The final plan

[PB&J RR]

I have been planning a railroad for a family project book I am writing. I have literally done 2 dozen different plans, and finally I have one that is ambitious but not overly complicated...It is simple but offers some complex operating possibilities, will allow for some interesting scenery, and will be a nice project for my family and I to do together.

Here is the final plan:

Please feel free to offer comments or suggestions...

The yard plan is similar to one I build previously on a shelf layout with a longer ladder, and Inner and outer main line access... off course it was an 18" by 10' mayout so, mainline access without bumpers could end up with an express ticket to the floor, (brother in law, don't ask)the plan is available online someplace, I found it and I am using it and will share with anyone who wants it.

[SpaceMouse]

Whether or not this is a good plan is determined by your purpose. If you purpose is to watch your trains go around the layout it is great. You can make up trains, run them around the layout and then break them down. This is good for watching them run, but not good for operations. 

There's just not a lot of reason for what you are doing. Basically, it is a layout that does what it does with no potential for growth. However, if your layout is to play with your kids, it might be just fine. However, your kids might not follow you into the hobby like you like. In which case, you might wish there was something more. This one, I know from experience.

 

[flyngsqurl]

I'm going to assume this is N scale, right? That's an important fact for sharing the plan.

[pcarrell]

As Chip has alluded to, you only have one place for an industry, and there isn't much room around that siding for an actual building.

Your amount of space is certainly usable, but I'm not sure if this will hold your interest for a long time.

What is the intended purpose of the layout?

[UP2CSX]

The question I'd ask is do you really need a roundhouse? They are fine on large layouts but are real estate hogs on smaller layouts. You can turn engines with well planned run around tracks and you can get a lot more operation in the space vacated by the roundhouse. I know they look really cool but I just wouldn't do it in a layout as apparently small as you're planning. 

[Gandy Dancer]

I have been planning a railroad for a family project book I am writing.

Do you have an outline of the book yet?  That might dictate some of the layout.  From what you posted I see the following requirements, but without some clarification they aren't much help for coming up with a track design.  

1. ambitious but not overly complicated.
2. simple but offers some complex operating possibilities
3. will allow for some interesting scenery
4. will be a nice project for family to do together.

* What is not to be complicated, the work track itself, the construction of the track, the wiring of the track, the running of the trains on the track.
* What are you considering operating?  Is operating running several trains simultanously and figuring their routes to prevent delays (dispatch oriented).  Is operation the running of trains on-time (schedule oriented).  Operation could be the creation and breaking down of trains (classification yard oriented).  Or are you considering operation to be the switching out of cars to their appropriate industries (way freight oriented).  Or some percentage combination of all of the above.
* What sort of scenery are you talking about?  Mountains, plains, desert, suburb, rural town,  coastal,  urban, swamp???   Railroad trackwork can be very different in these areas.
* Family project  -  what age are the children?  Are we talking Thomas the Tank engine type of project here?   How many people will be expected to run trains simultaniously?

Is this all supposed to be on a flat board with no elevations or grades? 

Please feel free to offer comments or suggestions...

From the diagram I presume this is N-scale and a 4x8 area.

Not knowing the answers to the above these comments could be out of line.  Generally what I see is basically two loops of track, with two crossovers between, and a yard which is dominated by a roundhouse.  The yard is accessible only by a switchback.   There is one industry.

My comments are:
I like that the two loops aren't just running around parallel to the edges of the board and to each other.   This would allow two trains to run without worrying about collisions (great for little children).

I don't understand the cut off on the top center of the outside loop.  It is not long enough to be a passing siding but for the shortest of trains.  But for really short trains it could allow two trains to run on the outside loop (making a total of three for the whole layout).

The two run around tracks in the yard area seem to be too short to be really useful.  One locomotive running around one car.  What is their purpose?  Are they because of the switchback yard configuration?  A switchback yard seems cumbersome to me, and causes needless extra loco shuffling to get the road locomotive off and switcher on.

Note nearly enough industry to support the need for a yard.  There is really no place for a train to go except to return to the yard from whence it came.

Finally, I don't see a lot of scenic opportunity here.   Most scenery will have to be crammed between tracks that are from 3" to 6" apart.

[Anonymous]

I'd add some sidings. It's fun to makeup a train and go drop off a car at each siding (then pick them back up again). For even more variety have both "right" and "left" sidings. Also it gives you a place to put a building and make a "scene". Also, I wouldn't go less than 12" radius (this IS N scale, right). Its hard to tell for sure, but you seem to have some pretty tight curves.

 

[PB&J RR]

Over the last few days I have recieved a number of very constructive suggestions for this plan, and after laying it out on my table and running trains for a couple of days, I realize that the only really good thing I could use it for is an opportunity to sharpen landscaping skills, which I really don't need... I have decided to go with an earlier plan I did, when playing with Atlas's right track program... I like to do a layout there and then put it in the sandbox mode of Railroad tycoon and ... well nevermind, I guess that does reveal my true geekery...

Here is the plan I am going to use, I set it up and ran it a couple of months ago and I liked it even though I had to use shims and blocks to elevate the track...

This one, we had fun with even though it was just track snapped together on bare wood. and the kids liked it much better, so even though I like the yard of the other plan a bit better, I like the way this one runs, and it has a bit more for the trains to do, which is important from an attention holding standpoint.

The theme of the railroad, or its purpose I guess may be a better word, is to serve as a short trunk or belt line in the fictional county of Briarwood, Virginia I created for a series of childrens stories I have been writing over the last several years.  If this railroad interchanged with any real world roads it would most likely be Virginia & Truckee to the south, and C&O to the north, but it ony exists here in my mind, so its no bother.

It will serve the City of Penneburgh, home of Belmont Yard a vicious little company town. Briarwood, a quiant little coal mining village of folksy types living on the fringe of wilderness. Jameson  a town on the edge of either expansion or oblivion, depending on the timber contracts old man Jameson is able to finagle out of the hands of the speculators.

The time period is someplace in early transition, but the P.B. & J. railroad company, has to take what they can get as far as motive power and rolling stock is concerned. So a 4-4-0 will tug its peddler freight into a siding to make way for a mighty F7 as it rockets past with its string of passenger cars.

Anyhow, here it is...

[Gandy Dancer]

If this railroad interchanged with any real world roads it would most likely be Virginia & Truckee to the south, and C&O to the north, but it ony exists here in my mind, so its no bother.

Ah yes, the Virginia & Truckee "Queen of the Short Lines". Sounds like my first exposure to the Virginia & Truckee.  I got a V&T "Reno" 4-4-0 locomotive for Christmans when I was in the 4th grade.  I got a map of the state of Virginia and hunted and hunted for Truckee.  I never found it of course.  Years later (maybe even a decades) I found out that it is in Nevada.  Of course I should have known that, since the Bonanza TV show was running at the time.  They went to Virginia City all the time.  If this is really going to go into a book, you might want to interchange with the Lousiville & Nashville, Southern, or Norfolk & Western to the south.

is to take what they can get as far as motive power and rolling stock is concerned. So a 4-4-0 will tug its peddler freight into a siding to make way for a mighty F7 as it rockets past with its string of passenger cars.

Sounds like "Petticoat Junction" or "It happened to Jane".

I had to use shims and blocks to elevate the track

Elevations always give one more options and make a more interesting layout.