Looking for design help.

I have RR Track software.

Jim Miller

With your RR T software, start new layout, draw a rectangle symbolizing your basement space.  Start laying track and accessories in that space the way you want your layout to operate.  You may decide to use a lift up bridge for room entry.   When you start laying track you will get a feel for an "around the wall" or "walk around" layout. 

How far into the room do the stairs extend, if at all? If so, is there space underneath them?

What version of RR-track are you using?

Susan, Matt, Thanks for the replies.  I was out of town with work the last couple nights and off the net.  The room is almost a rectangle.  The entry wall is off set.  Standing at the opening in the center of one of the short side wall on the left is 77”.  The wall on the right is 56” and the doorway opening is 54”.  The two long walls and the other short wall are the outside foundation walls.  The left long wall is 320” and the right long wall is 352” the other short wall is 175”.  There are no obstructions in the room yet.  My goal is to use O84 fastrack for the outside main and O72 for the inside.    One issue I’m having is a O72 reverse loop with Fastrack and the other is the O84 helix loop, one revolution.    I have RR Track 4.0. 

A helix takes up a lot of room and can be tricky to hide. You usually don't need one unless you're running two separate layout decks. Are you planning a staging yard below/above the main layout? If so, with the shape of your layout room, you have more than enough space to incorporate it without a helix.

I have your basement mapped out on an RR-Track 4 file based on the measurements you gave. A U-shaped layout can be done, or you could go around the walls with a lift bridge.

Your space is two feet shorter than mine (28' x 14').  I did around the room because I wanted to have 72" and larger diameter curves.  I have a peninsular yard in the center.  My entrance is through a lift-up section on one side.  Here's what I did.  If I were to do it again, I would add staging sidings below one of the long sides.

Jan

Thanks for the reply Jan.  I thought about the lift up section and decided to try a walk in around the walls.  I only have one way into the room and that is from the center of one of the short end walls.  I took over as much space as I could.  The furnace is behind the 77" wall and the outside enterence is behind the 56" wall.  Thats why one wall is longer then the other.  My thoughts have been to build a double track main using O84 and O72 FasTrack.  The left side of the room is a little wider and I think I can install an O84" outside loop on the 77" wide wall end.  I would like to have the outside loop at a higher elevation along the backside of the layout along the 26'8" wall.  In this corner I would like to have a mountain where the O84 track curves from the long wall side toward the center spiraling down to the lower level while allowing the O72 loop on that level to pass under the elevated tracks.

I dabbled around with RR-Track and came up with the attached base. This is just the base mainlines and doesn't include industries/cities, etc. and is a framework. The section in the upper left features track in a tunnel where the elevated surface would support a town or industries. The top right corner is open and could be your staging yard. I've developed an aversion for track following the edge of the benchwork, so the mainline meander through the layout and the turnback at the bottom right loops over the lower track.

Matt, Thank you so much for the design.  It looks great.  Now I just need to inventory my track and see what I need to add.  I think I have about 3/4 quarters on the track now.

Thanks

Jim