Help..what should I do for layout?

[Anonymous]

Ok..I have 3 tracks on the mantel that I use right now for play and practice! Getting ready to start my floor layout(Off floor) Room space is not alot..But i`am able to do around 6x9 maybe a foot or more..Depends where I put it at in the house! Does anyone have a good layout that I could use? I have looked in few books and really dont see anything I like..The kids and the better half are into the railway as well..So I need a layout that is able to run 2 main line Locos and 1 yard..and maybe a 4th for my 4 year old...Which he loves the hobby! Thanks for the help!

[egmurphy]

Darren

It's normal for most of us to struggle to find the right layout plan. Normally in this phase there's no substitute for looking through stacks of old model railroad magazines or books on track plans. Usually you won't find the exact layout, but you find one that's close, and you work with that as a basis and tweak it. Or you find a couple of different ones with ideas that you can combine. Are you anywhere in a city that has a decent library with access to back issues of Model Railroader or Railroad Model Craftsman? Is there a good LHS (Local Hobby Shop) nearby that has a selection of track planning books?

A couple of thoughts. 6x9 is good, but consider that 6' is at the limits of what you can comfortably access reaching across the layout, if you have clear access on all sides. If this will be against the wall you really need to consider that you can only comfortably reach and work on items that are within 2-1/2 feet from the edge. Depending on where you will be locating your layout you might want to think about making a cutout in one side to make it more of a C shape. Or even a shallow cutout in each side, making it more of an hourglass shape.

Arranging the wiring so that you can run a separate engine in the yard is no problem. For running two road engines you have two principal options (other than considering DCC). First, you can run two trains on one mainline loop, assuming that you have it divided up into separate electrical blocks and that you have at least two passing sidings as long as the longest train you anticipate running, as the trains will meet twice each time around. The second involves constructing two separate mainline loops. These could be side by side as in a double track mainline, or two totally independent loops that cross each other by bridges. The first option will require you to pay constant attention to the two trains as you will need to keep switching block selectors and siding switches.

I think trying to add a third separate loop (for your son's train) might get to the point where you only have space for the three loops and not much else. That's something you need to sketch out.

Another option on controlling trains/engines independently would be to use DCC as your control system. This is something I'm not familiar with except to know that it eliminates the need for the block wiring, and relies on electronic signals sent through the rails to each engine, with a decoder chip in the engine to receive and interpret the signals. (Disclaimer - that was the 2 cent explanation of DCC by someone who isn't familiar with it.)

Okay, digest that and ask more questions. We'll gradually narrow it down.

Regards

Ed