New Layout

[choops]

Hello All
I am a new member here. We are buying a new house with a finished basement. I have claimed my space.
I model mostly up. Have a good collection of turbines.
Here is the start of the layout in the new home.
Any recommendations are appreciated.
Steve

 

[402drvr]

Looks like an interesting start. Are you looking at adding industries along the way? Is that a partition for a backdrop in the upper section?

 

[weekendrailroader]

Dude, that looks like a fun one!!! Big yard, wide curves, plenty of mainline running for long trains, and the train is hidden for a portion of the run by dividers. I say you've got an excellent design!!

 

[steinjr]

Looks like a great start. Aisles are sensible, wide curves (for H0 scale, even better if N scale), long double track run through scenery for those turbines, yard tracks seems sensible.

You might possibly want to add some crossovers between the double track mains, to increase flexibility for operations (and have the option of creating more complexity by having a section in effect being single trackby declaring part of one main out of commission temporarily, or leaving a broken down train there or something).

Also - at the bottom of the stairs, lower right - you might want to make benchwork at the end of the U here wider, and put in a viewblock between the tracks there there so you are not looking down the aisle from the bottom of the stairs, or looking out at the stairs from inside the lower U.

But it already looks great. Add scenery, and this will be a killer place to watch those turbines stretch their legs pulling longer trains.

Smile,
Stein

 

[manthanboeing]

Waht an AWESOME layout!!!!!!!!!!
What scale is it?

 

[steinjr]

Waht an AWESOME layout!!!!!!!!!!
What scale is it?

Judged by curve radii (30" for inner track and 32.5" for outer) and distance between tracks (2.5") it is highly likely that it is H0 scale.

Curves of that radius will in H0 scale be great looking (5x to 4x) for 40-50 foot cars (40' cars should be able to couple automatically without you having to adjust the couplers on 30-32" curves), and functional (3x - 2.5x) for 70-80' cars - ie up towards passenger car lengths.

Of course, except for the track spacing, one could have used as wide (30" radius) curves for N scale, making the curves extremely good looking. But people seldom use that wide curves for N scale.

Smile,
Stein

 

[CBCNSfan]

In a few words "I like it" will have to get back later and study it a bit, a modified version might be adaptable to my area

Cheers
Willis

 

[Doughless]

Looks good to me! Don't suppose you'll be doing much switching with the turbines anyway. I'm no yard designer, but I don't see anything that would cause major problems.

My personal preference would be wider aisles between the peninsulas. If you shortened the top one by a few feet, you could adjust the other.

 

[choops]

Wow Thanks for the replies.
The scale is HO. There will be 4 towns added one to each side the two peninsulas. Crossovers will be added also. I did not get that far yet.
This will be my fourth layout but the first in this new home. I have much more space now. Lessons I have learned in the past: large radii, no duck-unders, minimal track hidden under other track, and wide isles.
There is still room to expand and add a staging yard but that will have to be a future addition.

Steve

 

[choops]

I have been working on the design.

Made the layout slightly smaller near the stairs.

Added elevations and had to rearrange the top section to reduce grades. less than 1.5% now

I removed some runaround tracks at the two towns and used the double main for this purpose.

I found this article on yard design and redesigned the yard. It is a good read. http://www.housatonicrr.com/yard_des.html

Still need to add the towns to the last section.

Comments appreciated.
Steve