My new layout
- Thread starter JoeG
- Start date
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There's nothing wrong with the track plan but it's heavy on yard and roundhouse operations and very little else. The train will do an out and back from the yard and that's about it. What else does your railroad do? Are there any industries that need rail service? Towns or cities with passenger stations and factories? You'll get bored with this plan quickly. It makes it a lot more fun if you have to make up trains in the yard to service the businesses along the line and bring back loads and empties to the yard for classification. It also makes it a lot more interesting if you have an interchance track with another railroad so the cars have a place to go and come from.
My intentions were to have the round house area be the industrial area. The inside loop area will be a main street town area. I want to have at least one passanger train and one idustry train. I can move the inner loop and outer loop away from eachother near where they connect and put in a passenger platform. My reasoning for connecting the inner loop and outer loop was to get the people from the town to the industry. I wanted three lines to place cars that were not in use, whether it be passenger cars of indutrial use cars.
OK, if the roundhouse area is going to be the industrial area, are all the industries going to be served by trucks? They would have to be now, since you have no industrial spurs. As for that inner loop, do you really need it? You can have just the outside loop with a passing siding on each long side of the main and still run two trains. Having trains meet and then pass makes operations more interesting to run rather than sit there and watch your trains go around circles.
Since the center area is where you are planning your town, it makes sense that you'd also have some industry there too. Things like grain elevators are commonly located in or close to small towns. This is another railroad served industry that will give you some switching opportunities.
If you think of you layout as a real railroad, what kind of work does it do? No railroad survives without an outside connection to get more freight from and deliver on-line freight to. An interchange track running along the top of the layout gives you a place to pick up and spot cars for your outside connection. It doesn't have to be a track that goes anywhere, just a mainline with a siding that connects to your railroad. The yard would normally be used to classify and store cars to and from the interchange track.
If you haven't done so, read the beginner's guide at http://www.chipengelmann.com/trains/Beginner/BeginnersGuide01.html. It's an easy, five minute read but it will give you some things to think about when it come to why you're building a layout.
Since the center area is where you are planning your town, it makes sense that you'd also have some industry there too. Things like grain elevators are commonly located in or close to small towns. This is another railroad served industry that will give you some switching opportunities.
If you think of you layout as a real railroad, what kind of work does it do? No railroad survives without an outside connection to get more freight from and deliver on-line freight to. An interchange track running along the top of the layout gives you a place to pick up and spot cars for your outside connection. It doesn't have to be a track that goes anywhere, just a mainline with a siding that connects to your railroad. The yard would normally be used to classify and store cars to and from the interchange track.
If you haven't done so, read the beginner's guide at http://www.chipengelmann.com/trains/Beginner/BeginnersGuide01.html. It's an easy, five minute read but it will give you some things to think about when it come to why you're building a layout.
Very much better, Joe. 
You'll be surprised how much fun having an interchange track adds to your layout. I don't know if you're modeling a prototype or freelance but you can move your passenger station up to the interchange track so it can serve both railroads. You can have your passenger train meet the other road's train to exchange passengers and LCL freight.
Deleting that inner loop gets rid of a lot of complexity and really opens up that inside space. Your passing siding is nice and long so you should be able to arrange schedules so your hot passenger or freight train can meet the local with plenty of room. Speaking of locals, that passing siding is a perfect place to run a line out to some industrial spurs so your local can be doing some switching while your other train runs on the main. Looks like you've got more than enough room for a small town and some countryside too.
I don't know if you've thought about power yet but I hope you're giving serious consideration to DCC. Having two trains meet and pass one another with DCC is a matter of pressing a few keys on your controller. Doing this with DC means lots of wires, toggle switches, and a control panel. It also easy to run two or three trains at once without having a bunch of power packs and blocks. I've built lots of DC layouts in the past and would never be without DCC now.
You'll be surprised how much fun having an interchange track adds to your layout. I don't know if you're modeling a prototype or freelance but you can move your passenger station up to the interchange track so it can serve both railroads. You can have your passenger train meet the other road's train to exchange passengers and LCL freight. Deleting that inner loop gets rid of a lot of complexity and really opens up that inside space. Your passing siding is nice and long so you should be able to arrange schedules so your hot passenger or freight train can meet the local with plenty of room. Speaking of locals, that passing siding is a perfect place to run a line out to some industrial spurs so your local can be doing some switching while your other train runs on the main. Looks like you've got more than enough room for a small town and some countryside too.
I don't know if you've thought about power yet but I hope you're giving serious consideration to DCC. Having two trains meet and pass one another with DCC is a matter of pressing a few keys on your controller. Doing this with DC means lots of wires, toggle switches, and a control panel. It also easy to run two or three trains at once without having a bunch of power packs and blocks. I've built lots of DC layouts in the past and would never be without DCC now.
I was thinking of DCC Im just looking for a power pack that will do a good amout of fuction and be in the mid 100's.
This is just a freelance model, I;m going to make the town like the one I lie in it's an old western town with some old industry in a modern wold.
I think I might run a spur off the bottom of the interchange.
This is just a freelance model, I;m going to make the town like the one I lie in it's an old western town with some old industry in a modern wold.
I think I might run a spur off the bottom of the interchange.
Joe, you can get a Digitrax Zephyr control station for less than $150, about what you'd have to pay for two decent DC power packs that you'd need to run two trains at the same time. I'd really advise against a spur to serve your industries off the interchange track. You will end up blocking the mainline and other railroads don't like that. A spur coming off the passing siding with several spurs then coming off the main spur will give you more industry sidings and you can switch all day long and not block the main.
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