. One of the older lady members told me that other folks had expressed the same thoughts,...but that was no problem for other members of the club. I took a number of photos that I will post a little later in this subject thread, ...and get other's opinions.

In the meantime I thought I might look up that term and its implications on this forum. Here is a much older subject thread I ran across that sounds very interesting. This is the first page of those discussions I was linked to with my search,... https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/18028?page=11

And this is the beginning of that subject thread,
Putting the magic back into the hobby?
This looks to be a very interesting subject thread I would enjoy reading soon.
 
John Armstrong's 'Central Midland' design

I had another spaghetti bowl layout early on,...one designed by John Armstrong,...so perhaps therein my interest developed
wink

( https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/31007 )

There are (were) other subject threads on this layout plan that were discussed on this forum, but a lot of it got deleted or archived sometime in the past.
 
What is it we as modelers try to do? I believe that most try to scrunch down 1:1 into a version of whatever their scale is. Guess what? There is no way you can do that exactly without having a *VERY* large basement and a couple of ATV's to get from one end to the other. Well, OK maybe Z scale. I can almost see to put cars on the rail in N scale, would not even try Z. If you can keep your spaghetti down to a few spots or areas, I think that you have done your job.

I try to think 'What would the prototype do' then figure out what ..um.. compression I need to accomplish that. Sure you end up with sidings and industries way to close to one and another and buildings with only the interesting parts. Guess we could call this compressed urban sprawl? Take a look at just about any layout - good, bad or ugly. Then think about how a 70ft tractor trailer is actually going to back into that dock or turn at a light? Or, why is that highway only 6ft wide with only cars fitting under bridges? Getting the eye candy that is not the actual RoW orientated is a pain. So you are left with trying to justify industry or whatever in that spaghetti. We have to compress everything; most of the time the RoW is what the owner wants and that is the driving factor. That being said - you probably can find real life instances with that compression and justify it, if you look long enough - right? For instance: since we can not do hundreds of miles as 1:1 we end up with a curvy thing and blobs to get to and from. I have two blobs. I happened to be doing some research on oil loading and found blobs in Portland, OR. Google using maps looking for where the Willamette and Columbia river meet. Also just NW of Vancouver, Wa is a great one with multiple industries; and there is one that is EMPTY sans the track going around.

Just keep in mind that it is YOUR railroad!
 
Last edited:
The more annoying part is when a fledging modeler wants his 4X8 plywood world on saw horses, spaghetti bowl to be part of a layout tour. Hook horn couplers, out of scale vehicles strewn across it, pile of laundry on the floor that ya have to step over, dim lighting and the host has to take care of several rug rats because he didn't coordinate with the mama and today is her Day out with the gals.
 
My Layout Plan Explained

I recall many suggestions that I begin with a list of Givens & Druthers. I did NOT do that in a written form, …..perhaps for several reasons:
1) I was looking around a various drawing/sketches that might strike a cord with me, and that I could fit into my space. I realized that some of these track plans might not have the structures/scenes I was sort of dreaming of.
2) I might end up making a list that was just not doable, and I would be disappointed in not being able to follow such a list.


I think I had a general idea of what I was after, but I keep it in my mind rather than on paper,...(might not be the best approach).

Basically I was interested in the interaction of the railroad with the industries they serve, so I wanted as many different industries I could get on my RR. I think I have been pretty successful at that goal. On my relatively small layout, 11x15, lower deck I have,..


1) Steel Mill Complex,.... including 3 big structures, blast furnace, electric furnace, and rolling mill
2) Diesel Eng Service bld
3) Freight Yard
4) Diesel Engine fueling and sanding complex with 2 tracks
5) Big Turntable & Roundhouse for big steam engines
6) Multiple Outdoor Track storage for steamers
7) Large Coaling Tower for those steamers
8) Baltimore City Backdrop in Corner (not shown yet)
9) Stone Arch Viaduct like one near Baltimore


10) Interlocking Tower and control of dbl-slip switch at entrance to Peninsula Industries
11) Switching/Yard Crews Shack
12) Balt Container unloading/loading yard
13) Car-Float Facility
14) Municipal Pier Sorting & Storage Building
15) Traveling Pier Crane Loader for small freighter ships
16) Barrel Factory, and perhaps another industry nearby
17) Railcar & Engine Repair Industry bld (up near viaduct bridge, not built yet)


18) More Viaduct Plus Bridge Structure
19) Power Plant (coal) , (with electrical distribution transformers)
20) Coke Production Plant
21) Several different small industries along inboard tracks on right side of layout, (likely small brewer and railway express office)
22) Likely industrial scenes or flats along that wall on the right.
23) Brick Factory with 3 kilns and stacks
24) Water Front loading scene for barged in material for brick factory,..and coal barges
25) Marvelous Waterfront Scene I purchased from an estate sale
26) Cement Storage/Distribution Plant in back corner.


And that's just the lower deck!! (wait and see what I have planned for the upper deck)


Fitting all of that on my relatively small layout plan was a chore, particularly as I tried to provide reasonable size curves and turnouts for actually train operations to reach those industries. I've also provided for a number of different type switchers (diesel, steam, and trackmobile) to move train cars around in those areas.

I decided long ago that I did NOT want to restrict myself to a certain time frame,...there are just too many interesting model trains to possible run,....So strictly prototypical is not for me.


I look upon model trains as scale miniatures that can actually be operated rather just put in a display cabinet. Some of our recent models are so detailed that likely the display cabinet is the safest place for them,....and they have gotten to be really expensive, so I think I will be content with reasonable good models that can be manhandled with ease.
 
Words have meaning. The word 'model' has a range in its meaning, and over time the range extends until the 'rubber band breaks' and it becomes two distinct terms. For me, if one is modeling, one is making at least a half-hearted attempt, or a serious one, to represent something real in scale. Real rails are not crammed or jammed unless they are in close proximity, and have a specific arrangement, to permit 'classification'. That is, making up and busting up long strings of cars for routing purposes. Everywhere else, rails are sparingly placed, and with good reason. To me, 'modeling' means faithfully replicating a scene (to the extent one's skills, including those of observation, permit).

I don't feel that a 'spaghetti bowl' arrangement of tracks is a model of anything. However, we all have limited space, so no matter what we do, we fudge it. Unless we are 100% 'correct' in our model of a length of trackage, any loop structure is a 'foobie' if for no other reason than the real rails don't have curves that tight. A main line doesn't do a turnback curve around a roundhouse, maybe a few places on earth, but essentially not.

However, we humans are good at improvisation. The better we are at something, the more experienced, the more skilled, and the more focused in our aims, the more we tend to improvise to achieve our aims. Isn't that what each of us does....eventually? We all have to 'settle' at some point to craft something we can enjoy. Every hobbyist, musician, artist, won't enjoy what any one of us crafts, but if the person crafting it does, that's all a hobby should promise.
 
Transcontinental Theme

I knew I only had just so much space in my train shed, and like my previous Central Midland layout I wanted maximum number of industries included. My thoughts were that heavy industrial areas had rather a lot of tracks in them. So I would have one rather heavy industrial area on my lower deck, then another on my upper deck. The rather long track in the helix would represent the distance across the country from the west coast (California) to the east coast (Balt).

This transcontinental theme resulted from my desire to have considerable rolling stock (and engines) from Santa Fe and B&O, C&O. That thought had first surfaced back on my Central Midland layout and just fell right over into my new layout. I had also become aware of the significant amount of containerized traffic that carried Asian goods across the country prior to any expansion of the Panama canal. So that became one of my primary themes, getting container trains from their west coast port to an east coast port.

As I played around trying to modify some existing double deck track plans, Dave Husman was MOST helpful in helping me define my loops, etc.

From that point I had to try and fit the industries, (scenes I called them) into my plans. I played the old time game of 'musical chairs' with a number of these scenes. For instance I think the steel mill complex moved around to at least 3-4 different spots. the turntable/roundhouse scene moved at least twice, maybe 3 times. I was trying to keep adjoining industries at least somewhat plausible, but more importantly I wanted a number of these industries to be able to handle 'rail operations'. One item that was a real puzzler was were was I going to put the wonderful waterfront scene I had purchased from an estate sale long ago,...not only where would it fit, but also without cutting into smaller pieces.

I had plenty of Peco turnouts that I had collected up, and initially I was laying out the SMall radius ones to get the most compact trackage. But as things went along I found i could substitute Med radius turnouts, and in some case LG radius ones. Then I also decided that certain portions of those compact industrial areas were going to be off-limits to bigger engines,...just like the prototypes.

One of the most helpful 'tools' in my efforts was the 'full size paper templates' I employed. It really helped with track planning and fitting things in. Perhaps had I been more computer knowledgeable with plan programs this could have been done differently. But I really enjoyed the full time sketching out the track planning. It was like playing with a full size puzzle.
https://modelrailroadforums.com/for...per-templates-of-trackplan.30958/#post-446791
 
Not all of us have the amount of room shown in many model railroading layouts. A scale mile of HO scale comes out to just under sixty-one feet. Compress that into a bedroom-sized room, and if the modeler wants continuous running, and you are going to have the beginnings of a spaghetti bowl. If there are structures, industries and scenery that the modeler wants to include, along with the spurs, sidings, team tracks, etc., you have the makings of same. However, if the layout is planned somewhat carefully, the result can be tasteful and FUN! In my own case, I have some buildings and other features that I built as a teenager...back before "The Merger" (when dinosaurs roamed the Earth), that I wanted to include, including a scratchbuilt Oscar Meyer meatpacking plant made out of balsa wood, with the "bricks" handscribed in the wood with a #2 pencil. It has its own spur track with cattle pens adjacent and an ice platform next to it for the metal reefers I also built as a kid. The classification yard is next to it. The whole thing is inside the mainline turnback loop. Spaghetti? I guess so. But I can run my 8-car plus E-5A/B around the layout. So grab a fork for the pasta!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.



Back
Top