Layout ideas

[Anonymous]

I'm in my research phase of my next layout. I have one side of a two car garage that I'm thinking of doing a two level layout with a helix on one end. I'm thinking of having the lower level about 2.5' above ground level and the second level about two feet above that. I have a layout plan at http://www.zone0ne.com/trains/images/new_layout.gif for those that want a better picture.

I'm also thinking of building a mountain and or town over the top of the helix but I'm not sure if I'm creating a problem such as for access.

My goals for the track is to be able to run trains around but also to have some sidings and a yard to do some switching/staging as I would like to delve into the operations aspect whereas my last layout was running trains in a circle and scenery were my main goals.

Any critiques or ideas would be appreciated.

[SpaceMouse]

It looks like you used the Atlas program to design this. Could you turn-off the setting int the general options that displays the track piece designations? It will make your layout much easier to see and my guess is you'll get a few more comments. You might also try it with the show ties feature.

[ereimer]

the plan looks pretty good , i'm just wondering about your proposed height . 2.5 feet off the floor for the lower level seems very low unless you're planning on sitting down to operate it , maybe using a chair on casters . i'd think about raising the lower level 12" and having the 2nd level 18" above that .

[Anonymous]

I too am in the research phase of a new layout. My basic idea is to add an N gauge setup on top of an HO existing setup. My thoughts are to place the N setup to the rear of the original 4 X 8 HO setup using a modified dogbone configuration. The N setup is going to be a measley 10 " above the HO and shouldn"t interfere with the view of the HO setup. What do you guys think of cutting a hole in the center of the figure eight sections to allow for the tops of the mountains from the lower setup. Is this goung to cause some instability in the N setup?
Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks

[Anonymous]

I too am in the research phase of a new layout. My basic idea is to add an N gauge setup on top of an HO existing setup. My thoughts are to place the N setup to the rear of the original 4 X 8 HO setup using a modified dogbone configuration. The N setup is going to be a measley 10 " above the HO and shouldn"t interfere with the view of the HO setup. What do you guys think of cutting a hole in the center of the figure eight sections to allow for the tops of the mountains from the lower setup. Is this goung to cause some instability in the N setup?
Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks

[cuyama]

Is that a 2-foot grid or is this N scale? What are the radii of the helix tracks?

As has been said, you may be happier with a higher elevation for your lower deck and less separation between that deck and the upper deck.

Another advantage to raising the lower deck is that the door of the parked car may be able to swing under the lower deck. With most cars, the door swing must be fairly wide to allow people to enter or exit the car, but the people don't need all that width to walk.

Unless you must keep the layout exclusively on one side of the garage, you may benefit from letting some part of it extend over the hood of the parked car (depends on the type and dimensions of the current and likely future cars, of course). This also may make the "land use" negotiations trickier with other inhabitants of the domicile, but it's worth exploring.

Are you intending to have operators all around the layout? In other words, is it an island? I've designed several layouts for garages (including a couple of my own) and there is often an advantage to having some part of the layout against one or more walls. It's hard to say without seeing the overall garage configuration (location of person doors, etc.).

I don't notice any provisions for staging (unless it's those couple of tracks at the top left of the upper deck drawing). If you intend to explore operations, some staging that represents locations "off the layout" would be an important addition.

Are you intending to model the UP in the real world, or a freelanced / alternative history line? Naming the locations "Barstow", "Las Vegas", etc. will invite comparisons to the real thing and as you probably know, Barstow is huge. This is just my opinion, but you may find it more rewarding to select a different chunk of the prototype or freelance a bit more to provide more freedom in what you model. (Then again, it's your railroad and you can always model what you care to!)

Just as an example, I've seen a very interesting layout by a fellow named Ken Williams in Southern California that covers some of the same territory but is based on a "what-if" extension of the Southern Pacific paralleling the UP (and Intersate 15). This allows him more freedom in track configurations and scope.

The amount of track you currently show in Barstow would be more typical of an industry support yard, interchange, or branch yard. It might be more interesting to choose or imagineer a prototype that fits more closely with the space you've committed to a yard.

I wrote an article on garage layout design principles which was published in the Layout Design Journal of the Layout Design Special Interest Group. This was LDJ-27, published in the Autumn of 2002. Information on the LDSIG and publication back issue orders is found at:
www.ldsig.org

One of the principles I've found most helpful in garge layouts that must share space with a parked car is to really think about how to make use of the "big aisle" -- that is, where the car parks. Placing the most involved trackage (that will attract the most operators or viewers) along that big aisle makes construction, access, and operating easier and more fun. This assumes, of course, that the car will be parked elsewhere for op sessions or major layout construction.

In terms of modeling the high desert of California and Nevada, you've probably seen Pelle Søerborg's excellent articles in the recent issues of Model Railroader (March and April 2005). There were also some good suggestions on desert scenery (including making the characteristic Joshua Trees) in Ted York's article on his Cajon Pass layout in Great Model Railroads 2005. Ted makes his Joshua trees from pipe cleaners, but I think Ken Williams makes his from bumpy chenille and thick paint.

Good luck and have fun!

Regards,

Byron
Model RR Blog

[Anonymous]

I have a two car garage with one wall that is wide open. Another wall has the water heater and heating unit and the other wall has a door and backs up to the cable and telephone feeds. I'm not worried about parking my car in the garage as most of it is occupied by a 99-year old championship size pool table. That leaves me with a space that is about 16 feet long and up to 5 feet deep. I could easily come out to five feet, and probably will on the helix side which should give me a radius for the outer track of about 25" radius and the inner track at 23".

I'm also thinking of putting a cap over the top of the helix so that I can have some scenery there but am hesitant because of access issues. Also, I'm wondering if I should put the yard on the top shelf and move it higher and then have the town shelf as the lower shelf as that will be where most of the scenery work will be.

Thanks for the replies.

Todd

[BRJN]

Off-topic (maybe):

Suppose I build a shelf layout along one wall of a garage and put a helix on both ends. At the tops of the helixes is another shelf. This gives me continuous-movement capability. Using say Second World War RR equipment and HO scale, how wide will this have to be? How high off the floor can the lower shelf be if the top shelf does nothing but carry trains back to the other side (minimal scenery, sinple trackage)?

If this turns out to be a cool original idea, then I am copyrighting it. If it is not original, then whobody else ought to copyright it. If it is not cool, I will copyright it anyway for the bragging opportunity.

[SpaceMouse]

Thanks for reposting the track.

When I designed my first yard I put it up here for critique and basically, I got a lot of criticism. The folks here sent me to this site. http://www.housatonicrr.com/yard_des.html

Check it out and you might think about changing your yard a little. IF you have a stub yard instead of a double ended yard, you'll have a lot more room for the features it describles.