Getting ready to start my new layout design....all opinions welcome!

Wyndham,

Personally, I would open up the "center" loop at the bottom of the stairs for easier basement access.  Then, I would close and make two loops on each side of the steps with the connection remaining behind the steps.  Entry to the center of those two loops could easily be created with some sort of "movable bridge" piece on the narrower sides.

Operationally, you could run the two loops as divisions of the same railroad (one in mountains and the other in farmland or city) or as two separate railroads.  You could also make your connection under the stairs with wyes where each end meets each loop so that you would have busy junctions and potentially use each loop as a reversing mechanism for the other loop.

Just my thoughts.

Chuck

Chuck....I have added another picture because I realized that it wasn't clear what was access area and what was layout. Take a look now....very rough I know.

My initial thought was to have 3 loops around the outside, the outermost one being elevated. I definitely want a turntable and roundhouse somewhere, and a port area for twin stacks. I also will have a small stockyard area, a small oil jobber, a coal loading facility and a beer and liquor warehouse. Also have a number of trackside buildings and may want a small town area. What I am struggling with is do I build large tables or thinner table-like areas that curve and wander all over.

Wyndham,

If you go to 10' diameter curves you will never have "flying" trains.  Then again you may never want to run a UP Express Freight pulled by a Big Boy!

Use RR-Track Layout Software to lay your track and place accessories/buildings before preparing your basement with lighting, electrical, backdrops, and building tables/platforms/whatever.  It's well worth the software cost and the "brain damage" to learn the software.

Here is the Photo Gallery of my Run Room that took over my basement.

Getting ready to leave for the club. I'll take a look at the drawing, but I think I have an idea for the area. I'm going to map it out on RR-Track. Are you building flat table tops or open grid with "cookie cutter" road bed? Is your plan to run scale-sized equipment or O-31?

Matt, scale equipment and am wide open after that.

Susan....what do you mean? I assumed the wider the curve the better for running my new big boy. Please explain. I have always assumed the bigger the curve the faster I can go?

Matt....my plan was to have a table top and use all Atlas track.

A small point that could be come a big one-check your local codes for the clearances required for the boiler.

Also, it makes sense to provide space for maintenance and\or replacement of the boiler and water heater.

Consider access to other infrastructure items like water shut-offs, sewer clean-outs and generally any wiring and plumbing.

Stuff happens...

Then as Susan has already mentioned, the room prep, at least a dedicated power and lighting circuit.

Will do Moonman. Good news is that boiler and water heater are brand new....I just replaced them. Also have heaps of room in panel box as I converted from electric heat and cooking to gas so I will run a whole new circuit just for trains in basement. 

Thanks for weighing in. This is exactly what I wanted. I have a blank slate to start from and want to do a really cool layout that I can have people come see and play on!

Wyndham

Any sign of water or dampness in basement? How high is ceiling?  Exterior wall insulation, especially where the floor meets the foundation? Floor in good shape and sealed? Sump pump? I went with 096 minimum curves and 120  super elevated for mainline. I went with a loop to loop track plan. 

Clem k

"Susan....what do you mean?"  Re: (flying trains?)

When my freight pulled by a Premier Big Boy ran at top speed around my 72" diam. curves, a serious derailment was still a possibility.  With 120" and 110" diam. curves there have been no derailments caused by excessive speed.  Of course, kids and I are the only ones that ever run at top speed.

Basement electrical wiring considerations:

Switch the bottom of your wall plugs so you can shut off the whole layout at one location.

The bottom 3 wall switches control lights over track and top three switches control the bottom of wall plugs. 

Got a chance to review your sketch. I like the "around the walls" approach. Here's an RR-Track image of roughly what I think would work. To avoid some of the "parallelism" of large stretches that run parallel to the bench work, I've tossed in some gratuitous sweeping curves at 72" radius (O-144) and above thrown in for good measure. The basic minimum radius is 49.5" (O-99) on the inside with 54" radius (O-108) on the outside. Operationally, it could be run point-to-point out of the left peninsula with the engine facility on the right.

Like I said, this is a starting point.

Matt..thank you! Does Atlas make O-144 Or do I have to make my own with flex track?

You'll have to bend your own.  O108 is the largest diameter that Atlas produces.  Ross makes O120 curves (O72 to O128 by 8 inches increments).  Atlas uses 9 inch diameter increments.  Gargraves goes a wise as O138 but uses varying diameter increments.

Jan

When you get out past 54" radius (O-108) using flex track isn't a problem.