Paul --
Time to remember the words from Kenny Roger's song "The Gambler":
You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'emKnow when to walk away, know when to run
Probably time to drop the cards on the table, and walk on.
Smile,Stein
Paulus Jas If you want some serious replies, start by making a drawing of your room, WITH no-go area's due to doors or windows drawn in.
If you want some serious replies, start by making a drawing of your room, WITH no-go area's due to doors or windows drawn in.
There is one posted at the begginging of the post.
Sean, the unknown train travler,
hi,
i have seen the 3 layouts you mentioned, all of them have a continuous loop and a stub terminal, either staging or a branch line.
Helping with a design is impossible without you giving loads of information.
As has been said before the minimum radius is the most important design issue. The NMRA has standards for it; depending merely on the length of your longest car or coach. Keep in mind that there is a huge difference between pulling and pushing. An accepted ratio is: Min radius = 3 times the length of your longest car or coach. Give and take an inch or two; don't stress your luck. In HO passenger cars range between between 9,66" and 12.5"; though about a 30" inch radius is needed. A completely different figure from the 18" an other member mentioned. I prefer to believe the NMRA, and I would never go under a 1 : 2.5 ratio. This means that with 70 feet long cars a 24" radius could be considered, for 90 feet long coaches the minimum is 31". For looking real good a 1:4 ratio would be better.
Paul
I dont mind suggestions. I am looking for some. The doors do slide. Theres drawers beneath the closet. I do have the cars and engines from when i was a kid. Alot of them are advertising, such as austin purina, hershey syrup, alot of box cars.a couple of coal tenders and a couple logging cars. Most are around the 35 to 50 foot range if i remember correctly and a few around 30.
Train Traveler, Hope you don't mind if I post a idea.
Each Square is 1 foot. I left 3 foot for the door's swing and guessing the closet doors are sliders. But some staging on the right side on the room. In the peninsula area I just made some loops. But it could be used for switching or what ever. Upper right corner could us a poop up hatch, it is a far reach.
My self I am a train fan and this plan does reflect my taste. I used larger turns with you liking Passenger Cars. If you have not bought cars yet, you might look at Con Cor 75 foot cars. They will take a 18 inch turn.
If any questions please ask.
Ken
Edit Sean it seems you where posting your ideas while I was drawing up my idea. So in noway shape or form think I am criticizing your ideas please. Did not see them till I posted mine.
I hate Rust
I have found three plans that i like that would fit into the space i was going to use. Any feedback on them would be great. Thanks.
First is: http://trainweb.org/lonewolfsantafe/lwsf05.htm
Second one is: http://www.shenware.com/layouts/guest.html
Lastly is: http://mysite.verizon.net/coyote97/Route66Railway/Track%20Plan%20Current.htm
Thanks. My preference is for the 3rd one the route 66 one, followed by the second/middle one.
In the 100'-300' HO track plans, under subscriber extras, is the San Lorenzo Southern plan. It is similar to your plan in 13'x22' room. Your extra 2' would help you with door clearance. That plan has continuous running, you could have a narrow shelf with a duck under to accomplish what that plan has done. It would eliminate your need for blobs at each end to turn your trains.
For access in corners you can cut a triangular hole for access, also you can make an access hole next to the wall wherever your penninsula comes out.
Hope this helps.
Good luck,
I really suggest getting a couple of track planning books before getting started on building. John Armstrong's books are very good at discussion what will fit within a given space. He discussion things like reach in distance, access hatches, etc. Also different styles of benchwork are more flexible than others.
Now, I'm not saying spend months on planning, you can get into "paralysis by analysis." Just a weekend curled up on the floor of the room with a couple of track planning books and blue painters tape to lay out some concepts (much easier to pull up tape than wood) will pay for itself in avoiding even a single "oops." And boy, have I had my share of "oops's."
Have you look at the track plan link here on the Kalmbach site? Spending some time in there will help also.
Welcome to this great hobby!
I was going to leave enough space for the doors to open. i was going to leave a good few feet out for the whole closet area. I didnt think about doing a j shape. I do need to think about the corners where oppisit the doors cause it would be a hard reach in.
I see several problems.
Access into the upper right and left corners and the center of the top wall will be difficult. The longest reach will exceed 4 feet.
Assuming you are leaving about 3 ft for the doors in each corner to open, your yard on the left side is only 12 ft long. This fairly short unless you bend it around along the back wall, which will interfere with your other areas.
Passenger trains along the right wall will need somewhere to go and turn around, otherwise your passenger operations are back and forth.
I suggest you do a J layout. Start with a loop in the upper right, run along the top wall to the upper left and curve around and on to the upper side of a peninsula from the left wall leading right approximately 16 ft long. Curve around the end an run along the bottom end of the peninsula ending in a loop that uses the full width of the peninsula. This leaves the wall with the doors and closet free.
I strongly urge you to get a copy of Track Planning for Realistic Operation by John Armstrong, this will help you a lot.
Enjoy
I was going to model in ho gauge. I was orignally thinking of a folded in dog bone for part of it cause at first i liked the design. The yard I am not sure on. Probably one for the industrial area.
I see a lot of problems with the bench-work and with your idea's.
A 36" wide bench has loads of reach-in problems; way to wide, usually a 18" bench would do. On the other hand 36" is way to small for a turn-back curve or blob. You 'll need about 6 feet in HO and probably 4 feet in N-scale.
You did not mention scale and a discussion about the minimum radius versus the trains you like to run is needed.
More important however: you should draw your bench-work in the drawing of your room. And your not the first newbie who does; building a bench before knowing what you want is not rather intelligent.
Your mainline running will not happen at the very same time as switching, though there is no reason at all to keep those two apart.
The most important design issue the the minimum radius applied. Since you are running passenger trains 30" in HO or 18" in N are needed. Without knowing the radius and the kind of mainline you are after it's not sensible to try out different footprints. Must your main be as long as possible and double tracked? Do you want a loop to loop design or a dogbone or whatever?
What kind of yard do you want? Classification, an auxiliary yard for an industrial area, a holding yard or a engine-terminal?
Many questions are to be answered first, these above are only a starter.
I see no problem with your basic benchwork plan. However, something you want to think about is the 36" depth. I was given a workbench that is 36" deep. At 6' I can barely reach he back without leaning, it is at 42" above the floor.. As long as your trackwork is within reach you should be OK.. Just if you are just going to have scenery that far in, be sure it is done before doing too much finish scenery at the front.
I am going to start builing the deck for my layout. Here is a rough drawing of approximatly what i had in mind for the layout. The bench is below. It will be in a room approx 22 foot long by 15 foot. I was going to make it approx 36 inches deep along the walls and the center part approx 72 since it can be reached from both side. The pensenula was going to be used for an industry area , the one all the was to the left was going to be a yard area. The one on the right was going to be used as a passanger train going along a scenic route. It will be a one person operator. I was only going to run 2 trains on the industry and 2 on the passanger one. The industry probably wont be ran when i am running the passanger one. I am also including the room layout. Any feed back wouldf be great.