My home layout - from planning to completion

[railbuilderdhd]

Hey folks,

I've been working on a home layout plan for many years now. Over the years many things have influenced the layout and caused me to make many changes. Like I had to give up part of the room because we needed it when we had our son. And speaking of my son, I've lost many years of time on this layout. Now, he is 4 and very interested in trains so I get to have some focus on the layout. I even have a helper now (hehehe boy, a real help).
Anyway, I'm building the bench work now and about done with that part. I'm just about done with the final plan for the layout so I thought I would share it here and get any feedback I could on what I'm planning. This image is not very detailed but you can see the track and get an idea of the location of the main items going into the layout.

Please give me any feedback you can as I would love to hear what you think.

Dave

[lajry]

Looks like a few feet on right side are missing from your plan. Would add Xovers to right & left of the top siding on blue line so loads & empties can run between the red & blue lines. Is cement going to be the only industry on this layout? Is all the cement going to be consumed on your layout or interchanged to other RRs?

[railbuilderdhd]

Looks like a few feet on right side are missing from your plan. Would add Xovers to right & left of the top siding on blue line so loads & empties can run between the red & blue lines. Is cement going to be the only industry on this layout? Is all the cement going to be consumed on your layout or interchanged to other RRs?

Hi Andy,

I'm not sure what you are saying is missing from the right side. I will be adding more crossovers as I can see I need them.
The thought of who is consuming the goods from the cement plant have not been totally worked out at this point. I hope to have an industry (GERN) that will use it for a product but I'll need to work that out after the track is settled. If the delivery will be off the layout or on layout only has not been thought about. This will be more for my son to play with trains and I can operate some as well. I also want to have a place to model scenery so I can take photos of my trains.

Thank you for the input and please share any thoughts as I love to hear ideas because it only helps me build a better layout. Being my first "real" layout I need this input.

Dave

[railbuilderdhd]

Well, I was able to sketch in new tracks and more info but not with the track layout program yet. I'm now thinking I want to have the layout on the left top side under scenery. This will hide the yard and give me more area for scenery. I will need to work out the details but I have one thing going for me. I can have the yard go down in elevation a little because I'm using a layer of foam on the bench work.

I've made some changes to the switch areas and I've connected the top main line to the bottom engine facility entrance. This will require more help figuring out how to wire this correctly but I'm sure it's not that hard to get correct.

Let me know what you think about it now.

Dave

[teejay]

I'll give you me 2 pesos worth ....let me know if I'm missing something .

1. Looks like the red track will or could be a continuous run track ....maybe for interest to your youngster .

2. The blue track is where most of the day to day work is performed in the cement operation . Empty cars are stored to the right of the quarry , picked up and taken to the quarry where they are filled .....so there are 2 types of rolling stock at the quarry : empties and fulls .

3. The full quarry cars are picked up and taken to the cement plant where the raw product is processed into cement . They won't keep cement there so it has to be pulled away to a fictitious location . So you will have full ore cars , emptied ore cars , full cement cars and empty cement cars in that area to move around . The green track could be used for both of the various ore cars and cement cars but it might be tricky .

If it was me , I'd TACK ( not permanently fasten ) all the track work down , no scenery , and run trains to see what snags will occur . I think you have possibilities in your plan but it needs to run smoothly due to space limitations . You may need more crossovers in various areas , especially yrads .

T

[railbuilderdhd]

Well, I'm getting close to the final trackwork I'll be doing. I may have a few tweaks from here but over all I'm happy with the tacks. I have worked the elevations and I can get 3.5" clearance from track to track with a max of 2.45% grade. Not to bad I figure for even running a container car if I like. I'll add those details soon.

The added yard to the left area can be worked later. For now I need to get the rest of the track work done so we can run trains. My son is getting to a point he thinks this will never happen (he's 4 so it's been a long time). I fixed the space around the cement plant so I can get a yard in there with a little room for scenery. I'm open to hear what you folks think.

Dave

[railbuilderdhd]

T

Thanks for the input. I agree I will not attach the track permanently until I've run the trains to test the layout. Other points sound good too. Thanks for the input.

Love to hear what you think of the new layout design now. I'm about done with this software part of the layout and work on the track now. My first box of trak is here now and I'm about ready to get the top of the bench in place. Need some more wires in place first.

Wayne, you notice the siding to the top right? maybe a wet wall board or a new plaster that dries 3% faster and is 3% stronger. Great for walls in a gym or something like that. he he he

Dave

[railbuilderdhd]

Well folks, I'm sure you figure the day would never come when I was doing more then just a track plan. LOL Here are a couple progress shots of what I've been doing. You can see the bench work is done and I'm laying down the sub terrain foam work now. I have some bugs (ha ha some) to work out like the placement of bridges and the location of the quarry. I want that set before I start cutting the plywood for the below grade quarry. The bridges are getting worked out as I do the sub terrain area. The layout has a bus line wired all over below the top. I plan to hand cloth below the top to cover all the mess below the layout. I also plan to have some carpet or other for the walkways. I have noticed the floor is cold with only the peel and stick tiles.

I'm sure I could go on and drive you all crazy so I'll just post the photo and let you go back to what you are doing.





Dave

[MountainMan]

Hi Andy,

I'm not sure what you are saying is missing from the right side. I will be adding more crossovers as I can see I need them.
The thought of who is consuming the goods from the cement plant have not been totally worked out at this point. I hope to have an industry (GERN) that will use it for a product but I'll need to work that out after the track is settled. If the delivery will be off the layout or on layout only has not been thought about. This will be more for my son to play with trains and I can operate some as well. I also want to have a place to model scenery so I can take photos of my trains.

Thank you for the input and please share any thoughts as I love to hear ideas because it only helps me build a better layout. Being my first "real" layout I need this input.

Dave

Might consider an interchage with another railroad where cargo can be transferred out into the rest of the world. That gives a reason for all sorts of things, and all sorts of rolling stock from other lines, to be moving on and off your rail system.

[LynnB]

Always a great day when foamboard is going down.