Almost completed the scenery on my current layout. But with the quarantine in Illinois I'll have plenty of time to finish.
im starting to think about the new layout, and have a couple ideas....
CN Chicago Sub, Kankakee to Matoon Champaign Yard to Edgewood
CP C&M Sub, route of the Hiawatha Chicago to Milwaukee including Rondout
BNSF Racetrack Chicago to Aurora, IL (might be tough for single operator)
CN Waukesha Sub Antioch to Trafton, where CN traffic splits to the EJ&E
all in HO Scale,any track plan ideas? Trying to do this in a 10x15 space in my basement. Would a single town plan be better than multiple towns?
Hi there. I'm going to respond mostly to bump up your message on top of the list.
The first step I would do is research about what rail activity is associated with these locations, and what type of infrastructure is associated with it. This will allow you to pick themes/scenes and plan accordingly. Passenger service would involve a station, merchandise could involve a large depot, or even a port. Oil tankers would be associated with reservoirs or maybe even a refinery. Ten by fifteen may seem large, but once you start fitting things in, space becomes way smaller. I would say there is room for two small towns, but you will need to use background pictures to give it some realism. I would recommend one small town, and a smallish station at the other end of the room. The rest would be dedicated to industries and scenery. But it's your railroad!
Once you picked your 'themes', I suggest you take a look on the Web or order books to look at various plans. I'm pretty old school, so I studied books for a few months and developed my own plan using pen an paper. There is software you can use as well, but I can't really comment on them.
You should keep in mind a few good practices in design. The main one is depth: a plan with more than 24 inch in depth is harder to build, operate and maintain. I designed a plan that allows me to easily access track and switches for maintenance purposes. For these two reasons, I opted for a shelf layout. I have plans for a tunnel, but I will be able to access it from behind. You would probably have space for a peninsula. A shelf layout will probably involve a duck-under or a lift-out. There are pros and cons to both, but the lift-out is what I recommend. It's harder to build (not that hard!), but it is a lot more practical and a lot easier on the back. Entering and carrying stuff in your room is a lot easier done with a liftout.
Anyway, keep us in the loop (no pun intended) and hopefully others will reply.
Simon
Outsailing86CN Waukesha Sub Antioch to Trafton, where CN traffic splits to the EJ&E
Trafton? I'm looking at the CN/EJ&E junction on Google maps, I thought it was Vernon Hills. Is Trafton a local name for the area?
As far as your next lay out, any of them sound good.
Mike.
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