How many are planning a switching layout vs a Oval with some switching ?

here's a very small layout i was working on a few years ago but constantly ran into derailing problems with the old marx switches...when and if i get some more modern switches i plan on doing it again...

https://ogrforum.com/...ut-in-15-square-feet

howard...

The objective for my layout was industrial switching from the beginning.    My layout is probably considered large, but it is not continuous run.   

Trains run from some "staging" tracks to the yard.    Then locals from the yard go out to the two town locations and deliver/pickup cars at the industries that the through freights brought in.

You want to pick up 2 Kalmbach books....More Layout in Less Space (this is from the HOW TO BUILD REALISTIC LAYOUTS series--it is number 8) and Build a small model railroad. These are NOT in the context of O-gauge, 3-rail. But you will find that many, many of the ideas and techniques will apply to you. Both of these books are time well-spent for any model train guy.

Don

I have not seen any plans for such a small (4' X 8') O scale switching layout, even for narrow gauge.  The 4' X 8' size limits switch and industry placement.  Could you possibly do a shelf layout that would be longer but point to point?

I plan point to point with reversing at both ends, and switching and a branch along the route.

CAPPILOT:  Of course you can...the basic concept is simple and can be modified by the owner.  If you stop and think about it, the 4ft by 8ft is nothing more than a 2ft by 16ft twisted end to end...kind of.

You can stretch that out as long as you want if you have the space...isn't that what the prototype (real) railroads do?  The make do with the space they have and move freight with the most efficient method they can...more movements mean more fuel and more time, both of which cost money...and yet, sometimes you have to reach into a long spur to grab several cars with 2 or 3 scattered thru that long cut of cars.  Reach in, get the cars you need by switching and then return the unneeded cars back to the industry or yard track where you pulled them.

No rules.  Except those that YOU make for YOUR railroad...(but some of the prototype rules make for some interesting switching...such as one I recall is tank cars with hazardous materials had to have at least one or two cars (I forget the actual number) as buffer between the tank car and any car where a human was likely to be (caboose or locomotive or a passenger car in a rural mixed train...)

   Just try to use as large of diameter turnouts/curve as possible to ease the backing into an S (angles are WAY better) and /or keep parallel tracks close together for ladders, sidings etc.... you actually didn't get specific on if you want train assembly,  or dock to dock "activity" switching... both?

  Weight vs curve dia. must have been the issue on the Marx. I couldn't see those, but my Marx points/rails always have solid rail without flange pass gaps, frogs, and guide rails found on most turnouts.  Flange size be d***** if you are going to start switching you better weight the cars; nmra doesn't do it just for fun

I assume 0n30 vs Large scale, but NG on O gauge track, right?. (GnO/STnO?) If

  I'd likely run the loop and switching areas almost (or maybe*) as seprate entities allowing something big looping while it's next train is assembled and then brought to the main/siding. Once the scheduled run is gone retrieving the new drop, etc etc.

  I'd skip roadbed track so I could easily put flex into play within the switching area to tighten things up as needed. (Running a carefully chosen switcher will let you go smaller dia. than normal on most curves; plan to use this to your advantage if you can. (Just know a hard S bites you hardest )

  Dock to dock stuff allows more creativity in scenery etc.  Yard stuff allows much more logic flexibility for running any type of car.

* I like the thought of "the tracks out back"; On30 serving an O gauge depot's transfer dock using car to car load transfers across the dock and various stations/dumps/corral/ a crane etc. nearby.

Different but.......                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          I opted for a a mostly static and display "Service Yard" primarily because I was in a small attic(9x19) yet determined to have wide(072/ 084/096) curve arcs within double mainline ovals for my round and round running.                                                                                                                                                                     So I enter and exit the Yard from the inner main's loop via 084/072 curved track switches that do not favor some steamers drivers so I am necessarily selective of the freight power used on consists that enter. If careful I can sneak engines in and park them and of course the 0-5-0, 0-6-0s and one 0-8-0 Switchers are fine Yard-wide. I had a lot of Ross switches including a 4-way from a recently demolished layout plus the two custom curved units from a long retired switch fabricator. This, plus placing an engine house at one end and at the other: coaling, water, fuel oil, sanding, ash dumping and switching towers collectively drove the "Service Yard" concept. Not realistic but fit my druthers. Unhappily, the little operation has been dormant for several years due to health issues but it is wired, ballasted and runs trains from the TMCC handheld Cab 1. 

Raised plywood where I laid on my belly to work the corner Denim Plant scenario.

Not prototypical but I carved out a 4 X 8 space and filled it to the max. My first O gauge layout (grew up in HO), so may errors along the way adjusting to the larger everything. I can run two short trains and move cars around, keeps me entertained. Obviously short rolling stock and small loco's on 027 curves are the only drawback.

Hoping to expand along the wall next to the file cabinets (bottom right on the plan) and add a longer run and more industries one day.

I also have a switching layout plan that I created to fit on a 30" X 84" door that I hope to build one day.

                                                    Still planning it all out...……..

I have built what I call a "Real Freight" layout involving only in-layout (i.e., no staging) freight movement. It has a freight sorting yard, plus three "locations", each with 2 sidings. All cars are operating cars, 6 freight types (cattle, coal, drums, logs, merchandise boxes, and milk), with two "terminals" for each freight type, with two of those 12 terminals on each of the six sidings. For the most part the terminals are operating accessories, or dump bins or platforms next to appropriate industrial buildings.

Operation essentially is three trains (simultaneous or in sequence), each train serving one location (2 sidings, total 4 freight terminals), picking up 4 cars that are there, and dropping 4 cars. The picked-up cars go to the yard to be sorted by destination for the next set of 3 trains. Most important, between the drop of cars and their pickup by the next train to the location, the cars are loaded or unloaded as is appropriate to the terminals at which they are placed. All freight is real, not imaginary.

With twelve freight terminals on 6 sidings at three locations, and the from-to pair for each freight type at different locations, a sorting yard is obviously the easiest way to get the freight from its origin to its destination.

(Layout is O27-migrating-to-FT, taking 12' by 12' to 15'. U-shaped dog-bone with peninsula in the middle. Loop operation possible.)

Objective was a layout that captures and maintains grandkids' interest. More info if interested.

Ed M

Expanding the 4x8 with a shelf is a great way to add a switching yard component. I did a couple on-layout display cases - the first was a scenicked 5 levels by 6' long by 3 tracks depth, with trains running thru 2.5 levels (one included a grade from level 2 to level 3). The only switched siding ended up with room for just 3-4 short freight cars. The other - a switching yard - was 3 levels by 12' long by 3 tracks depth. The bottom level included a long siding between a 1-track mainline making a dogbone loop; the 2nd level had 3 dead-end sidings with usable lengths of 8, 8, and 11 freight cars. All other shelves were served by the 1-4-0 five-fingered switcher

Treating a 4x8 as a folded 2x16 is a great way to look at it, too. You'll make a lot more usable switching space if you don't have to cut the sidings off for the round-the-layout loop.

Using Atlas track here is a 4x8 layout with a couple ovals and switching.  The spurs are setup to be reduced Inglenook spurs.  And you get two of them.  So you can do switching on the inside loop while a train runs on the outside loop.

As for detailing ideas, a small passenger station can go on the 40" spur, some factories or warehouses on the parallel spurs, and a small engine service site on the 30" spur.  Here is a version I did with FasTrack on a smaller footprint.

It provided us many hours of fun.

Switching, what does it mean?   On a real RR, it means picking up cars at one place and delivering to another, not a random process per se.    It has a purpose.

So what does that mean for us as modelers?    Having a purpose for our switching just might make it more interesting.   

The scenario that I  use and that can be expanded to as large a layout as you want to build is pretty simple.     Designate a track (or tracks, depending on space) as "interchanges".    These could be with another railroad or a separate division of your RR.    Then have a few industrial spurs - could 1-2-3 or whatever space allows again.   

Now to operate, set up the layout with cars on the industry tracks and cars on the interchange.    The cars on the interchange should be similar to the ones in the industries so it makes sense to exchange them.   

Then take  your switcher (and a caboose if the time is right) and run to the industry track/s.   Pull the cars from the industries and run to the interchange.    Pull the cars from the interchange and set them aside on the main.    Push the cars from the industries into the interchange.     Take the cars pulled from the interchange to the industry tracks and place them where they belong - matching the locations of similar cars pulled.    

I had a layout like this many years ago with two interchange tracks and about 4-5 industries.   I only had about a dozen cars.    It took me 1/2 an hour to do this in one direction.    A full hour to complete the work.   

The runs from one place to the other do not need to be long or they can be around the oval a few times.   

Now to add to the challenge, I made little tags for boxcars, gons, tankcars, reefers, flats etc with the name of an industry on one side and the name of ONE of the interchange tracks on the other.     I placed these in little slotted boxes by car type.    Then when cars were on the interchange, I pulled tabs from the boxes for each car based on type and placed it on top of the car with the industry name up.     

Then when I put the cars in the industries, the tabs told me where they go.    After completing this work, I would flip all the tabs at the industries over to show which interchange track they went to.     The next time I ran I put them on the interchange track and replaced the tabs with different ones.    I used short pieces of plaststruct girders to make tabs the laid over boxcar roof walks.    The nice thing was since I pulled the tabs sort of randomly, every time I ran the train, it was a different scenario.     Once I started doing this, I very seldom just ran trains around the oval.    I could fill an hour easily working the 12 cars on the layout for a session.

This will work real well with only one interchange too, but a few industry tracks are needed to make it interesting in my opinion.   

My new layout will be "around the room" styled with each leg essentially 20' long though only 4' wide so I can reach everything.  I will have 2 continuous loops around the outside but will have a branch line as the 3rd line to run through a town with a small yard and industries set up so I can do some switching.  This line has a long lead through the town for a train to enter from one of the outside loops to drop off or pick up cars as well as a small engine servicing area to take on coal and water.   Once the train departs from dropping off cars, the local switcher takes over to set-out and pick-up cars along the branch line.   I figure this way I can enjoy the best of both worlds and when people are over, someone can always "work the local" while another two folks can run trains on the outer two loops.  

-Greg

PRRJim, the "railroad with orders" is a great modeling/play concept. My grandpa did this with his sons when they were young; he'd set it up as puzzles they had to figure out in the course of a session. I've also ard of clubs that do this, and members come in with a long list of instructions they need to get executed in cooperation with the other members in the session.

My next layout - fingers crossed - could be getting 2 walls of an expanded, insulated backyard shed - maybe 12' x 16' x 2' deep. I want to model some switchbacks and trestle work resembling Stampede Pass of 1886-1887, so, not having room for a loop is fine for now.

There are tons of H.O. shelf switching layouts on the Internet. All you have to do is double the dimensions for O scale (OK, technically it's multiplied by 1.8125). So a simple 4x1 "micro" becomes a 2x8 "micro". You have to watch out for European-spec layouts, though as the equipment is typically MUCH smaller than North American equipment. There's a Facebook page dedicated to Small/Micro layouts. The late Carl Arendt's micro layout site (www.carendt.com) has been taken over and kept alive by one of his followers in Europe and has a lot of examples.

Hope this helps.

Thanks to all that Replied.   Please Note my original post was in the On30 area.  Someone moved it to the Track layout area .

I am still working on Ideas for a On30 layout .  Thanks again .

I had a lot of fun with this 4X8 (mostly) switching layout. While a switchback siding is something a railroad wouldn't do it added a whole level of puzzle to switching. The operating scenario was the train would come into town and spot the incoming cars while building a train with the outgoing cars. Each run was in the reverse direction of the previous.

Lew

I don't have a pic but a third siding was later added at the bottom left corner which added switching complexity and the train thus became three cars.

Notice those are O72 track switches while the mainline curves are O36. You can't see it in the pic but there are four remote uncouplers: one for each industry spur and one under each end of the train. A fifth uncoupler was added when a spur was installed at the lower left corner.

Lew

This thread is almost two years old. Prrjim, Sirt, EdM, and Greg noted plans were in progress (maybe others I missed?).  Please post updated track plans!