need help laying track

Hi there,

 

Building a layout can be very fun and rewarding! This can be greatly magnified by incorporating friends and family into the building of the layout, with a driving of the Golden Spike party to finish it off. (And if you're like a few of us, that won't be the only thing "spiked" at the party   )

 

I no longer live in New Hampshire, but sharing ideas on this forum will bring us just as close. You said you were new to this, so hopefully we can cut out a lot of the rookie mistakes that are comonly made. Before going any further with your layout, let's take stock of what you have and then formulate a plan to move forward.

 

I have found having a pencil, eraser, notecards, and a notecard holder will help keep ideas, tips, wants/needs, electrical issues and magazine articles/websites at the reach of your finger tips. Use the dividers to sort the cards accordingly.

 

With those items gathered up, let's move on to the layout. You stated your table is 16' x 20'. Hase the table already been built? Is it U shaped, or a complete rectangle? This is a pretty big area to build a layout on. Access holes will need to be strategically placed to reach areas of the layout. Keep in mind you will also be spending a couple of hours under your layout routing wire. Can you provide a sketch of the layout within the area that you are building your layout? (For instance, if you are building in a basement, draw the outline of the basement, along with boiler position, stairs, furniture, etc.)

 

You also stated you are using Lionel Fastrack. How much track have you bought? Have you inventoried it? Are you committed to this type of track?

 

Will you be running conventional engines, command control engines, or a mix?

 

You said you were new to this. Have you ever built a permanent layout before? This is a large layout to jump right into. It can be done, but your patience and resolve will be tested. I would suggest starting with a smaller layout, (such as on a door or 4' x 8') to get your feet wet. You can practice scenery, laying track, wiring and other such tasks to get a better feel for what you will be dealing with on the larger layout.

 

Once you have decided on the size of the layout, the track system to use and the type of control you will be using, then it's time to move on to the track planning stage, which is where I think you are. This is your little empire you are building, so approach it (loosely) like you are running a real railroad. What is the purpose for its existence? Are you re-creating a retro Lionel layout, basing your layout on a previously created layout, recreating a slice of a real railroad, or free-lancing the layout? Take a look at your rolling stock you already have. Are you a coal hopper junkie? The purpose of your railroad could be to move the black diamonds from the hills to the local power plant and businesses in the town below. Having a purpose for your railroad will keep you focused during the planning stage. Layout planning is the most critical element of layout building. This is where all of the kinks such as curve diameter, building placement and electrical wiring can be worked out, making the build more pleasant.

 

With all that said, now it's your turn to come up with the purpose for your railroad. Take your time in order to make the purpose coherent. As you do, search the internet and layout books to get some rough ideas as to what you would like to incorprate into your layout.

chessie thanks tables already built with one foot spacing at 8 ft then another one at 6ft , complete walk across the whole 16 ft width and length. tables are rectangle and no furnance in the way, have one complete side of cellar. my question is iam using o72 curves so i can handle everything . when going inside to make another loop what size curve do i use for the inside corner and do i continue to use o 72 switches, i am using dcs control with mth premier engines. fast track works for me. i have already built bridges and culverts to cross the openings. i dont know the geometry of going from o 72 to o60 corners to make the curves look right,also when going in the yard do i use 060 switches to keep things closer.to answer the other question wiring is not a problem, at this point. i wil send you a picture of the cellar as soon as i can if you have a fax please send it to me if not i can mail you a picture. thanks again Bernie or light3ning@aol.com. HAVE A GREAT EVENING

Even when I build with medium curves like 042 or 054 I still use 072 turnouts.  They just look and handle better IMO.   With such a good sized endeavor I would encourage you to wait for some detailed feed back to preempt regrets.  

 

Hi Lightning,

 

1 - There are two ways to go about making the inner loop. The first is to use all O-60 curved sections and space the curve to be concentric with the O-72 curve. If I recall, Lionel measures FasTrack from the centerline, so the two curves would be 12" apart from the middle of the tracks. The second method is to start the curve with a piece of O-60 track, use two pieces of O-72 track and then finish the curve with a piece of O-60 track. You can also experiment by swapping the placement of the O-60 and O-72 pieces of track to see which looks better to you.

2 - I would use O-72 turnouts on the main lines.

 

3 - What is the purpose of the yard? Is it to store rolling stock and locomotives or will you be actively switching in the yard? Do any of your locomotives require O-72 curves?

 

 

How much track have you purchased? Will there only be two loops of track?

hey good afternoon i will be switching in the yard and all engines do not need o72 but in case i want to purchase a old time steamer i want to make sure i have enough to accomadate the engine.do i purchase all switches now and use o60 switches in the yard.i am doing business with trains .com brooklyn there prices seem to beat other dealers if you have another avenue PLEASE LET ME KNOW,THANKS BERNIE in MASS

I found CharlesRo.com out of Malden, MA to be very competitively priced with excellent service.

i am just getting started - will probably start with lionel engine and stock to get my feet wet (southern crescent)

 

my question is - if you had it to do over again what supplier of track would you use

 

is anyone clearly superior

 

this is the closest thread i could find

 

if there is a more appropriate site will you please point me in that direction

 

thanks

 

   j

Below are the three I have found to have good prices for Fastrack.  I have done mail order from all as well as visted their stores.

 

M B Kline Inc.          modeltrainstuff.com

JusTrains of Delaware.      justrains.com

Grzyboski's Train Store.    grzyboskitrains.com

If you have the resources and this is the track plan you have committed to, then I would purchase all of the track now. Ask the dealer you purchase from if you could get a bulk purchase discount.

 

As stated, Charles Ro is a good supplier.

 

jpc,

 

 

Do you mean which supplier of Lionel FasTrack would you choose or which manufacturers track would you use?

 

So as to not hijack this thread, you can start a new thread.

I used Ross 072/054 curve switches and was able to take 4 yard tracks directly into a Ross 4 way yard switch, I took my layout down as we are moving so I have several LH curve switches to sell

HHS, Are your 072/054 switches eguiped with switch machines? If so how much for each?

$30 each plus shipping

forgot to say these are manual no switch machines

HH, If the switches have never been ballasted I am interested in 2 of them. Shoot me an email at Dj1300@aol.com.