Ideas for a U shaped corner plan

Is it an inside corner? Or outside corner? A little sketch of the space/room/obstructions/access/etc is always a good starting point.

Here's what I think is the space you have, 12' on one leg, 16' on the other. The ovals are O-36 and O-48 to give you an idea of the space.

I like that. Hoping to add 1 or 2 inside loops. I have up to O72 curves. Right now it’s similar, but sold the layout short with incline/declines, a bridge, and lack of access .  Hoping to do the “U”

Sorry, got hung up on "corner" and forgot about the "U".

Again, O-48 outer curves (blue) and O-36 inner curves (gold). The green are O-72, but not a lot of room for those. The green in the bottom right shows how wide the decking would have to be; arguably, 42" for O-36, 60" for O-48 and 84" for O-72 with potential reach issues on whichever 2 sides are in the corner.

That’s great!  I think I could tweak to have the inner loop only run on one side.  Messing with SCARM but it’s not like riding a bike, and it’s been a while!

Absolutely, you can modify it for O-72 on one side. Here's the SCARM file.

Maybe this is more to your liking.

Thanks Chief!  It’s a great start!  

Depending on how tight and complex you want to be, here is an idea to have a complete loop of Fastrack O-72.  The entrance to the U is 34.74".  The red track is elevated so you can do additional track under it.  This does have lack of access from the sides.  You will need access holes since this is too wide to reach across.  Just a thought.

I like to see O-72 curves on layouts that can handle them.  I have seen here on the forum members who regretted not adding O-72 because they wanted to run larger locomotives.  To keep access reasonable, here is another option made up of four 4' X 8' tables.  The red section would have to be a lift out/up bridge.  You can run loops with smaller curves inside the O-72 loop.  It does limit you to O-36 inside loop.  Again, just some ideas.

Baconator didn't specify a minimum radius.  It's my opinion that if you're only allocating 12' x 16', you probably shouldn't use curves larger than O42.  This size space is ideal for postwar, RailKing, or LionChief Plus.

The greatest cost in this hobby is the space we devote to it (and of course our time, if you put a price on that.)  I bought only scale stuff for 10 years.  Then I bought a town home with no basement.   I might keep a few large locos for shelf display, but I want my layout to be more convoluted and intricate than a wide-radius oval (which I would personally get bored of within a year.)

Everyone's operating philosophies are different.  I want multiple trains, multiple routes, etc.  I think an operating roller base would be a good solution to demonstrate the big scale locos.  My $.02.

To piggyback on Ron's idea, here's another option with minimal reach issues. This assumes the walls are along the top & left or the top & right. There's quite a combination of curves and I'm not fond of the crossovers on the entry panel, but I wanted to show the elevation at the top. The grades on both sides are 3.5% and the inner main uses some O-48 curves.

Just wanted to add that it’s not only larger locomotives that require larger curves, it’s could be scale sized rolling stock like passenger cars. I can run my steam locomotives on O-54 curves but the passenger cars require O-72 curves.

Jim

Everything I have nowadays runs on 048 or higher.  Shooting for mostly 072 or 084, with some 048.  Just dreading taking apart the layout to change it up.

@Baconator Southern posted:

Everything I have nowadays runs on 048 or higher.  Shooting for mostly 072 or 084, with some 048.  Just dreading taking apart the layout to change it up.

Here's a plan I designed for my existing space. It's U-shaped with 2 mains and a lower level for subway/ storage. I haven't built it.

The layout dimensions are 8'x12'x10'. Curves are 042 on the inner and 054 outer. This plan could be expanded to 072. Reach access would be an issue that I haven't addressed yet.

SCARM file is attached.

Green and yellow are at grade, blue is elevated over.

Subway and hidden storage