8 1/2' X 10' Layout - Comments/Suggestions?

OK - here's an attempt at something.  I borrowed the wife's computer and was able to download SCARM (can't do it on mine).  My skills are very basic, but you should get  the idea. 

 

Basically I went with two loops.  The outer loop is elevated.  The inner loop is reversible and the loops with tight curves are all in a tunnel so they are hidden.  You can try to play with spacing to maximize space and spurs - I tried and got frustrated not being good with SCARM.  If you like the parallel tracks on either side of a river, you can do it along the back wall - you'd just need to add a declining grade on that outer loop so they are at ground level at that point.

What do you have, a Mac?  Thats my problem.  I can put scarm or rrtrack on my computer.  I can on my desktop, but that thing restarts itself every 5 minutes.  
Anyway, I was going to try an elevated track like you have there, but I ran into not being able to connect the outer and inner loops.  Thats a feature I'd like to have so that I can run any of my trains on any of the tracks.

I did some measuring last night and I think I can extend the length of my area by 12-20 inches by blowing out a wall.  I may be able to elevate one of the tracks with that gained space and do a reverse loop like you have shown.  We will see. 

Not a Mac.  My computer is a company one and controls on it restrict me from downloading any software.

 

I think you can connect the outer (upper) loop and the inner one in my design up at the top (far end) of the diagram.  This is where I got stuck last night trying to figure out how to do elevations in the software.  If you start the decline at the near end of the room, you should be at table level by at least the midpoint of the back run.  That would give you the ability to crossover from the inner and outer loops.  You'd obviously need to verify the grades, but I believe it should be doable.

 

And I like seeing you're considering "blowing out a wall."  Now you're getting into the spirit!  Watch out, soon you'll be like some of the experienced guys on here who design entire houses around one giant train room!

Ace is really good with scarm and elevations. I have worked with scarm myself and it is pretty nifty once you get the hang of it. I am hoping the scarm designer can emulate the mth library so I can have a complete realtrax library to have a better overview. Elevations are pretty sweet once you figure out how to do them. Nice layout Mike. I have yet to acquire more track. I'm in sort of a holding pattern since my last assault on the credit card was so successful. I also need to review my power needs for my layout so lot of capital will be required.

Mike, what are you usng now? 

 

I have a PC HP laptop both at home and work. I downloaded anyrail, not using it yet, but has no realtrax and thats what I have.