Time to critque my track plan

[Anonymous]

I got this idea from 88gta350 so I decided I'd post my track plan to. Since I'm building this myself it's always good to get someone elses opinion. so here's my track plan.
http://www.angelfire.com/emo/mission19/rr.html

i had to cut of about 4 feet of DM yard to make it fit. I also left off some of the buildinigs as I haven't totally decided on them yet. Of course it is not drawn to scale. Thanks in advance for the help.
Andrew
Edit; Link has been fixed

[88gta350]

sketching out a track plan is a good way to get an idea of what you want, but you have no way of knowing if what you want will fit if you don't take the time to draw it to scale.

As with my track plan, you need to work on drawing your turnouts more prototypically. They will take up a lot more space than you have drwan for them. Some of the spurs at Summit are only 6 inches long, they might hold 1 car. Your 180 degree turn at Williamstown needs to be worked on. It looks like you tried to draw it to 24" radius. You have that on the width, but top to bottom it's only 18" or so, which makes for an odd curve.

[orsonroy]

Not bad, based on my assumptions:

Are Johnstown and DM yards really just staging yards? If so, they're great. If not, I'd suggest completely different arrangements, based on lots of small yard designs found through the pages of MR and MRP. And if they're staging yards, they DO seem a bit long, for such a short mainline. Remember, you only need staging yard tracks as long as your longest passing siding! (and some of the staging tracks don't have to be that long)

Are you really going to be happy with a pure point to point layout? Although my layout is mostly a three level point to point, I do have provisions for running the top deck as a continuous loop. There's something to be said for the "fishbown effect" in this hobby. You do have room for a hidden loop at the end of the peninsula, if you decide on that route.

I like Summit. Try to design the town on the other side of the peninsula (Williamstown?) to give you a similar amount of operating potential. Yes, it's on a 2% grade, but the spurs can be level.

All in all, a good start!

[Anonymous]

I find that I always draw turnouts shorter than they actually are. I kinda got sloppy a little on it, truthfully. I have about 50% of the track work done, From Johnstown yard through the mainline in summit. The 180% turn in williamstown was soppused to be drawn to be 24' inch radius I guess I check across but not up and down.
Andrew

[dehusman]

You aisle along Johnston yard is only 18" wide. Waaaaayyyyyyy narrow. Especially for where someone is going to be working and for as long as it is. Even if you are the only person running the railroad, you will be hard pressed to turn aound and if you drop something, there is no way you can bend over to pick it up. For one person 24-30" is about minimum, two people 36-48" is better.

Dave H.

[Big_Boy_4005]

If you are drawing on grid paper, you should be trying to draw close to scale. What is that long narrow empty space that is 12" wide? Is there a wall you need to avoid? f not, widen the aisle.

What might make this plan much more interesting, is adding 3 cutoffs. The first cutoff would allow a simple loop operation, for fun and display. The other two would allow a train to return to the yard it started from. Maybe you don't want that kind of operation, but both are possible. Pure point to point is just a little dry perhaps.

[Anonymous]

Is the DM Yard really 9 feet long? Do you need or want a yard that long?

[philnrunt]

Andrew- i almost got to look at your plan, but it looks like angelfire and this computer don't get along.
2 times the image froze, and another time it went all squiggly. But from what the others are saying, it sounds good. I'll try again with my puter at home and see what we can see.

[Anonymous]

Big_Boy_4005- That 12" space has been trouble for me. I'm either going to fill it in to make the williamstown side 2 feet wide instead of the foot it is. Another option is of course widening the aisle. When I drew this up I hadn't picked a location for my layout. When I picked names for the cities it turns out I picked names from hen I visited Mass. So i'm now thinking aboutt using that area as a mountain range as a scenic divide. So i would use that area as a double sided mountain. Still not sure yet.

YNCS- Yes Dm is 9 feet long. I decided to make my yards that long so I can fit a ten car train. Where the dm yard is no wis at the bottom of the stairs of my unfinished basement. Later on if I want to enlarge tthe layout I can continue it along the wall. Which would allow a longer mainline also. I just have to get permission to expand when the time comes. Which whene expaned I would most likely add a return loop to that end.

Thanks everyone for all the good advice.
Andrew

[Don Gibson]

IF the grids are only 6" you are in real trouble with 1 - even 2 - ft aisleways, (even in N scale). The trains may fit, but you won't.

I think I would trade '2% grade' and 'Summit' so they loop over and under each other. Your 9' yard against the wall makes the most sense. An elongated 'S' to get to the other end does not.

I think you will come to that conclusion on your own if you build it that way.