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Traingeek, We are talking HO, Right?? You are expecting a lot for a small space. Large Equipment, small space, long trains ...something has got to give. A 30 car train of 40' cars in HO is roughly 16' long. A 40 car train would be 22' or more. Switching or running around a train that long in your space might prove difficult. What about passing sidings in your plan? I would suggest some hard thinking on what aspect you want most. What type of layout are you building? Do you need a continous run? Switching? Staging?? Large equipment?? What type of scenery?? To me this is the hardest part: Making those compromises to fit the space. An around the room track plan would be better suited to your space given the size of the equipment you are going to run. It appears you are going to waste a huge amount of space on your two turnback loops. Two 4' diameter blobs are going to take a huge percentage of the space available just turning the trains. What about a fairly high deck height that is an around the room plan with 30" radius curves and a peninsula island that sticks out into the 14' side off the room??? A duck under at the door is the drawback to this plan. If the bench work is high enough this isn't so bad. Check out the Armstrong book for more Ideas: Track Planning for Realistic Operation. I would carefully look at the equipment you are going to run and your available space. Large equipment and small rooms means a simpler track plan will be the order of the day. At any rate I wouldn't lower the minimum to 22" on the radius, I think it will look bad and may have operational difficulties, particulary with long trains. I think it can be done in the space you have, you may not get everything you want on the layout, but then again who does??? I'm sure others have some ideas for you. My two cents, Guy
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