I'm starting a new layout.... HO scale... I have a 12' X 20' room over a garage! I've searched the Model Railroader track plan data base but just can't find anything that make me say, "YES!"... I don't want anything "busy" I like simple and some switching....just enough to make it interesting... anyone have any track plans? Ideas? Hands? Anyone?
Thanks... B)
WJ
The Skipper
CEO Gulf Breeze & Holley Railroad
Here's some Kalmbach books you can check out.http://books.google.com/books?q=model+train+track+plansMany have free previews.
Paintschemes?
Railroad?
Era?
What kinds of industry? You don't have to know these, but if you can answer them, maybe you can trick yourself into coming up with a design.
I've found that with my layout, it tended to design itself, that is to say There weren't many plans I worked from, just a lot of how can I work this in? Though sometimnes it would design itself into a corner that didn't work. Now it's waiting to be built
-Morgan
Eastern U.S. Southern States...
L&N..... Roads That Ran in the south....Right at the end of the Steam Era to, lets say.. the 1960's...
I'd like to run some steam... and some early diesel....
I don't want to make the mistake of starting too big. I've been doing this awhile.....but I'd like to do this one right. DCC... Lighting.... Proto type operation... but I don't want to do J.R. Davis Yard...lol..
I'm sure I'll come up with something..... just wanted to see if anyone could spark an idea...
FWIW, here is my approach to this.
You need to ask yourself three questions, and the first two questions should not be skipped:
1) Why do I want to build a model railroad ?
A surprisingly large number of people fail to consider why they want a layout, or just go "because it is cool, duh!" and leave it at that.
Don't skip this step.
No one but you can define why you want a layout and what you expect/hope to get from your layout.
Think about what you hope to get from your layout, and write it down.
For three reasons:
a) there is no "one size fits all" when it comes to how to design two layouts for two widely different purposes.
A layout designed to support you playing dispatcher at a CTC will often be quite different from a layout built mainly to give you a place to show off and take pictures of your detailed model trains, or a layout which can run in continuous display with various animated effects to entertain young grandchildren, or a layout built to allow you to do a lot of yard switching,
Some people like to build, and tear down their layout and start over again pretty much right away after they finish building their railroad. Some people feel that the building part is a necessary evil they have to go through to get to the fun part of running trains, and want to keep it as simple as possible.
b) if you can't explain even to yourself why you want a layout, it may not be the smartest thing to commit to spending quite a bit of money and quite a bit of time on building a layout until you have figured out why you want a layout, and
c) Once in a while when you are working on your model railroad you can do a reality check - are you getting what you wanted from what you are doing? If not, it is probably a good time to change either your goal or your approach :-)
2) What would I like to model ?
Two subphases:
a) Identify a theme, era and location that inspires you
b) Find scenes that inspire you
Different people like different things. Tastes are different. No one but you can define what you want on your layout.
But if you start out with era, location and theme, you are well on your way.
An 1890s narrow gauge logging line in the west is pretty different in character compared to switching in Brooklyn in 1942, which is pretty different to having Budd RDCs carrying passengers to a remote settlement in the arctic north of Canada, which is pretty different from a helper base in West Virginia in the 1950s, which is pretty different from a modern 110 car coal unit trains departing from the Powder River basin in a steady stream of traffic, which is pretty different from a Harry Potter layout, which is pretty different from a Thomas The Tank train layout and so on and so forth.
Tony Koester came up with a smart layout design concept in an early issue of Model Railroad Planning (an annual from the same people who publish Model Railroader Magazine): the Layout Design Element (LDE).
An LDE is a small model railroad scene that is based on modelling a smallish part of a real railroad somewhere and sometime. Inspired e.g. by a photo that grabbed your attention or a place you have lived, or visited or read about or whatever.
By breaking layout design into first designing a small number of scenes you want to model, and then afterwards figuring out how to string your scenes together in the space you have available, the design job gets less overwhelming.
By "small" I mean something on the order of 3 or fewer LDEs for a H0 scale bedroom sized (10x12 foot) layout, and typically fewer than 10 LDEs for a H0 scale basement size layout, even though you obviously can squeeze in more scenes by making each scene smaller, running shorter trains, having more viewblocks that prevent visual interference between scenes etc.
To find LDE candidates, you look at pictures - both pictures of your prototype railroad/area/era, and pictures of other layouts that inspire you.
If you have a location and a theme in mind, it will be easier to figure out what kind of LDEs to look for and where to look.
You have started narrowing down this part - so far you have said:
- early diesel/late steam era (ie 1950s - the L&N retired its last steam engine in 1957) - Southern-eastern US, maybe along the L&N (Louisville and Nashville) - Not too busy
You have your era and location reasonably well defined.
Let's work some more on theme and selecting some scenes you would want to include on your layout:
Some things to think about: Location(s): - Urban, small town or rural area? - Farming communities or industries ? - Mountains/Hills? Forests? Riverfront ? - mainline or branch line ? - RR junction, "on the line" or "end of line" ?
Traffic/Operations: - Express streamlined "named" passenger trains stopping at the Union Station ? - Long through freight trains passing through, possibly dropping off blocks for a local switcher ? - Local switching - one car at a time for various small local dealers ? - Big local industries needing lots of in plant switching ? - Lucius Beebe's "Mixed Train Daily" serving sleeping branch line ?
Have you had a quick google for sources about the L&N to see if you can spot interesting themes or locations ?
If you start from the wikipedia entry on the L&N, you find links to various historical societies and suchlike:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisville_&_Nashville_Railroad
One of those lead on the archieve of the L&N historical society: http://www.lnrr.org/archive/
System maps, junctions, rosters, photos of people, places, structures and junctions.
3) How do I fit what I want into the space I have ?
This is where advice from more experienced layout designers can help you see solutions you maybe hasn't thought of yourself. There are quite a few tricks and tips on fitting in layouts in rooms in various ways.
But the time to worry about the how to model (and to make the decisions on what comprimizes you need to make to make things fit the space) is after finding out why you want a layout and what you want to model.
Think a bit about the why and what, write it down and go through it a few more times on your own.
For some more questions you might want to ask yourself about the why and what, have a look at these web pages which contain more questions you might want to ask yourself in order to narrow down some more what you want:
Byron Henderson's checklist for potensial customers: http://home.earthlink.net/~mrsvc/id13.html
Layout Design SIG primer: http://macrodyn.com/ldsig/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Primer
Good luck with your design!
Smile,Stein
~G4
19 Years old, modeling the Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Cascade Railroad of Western Washington in 1927 in 6X6 feet.
Stein,
I just wanted to tell you what a well thought-out and thorough answer that was. I am actually designing my own first layout and will use your approach to validate what I came up with.
Tim Fahey
Musconetcong Branch of the Lehigh Valley RR
Chief:
There's a lot you can do in 12x20. A nice round-the-wall with a peninsula would probably fit, and lots of other things. I'd pick up a copy of 102 Track Plans - it's on store shelves now. Lots of good info.
One thing that often helps is to run trains as you build, if you can manage it. This helps you try out the track plan.
Since Stein pretty much covered the waterfront, the only thing I would add is my personal opinion, not meant to be taken as a criticism, of asking a bunch of strangers about track plan ideas:
A camel is a horse designed by a committee.
When I was thinking about what I wanted in a layout, I took my favorite prototype routes, added another favorite from half a country away and a fourth from a point two mountain ranges to the northwest, stirred vigorously and poured into a mold - where it hardened to stone-like consistency about 45 years ago and has been totally unchanged ever since. I took NO inputs from friend or foe, gave short shrift to published track plans and settled on something that would satisfy ME. The only outside influence was the first edition of John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation, which taught me how to cram as much as possible of my desired plan into my available space.
Am I pleased with the result? So far, I'm very happy - I LOVE it when a plan comes together!
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Just wanted to add that both Chuck and Autobus Prime has good points - there are many possible ways of designing a layout plan - from copying a published plan made by someone else (from e.g. "102 track plans" or one of the - IMO - spaghetti bowl plans from Thor's Trains) to designing it without asking for input or advice from anyone else. And everything in between. There is no single "correct" answer - whatever works for you works for you.
I also recommend Armstrong's "Track Planning for Realistic Operations" - I have found that just simulating train movements (with computer, pen and paper or moving my thumb along the track plan) while I am drawing looking at a plan allow me to think through a track plan, and see if it seems realistic (ie workable).
But for me, looking at the prototype makes it easier to use that as a starting point and work on from there. And asking for advice on some aspect of the plan often makes the plan better - at least for me.
Like in this forum discussion where a good exchange of ideas and comments lead to me changing how my warehouse district looked: http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/133902.aspx
Grin, Stein