Planning a Passenger Train Layout and need advice!

[ghonz711]

Hello fellow modelers,

I am in the process of designing an HO scale model railroad in a spare room of my house. It is only 10 feet by 10 feet, but i am really interested in modeling a city passenger terminal. Since my layout is set in the 1940's i was hoping i could include a steam engine servicing terminal and a small coach yard. Any advice would be great!

Thanks!

Ghonz

[markpierce]

Checked "back issues ' at the Model Railroader site and found 42 HO scale track plans fitting within 10by10 feet. While it might take a bit of effort and expense to acquire the referenced articles, they'll give you a start. I suggest you think what prototype you might like to emulate when you review the various plans and modify them to your liking.

[tgindy]

Two quick suggestions for prototype emulation ideas...

[1] http://www.northeast.railfan.net/ => Go to the left side and hit the "buildings" link and you'll find over 150 pictures. There's also a link on the left side to many Canadian websites for ideas.

[2] http://www.bookcloseouts.com/ => Type "America's Railroad Stations" in the search, and you'll find a handful left of an 89-page book reduced to $6.99 plus shipping with fifty American passenger stations.

[tomikawaTT]

10 by 10 should be plenty of space for what you want, as long as you're willing to settle for 'selectively compressed' trains. (Some long distance passenger trains in the transition area would be over twenty feet long if modeled with a full complement of full length cars.) The only thing you need to provide is adequate staging to hide the trains that have departed for points elsewhere, and a balloon track so they can come back at the timetable-appointed time.

I'm modeling a small city with heavy, mostly through, passenger service. Four platform tracks handle everything that needs to be 'on stage' at any given time, but there are ten hidden tracks to hold the 'actors' awaiting their cues.

Passenger operation can be fun. Combining it with freight operation is even more fun.

Chuck

[Anonymous]

Kalmbach's Small Smart & Practical Trackplans includes an 8x12 L-shaped 'Union Terminal' layout. (I was just re-thumbing through the book this evening) The plan is N Scale, but should give you lots of ideas. If you're building around more than 2 walls of the 10x10, this should translate pretty well to HO.

Cheers,
Maureen

[MisterBeasley]

Ghonz - my layout is 5x12 feet in HO. I run a passenger train with F7 A-B-A for power and 5 cars. The cars are 72-footers, equipped with Talgo trucks to handle my 18-inch radius curves. I love this train, but I'd have to say it's too big for my layout. So....have you considered N-scale? If you really want a layout which is predominantly passenger trains, then the tight turns required for a 10x10 would look far better in N than in HO.

Now, what I would do for a layout with a Union Station theme is build all the way around the walls, with a liftup / duckunder / Dutch Door to get the track around the doorway. From one wall, I'd extend a peninsula out into the center of the room. The station would go on the peninsula, which would let it be one leg of a wye, while the other 2 legs would be against the walls. That way, you can have a turning wye for your trains to back them into the station. Your coach yard could be along that same wall. The trains would have a long run all the way around the room, and you could run continuous loop with one train while switching in the yard and station.

[DigitalGriffin]

It's very difficult to achieve everything you want in a 10x10. During the 1940's, you had pullman passenger cars that are quite lenghtly. They really don't look right going around a 18" curve. 22" is your best bet.

I had an L shaped room what was 15x15 and I barely managed to squeeze everything in. It has 22" curves, the city station by custom model railroads in Baltimore, a SMALL yard, a Walthers 130' TT, 3 stall modern roundhouse, hidden staging with the hidden loop for a longer run, and a liftout section for entry. (Right mid section where the entry door was)


Sadly as I got all of my track down, I had to rip it all apart because I moved.

Here it is. If you want the atlas real track software plan let me know.

~D

[ghonz711]

QUOTE: It's very difficult to achieve everything you want in a 10x10. During the 1940's, you had pullman passenger cars that are quite lenghtly. They really don't look right going around a 18" curve. 22" is your best bet.

I had an L shaped room what was 15x15 and I barely managed to squeeze everything in. It has 22" curves, the city station by custom model railroads in Baltimore, a SMALL yard, a Walthers 130' TT, 3 stall modern roundhouse, hidden staging with the hidden loop for a longer run, and a liftout section for entry. (Right mid section where the entry door was)


Sadly as I got all of my track down, I had to rip it all apart because I moved.

Here it is. If you want the atlas real track software plan let me know.

~D

Incredible layout! I would love to take a look at the plans. as long as they are compatible with RTS 7.0 that would be great!

QUOTE: Ghonz - my layout is 5x12 feet in HO. I run a passenger train with F7 A-B-A for power and 5 cars. The cars are 72-footers, equipped with Talgo trucks to handle my 18-inch radius curves. I love this train, but I'd have to say it's too big for my layout. So....have you considered N-scale? If you really want a layout which is predominantly passenger trains, then the tight turns required for a 10x10 would look far better in N than in HO...

I would love to switch now but unfortunatly the current collection of HO scale locomotives i have is not something i wi***o give up. I am a huge fan of the Canadian National Railway and certainly hope to base my HO scale layout on that.

QUOTE: 10 by 10 should be plenty of space for what you want, as long as you're willing to settle for 'selectively compressed' trains. (Some long distance passenger trains in the transition area would be over twenty feet long if modeled with a full complement of full length cars.) The only thing you need to provide is adequate staging to hide the trains that have departed for points elsewhere, and a balloon track so they can come back at the timetable-appointed time.

I'm modeling a small city with heavy, mostly through, passenger service. Four platform tracks handle everything that needs to be 'on stage' at any given time, but there are ten hidden tracks to hold the 'actors' awaiting their cues.

Passenger operation can be fun. Combining it with freight operation is even more fun.

Chuck

Great idea! I will try putting something together. If your layout is completed, i would love to see some photos [:D]

QUOTE: Two quick suggestions for prototype emulation ideas...

[1] http://www.northeast.railfan.net/ => Go to the left side and hit the "buildings" link and you'll find over 150 pictures. There's also a link on the left side to many Canadian websites for ideas.

[2] http://www.bookcloseouts.com/ => Type "America's Railroad Stations" in the search, and you'll find a handful left of an 89-page book reduced to $6.99 plus shipping with fifty American passenger stations.

Interesting website. Thanks! [:D]

Well thanks alot for all of your advice. I will get working on a plan and i hope i will have something to show you soon. If you still have other ideas you are willing to share, that would be great!

Thanks again!

Ghonz

[ghonz711]

I have quickly drafted a track plan and i tried to base it on the information that you gave me. The tracks at the far right will lead to staging and a reverse loop that will be located under the engine terminal. Please give me some feedback. Any little bit would help.



if that doesn't work, then go to http://www.freewebs.com/ghonzish/
it is the last entry on the home page!

Thanks again!

Ghonz

[tomikawaTT]

Looks good for a start. A couple of items of trackwork:

1. Escape crossovers at the stub ends of platform tracks. If the road loco heads in, it can cross over and get out. Otherwise, a switcher would have to pull the entire train out of the way to release the loco so it can get to the engine service yard. If you're planning to use that central wye to reverse trains and back in, this will not be an issue - but backing a train through puzzle switchwork might be.

2. Are you planning to use four double slip switches on the left? If you don't, you'll have to spread the turnouts out to eliminate S-curves. Building it as drawn will be an adventure if you use all commercial products.

3. You will need a runaround track somewhere to switch the REA building. The RPO lead can be switched easily.

4. You might consider adding a spur for a commissary to service your diners and lounge cars.

5. Assuming that the little square over the turntable lead is a coaling station, you should have a separate spur for the hoppers that service it. Also, consider using water cranes and moving the water tank to a more remote location to free up ground for a couple of open-air radial tracks off the turntable.

In addition to your passenger consists you should have a service train - a couple of hoppers, possibly a reefer for the commissary, and possibly a car or two for the industry you could tuck into the bottom right corner. Put a switcher on one end of it and a 'dog house on a raft' transfer caboose on the other, and run it once a shift to keep your terminal area supplied.

My own layout is under construction, and that through station is just a 2 x 8 foot stretch of featureless plywood with a couple of temporary tracks on it. Building the throat (including double slips) is still a few months in the future.

Chuck.

[ghonz711]

Thanks alot Chuck.

Without your advice i would totaly missed those points areas. I actually do have a commissary area just on the farthest coach yard track. near the Train Shed. The switches on the left are double slip swiches. I am thinking if i drop the double crossover bellow the REA spur then i will not need double slips. I really like your idea about the service train and will include it in any operations that I will have. I will start comming up with another plan that will include the other details that you have givin me.

Thank you very much

Ghonz

[whitman500]

One example to look at that maybe helpful is in MR's Railroads of the 1950s special issue (it came out last summer but is probably still available at hobby shops). It features a layout built around Dearborn station in Chicago which is recreated in something like a 4 x 14 area. The track plan might give you some ideas.

[ghonz711]

I have completed a new track plan based on what some of you have told to try and fix. I would be happy if you could critique this one as well.



Thanks a lot

Ghonz

[MisterBeasley]

I'm afraid you'll get bored, unless your only interest is scenery. You really can't "switch" passenger operations, so a lot of the interest is maintaining a schedule while running multiple trains. For a small layout, that implies some capability of continuous running.

I would move the terminal to the center track, and turn it so it's vertical in your track plan, with the dead-ends at the top and the connection to the layout at the wye. It's the focus of the layout anyway, so you might as well put it in the middle of the room. Besides, then you can see it from both sides. This might mean making the center track a duckunder rather than a removeable bridge, but such are the sacrifices we must make for art.

The removeable track on the right is fine, but instead of terminating it, you can connect it up to a loop where the terminal used to be. I would branch to a double-track at the top of your diagram, so you can put a small-town station up there, and have the local commuter train wait in the station while the express goes past.

The trouble with a single passing track like I've suggested is that it requires another passing track across the way so you can run two trains in opposite directions, with careful timing and periodic meets at the passing tracks. Fortunately, you have room to do that at the bottom of the layout, below the wye. Shift the wye and turntable up, and you can put in a passing siding there, too.

This is one of those nice projects that you can plan for one era, but easily change by swapping out your diesels for steam. A few cars from the 40's, 60's and 90's will let you span a lifetime just by swapping rolling stock.

[ghonz711]

MisterBeasley

Good ideas. I am in the experimental stage of a simmiliar layout with some of your thoughts in it. I will keep you posted.

In the mean time, any other ideas are welcomed. Thank you all for your help so far.

Ghonz

[byob]

Sorry to bring up such an old post but I though Digital Griffen's plan was really interesting.  As well, I am begining to plan (in N) a model of Winsor station or Gare Central in Montreal; perhaps a kind of freelance conglonmeration of the two.  Being interested in Passenger opps leaves me a bit out of place with many model railroaders and I thought this post might do for another go.  There was another great track plan for passenger opps in the "user plan" section of the train player websight.

[DigitalGriffin]

Hi Byob,

I received your PM.  Unfortunately the reply back link seems to be broken.

If you can PM your email address I'll send you the Atlas RTS files.

[byob]

Don,

Thanks so much for your assistance.  Sent e-mail.

Billy