Need advice for first layout - 7' 6" x 22'

Congratulations Adam on your undertaking. My suggestion would be to keep it simple and accessible for your son. The width might be a challenge for the 072 curves because you might want to leave some additional space in the curves to allow for derailments by your young engineer. Perhaps you may want to keep it simple with some switches between loops and/or reverse loops. Build a Plasticville town with streets where he can pilot the vehicles. Make the height user friendly for him; backbreaking for you. There will be  plenty of time to include your son with the future redesign. Also, is it possible to move the layout away from the wall for access?

Solid rail is  the way to go.  On a  2" Blue or Pink ,  high density foam board base you will cut the sound down to a minimum

If you're concerned about access, you could continue the turns at the end back inwards toward the middle of the layout. I did this to save space in the basement. I think they refer to it as a dog bone shape. I have 0-72 and 0-81 turns at the ends of the layout but I don't stop at the 180* mark. I keep turning so that the track heads towards the back of the layout. Then it turns and straightens out. The middle of the layout only comes out 4 ft from the wall. You'll still have some unreachable spots but I'll be able to hop on the layout if anything goes bad back there.

Atlas and Gargraves with Ross switches is usually the preferred combination from what I see posted here. I have some Ross switches and I really like them. I have Atlas track but I have seen Atlas and Gargraves and I like both.

Building on the foam is a good idea because it kills the sound and lets you add terrain easily.

Hi Adam,

I'm no wizard and I can't remember the last time I stayed at any inn, but I think I would build with a 10 year old in mind if I were in your situation.

I'm building  a similar layout. Turkey Hollow  It is 10.5' x 22.5' so I do have a 36" aisle in part of the middle. I need that aisle cuz I can't climb around like I used to.  I don't have access along the back wall and one side.

You have 90" of width so 081 can work fine. I have chosen to run track close to the edge of my layout (088) but I'm also planning on having some kind of fascia that is above the outside edges. Yes, you will need some kind of access unless you build with the thought of climbing up on the table. Not a bad option if you're planning on using that mid-table space and what kid doesn't like to climb around. I prefer 1/2" plywood and homasote for a surface if you need to put weight on it.

I use Ross switches and I started buying Atlas track several years ago because I like the look and I thought it would be quieter than other track. Fast forward a few years and little Atlas O to be found I decided to use Gargraves for the additional track I needed to build Turkey Hollow. I haven't laid and ballasted nor done any extensive tests but to my ear there isn't much difference at all in noise volume between GG and Atlas O. What I believe I hear is a slight shift in the frequency of the noise, the solid track sounding a bit lower in pitch. If you like the look of Atlas O and want to use it I can certainly understand, but I don't think the additional expense is justified for some perceived difference in noise. To me, they are both pretty quiet. If I turn off the engine sounds I can have a normal volume conversation with a train at scale 30-40 mph.

I hope this helps and good luck.

Thanks everyone for the input.  My son, despite being 5, is very proficient with the trains, so I'd say the derailment risk is about even with mine.  He has mastered the ipad controls for both MTH and the Lionchief app, and really understands lash ups, speed limits, etc.  I'll hook up our legacy controller when we get this layout built.  I do think one thing that would be nice would to add a small spur that can be deactivated with a simple switch to put larger engines on the track (like our railking challenger).  Once all of the wheels are aligned then we can activate the track section, reducing the risk of a short. 

I've included an image of the train area of the basement.  You can see the width of the room from the wall to the bathroom wall is 10'6", and I wanted to keep at least 3' for a walkway between the table and the wall.  The length of the red box is probably about 25', so as we get further to the right we have a little more room, but a 7.5x22 envelope is a pretty respectable space.  I kicked around the idea of using the corner area instead, but again back wall access is the issue.

As far as buildings go, I'm sure we can utilize legos for now, and graduate to more permanent structures later.

I was hoping for at least one o-72 loop to cover us for some of the larger engine offerings in the future.

Let me know if this helps spark any ideas, and keep them coming.  Thanks!

Adam

Be thankful you are not in the Attic!

Here is my 21' x 7'6" layout... Build it low (mine is 29" floor to Deck) so it's easy to get up and down.

You can see to the left where the O72 meets the knee-wall.

It now goes through the knee-wall about a foot to achieve the 7'6" depth.

@toprock I just finished tearing down my layout that was similar to the size you want. Mine was 87"x 32'. I had used all Ross Custom Switches and track with Ross Bed (great products!). I had a three loop mainline with crossovers and diverging routes. I was able to use O80, O72, O63 curves with no problems. I am fortunate to have a room size of 16-18' x 40' train room in my basement allowing an "island type" layout. If you are able can you leave the layout 24-26" from the back wall? Giving a little room to access the entire layout.

You cant go wrong with any of the track mentioned by others. I changed to Atlas track this time around and making the new layout 10' x 32'.  However I had to piece together the all the track needed for the new layout and had to purchase the track from 4 different shops, all of whom are Forum sponsors. Atlas track inventories seem to be low again.

Again like I said before you cant go wrong with Ross products! They are high quality products and the owner is a first class guy. 

Mine is about 6'-9" x 15' using Atlas 3R track.  O72 outside and O54 inside dual loop.  Adding 7' to the length will give you longer yards so more car storage or mixing it up with yard spur lengths to put business in between at the end.  Going wider could give you a 3rd outside loop, or keep the dual loops and expand the landscape in the middle or add a couple industrial spurs.  If I had to do it over again and had your room, I'd get rid of the O72/O54 turnouts.  Due to them I can't run any short locomotives.  As the layout sits now I can run 3 trains consisting of a locomotive with 5 cars and a caboose on the outside loop and 2 on the inside loop and not have any issues using Legacy or DCC (Not DCS!) locomotives.  It is against a wall, but the wall is along the short straight side.  The long side with the MTH 2 stall shed is about 18" from the wall to give me room to walk back there.  The red is a spur I added when I was laying the track.

Looking at your space, I would do a more "around the walls" style layout, with an open center.  That way your layout depth isn't more then 3 feet.  If I remember I have a layout I designed once that was O54 single main that was a really nice layout IMHO, but it was too long for my space.  I don't think it'd be that hard to adapt to your space, I'll have to find it.

Thanks everyone - this is really great stuff.  I'll take some of these concepts and see if I can rough out some ideas.  If I cant get space in the center open, maybe I can find a way to dog bone the ends and have it skinny down in the center, that way I can reach the ends via the sides

Very cool to see some of the layouts in this thread! 

This layout has a cool capability to turn locomotives around!