Hello all. I am building my first layout, an 'L' shaped along the wall 'N' scale layout. I would like to add a staging area on a second level and was wondering if there were other ways of creating a staging area without having to use a Helix.
Various past issues of Model Railroad Planning magazine have delved into the helix alternatives. Among the variables to be pondered are such issues as just how much clearance (i.e. how much access) you want or need to that lower level staging? It is possible to have a track heading for staging that goes behind a backdrop and then heads down grade to lower level staging. The grade could be steep but since it is hidden you don't have to make it look like a "realistic" or probable grade on the prototyope -- all you have to kniow is, can your equipment handle it (both in terms of adhesion of the locomotives, and the continued coupling of the cars together).
So when i say the track goes behind a backdrop, I am talking about a backdrop that is not flat against the wall, but one that has space between the backdrop and the wall.
Now, having said that, some guys put their entire staging yard behind that backdrop on the same level as the rest of the layout. That is they do not bother with a lower level, which has complications of lighting, access, wiring, track cleaning, not to mention the grades that are needed to rejoin the layout. In short there may be hidden staging options available to you without having to consider a lower level.
And to repeat, over the years Model Railroad Planning has discussed these various options in greater detail. I have a complete set and I see that Kalmbach has put them together on a DVD.
Dave Nelson
As noted, staging need not be on a lower level. But if you'd like to do that, a long graded "ramp" is another way to create two tiers of benchwork. Because of N scale radii, this can be a long horseshoe curve that descends to staging. (John Armstong called such a grade through a horseshoe curve a "Nolix", but that word has since been used for other non-helix grade solutions.)
More information on the size of your layout, concept or theme, era, desired length of trains, room arrangement, etc would help others help you.
A helix is a non-trivial construction project that might not be ideal for a first-time layout builder.
For designing your own layout, an excellent reference is John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation.
Best of luck.
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
Hi!
I've done two layouts with lower level staging areas - both HO. Having no room for a helix, I used a 2 percent grade that ran around the outside of the layout until it went beneath the main level.
I have never built a helix, but I think its fairly obvious that it truly does take up room and does require some definite skill-sets to do it right, and would be considerably more difficult than a ramp like grade.
Having said that, helixes are just sooooo cool, especially the double track one which I saw at a train show.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
When I started on my current Santa Fe in Oklahoma back in 1983, I chose to build a 2 deck layout (HO) in a space 36ft by 30ft, and I used a modified helix to connect the decks. By modified I mean It was not a perfect circle in layers, but instead looped around against the wall (with access built in) and also had a short helix loop to connect the two decks. Hard to describe, but it works fine to this day. I can access it by coming up under and inside the layout.
A few years later, I wanted to add a third level, this time under the existing layout, so I went with a long double main line coming off the middle loop and running around the walls to a new location which included staging tracks as part of it. Easy to do, hard to explain. At the time I built the double main off the lower(middle) level, I took two weeks vacation, my wife bought me a hard hat and served lunch and I built the entire lower level. To put it in perspective, the top deck is Oklahoma City with Flynn yard modeled and the main running to Guthrie, where the main continued into staging, and the Enid district started at Guthrie and headed for the helix. Enid was (is) the major place on the now middle deck along with connections to Frisco (BN) and RI (UP). The bottom deck is the line from Enid to Kiowa and Waynoka (staging). Sounds complicated, but works well for me, maintenance is fairly easy and is still in operation in 2013. The layout is divided into 3 power districts (NCE-DCC).
So the answer is, yes I have a modified helix, but use other ways to move from deck to deck also. I am now 76 years old, and sometimes, as I crawl under and into the layout for some reason, wonder why I did it, but still get around very well so no problem.
Bob
LION has a 16' long table edge which is against the west window. It is actually two helix, the top two levels gain altitude to the upper level of my three level layout, while the lower two decks descend to the lower level. So while it *is* a helix, it really is just four long ramps. The decks on my three level section are more than 12" apart, and so these long ramps are quite necessary.
When I first built this layout I tried to do it without the two extra levels, putting them in not only gave may trains a possible task, but also bought me more places on both this side and on the other side of the table to build stations. While the table is 6' wide, I am only using 18" on either side of the table, the middle, which cannot be reached anyway, is empty, but will be covered with a city scene mounted on foam, and just lifted up and set in place.
Since this photo was taken a fifth level was added to the outside of the fascia, and the yard tracks were removed from the lower two levels being replaced with two subway stations. The lower level represents Nevins Street (and points south) in Brooklyn, while the next level represents Lenox Avenue (and points north in the Bronx.) The third level is being built to represent 8th Avenue on Broadway, while the top deck is the Coney Island station in Brooklyn.
I have made many many changes on this layout in the six short years of its construction, so the tip from the LION is: keep things accessible!
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
No-lix : a long grade, the same track length as a helix, but instead of curled around in one spot, the route winds around the room or layout.
Elevator: A vertical lift system lift an entire train vertically from one level to the other.
Cassette : train or cars put on a removeable base that is hand lifted to the upper level and "plugged into" that level.
Hinged switchback: a train length board with a hinge on the far end. The train drives onto the inclinded board and then the unhinged end swings up to a higher level. Basically "doubles" the grade. An 8 ft board on a 2% grade which means the hinged end is nominally 2" above the free end. The next level is 4" directly above the free end. The free end of the board swings up so the its in line with teh nxt level. The board is still at 2% (the higher level is only 2" above the hinged end) but the train has gained 4" in 8 ft or roughly the equivalent of a 4% grade.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
Back in the seventies I used what we call a Nolix today, level one was a low 24 off the floor, level 5 terminated in a reverse loop 11 feet off the floor, all this crammed into a 10 X 11 bedroom, including the closet! Not sure I would go this extreme again as access/maintaince was furthest from my mind during design & construction, but posed no issues during operation. Come to think of it I had the potential of using the 5th level and lowest deck for stagging which was not common at the time, it remains one the most satisfying layouts I have built.
Dave
Just be sure and leave enough room on the lower level for fiddling,plus your tallest car, plus the support structures for the level above as well as roadbed. So, you might need to drop as much as a foot or more? 1' would need 50' of track for a 2% grade. In my experience you can get away with a little more in the center of the climb as long as all of the train is on tangent track at that point. An unusually big grade might make for an interesting helper district-lol. But, could cut down on the length of track needed.
Backdrop buildings can help conceal this level connection track.
Richard
Thanks for all the great feedback. I do have John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation book but gets a bit tecnical for me at times. However, I continue to go back and read sections and it starts to sink in. I found Andy Sperandeo's Model Railroaders Guide to Freight Yards a great read.
At present I don't have the room for a Helix, I do like the idea of a styrene background / divider with a 2% grade down to a staging level.
My main interest are freight yards and industrial switching. I had plan on one large freight yard with a small interchange, now I am wondering if I couldn't build multiple freight yards but much smaller and split up the staging between the yards. East and West yards with an interchange inbetween.
Howdy Mobileman44. I also live in Texas, just outside San Antonio. I am planning my first layout and I am very interested in how you did your ramps for the 2 layouts with lower level staging and going up to the main level. I think I have figured out how to UP with the ramp, But I have not figured out how to loop my 2 main lines to go BACK DOWN, using the same ramps. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. I can send you a drawing of my future train room if that would help. Also a diagram of your 2 layouts would really help me as well. Thanks so much in advance.
John