Manipulating a trackplan (Updated)

[Anonymous]

Hello once again,

Thanks for the quick replies, and all.  Well, here is a short story of situation.  I'm currently working on HO layout, but I'm slowly losing the interest in the layout because I had to give up to many wants at the start.  Another reason why I kept to HO is due to the lack of funding, and I already had a small collection of HO scale stuff.  

Now, I'm looking at my situation, I and wish that I would have considered switching to N scale more before I started my layout.  I'm looking more and more into now since I'm not 100% happy with my current working layout.  I'm thinking that if I switch to N scale that I'll be able to gain more of my "wants".  

To the trackplan, I always like the "feel" and all of the Ho trackplan that I posted earlier, but I do not have the space for it, roughly ~6' x ~6' island type layout.  So my thinking is that I'll try to make an N scale trackplan, I guess similiar to it.  I guess that I'm trying to rush into this all to fast again, but I thought that I would put it up for consideration.  

I guess it's time for a little more research, thanks for the help thus far everyone, 

LilBeckett 

[cuyama]

As others have pointed out, one of the reasons you are having trouble is that the original plan was not drawn accurately to scale. That's a challenge with other plans on that site as well.

A more interesting design that takes up a bit more space but offers a similar theme is the Appalachian Central, adapted by Lionel Strang for an MR project railroad in the January and February, 2000 issues. Operating the plan was discussed in the April 2001 issue.

For subscribers of the magazine, the trackplan is part of the on-line library.

Byron
Model RR Blog

[dehusman]

<snip>and scale it down to N scale. 

I am assuming you want a similar trackplan on a smaller footprint.  In that case I would go to 2 3x6 pieces of wood.  I would suggest maybe considering two 30-36' wide doors as baseboards.

You could scale it down directly but using standard sized pievces would be simpler.

I would like to take out the top mine near Hardy, and leave just the one near Bellfry. Add a small rural town below where I took out the Hardy mine. 

The Hardy mine covers staging.  If you remove that you will lose the staging or at least make it visible.  If you daylight the staging then you will have to consider what to do with the larger mine on the top side of the layout, since that his the other connection to staging.

One thing to consider is that the original plan isn't intended to be operated by a train runing "around" the layout.  It is intended to be an out and back arrangement.  A train of empties comes out of staging through the tunnel portal, works the mines and then goes back into staging through the tunnel.  The only time you would run a train around the loop is just for fun or for display.

 I would also like to add an industry or two on the inside of the L on the long side where there is a siding already.  

That shouldn't be a big deal.

I've played around with it some with the Atlas RR program, but I can't get the trackplan to remotely resemble the one that I found.  

Try pencil and paper or print out some 1/2 or 1/4 scale switches from the program and then use a large piece of paper to draw the plan 1/2 or 1/4 scale.  Even at 1/2 scale, it should fit on a typical dining room table.

Dave H.

[Greg H.]

HO cheeper than N ?

That might be true if your counting nickles or buying unusual rolling stock, but, for the most part, the price is with in a few dollers - close enough that it's a guess as to which one is actualy going to be cheeper at any given time.

In then end, HO is for rivit counters, and N is for people that want to have some scenery to go along with their trains.

[Anonymous]

Well I my self LOVE HO scale. It is the best scale you could possibley go with. I would consider going into HO scale if you have not already bought N scale products. Ho is (well in my experience) cheaper then N scale and you can actually see the train because its not so small. GO WITH HO MAN!! 

[Greg H.]

Forget the Atlas program, it limits you to much as it only considers Atlas products, and IIRC, doesn't include flex track in it's data base ( which you would probably use quite a bit of for this project ).

OTOH, if you leave the layout size as is, and just do it in N scale, those curves will look real nice.

[Don Z]

Another item you'll need to clarify for your request.....do you plan on keeping the 2 4x8 sheets of plywood as in the original, or are you planning on scaling down the size of the layout as well?

Don Z.

[Gandy Dancer]

I would like to take out the top mine near Hardy, and leave just the one near Bellfry. Add a small rural town below where I took out the Hardy mine.  I would also like to add an industry or two on the inside of the L on the long side where there is a siding already.

That is not changing it a little.   As originally drawn, the continuous run track goes "through" the Bellfry mine and is not intended to be used for normal operations.  By removing the Hardy mine and replacing it with a town virtually eliminates the hidden staging area.     

I've played around with it some with the Atlas RR program, but I can't get the trackplan to remotely resemble the one that I found.

Hmmm, the problem is that the drawing you found is not drawn to scale, it is drawn with single line rails instead of full width track, and non-standard turnouts, and you are trying to use sectional track.  To get it exactly like the drawing would require one to custom build turnouts and use flex track. 

Layout in N-scale drawn with Atlas Right-Track.

[bearman]

HO scale is 1:87 and N scale is 1:160, so there is not a 1:1 increase when the scale is changed.  Would assume however, that you should be able to get something roughly approximating the original HO plan in N by using 11"N radii and doing what you are trying to do.

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I need a little bit of help with formulating a trackplan.  I've found a nice little trackplan for a HO scale layout, but I would like to change it a little, and scale it down to N scale.  I've come up with a few ideas, but would like to ask for your opinions.  Here is the trackplan that I found.

Now I don't know if I can actually do what I want with this plan.  I would like to take out the top mine near Hardy, and leave just the one near Bellfry. Add a small rural town below where I took out the Hardy mine.  I would also like to add an industry or two on the inside of the L on the long side where there is a siding already.  

I've played around with it some with the Atlas RR program, but I can't get the trackplan to remotely resemble the one that I found.   Thanks for the help, and if you need anything else just comment

Thanks,

LilBeckett