Hello! First time building a layout, well, properly. I have a failed attempt under my belt. I have the basic shelf built with a valence and fascia. Its an 8 foot by 20 inch shelf. I have been toying with the track plan for quite awhile. This is going to be a test bed for what I hope is a bigger layout down the road and I want to incorporate this section into it. I want a lot of switching action and have built a few plans. This is what I have right now. I would love feedback and criticism I am still trying to learn! Thanks!
My YouTube - Paradox Railroad
If you want to incorporate it into a larger layout later...
I'd make two tables 4'x20", bust use 1x4 lumber instead of legs. This can sit nicely on yoour shelf, and then when you want to incorporate it into another layout you can mount your 'mini-table' directly into the layout.
Much of my layout, not intended to be protable at all uses this sort of construction. Build a yard on a minitable on a bench,a nd then move the whlle thing to the layout.
You can see two such 'mini-tsables' setting atop this ping-pong table. You can see that the tabelet to the left had a PASSENGER yard on it (LION's do not do freight!), but this was torn up and a four track mane-lion (subway - 7th Avenue) will be put in its place.
The tablelet to the rear is the Prospect Park Station.
I tried to join the two with a 180 degree curve rising from one level to the other. It worked with locomotives, but for the subway I require 1.5 turn helix to make the transition.
You can see that at the far end of what will be the 34tyh Street station that the tracks go down to the lower lever along the wall, while the far end of the Prospect Park station go up to the middle level of the wall.
The blob to my left has the loop that takes trains from the middle level to the upper level, but can also take them down to the lower level.
Oh well, you asked a simple question and the lion has told you how to build a space ship.
Well welcome to the forums.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Layout plan. Sorry I didn't add the picture correctly. Also, thanks Lion some great info!
This forum handles images differently than most others. You’ll need to post your photo to some other website, such as Imgur or Railimages and then use a link to insert your image here. The first couple of posts in this thread explain the process:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/249194.aspx
Also, until you have posted a couple more times, your posts are delayed for moderation. But stick with it and I am sure that folks will have comments.
Good luck with your layout.
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Before building, perhaps you ought to consider what you learned from the experience from the 1st layout. What would you do differently? My current layout is night/day different than the 1st from the experience. I also enjoyed re-using most of the lumber and the same basic benchwork design--L-girder with 1x4s on top every two feet.
Other questions to consider: what era, location, particular industries, etc. You mention switching, are you planning on puttin an interchange? That's a perfect example for switching and answeirng the question "how did that consist get here."
I was pretty young when I attempted the first one. This time I have done a lot of reading and watching videos etc. I did reuse most of the material. I made everything pretty lightweight and easy to move. Era, I am looking at late transition, early '60s era. Upstate New York and New England for the location. Freelanced. Hopefully you can now see the track plan a couple posts back. I did have some industries that I really wanted but have since made a few changes. I would really like some icing operations, pickle industry, and creamery. I have left the pickle out for right now. Also, I did put in an interchange. For the exact reason you mentioned.
For PC, right-click on your image in Imgur, select "Copy Image address" (or whatever your browser offers), click "Insert/Edit image" on the post window in this forum (looks like a landscape), paste in your copied link, click "OK".
Thanks I saw you could do that, but the preview was really big, so I figured I would just post the link.
Okay, now for some feedback.
First, I really like your plan, looks like you are going to be moving cars from the interchange to the intustries, great! You've got a good mix of facing and trailing point turnouts to, and a nicely placed runaround. I think the layout will provide some good switching challenges but won't be overly annoying.
I have two small thing that you may want to change. Firstly the curved interchange track to the left of the plan looks very tight. I would shorten that 24" straight track and add a wider curve. I don't think alot of equipment can fit on that tight curve.
Other thing is the lead to get to the cold storage track is alot smaller than the cold storage track itself. this will result in you not being able to fit many cars there without doubling the train.
Finally I feel like the crossing to get to the creamery is a bit complex and unessesary, you could consider moving the creamery switch to the cod storage track.
Hope this helps, good luck trackplanning.
And also, just out of curiosity, what did you use to draw up this plan?
Regards, Isaac
I model my railroad and you model yours! I model my way and you model yours!
Dukes Some excellent feedback! Thanks so much! I'm going to make some changes to the plan today! So, look out for a revised plan posting soon! I used Anyrail. It’s a free software you can download here. https://www.anyrail.com/en It can be a bit fiddley when working with small pieces of track, so you have to leave some flexibility when it comes to actually laying track.
Thanks, I was curious what you were using, I started a thread a few days ago on trackplaning programs, and downloaded XTrackCAD. I love it!
Here’s my thoughts:
extend the siding marked 24” to the turnouts, so its a continuous line. Then add a Left hand single crossover so the switcher could runaround the train, using that track as the runaround instead. If you had the option for a 60 degree diamond instead of the 90, I’d use that. Then your interchange track would be a bit longer. I’d over the switchback... they are just so rare in the prototype.
Good luck =-)
The revised plan looks great!
Does AnyRail have a way to "test run" trains like XTrackCAD does? If so I would recommend you use it to test of trains would operate on the layout.
SPSOT fanDoes AnyRail have a way to "test run" trains like XTrackCAD does? If so I would recommend you use it to test of trains would operate on the layout.
I don't think so. Im also using the free version so maybe that is a premium feature. Thanks for the feeback, I'm really happy with the plan now. I intened to document most of the build and things on YouTube.
What popped out at me -
You might move the switch at the creamery to the left 6-8 inches. This will allow for a few more cars on the creamery tracks. That way you could model a less compressed industry at that spot.
Also, you might want to replace the switch that leads from the cold storage lead to the creamery lead with a diamond (crossing), and take the creamery lead off the track that goes to the coal dealer and team track. That way you don't have to keep part of one of the cold storage tracks clear to allow for room for the loco and creamery cars to clear that turnout when switching the creamery.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
PruittAlso, you might want to replace the switch that leads from the cold storage lead to the creamery lead with a diamond (crossing), and take the creamery lead off the track that goes to the coal dealer and team track. That way you don't have to keep part of one of the cold storage tracks clear to allow for room for the loco and creamery cars to clear that turnout when switching the creamery.
That is what I had on my first version of the plan as you can see from my eariler post. Interesting that we thought the same thing. That would also get rid of thw switchback. Oh decisions! I do agree that the creamery could now be made a bit larger by moving the switch further down the line. Thanks for the feedback!