I am in advanced stages of planning an around the room basement HO layout. The General room size is 16x 22' with a door on the corner of the short side.
I have two choices: a 76' around the room layout (plus 25' peninsula) or have the layout climb and gain an additional 30' of layout (so basically 1.5x mainline) by doing a Nolix.
I have have worked out a plan where I can gain 11" around the room after providing for all towns and sidings ... 2.5% grade. The 11" is tight, but in that area it will be a single track main on a 9" wide shelf so should not be intrusive on the deck below.
Great so far, but I do worry about constant grade ... runaway trains and such. What do you folks think? Is a Nolix worth it? I will have one 5' siding that will be on grade (so stock parked on the siding will roll unless secured). Should I absolutely avoid it?
NP.
Are you trying to get from one deck to another? Are there obstacles you need to clear?
My layout is very similar to yours, maybe slightly bigger. It works for me. You shouldn't need a constant 2.5% grade, more likely a way to ramp up and down between stations, I would think. My grades are generally 2.5% You can make sidings on a grade safer by installed a handbrake that keeps them from rolling away. I use a choke cable that comes up between the rails.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
LION uses both, sort of. The helix (1.5 turns) is on the east blob, the west blob is 6' wide x 18 feet long. Two full turns around this table takes you up to the top level, two full turns down takes you to the lower level. Levels are about 15 inches apart going up and 10 inches apart going down.
LION cannot reach the middle of the table, but who cares, there is nothing in there anyway.
Helix:
Inside the "Nolix" Top level is seen in the back, the table deck is the lower level, the middle level is not seen here is only present on the left side where the track enters from middle level. Backdrops will further obfuscate the void in the middle.
Here is "front" of "nolix" The bridge is on the middle level, the bottom level is below that. The 2" foam is on the up ramp (levt to right) present on both sides of the table, the BRD is on the top level on that 3/4" pink foam. Not really visible is the "Secret Tunnel" connecting Brooklyn to the Bronx, it passes just behind that blue backdrop and ramps down left to right.
Here is the infamous "back side" of the railroad. From bottom to top: Courtland Street Station on the Lower Level, behind that the Nevins Street Station which will be at the lower level once it gets to that back wall. Above that is the Lenox Avenue station, turning to the left from this level would put you on the middle level of the layout. Lenox and Nevins are down grade left to right.
Above these is the 8th Street Station and above that the top level at Coney Island, these are going up left to right. This is against the wall, and while there are stations here, it will remain somewhat unfinished for easier access to the tracks. It is less than a 2' wide isle between the table and the window.
These are the ideas from the LION, ewe of course will build what you want, but if your room is wide enough there are 9 stations on this table, and stations of LION are four feet long to accomodate a six car (300') long subway train.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Mike: Yes, the nolix is to get from one deck to another, but I canot gain more than 30 (actual) feet of mainline. I never noticed yours was a double deck layout.
Lion: Do you find operational challenges with grade "everywhere"? I too have long stations ... 6' minnto accommodate an engine and five super liners.
I am am just basically trying to understand if Nolix grades are worth the effort if I want gaining a whole level, but only about 1/2 level.
NP01Lion: Do you find operational challenges with grade "everywhere"? I too have long stations ... 6' minnto accommodate an engine and five super liners.
Yes, But...
When originally built there were no helixi just one heck of a steep grade. My locomotives had no trouble with it. The Lifelike subway cars did have a problem, that is when I hadded the helix etc.
Still some have problems in some places, but the newst batch of subway cars from Walthers/Life-like would not even move very well on the flat. So, LION bought a NWSL direct replacement motor! My what a difference. It will do at 8 volts what the others could not do at 10. But of course this means that I will have to replace all of the motors now. But that is worth it.
Other than that, the grades are no problem for the line of the LION.
NP01Mike: Yes, the nolix is to get from one deck to another, but I canot gain more than 30 (actual) feet of mainline. I never noticed yours was a double deck layout.
OK, then you have rather fixed goals here and limited space to achieve them. If the no-lix is basically to gain elevation, then most or all can be on a grade. Spurs can level out and may be OK for standing cars. Sidings tend to follow the grade, but the hand brakes I mentioned can solve the problem of car rolling away.
My layout didn't start out double decked, but end up that way as I incorporated more staging, then made part of it scenic under Silverton and by adding the Cascade Branch, which partly is over mys SG staging. I have NG staging under Durango, too, reached by a short helix. These pics from the doorway in the main room and in the staging/Cascade Barnch room illustrate it, more or less.
pics to come shortly
I used a nolix to partially doubledeck my layout, but it was part of the original plan, with concessions made to better accommodate it.In the drawing below, the area in grey is double-decked, with the area below lower than the rest of the single-decked portion. The nolix is mostly on the peninsula, and starts at South Cayuga. The climb is mostly 2.5%, and is about 45' long. Also starting at South Cayuga, and also at 2.5%, is the line down to the lower level.
South Cayuga is at an elevation of about 44", with the upper level at 59". The line to the lower level cuts across the base of the peninsula (through a tunnel) and drops down to about 37" at Elfrida, giving a 22" separation between lower and upper levels.
Here's a view down the aisle between South Cayuga and the peninsula, with the tracks at the end of the aisle heading heading both up and down. The upbound one also appears in the right foreground:
Here's a view down one aisle of the double-decked portion, with Elfrida to the left and Lowbanks in the right foreground:
This is the multi-level staging area:
The two tracks at the lowest level cross the aisle on a lift-out to Port Maitland on the lower level, while the two on the next level and the five above those enter the two-tiered single level at Dunnville. There are seven tracks on the upper staging level, and they also cross a lift-out at the door. Construction of the second level is ongoing.
Wayne
Finally, some pics, having some trouble with the file I was trying to use, so will try an alternative. Here's looking back across Durango on the center penisula towards Silverton on the far side. The track climbs out of Durango to your right, curves around behind the viewer on the wall, circling to come out and connect into Silverton from the viewer's right.
Under Silverton is the only real area with two decks of scenery totally separate. The standard gauge loops around in a giant dogbone and enters staging behind the wall that's behind the viewer in the pic above. Ths next pic shows what you'd see if you'd turn to the right and follow your train upgrade as it leaves Durango.
The following pic shows Rockwood, behind the viewer in the first pic above, with the track climbing to Tefft toward the right.
Tefft is visible past the penisula with Durango on it. This is where the double deck begins.
The Pennsylvania's Horseshoe curve is a nolix. Instead of going across the valley at about 4%, the track was lenghtened by going around the valley. This reduced the grade to about 2.2%.
South Penn
Thanks again, Mike, Wayne and Lion.
Where you have a grade solely to switch decks but not actually to model a mountain climb, does it feel "wrong/unnatural" to you as you look at and scenic 2.5% rather than flat?
Do you feel the operational fidelity is compromisedbso that the Nolix only feels worthwhile if you are gaining a lot of trackage?
NP,
My layout seems pretty scenic to me, so it's not just the getting there that counts. My grades in the pics are pretty much around 2.5%, so a comparison is possible. Basically two grades illustrated here are on either side of Rockwood, which is virtually level.
Adding Nolix to layout of LION gave the LION three more subway stations. They are sort of stacked one atop the other, so in your mind you have to separate them. Getting that last piece of fascia in will help.
If I count the peninsula used to gain altitude, I doubled my mainline run and added three towns to the five already served. Since each town will have industries that require switching, operational possibilities are increased.While the peninsula is not yet sceniced (much of the landforms aren't yet in place) it is intended to model a grade and will be the only place where the tracks are in "open country", rather than in or between towns which are otherwise too closely-spaced.It is also meant to be an operational feature, with almost all trains requiring doubleheaded locomotives and, occasionally, pushers, too. Because of this, all of my locomotives have tonnage ratings, another operational plus in my opinion.
As you can see in my second photo, the 2.5% grades up and down in the same area really emphasise themselves, but I hope to mitigate that contrast with a lot of trees obscuring the view.
From my personal experience with a room about the same size, I don't think you have enough linear distance for a Nolix unless you are modeling steep mountain grades. One usually needs level areas to park cars at industries, yards, etc., too.
Victor A. Baird
Fort Wayne, Indiana
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You can see it in my pics, but here's some numbers on my nolix. The run is roughly 30' to get from one deck up to where another deck has enough clearance to work. The grade is 2.5%. This length of run includes Rockwood, which is level and roughly 8' long. This all takes place in one end of the room that is roughly 16' x 16' square.
Hope this helps if you need to figure if it'll work for your situation. You'd probably want more separation of the decks with some additional run, but that should be easy enough to figure out.