Hey everyone, I need some help. This topic is geared for those who have layouts (or for those who have operated on alot of other layouts). I've got an area of 10 feet 6 inches to play with. Now I'm looking to have an island in the middle of my layout that is 3 feet wide. I need your opinion... do you think that isle spacing of 30 inches is good or bad for both walking and passing others, and having portions of the layout only 15 inches deep is good or bad? I'm looking for as much feedback as possible (good or bad). I've been stuck with this idea for a few days and I'm uncertain if I should jump on it or pass. Thanks.

Bucky... what is the length & width of the room, and what are the diminisions you are "shooting for" with your new layout??? That'll give us more info to work with...

Bob

By island by any chance are you refering to a penisula? Other wise how are you going to hook the island to the rest of the layout? 30" isles and 15" deep benchwork are workable.

Hey Phill,

Unless you're doing a switching layout, you need a minimum of 38 inches for 18 inch radius curves. A shelf style Industrial Switching Layout gives you more floor space without cramping the area. I'm a proponent of island and loop layouts, but from what I'm reading, it would be a tight space all around. The only way that it could work and still give you curves is to do a dog bone style.

A better description of the room or a drawing of the area would be helpful. There's also a thread called the Givens and Druthers on the main page of this forum. If you use this as a guide, then it narrows down what you want to model. Era, equipment, and the focus of what you want to model help in the design of your layout.

Hi Bob, the length of the room is 14 feet, and the width is 11 feet. I'm thinking of running the layout around all 4 walls, but instead of having a duck under, the track would circle back on to itself by the doorway. The walkway in a sense would be in the shape of the letter H . As the "islands" jut out into the middle of the room, one will connect to a double main line via a wye, and the other "Island" is were again, the track would circle back onto itself.
Kinda hard to explain, but easy enough to show on paper. I'm just wondering if an aisleway of 30" is to tight for 2 people to pass, or more importantly, for to people to operate their trains. I'm also wondering if making the layout only 15 inches deep at times, will take away from the perception of depth.
Hopefully this helps clear things up a bit (F.Y.I.) one of the "Islands" is a steel mill facility, so it will require alot of space, and operating people.

I hope the information helps.

Bucky... Are you planning to have the "long" sides of your layout up against the wall, if so a good depth of each "shelf" would be 24 to 30 inches depending on your benchwork height so you can have a workable reach and be able to handle derailments, etc.... if you want to access (walk-around) both sides of those section of your benchwork you could have a 24 inch aisle way on each side and in the middle and two 30 inch wide "shelves" along both long walls of your room.

You could also make those "shelfs" only 24" deep and have a three foot aisle in the center of your layout. (I hope this is clear enough for you to understand my ramblings...)

Bob

Bucky, you have room for a 6X9 in the center with a 30 inch aisle all the way around. placing a divider with a backdrop down the center is another option, a wye could go through the center. Just another thing to think about. It is nice to be able to walk all the way around, with no duckunders.
Charlie

Bucky: do you mean isle or aisle?

An aisle (walkway) of 30" will do most of us -- it's the personal measurements that count at this point. I should check my latest configuration -- I think I go down less than that.

My around the walls goes out to a 30" wide shelf at one point, which is a bit of a reach. My wife's 8'x8' needs special tools to get at the middle.

I'll be a little different and say maybe. It's difficult for us to use the picture in your head so how a rough sketch of the whole room, any obstacles - windows doors, columns etc and the foot print you are considering. Town and yard locations would be very helpful (track plan not necessary)

As for 30", how many operators are you planning to use? Two regular sized operators can get by each other once in a while but it will get old fast if it is constant thing. If you have 2 towns back to back being operated at the same time you will not be happy.

At 30" I would suggest keeping the isle obstruction to a minimum for a more than a couple operators - car card boxes, throttle holders cup holders etc.

ratled

MudHen 462 Wrote:Bucky... Are you planning to have the "long" sides of your layout up against the wall, if so a good depth of each "shelf" would be 24 to 30 inches depending on your benchwork height so you can have a workable reach and be able to handle derailments, etc.... if you want to access (walk-around) both sides of those section of your benchwork you could have a 24 inch aisle way on each side and in the middle and two 30 inch wide "shelves" along both long walls of your room.

You could also make those "shelfs" only 24" deep and have a three foot aisle in the center of your layout. (I hope this is clear enough for you to understand my ramblings...)

Bob

Hi Bob, your advice rings clear as a bell. I just wasn't sure if less than 30" for an aisle is to narrow. Yeah I didn't mention it, but the "long" sides of the layout are against the walls. I'll have to see, but I think your idea of 24" shelves sounds like a great idea. I just wonder though, is having an aisle space of 24" to cramped for more than one operator?

Charlie B Wrote:Bucky, you have room for a 6X9 in the center with a 30 inch aisle all the way around. placing a divider with a backdrop down the center is another option, a wye could go through the center. Just another thing to think about. It is nice to be able to walk all the way around, with no duckunders.
Charlie

Hi Charlie, thanks for the response. I honestly don't care for 6x9. I want to be able to have multiple switching areas, but also enjoy the mainline runs as well. I saw an article in MR about narrow layouts, using less space actually gives you MORE space to run trains. I thought about the duckunder, but I have to agree with you, I don't want to be ducking under anything if I can avoid it.

ratled Wrote:I'll be a little different and say maybe. It's difficult for us to use the picture in your head so how a rough sketch of the whole room, any obstacles - windows doors, columns etc and the foot print you are considering. Town and yard locations would be very helpful (track plan not necessary)

As for 30", how many operators are you planning to use? Two regular sized operators can get by each other once in a while but it will get old fast if it is constant thing. If you have 2 towns back to back being operated at the same time you will not be happy.

At 30" I would suggest keeping the isle obstruction to a minimum for a more than a couple operators - car card boxes, throttle holders cup holders etc.

ratled

Hi ratled, I was actually thinking about having up to 4 people at any given time. I will have 2 operators working the steel mill (1 on each side) and then having industry switching on both sides of the layout. I want to be able to have each operator work a minimum of 6 industries at any given time.

If your savy on computer programs you can check out xtrackcad or something similar for dimensions

Yeah, Bucky a 24" aisle is a tight fit when you have dual operators... but it can be done, as I am restricted to a 24" aisleway, and there is one area at our club layout where it is also a 24" passage way. My pike is land-locked in a "pork chop" shaped room that is 11' long and 4' wide at the narrow end and 7' wide at the "big end". I was lucky to be able to squeeze 24" out of the space. You could also forego the center section and just have two sides with the open end of the layout having a "banjo" end to it, allowing for some good looking wide radius curves, and extar scenic'ing. Just a thought.... Good luck with your decision.

The attached photo shows the early days when I was removing the temporary EZ track and replacing it with MicroEngineering flex.



Bob

Off topic but I want to mention that the soft curve of your backdrop in the room corners looks very good!