I recently moved and the designated place for trains is going to be a spare bedroom (about 12' x 13'). Of course the room has a door as well as a closet which I'd like to retain access to for train storage. A firm requirement is the ability to have two trains running at once so my daughter and I can play at the same time. I also care more about "fun factor" than I do realism. I'll be using RealTrax as I'm on a tight budget. In terms of curve diameter, I originally thought that having one loop with a minimum of O42 would be fine since my trains are more entry level (RailKing, LionChief). That said, I'm now leaning towards having an O54 minimum (at least on one loop) to give me more flexibility in the future (e.g. mid-sized Premiere locos).
I recently came across an article about the actual Carolwood Pacific RR and thought the layout might be a good one for my needs:
I then did a search on the forum and found a thread where member AFTX posted a number of cool layout design variations based on the real one. The variables for the versions were layout length, width, and minimum track radius for the entire layout:
https://ogrforum.com/t...73#43947463241974673
O31 8'X10' Carolwood-Pacific RealTrax
O42 9'x10' Carolwood-Pacific RealTrax
O54 13'x15' Carolwood-Pacific RealTrax
Q1: Do you think that the Carolwood Pacific general design is a good one for what I'm trying to do?
Q2: Do you think it would be possible to make a 12'x12' version with O54 minimum curves?
Q2: Are there other layouts you'd highly recommend considering my space limitations?
Many thanks for your thoughts!
Seriously...having used RT off and on for years, I think you'll regret using it over the long run.
