17' x 2' Switching Layout ideas 3 Rail

This is a switching layout incorporating a car float as the source for traffic and an industrial area reached by some street running.  The industrial area is a Timesaver.  You can have both a ferry and mainline providing traffic for transfer between the two and for local industries.  I've shown the ferry within the 2' width, but it can be separate from the layout.

Jan

Obviously it is different strokes for different folks but personally I don't like switchback sidings. I've tried a couple iterations and for me it is too much puzzle and not enough railroading. I found myself focusing on the move-the-empty-hole game and losing sight of the idea of a real train spotting cars at customer's businesses. The PER is a switching Pike which operates well with just four track switches.

The East End has two switches and three stub-sidings forming a modified Inglenooks switching puzzle. There are four [customer] car spots and room for several more cars:

Depending on the particular pick-ups and set-outs it can take 30 min real time to do the work here.

The West End has a single longer siding with spots for four cars and storage for two more:

Drilling cars into the required order at the Paint Factory can get interesting, requiring some thought to minimize the number of moves.

These two pics show the relationship between the East End and West End:

The fiddle yard Interchange  where trains are broken down and put together is in an adjacent room:

If I had more space it would be devoted to a small (4 track) Interchange yard which would add another full operating scenario.

Both plans are effectively just a timesaver, which can be accomplished in o scale in about 10 feet. In 17, you should be able to do quite a bit more with the space.

The “puzzle” will get old quick, come up with a plan that has a purpose taking cars from A to B

@Boilermaker1 posted:

The “puzzle” will get old quick, come up with a plan that has a purpose taking cars from A to B

I agree not because I have ever ran trains on a Timesaver based layout, but I have read in a couple different places that it is a great game but not a usable switching layout.  Do a search on the forum for switching layouts and some should pop up.

Thank you for the feedback.   I have an additional plan that gets rid of the runaround track and is more like an expanded Inglenook. My thought is the bottom track would be an interchange, The middle track is the main line and then the rest as sidings. In the future, I hope to expand the layout off both ends with the right end going to a balloon track with something like a coal mine or power plant and the left side extending to staging plus more layout.

I kind of like the idea of having the ability to use the layout for a puzzle game in addition to more prototypical operations. If I used something like the Inglenook or Timesaver but just made the sidings longer and used fewer cars, I wouldn't think it would be as frustrating. Lets say that I would make a plan that has is Inglenook like but the lead track it longer. For regular operations, I could use all of the track but if I feel like switching the puzzle, I could include a road crossing at the distance from the turnout that would be correct for the proper Inglenook puzzle. When playing the game, the locomotive can not go passed the crossing.

I really like the Cleveland Flats and Fort Smith Railroad plans so I am hoping to create something similar but use one additional turnout.

Thanks again for all of your thoughts.