A few years ago I started model railroading again but it went on hold due to moving and lack of space. Now things have changed once again, there is more space available, and of course that has to be celebrated by picking up the hobby again. I've brainstormed a bit for layout designs within the limitations: no more than one foot wide shelf and not too long as the whole thing has to be transportable and not too overwhelming but it seemed rather difficult to get something good.

Anyhow, I did come up with the following layout and would appreciate some comments and criticism on whether the layout will work and whether it will be fun (in your opinion at least...)[attachment=1926]

The layout is designed to be built in two parts. I will first build the right hand part, as it contains the switching yard and some industry to have something to do. I'm not sure about the turntable yet, as it might be fiddly, but I need some place for the engines, and this is probably the most stylish solution..

The left hand part has more possiibilities for landscaping but less track, so it probably only works as an extention for the right part. There is a town with a small passenger terminal and an industry. I'm not sure about the track layout around the industries yet, especially the left hand side industry might be unoperable. If for some reason I get the opportunity to expand the layout even more, more modules could be added between the two parts, anything from more narrow modules to loops and whatnot.

The entire two module layout is 8 feet long and 1 foot wide, spurs are designed to hold 12 to 18 inch trains, so short engine and a couple cars.

So that much for this time. I think the left hand side module could be changed a bit. Any comments are appreciated!

Edit: Oh, and it's all N-gauge, small steam engines and two-axle wagons and mostly manual switches (at least most of them).

This reminds me of a layout in the waiting room of the Digitraxx facility in Durango, CO... very similar. The layout looks operable and fun to me. You've got a runaround and a way to turn the engines around for easy delivery of products to industries facing either way. This is HO or HOn3? Keeping in mind that you will be operating short trains, my only concern is the grade needed for the overpass. If you drop one while the other climbs, you can split the difference by 50%. It still looks like you'll need at least a 4% incline.

As I edited my original post, the layout is N, so the trains aren't absurdly short, and the incline shouldn't be too great either I figured that if the right hand section is raised a little bit, then on the left hand section one track can rise half an inch to one inch and the other going to the industry can drop half an inch, which shouldn't be too much given that there is almost two foot of track that the incline can cover. An alternative I've considered is removing the bridge and height difference and add more track, but that'd depend on how much that would add in terms of operability. One industry at most, probably, so I think the bridge is preferable.

I'd suggest that you download a copy of XTrkCad(free), and try laying it out with that (or ask someone on here to do it for you) - I suspect that you will find your run-around will barely hold a car and that your turnouts (as drawn) won't fit - If your board is 12" wide, then your T/T is about 3½" long and the tracks to the roundhouse and the left are about the same - which seems awfully small to me. The turnouts, as you have drawn them are about 3" or less. I don't want to rain on your parade, but that is one of the big problems with hand-drawn trackplans - the drawing never matches reality.

I appreciate your comments! I don't have the tracks here at the moment, and couldn't be bothered to look up the lengths of the turnouts on the web. I'll get xtrkcad and see what will fit. 3 inches probably just holds the smaller engines but it'd be tight.

Looks pretty good.
But like switchman mentioned, hand drawn doesen't beat any a number of the computer track planning programs.
Unless you're like me. If it doesen't fit..get the Dremmel.

Drew it in xtrkcad. Seems to be a bit tricky to use the flex track drawing tools. Moving the connecting track more to the back would allow for a wider curve at the underpass and more room for the turntable and engine sheds.

[attachment=1940]

About track lengths: the typical straight sections are about 4 inch long, turntable is about 4,5 inch so it will hold anything running on the layout.

Maximum train length is about 12-13 inch, though by finetuning 16 could be possible. Cars and engines are about 3 inch each, so with the short option 3 cars and engine and with long option 4 cars and engine. Probably a good idea to go for option 2..

[attachment=1939]

Finetuned a little and now, using shorter rolling stock, five cars plus engine should be possible. Must check how it works out though, size of couplings might increase the actual train length a little.. Lots of space for the turntable now..yay.

Hi tv. This is all on the second plan.
If you move the turnout in the center to the right, you should be able to ease the grade a little bit more.
Also, if you move the turnout on the right going to the upper switchback up as far as it will go, you should be able to rearrange the run around and make it longer.

Loren

Edit,
I forgot this is sectional, you may not want to move that center turnout.

The plan continues evolving.

For your enjoyment I've included some ideas for scenery. The time portrayed is late steam, maybe around 1960. Got some trains in the mail now, and ran some tests on how much train should fit onto the sidings, and it seems that there will be plenty of room for adequate train lenths available.

The thin black lines are height contours, approximately one inch each. I think the inclines around the bridge are both going to approximately 5% (both inclines are about 400mm long and the bridge is to be about 36 to 40mm high.

[attachment=1986]

Question 1: I planned to divide the track into a number of sections (the red blocks denote electrically insulated sections) Does the proposed wiring with multiple controllers and switches for every section of the layout to select with which one to control which section work?

Question 2: On a related note, turntables should typically only conduct power into the direction of where the turntable is pointed at, right? Most likely going to attempt scratchbuilding, so anything should be possible, I guess. Skill being the only limit..

Question 3: I haven't decided yet on the industries. Currently the transport going to happen on the layout is a) passengers from Village to Industry East, (workers can walk to Industry West on foot), b) something from Industry West to Industry East, c) something from Industry East to Industry West. Industry West could possibly be replaced by a hint of a river harbour, so that raw materials could arrive there, be transported to Industry East and be transported back for distribution. There just isn't too much room for such in that corner, so keeping it just an industry might be wiser.

I think one thing to keep in mind with a small switching layout is that you can only model a small area of a much larger railroad. You generally won't have two industries on the layout that "feed" each other. The layout is small enough that 2 industries close enough together to be on the same switching layout would not use railroads to move product, unless you are modeling before 1910. All of your industries should be either destinations or originating points for freight. You could also include a run through mainline that would allow a train to appear from someplace off layout and go through to another location off layout, but that would require hidden staging and take up valuable "real estate." You really don't even need a yard on a small switching layout if you want more industries. You use the "0-5-0" switcher to put trains on the layout or you could make a "fiddle yard" to bring the trains to the layout, and dedicate the entire layout to industries. Since you seem to be running small trains with small equipment, I think your turntable and round house scene may be too big for the space modeled. If you want a turntable, it might be more realistic to model a small turntable such as would have been found at the end of a branch line in the steam era. Instead of a roundhouse, you could either eliminate it altogether and just use the turntable for reversing the locomotive or perhaps a small two stall engine house. These are just a few other ideas to think about as you plan your railroad.

Seems like a very interesting plan, with great comments so far. Seeing the scenery roughed in like that is indeed helpful, as are the little 'trains' on the XtrkCad drawings, for giving a sense of scale.

Reminds me of the 'Gumstump and Snowshoe'. You may want to research that layout for operating ideas.

Galen

ocalicreek Wrote:Seems like a very interesting plan, with great comments so far. Seeing the scenery roughed in like that is indeed helpful, as are the little 'trains' on the XtrkCad drawings, for giving a sense of scale.

Reminds me of the 'Gumstump and Snowshoe'. You may want to research that layout for operating ideas.

Galen

From Carl Arendt's Micro layouts site:

http://www.carendt.com/scrapbook/page38a/index.html

Smile,
Stein

On question 2: Turntable wiring varies with the turntable. I had a Fleishman one (N gauge) where the bridge tracks had little contacts at the ends that powered the tracks they were pointed at. I don't know how many others have this.
Most of the ones I've seen don't have any contact at all -- it's up to the modeller to wire the storage tracks. I use a rotary switch to power the tracks around my turntable but the bridge is always live if the block is selected. When I run the shed at Lostock Junction, there are about 20 toggle switches to power each of the tracks around and the bridge; some tracks have multiple sections. The toggles are mounted around the dial that selects the track for the TT to line up with and there are tracks at both ends (some barely large enough for a handcar!)

Thanks for all the helpful comments.

Russ: yes, the two industries would be awfully close to each other, but isn't that the case on all model railroads? The wooded centre is intended to portray miles of inhospitable terrain instead of the little park it appears to be and should become a sort of a scenic divider. It should hide most of the maximum train length running on the layout.

Galen, Stein: That small layout scrapbook site is really great, some of it really pushing the limits of what is still possible. Sector plates seem to be an interesting feature, but it looks a bit as if those require some rather precise modeling, especially if modeling in n-gauge to make it all work. There might be some influence from the gumstump and snowshoe layout as I've browsed that site rather throughly.

BR60103: Thanks for the info. So the turntable might almost become a project in itself. Might have to reconsider that, though it might add a lot to the operating possibilities.

Anyways, my train leaves in a few hours, back next week.

Right, back working on the layout, I discovered, that there is much more room available for the layout than I expected, so I could decide to even add a balloon loop in a third section but as that would detract from the portability I decided to leave it out for now. Got rid of the turntable and the tricky inclines as well and opted for more traditional switches instead, but left the bridge as a part of the layout albeit in a different place. The two connections to the outside world could later be connected to a third section.

Still not decided on what industries to model. I have plain boxcars, flatcars and a few covered flatcars (for grain and stuff, I think) to play with. That and a dozen small passenger cars to supply the industries with workers.

[attachment=2102]

Going to start building the benchwork tomorrow. If all goes as planned, first progress pictures might follow soon. Yay.