Layout Plan Opinions

[selector]

Well, then, you see to have a great deal of your druthers and necessary thinking and planning figured out.  It is an ambitious project, but it is doable.  You would be wise, if you don't mind a suggestion, to block it out into at least two parts, perhaps four would be better, and do one part of it at a time.  Get one wall up and running, learn and make some errors and adjustments, refine your techniques, and then use the benefits on your subsequent "modules".  This way, you get to play before too long has passed, and you can pause and take a breather before tackling the next sections.  I know from experience that it can become a real grind about the time you are making all the topography so that it gets fleshed out.  It can take forever...or seem that long.

[PRRT1MAN]

The entrance will be on the lower left with a lift out or a drop portion of the layout.  I plan on having  several more sidings  for other industries. Yes I am concerned about the reach for the turntable area bit I gotta have it. I am modeling a place called Lawrence Junction that is near New Castle PA my grandfather worked in that yard/ roundhouse. It wa a PRR line and there is numerous other possibilities to interchange with the NYC and the P&LE. This is my first draft of the layout so I wanted to get some input before I start building. I am plannning on having the layout height pretty high to keep things more at eye level.

Sam

[loathar]

As mentioned, access to the turntable and the duck under thing are going to be a problem. I really wish I would have listened and NOT built a duck under...

[tomikawaTT]

First - Where is the entrance door, and does it swing into the space?

Without looking at the track plan (about which I cannot comment without a detailed knowledge of your prototype and intended operations) the aisles caught my eye instantly.  Unless you have staircase access the duckunder aspect will get old quickly - as in right now if you are (or ever become) an arthritic old coot with very limited flexibility.

Since you have the space, your planning should begin with the 1:1 scale people.  Short reaches and no duckunders will make (Great) Granpaw a happy camper, and aren't that restrictive to track planning.  Designing that way also makes executing the design a lot easier.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with walk-in aisleways in a double garage)

[Autobus Prime]

PT1M:

Big layouts aren't really my specialty. I'll try and look again later. In the meantime, I just want to make some general comments.

It's pretty ambitious. If you've built layouts before, and feel confident, that might not be a problem.

I like the restraint you've shown with yards. You can always add more track, but keeping them small at the start makes it less likely to bog you down in construction.

You may want to leave out the turntable. Turntables can be troublesome, and when combined with lots of tracks and roundhouses, they take up a LOT of space that you could do other fun things with. Since you already have a wye (the TT is on one leg of it), just turn the locos on that, and have a narrower engine terminal with an engine house. There's no length restriction on locos, then; you can turn a T1 or lease some Challengers. Wye-turning is just as prototypical as a turntable, and wyes are made of nicely pre-engineered track sections, and can serve multiple purposes.

Finally, as I said, it is ambitious. What I sometimes like to see in a very ambitious plan is a section that can be completed early and used for fun train running and operation to stave off burnout.

[selector]

That is my kind of layout, but it won't find favour with many who might answer you.   It would be characterized as a railfanning type of layout with little operational value other than your passing siding on the right and the yard, plus the service area.  Unless I am misreading it entirely.  But I like it. 

The only thing not clear to me is accessibility; how will you get from place to place...ducking and scooting between bench components?  Also, it appears to me that your aisles are a bit thin.

[gandydancer19]

For the yard on the left, I would make it a parallelogram(?) in shape. So I would change the bottom ladder so the main exits on the right and the ladder goes up and to the left, and pull it down or stretch it as much as you can toward the bottom. That way all of your yard tracks would be about the same length.

It also looks like there might be an access problem in the roundhouse area and the two yards(?) there. (actually the space between them) Looks like it is quite a reach there even though there is access on both sides

For more comments, you may want to post some of the switching areas by themselves so they can be seen better.

[PRRT1MAN]

Group,

Just started planning my layout. The room is 24x31 I made up a plan in  RTS Freeware from Atlas. Here is a bitmap image of the layout.   What do you think?

 

Sam