You may, or not, know me from my topic regarding my layout design of Coldwater in HO. Well, last sunday I visited a new friend, he has only On30, I instandly fell in love with this scale. So after goming home I started to design a layout based on On30. Same room space but less room for tracks.
Here and on other fora people say I was thinking more European than American regarding track layout design (I'm Dutch so I'm European). Well I learned from this and started to think differently, resulting in a new logging/mining themed layout, just based on a particular design I found on Google, but was way to big fot my space, so I had to redesign the exmaple for my room, the space I have is approx. 11' by 8' 3"
There are 3 hight levels, ground level (0), 6" (second) en 9" (third), well look at the pictures, a pictures says more than a 1000 words after all ;)
Also 3 3D pictures which come out AnyRail but they are not quite accurate.
Your remarks/concers are very welcome ofcourse.
The pictures, the layout:
the 3D pictures:
Everywhere there is a tunnel, there will be an increase of difficulty in dealing with derailments. The hidden siding will be a focus of this problem.
There are two passing sidings. The hidden one is approximately 2 feet (61 cm), the exposed 2.5 feet (76 cm). Will these be long enough?
I think the trackage around the mine should be different. I believe it is arranged that way for empties-in and loads-out. There might be a better arrangement using that concept.
Other than those points, the plan looks good to me.
Ed
On30 is not a bad choice!
Some time ago I started a small switching layout, but it had a major flaw, so I gave up on it. I had completely underestimated the space requirement for buildings. They need about 4 times as much space as an HO scale building!
Logging railroads were known for their simplicity, which also reflected into the track and track arrangement - not a single switch too many! They connected one or more logging camps up in the mountains with a lumber mill down in the valley. Sometimes, they also shipped the finished lumber products into the big, wide world.
A point to point operation, I think, is more appropriate for the looging theme, than continuous running.
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Thanks Ed for your input, the two passing sidings will be sufficient, no long trains, the hidden passing siding will be invisible because of mountains. The mining part i will look into and view examples.
Ulrich, understand what you saying about point to point.
About the buildings I totally feel the same. Found a nice mine kit, but when I tried to fit it, I was blown away by the shear size of it, so I will look at plans fors smaller mining drawing and will scratchbuild one that fits.
Well, having just attended my first National Narrow Gauge Convention last week, I can certainly see how appealing On30 is!
However, as you found with the mine kit, it's important to remember even though the track is still the same gauge as HO, everything else - structures, automobiles, people, bridges, etc. - is roughly twice as big. Even though narrow gauge railroad equipment is small, On30 equipment is still bigger than HO standard gauge; you need to allow for a bigger overhang over the track, more room for clearances for tunnels, bridges, etc.
Important to remember too that narrow gauge layouts also often look great because of a much higher ratio of scenery to track. Narrow gauge lines were usually in remote hard-to-access areas, so you'd want to keep trackage to a minimum and concentrate on scenery and a few key structures.