I started to make a full scale drawing of my track work now that the benchwork is up, the foam is cut, trimmed and glued down. I have a track plan drawn to a much smaller scale. I tacked down white poster board on the layout, thinking to draw the track plan at full scale. I made a trammel with two pencils jammed into it, so it will mark the inside and t he outside of the curved track in one swoop.
Then I started thinking. The layout is an around the walls job. The main line is a loop, and to save space and permit guests to use the guest room, the bench work is only 6 inches wide on two walls. The original plan was a single track loop. But looking at the situation carefully, I could fit a a second track onto the benchwork. My first thought was to add some long passing sidings that could serve as staging tracks.
Then more extra credit, I could double track the main all around the layout. This would permit two trains to circle the layout in opposite directions, for those times I just want to be a railfan watching the trains do their thing. With a single track, you have to actually pay attention and operate the layout to get a second train to run. A stimulating challenge? Or a PITA in the long run? So that gets me up the 5 o'clock and Miller time. We shall see what thoughts the morning brings.
Any feedback from out there in the great wide spaces of the Internet will be read carefully.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
What scale are you in and try the Miller Lite.
The second track could definately provide some serial staging space and with a few crossovers it could have some flexibility. But let's see:
6" wide shelf. First track centerline 2" from wall. Second track centerline 4" from wall. That leaves only two inches from the second track centerline to the edge of the shelf. (HO scale assumed)
My concern would be - what happens if I get a "tip-over" on the outer track? Your train is definately going over the edge. You could line the edge of the shelf with a clear pelxiglass guard. Just a few inches high would be all you need.
What radii are you planning for the corners?
Good Luck,-John
I am very strongly biased towards double track main lines, where trains mainly run only one direction on each track, usually the right-hand track. Most of the main lines where I grew up were like that. Then the RRs started pulling up the second tracks in many areas. Now, with increased traffic, many of them are rebuilding those second tracks at great expense. The reason for my bias is safety - positive separation of opposing traffic.
Accordingly, my model RR is a double track main line oval, with crossovers and a reversing loop. I also plan a passing siding off the outside loop and a couple of small yards off the inside loop.
I'm not saying I will never run a train the wrong way (on the left hand track), but it will be only to make a transition of some kind, such as to use the reversing loop or get to the yards.
Single Track with a couple of passing sidings.
With just one train running, guests would see your layout and not just the trains. You would also have more room to put in some industries and switching oportunities. One of my layouts was a six inch shelf around the room. In one section I dropped the shellf down about six inches or so for about a foot and put a bridge across it. You could also do the same thing by using foam blocks to build up a mountain with a tunnel or cut. The part of the mountain facing the isle could just be flat and covered with a facia sheet and painted the same color as your other facia, if you have one.
Just because you only have six inches of width doesn't limit your scenery and industries all that much. It will make you more creative if you can figure out how to use such a narrow space. Work on a good backdrop using photos or drawings from on-line sources that you can print out. Build building flats for industries. Model small things as well, such as a section house with tracks for a speeder. You can still put in the appearance of a road or two with a grade crossing.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
Texas Zepher wrote:Both. Make a double track main line. Put crossovers to make where the passing sidings would have been on a single track main line. That way it can be operated either way.
Just what I was thinking.
I did that and in a section where the main line went into a mountain, I had it cross as it came out so that even though it looks like a double main line for 80% of the layout, it really takes twice around to cover the entire mainline.. Crossovers exist also in case I want to run on just one track of switch between track sin another area.
Engineer Jeff NS Nut Visit my layout at: http://www.thebinks.com/trains/
From the far, far reaches of the wild, wild west I am: rtpoteet
If your shelfwork is only 6" wide in a few spots because of space consideration, you can still model a double track line. But I would go for 12" or 16" as much as possible - if nothing else it allows you to have the mainline going at a slight zig-zag rather than parallel to the benchwork edge all the time.
One advantage of double track is, if you operate alone a lot, you can have say a passenger train running on one main while you work industries with a way freight on the other, and the passenger train won't interfere with your train.
Modeling the N&W freelanced at the height of their steam era in HO.
Daniel G.
Hi!
My present HO 11x15 layout is a single track main. The layout is 15 years old and I kick myself for not putting in a double track main to start with. Preliminary plans have begun for the rebuild (probably my final layout as I am 63) and a double track main with crossovers are a must. One thing to consider is that you don't have to have the double track be parallel all around the layout. You could have one line divert around obstacles (mountain, river, etc) and rejoin each other on the other side. A lot of this occurs with the prototype western RRs.
Enjoy,
Mobilman44
ENJOY !
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
Stop for a minute and think about how you want to run your railroad. If your goal is to have lots of action and trains running merrily about, then double track is your answer. I'll agree with the notion that 6" ain't going to cut it, though. Remember, if you're talking about a full double track loop, you'll actually have four tracks shoulder to shoulder where they run along the wall.
You could, however, do a "folded dog bone" where you have what is essentially a single track oval, but it's pinched in the middle to give the appearance of a double track main. Depending on the length of your overall run, you can still run two trains at the same time, just space them so they aren't running into each other. This is best accomplished with DCC, where you can control the speed of each train independently without worrying about block control.
I've done this design in the past, and used the loop areas to add staging tracks.
If you're thinking about prototypical ops, then consider the single track with passing sidings. This makes things a bit more interesting as you have to work out meets at the sidings, and set up a sequence of how the trains will emerge from staging and traverse the layout.
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
Actually Horseshoe is considered double tracked with a "controlled siding". During PRR days the line was four tracks (hence the Broad Way) with the outer tracks being the passenger mains, and the inner tracks the freight mains. During the late 1980's, Conrail eliminated the eastbound freight main, or Track 3, leaving a gap between tracks 2 and 4.
This view is at Cassandra, PA, several miles west of the Curve, looking east. The train is on what was the westbound passenger track, now the westbound main.