My last track plans for the garage were both custom by myself, no commercial published drawings were used. Both filled half the garage and were good for the space but due to various reasons, though operational, neither was fully finished. I just couldn't settle on a final details and i think I got frustrated with varios aspects like insufficient Ops potential or similar functional shortcomings. So up it came.
My current layout was sort of a happy accident. After dismantling the large layout I wanted something smaller and more managable. Years ago I came across an N guage micro layout on a german train site that was extremely small yet very dense track wise. I kept a copy of it and a couple years ago when a friend was downsizing into a smaller home I used the micro as a basis for a small G gauge layout in his spare room.
He decided not to use it but I was downsizing my garage layout into something more manageable I really loved the way the N plan worked out in G so I built that plan. Its half the size of the previous layout. As the layout progressed,it occurred to me that the layouts industrial switching theme would work much better as a self-contained harbor transfer layout so with a little shuffling thats where it is today. German published N scale industrial switching micro to G scale Harbor layout
N micro-layout, this is the G version but is identical to the snap track version in N:
This is the plan (more or less) today as a harbor themed layout:
Have fun with your trains
Years back I tried picking a trackplan and that just didn't work, I wore myself down trying to decide. My present layout was designed in xtrackcad, because I have many structures this trackplan came together a bit easier. I also included things from my last layout which was also designed in xtrackcad, I learned from much of my past layouts what I liked and didn't like and tried to include the likes. Even now with a track plan and an added room things still change as I go. By the way I also suffer from not being able to commit to an idea fearing I won't do the job the best way possible.
Lynn
Present Layout progress
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/p/290127/3372174.aspx#3372174
In business, we call this paralysis by analysis -- not being able to make a decision because we fear that we have incomplete information. It's not a desirabpe condition.
I think there is a great misunderstanding among newcomers to the hobby, and that is that they only get one shot, and have to get it right the first time. I'm on my 3rd layout now, with a large expansion on the drawing boards for whwn I have more time and money. When I got back into the hobby 10+ years ago, my aunt sent me all my old train stuff --when I lost interest as a teen, I sent it to my cousin. Come to find out that the run whatever looks cool on a bowl of spaghetti approach didn 't appeal to the adult me, and I got rid of almost everything and started over.
As I built and operated that layout, I realized that what I was doing there didn't satisfy me either, so out it went in favor of the current one. As noted above, this one is limited by time and budget, but I will keep adfding to it until I am where I want to be, or until i realize this one isn't quite what I want either, and chuck it in favor of a new design.
I will say that, with each additional layout, although I will never give up the loop enabling trains to run continuously, I have added more operations to each successive design.
People sweat this issue too much. Pick something you like, get it running, and see if you still like it. If not, take a mulligan. No harm, and no shame.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
angelob6660This has always been an interesting topic over the years. Different designs, simple or hard but there is always that one person who can't pick a layout. How many of you have/any try to pick one layout to call your know.
How many of you have/any try to pick one layout to call your know.
ACYThis works for me, but there are other approaches that can produce a layout that is very satisfactory to the owner. Tom
Tom,A lot of times I plan as I lay track by placing the track in position then looking at it and then trying another idea and so on until I'm satisfied with what I see.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
If there's a model railroader out there who has never made a silly assumption or jumped to a silly conclusion, then I've never met him (myself included). A lot of folks will refuse to admit it, but it's a guilty secret we all share. We read, we observe, we listen, and hopefully we learn. No matter where each individual may be in the learning process, that fact makes us all pretty much equal in this hobby. Incorrect assumptions are more frequently made by folks who have never visited the area they're modeling, or who were there long after the time period modeled.
My approach to layout design is dictated by the prototype, so I'm not of much help to those who want to design a freelance layout. The basic parameters, such as minimum radius and room size, are in my head during the process. I learn what I can about the line in question (track arrangements at various locations; industries; interchanges; towns; scenic elements such as river crossings, etc.). Then I let these elements gel as I go through daily life. The result is a variety of freehand sketches on napkins, table mats, the backs of receipts, used envelopes, etc. After a few months of this, plus input from friends, I usually can produce a pretty good basic plan that eliminates the less important elements and includes the most important ones in a fairly workable plan. A "final" plan is drawn and construction begins. During the construction phase, lots of other changes and refinements are introduced.
This works for me, but there are other approaches that can produce a layout that is very satisfactory to the owner.
Tom
I love designing track plans from the 1940s to the present day. Getting one or more plans to combine main line running and a little switching is complicated.
Scenery is almost the same, desert or trees from hills to mountains.
My first eastern railroad train set was Conrail. But when I had it I pictured it the west coast and alrighty merged. Years later I learned more about the railroad. Now I feel silly.
Amtrak America, 1971-Present.
i think this is a difficult question to answer until that person has some experience running trains on several different types of layouts. Without experience, what that person might think they will like may soon become boring. And it also depends on the available space.
My preference is with a large enough space to hava a loop to loop where trains run between terminals, similar to the 90x45' club layout i help operate. For the small space I have available, I hope the two station point to point layout will be sufficient.
one way to get experience is with a layout simulator.
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
Hi,
Sketching out trackplans (layouts) has always been a pastime of mine, especially in my younger years. Give me some quadrille paper, sharp pencils, a ruler and compass (and later a track laying template) and I was ready to go. All that was left was the space limitations or room/table size.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
I will never pick a layout designed by another because my ideas of a layout is based on operations with yard and industrial switching instead of basic loops with little or no switching potential.
Now then many will recall 90% of my layouts has been industrial switching layouts(ISLs) and therefore must follow certain guide lines like no "time saver" design and must fall into plausibility and believability while filling my layout design goals.
Designing a layout (we never talk about train sets in here) that is rewarding to look at and to operate is quite a challenging task, as you have to understand a lot of how the real thing does it.
A real railroad´s "track plan" is influenced by two key factors:
Track is expensive, also for the real thing, so railroads would try to economize on that as much as possible.
What does that all mean for chosing or designing your own layout?
There are a few points (we call them givens and druthers) you have to decide:
All of these points are related to each other.
There are a number of excellent books on track planning and it is highly recommendable to read them before chosing or designing your layout. As you can easily see, planning a layout is a lot more than just developing a track plan. IMHO, too much attention is usually given to the track plan and too little to scenery and setting. Scenery often is what fills the gap between the tracks. Unless you go "only" for prototypical operation and don´t care how the layout looks, that´s quite OK. I, personally, would find a layout like David Barrow´s domino layout, which lacks any scenery, but is great to operate, not to my liking.
I started with some very rigid givens - the prototype's timetable and the actual track arrangements at the places I model. The track plans can be, and are, selectively compressed and modified, but the timetable requirements are set in cement.
From there I went to the available space. In the past I have been squeezed onto an eight foot shelf across a bedroom wall or some equally constrained venues. That meant I had to choose one place and try to capture the feeling I remembered from there. More recently I acquired first half, then all of a two car garage. I just extended the visible railroad from one station to the practical limits of the new territory.
Then it was time to arrange staging and hidden thoroughfare tracks to allow the proper train to appear at the appropriate tunnel portal at the timetable-specified time. That meant storage for everything from electric commuter MU cars to unit coal trains, plus some special arrangements to turn some (but not all) trains end for end. There's even a hidden train elevator. (Actually, for practical reasons, the netherworld of hidden track had to be completed before it could be covered by the visible world.)
Through all of this my guide was the prototype, and John Armstrong's design books. Knowing how to use Armstrong Squares was key to coming up with a workable design. It's absolutely unique - but, then again, so am I.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - my way)
I can't pick a layout, or design one. I try to do to much with too little, and generally just shut down and get defensive even when I ask for help. I honestly think I'm so worried about matching the real thing(locale wise) and getting decent trackwork(enough to run everything and not have it look like a toy train) that I end up exhausting plans and getting frustrated. I won't lie I probably suck at this hobby, but I'll be darned if I just up and quit.
SP&S modeler, 1960's give or take a decade or two for some equipment.
http://www.youtube.com/user/SGTDUPREY?feature=guide
Gary DuPrey
N scale model railroader
Am a perky person when it comes to picking a layout. There has a few that I like but then I find problems with it.
I designed over a dozen track plans ranging over a 3x7 to a around the room 10x12 with and without a peninsula. It's sometimes difficult to decide.
I tried published track plans and redesign it differently but it work.
This has always been an interesting topic over the years. Different designs, simple or hard but there is always that one person who can't pick a layout.