Atlas 3-Rail Garage Layout First Design

I’m no expert but just went from fastrack floor layout to atlas 42” high double loop mainline that starts to look similar.  Recommend working in a reversing loop somewhere near the right side loops so you don’t have to back in to reverse. Someone who is a yard expert can chime in but count the number of cars you can stage in the yard and figure the yard lead length to build a train without fouling the inner main loop. Seems too short to me.  I decided to drop to a lower level for yard and turntable but haven’t figured out where - they take up sooooo much space.  I’d also be concerned about reach.

Looking at your yard. I know it must fit as it was drawn using a computer track plan. This is Gargraves flex but it’s just slightly under 072 doing a 180. For the life of me. I don’t know how all the track your a showing can fit in that space.

I like the overall plan. The mainline circling the yard. There is an S bend that might give an issue. Rule of thumb. You should have a straight portion between the curves longer than your longest car. With truck mounted couplers. Probably not an issue. Back to the yard area. Not sure what you plan to park there. Turnouts aren’t cheap. Some look like they are only capable of a couple of cars. If you are using Ross track. You could start your yard leads on one of the curves and create much longer spurs with fewer turnouts. Maybe even create a runaround track.

Where are you running the trains from ? The 2 mainline curves look like they come close together then there is an open area.

It would help if you posted the SCARM file, so we could make changes to it without having to redraw the design.

I agree that the yard lead is not there.    I would move the passing siding off the inner loop to connect with the  yard throat and become the yard lead.   That way it does not interfere with the mainline when working the yard.     I might also consider a connection to the TT from this yard lead track.    I would probably not have it run all the way behind the round house if I  moved it.

I’d move the reversing switch and yard switches up. I’d also add a 2nd link to the TT so water/coal towers could be added to the longer lead and another engine could still come/go. There still needs to be a 2nd revering loop or the one around the TT doesn’t have much value.

Here are just some additional ideas for you.

Extend the yard track to make three tracks in the lower left corner.  This gives you a yard lead that does not interfer with the two track mainline as well as direct access to roundhouse (see next).

Connect the lead to the turntable to the inside track, not a mainline.  This allows moving engines from the engine tracks/roundhouse to yard without fouling the mainlines.  Make it long enough to allow water tower, coaling tower, and maybe ash hoist and other engine service buildings,

Add the short connection between the inner loop to allow reversing the train from a counter clockwise direction to a clockwise direction.  This way you never have to back the train through a loop.

ADDED: I see Dave beat me to a plan.  Lots of ideas.

Sorry for the delay, outside shoveling 2 feet of snow from yesterday.

few changes

Howdy, as one who has access issues I wonder how you reach some areas of this plan? For derailments or other service related matters.

Jim K

Reach issues aside, here is some more food for thought. I stole 1 spur from the yard for the 2nd reversing loop, both in gold. I added a 2nd short lead to the TT so 1 engine can be going out and another come in. The top and left tracks are 3" on center from the edges, so if the space is as draw, the lower tracks are over the edge. I increased the length of the lead for the yard so you won't block the main.

Some random thoughts -

The size of your turntable should correlate to  the size of the spurs you have off of it.

Think about where to break the modules up to simplify trackwork and wiring.  Do they need to be 4x8?

Any train can be effectively turned to run in any direction using the turntable - no real need for any reversing loops.

I would suggest moving the entire yard to the left side of the layout, between the two pairs of mainlines.  I don't think a circle is ever a good shape for a yard.  Make the yard tracks long and parallel, with at least one that is switched at both ends.  An engine should be able to come out of the turntable and pick up a train.  Put something else in the circle.

You don't really need the fancy crossover because you have space.  Two pairs of switches would also do the trick.

@DoubleDAZ posted:

Reach issues aside, here is some more food for thought. I stole 1 spur from the yard for the 2nd reversing loop, both in gold. I added a 2nd short lead to the TT so 1 engine can be going out and another come in. The top and left tracks are 3" on center from the edges, so if the space is as draw, the lower tracks are over the edge. I increased the length of the lead for the yard so you won't block the main.

i think this is the best iteration so far, this will probably be what I go with, appreciate the help.

I took your last posted plan and made some changes.  Activity between the engine yard and yard wlil not foul the mains.

You have a clearance problem where the two ends of the dog bone pass each other. Thar's an awful big turntable you've picked.  How do you intend to access the center of the layout.  It may be possible to elevate/depress the dog bones to alleviate the clearance issue.

Jan

PS.  Added a file that list all the possible combinations of Atlas straight section track.

@Jan posted:

I took your last posted plan and made some changes.  Activity between the engine yard and yard wlil not foul the mains.

You have a clearance problem where the two ends of the dog bone pass each other. Thar's an awful big turntable you've picked.  How do you intend to access the center of the layout.  It may be possible to elevate/depress the dog bones to alleviate the clearance issue.

Jan

PS.  Added a file that list all the possible combinations of Atlas straight section track.

Jan, thanks for the comments and appreciate the track length document, very handy.

I'd start with the top 1/2, of the diagram above, and see how it works.   

As you can see, I'm big on color-coding.

FWIW, I like Jan's changes, but they deleted the reversing loops, so here's a way to add them back (red circles). Unless I missed something, a train traveling clockwise could reverse by going through the yard, but a train traveling counterclockwise couldn't. Now a train can come out of the yard and use the 1st crossover to run clockwise or continue to the 2nd crossover to run counterclockwise. I know an engine can be reversed using the TT, but that's just an engine, not an entire train. They're not ideal, but I like the option to be able to run trains in either direction over the entire layout when possible.

Anyway, I also added some engine escape switches to the yard so trains can pull in engine first and engines can escape.

As a side note, you really should address the reach issues because unless you can access the layout from any of the sides, access hatches are not going to be enough to reach all the tracks.

Daz,

This is a very elegant solution, given the parameters you had to work with.  Nicely done

Dave always has good ideas.  Based on his last plan I added an additional service track to the engine terminal.  This track would be for coal delivery.  The other track would be used for engines to wait after servicing.  I also moved each track to its own layer.  There is only one piece of track to be cut (3.25" which cant be made up of sectional pieces).  All the other gaps can easily be squeezed together.

Jan

Jan, I'm a bit concerned about space for the coaling tower, etc., but then I'm not familiar with what's out there and what the footprints are.

Dave,

The engine terminal is modeled after Norm Charbonneau's engine terminal.  While his coaling tower is scratch built Suncoast makes a similar one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSfI0eJYEe0

Jan

Makes more sense now, Jan, thanks for the link. I wish there was a better library for buildings, etc., for SCARM.