A Layout Design Challenge

Dan,

Well, one thing you appear to need is a larger room!   I think all those accessories just set on the table come close to filling it!

Here is one plan I came up with.  It incorporates 110 graduated and 111 elevated trestle sets.  Not every item I have listed in my first post is represented.

I took gunrunner's thought and placed all of the item on a table. It looks like this:

It will be complex to decide where they work or fit and let the track plan follow that.

It's a 10' x 14' walk in with a lift out. Side closest is 3' feet wide - the rest are 2' wide.

Lift out or up section.

It was too busy trying to find all of the items, so I didn't coordinate them properly.

I think that you have one or two items twice on the list.

I would get a table shape that you like and create the tracks for which ones that you'll use with their spurs and switches. Then , try to connect them with some mainlines.

Finally, see if you can create some terrain to make an incline/decline on a main.

 EDIT: Sorry, I forgot to generate an accessory list for you to compare with your inventory. See attached

Dan,

I like the track plan and the accessory arrangement that you created. I'll try to transfer it to the RRT file and try a few tweaks. We know the template is close, so we'll probably get a little more space here and there.

Carl, many thanks.  Looks like you've spent some time on it.  I went over my list and cannot find any repeats, but that doesn't mean there aren't any.  The perspective drawing you made makes it appear that there's more room than I had envisioned.  That's a good thing.  More spaces to fill.....LOL

Food for thought: You may want to think a little bit about access. One of those perverse laws (I forget which one) states the likely hood of problems occurring increases exponentially with the degree of difficulty reaching the affected area. In your case, this refers to the switches you have along the walls. I circled 2 of them in red. The third is on the left, just outside of the picture. You have a 3 ft plus reach, which is going to be "interesting". I recommend popup access holes (make them big enough!), moving the switches, or eliminating them all together.

Just my 2 cents.

Chris

LVHR

I believe Murphy is the guy your looking for.  He says, "If anything can go wrong, it will".  Such a positive outlook.....LOL

The two switch tracks you have circled are accessible via the narrow but wide enough for me, isle along the wall.  I don't know how to do what you did with the red circles so i will try to explain in words.  If you look at the area in question, note the edge of the layout indicated as the solid line just above the switch track.  Then go up and see the solid line with the hash marks.  These indicate a wall.  So between the wall and the edge of the layout I have a 12" isle.  Narrow but enough to slip back there.  

Thank you for your observation and input.  

Dan,

I did see the 12" aisle. For me, that's a bit tight, even when I was 30 lbs lighter(!). At least those 2 switches are reachable for you.  What about the switch behind the K-Line fisherman?

Chris

LVHR

Dan - your layout is similar to what I will be re-building this winter and I like the design. Just wondering if you ever considered adding an outside loop of O-31 (with a spacer) or O-36 Fastrack as an outside loop. It would require slightly wider "legs"  of the layout and you would lose some of the four foot interior "walking/access" space, but it would allow you to run two main lines with a crossover and you shouldn't lose any yard or accessory space.  

lehighline posted:

Dan,

I did see the 12" aisle. For me, that's a bit tight, even when I was 30 lbs lighter(!). At least those 2 switches are reachable for you.  What about the switch behind the K-Line fisherman?

 

Chris

LVHR

Good catch, pun intended.  Yes, that switch track would require me to reach over the 3'-6" width of the layout.  

Richie C. posted:

Dan - your layout is similar to what I will be re-building this winter and I like the design. Just wondering if you ever considered adding an outside loop of O-31 (with a spacer) or O-36 Fastrack as an outside loop. It would require slightly wider "legs"  of the layout and you would lose some of the four foot interior "walking/access" space, but it would allow you to run two main lines with a crossover and you shouldn't lose any yard or accessory space.  

Widening the two legs would certainly give more breathing space for some of the operating accessories.  Even if I widened them by only 6" I would still have a 3' isle to operate the layout and have room for guests. 

Having two main lines is nice.  I would prefer the outer loop to have an O42 radius however.  I love electric locomotives and catenary.  But a catenary along the edge of the layout that I will be operating from would be a pain.  So maybe I could raise the outer loop and run it on the outside but then make reverse loops at each end so that most of the lower level would not be affected, maintenance wise, by the catenary.  

Dan Padova posted:

I believe Murphy is the guy your looking for.  He says, "If anything can go wrong, it will".  Such a positive outlook.....LOL

 

I have always liked this definition... Optimist - One who lacks experience.

Kind of goes along with Murphy, but I get the feeling they have never before met one another?  

Here is another plan allowing two train operation.  The upper level, shaded track, would be strictly for passenger service.  The second photo shows the upper right section of the upper level.

Hi Dan,

I wanted what it would look like on all trestles. I changed the table width to 2' of the wall and 2' on the end. I slipped a 3 switch wye in there to permit reversing direction and perhaps a little more flexibility on placing service spurs for some accessories.

I think I would place half of the elevated area on a deck from the wall to 90 cross. I had to lengthen the ends to keep the line close the sides. That's a function of all of the template gaps.

I like it, Carl.  Closing the open end, as you did with the lift out section, permits more possibilities.    As you can see, I have been playing with some other ideas.  I should probably have started a new thread for each one.  Maybe later today.

You're getting a lot in a 10x14 space, pretty impressive. That's a pretty busy layout.

I was at my new place measuring the space I have, it's somewhat irregular, but it's about 22 x 12, with a bit of a dog-leg, so I should be able to fit something decent in there.   Good to see all this discussion, I'm trying to pick up some ideas.