Feedback and Advice (New to Hobby)

JRud,

I will leave the layout plan ideas to the multitude of guys here who have great ideas on the subject, so I will just say, "Welcome!"

You will find a lot of help on any subject here.  I have been here going on three years and have really learned a lot and have enjoyed it.

Thanks Mark! I went to try to change my display name to my actual name but i guess it can't be changed?
Thanks,

Josh

Hi JRud, Welcome to the forum

I'm no design expert, but I do like the "out and back" set up you've designed here. What kind of track are you using?

Well Josh, I think that is a great start.  The rest depends on your thoughts.

Welcome to this great Forum.

Welcome Josh, keep up updated on your progress. 

Welcome aboard, Josh.

Depends...The freight needs to be delivered somewhere and goods and material picked up from a producer.

It can be city on right and country on left for passenger runs.

Here's a quick read to spark some ideas.

Have fun!

The elevations that I can see are too steep and the yard needs a mainline straight through or past the yard. Start back in the curve past the station for your elevation and keep it all along the back wall and down on the left. You can hide a reverse loop under a hill\mountain over there. Use about 10 or more feet for the yard. Take out some the tight little swereves here and there.

Josh,

You're welcome.  Yes I would like to chanGE name on my Yahoo email that I use just for trains, so I thought I would have some fun with it and called myself Mountain Railroader.  It has caused some confusion, but I don't know how to change it other than making a new account with a new email address.  I could contact their tech support, if they have any, but haven't bothered.

You're not the first to tell my my slopes are too steep. I've just been going to by data I gathered on the Lionel Fastrack Graduated Trestle set which from my understanding is at a 4.7% - 5% Grade. I would like to reduce that drastically though.

Josh,

   I also like the out and back track design you have started with, you might consider a nice size yard on the left side of your layout, and eventually a 2nd level, all kinds of design possibilities with the space you have.

Welcome to the forum and I also suggest the addition of the DCS to your operating system, before you run wires to your track, IMO  running DCS and Legacy is the way to operate a nice layout.

PCRR/Dave

Welcome to the forum!

Thanks Dave! I already have the Legacy system, is that what you mean by DCS?

Hi Josh,

  I think Moonman/Carl said to add a reversing loop which seems like a good idea. What about leaving enough space for a nice work bench? You will need some space to make repairs, oil/grease equipment from time to time, maybe a short piece of test track, too.

Tom

Hello Josh,

On three,.. Jump!

With that equipment, it looks like an easy landing for you, both feet firmly planted.

   With all that room, its going to take a looong time to finish. Don't rush anything. Learn what truly makes you happy, and watch out, your brain will lie to your heart! Study each choice, there are many to make, and wrong choices seem to take forever to correct. Set up a simple, temporary carpet central. It will satisfy the itch to run, help you decide on operations, or loops as the base of what you like to do most often when you run them. and it gives you a place, and easy access to power/track to test ideas on. And to just relax and enjoy them between splinters, wire pokes, paint wipes, and swearing at the screwdriver laughing at you from the kitchen.

  The 4.5+ on the grade is barely acceptable even with big trains & smaller loads. It was designed with small postwar sets, done in small areas in mind. I have a couple engines that have a two plastic car limit!(one steep grade as a challenge is fun for me) The Legacy should help though, its a constant throttle game in conventional operation without block wiring sections.

 What track program is that? Anyrail?  A lot of good ones out there, many get used around here. But I think you might want to check out SCARM, a free program (his hobby) used by many here. It has many good features (The best is the 3d view). Files convert to text files, and back for sharing, code can be changed, etc. The author posts here on a regular basis, many people create and share buildings and other "objects". In fact you can grab groupings of objects off any layout file you see. Its stable most often, bugs get fixed, regularly updated, and a growing track & object library.(useful fun for free)

 Photos are not discouraged

Thanks for your feedback. I actually tried SCARM but to be honest I found it harder to use and a lot less visually appealing. I've already paid for AnyRail so I might as well use it.