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    New around the walls layout

    Yes, that's the gist of it. The details can be worked out from here. Thanks for putting up with my long winded posts. Ha....just noticed something...in a way, all we've done is to take your first plan and flipped the yard to the opposite curve and replaced the bridge with a scrapyard. Took a...
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    New around the walls layout

    No problem, I enjoy it. What I don't want is for you to design a layout to accommodate my goals, but to accommodate yours. I don't want to lead you down a wrong path. My suggestion was predicated upon finding you longer, straighter, yard tracks and arranging the interchange to point the...
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    New around the walls layout

    Not that you want more suggestions here, but for others who may be interested... Remove the inside building that's angled at the NW and used its spur as the interchange track. Flip the yard tracks so they face west, starting the yard with one curved LH turnout ( a Walthers 7.5 w/b best). Use...
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    whats your main industry

    Turkey feed mill. A Walthers ADM grain elevator with a scratch built processing plant added on. Simple Plastruct styrene with a few small windows. It receives the big 7 car train of soybean meal every other day. Outbound is by truck only. The rest are estimates: Gravel and cement...
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    Black Spray Paint

    I can guarantee, I have stripped factory paint jobs on Atlas, Proto, and Athearn locos that were much thicker and hid more detail than their new Krylon paint jobs. I only use flat and satin. After hitting with dullcote, the finish ends up the same. Gloss paints spray too thickly...
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    New around the walls layout

    You've been hit with some ideas and you have a nice plan going. I would advise you to settle upon a operating theme and visually run some trains to see how things flow before you try many more options. If you haven't read any publications on layout ops, it might be a good time to do so, in...
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    New around the walls layout

    You're getting into ops ideas that only you can formulate, based upon what you want the layout to do. I'm no yard expert by any means, but I would think that if you have a separate switcher to handle yard ops, the layout would have more spurs and yard tracks than what you have indicated so far...
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    New around the walls layout

    Yes. That is the idea.
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    New around the walls layout

    You're welcome. Yes, the shorter E section might not be ideal for the yard, and your yard may not be quite as nice as you have now, but I think the relocation would be worth it. And looking at the W wall, I see 2 facing spurs when the train is delivering cars from the interchange. I like...
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    New around the walls layout

    Looks good. Can't say I see any major problems with it. You might want to lengthen the interchange track and its siding to make it even more useful. Another thought: You might get more main line run if you changed positions of the bridge section and the yard section. Operations could run...
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    Back from the drawing board

    Yippie! That's the way to do it. That approach also applies to the number and the length of spurs and runarounds you need. You don't want to make a four car runaround for a five car train. And to save as much space as possible on a 4X8, you don't want to make a five car runaround for a four...
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    They say to start small.

    Just a thought....If you would like staging, the 4.5 ft wide section would be the ideal spot for it. Your scenicked layout could be 2 ft wide all the way around and you could hide staging tracks behind a backdrop that runs the middle of the 4.5 ft wide table, giving you plenty of room for...
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    Black Spray Paint

    I really like the Krylon products too, either regular or fusion. I think all other rattle cans, including the model hobby brands, are inferior. Warm the can under hot water for a few minutes to make the paint flow even finer for a thinner finish.
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    dogbone or around wall style

    Devin, That layout was January 2012. I also think it is an excellent layout and track plan. OP: I have a dogbone and the turnback loops eat space and require special construction for proper access to track. I would prefer an oval.
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    Layout "theory"

    If you don't like the dogbone layout, then having an oval shape is well worth the duckunder. When building the benchwork, leave the duckunder for the last part or you'll be ducking under during construction. If you want to run point to point most of the time, the drop in, swing gate, draw...
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    They say to start small.

    My advice is to decide upon what type of layout you want, with the realization that only so much can fit into a 10x10 space. If you try to fit a multi-train, class I mainline operations-based layout into a 10 x10 space, you will be disappointed in the final product and may get discouraged...
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    Back from the drawing board

    Hmmm....so you're moving from a 1/2 logging 1/2 industrial layout to a small town granger theme? Sound design concepts for operating your layout apply to each, but achieving realism is not as easy with the granger on a 5 x 9. On a 4x8 or a 5x9 loop layout, the sharp curves dominate the...
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    Help me choose a yard layout

    I would replace the curved yard with a two or three straight-track yard along the bottom. The curved yard won't work well, as others have mentioned. Since the NE corner of the layout would be liberated from a non functional yard, I would extend the loops all way to the NE and adjust the...
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    My New CB&CNS Help Wanted

    Thanks Rico. Yes. I think sometimes when we think of a lift out or swing gate, we automatically think it is going to be in place the vast majority of the time, needing to always be removed whenever we enter or exit the layout. That may be unavoidable on some layouts. But if modeler's want a...
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    My New CB&CNS Help Wanted

    What percentage of the time will you run point to point and how often will you want continuous run? It makes a difference, if you follow me here: To make that benchwork continuous running, you'll have the track double backing on itself often, unless you're comfortable using reversing loops...




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