New Basement, New Layout

     I'll try to give you some pointers, but I haven't figured out any of these track planning programs yet.

     First off you got some real good advice in your original post in the 2 rail forum, get the area ready as far as insulating and putting up whatever you want on the walls, floor, and ceiling, trust me I didn't, and I've paid for it ever since.  Spend some time in the basement with a tape measure, get a feel for what will or won't fit.  A friend of mine laid his track right thru his stairs, had it right up along the wall and boxed in, so clumsy person (me), couldn't damage it.  Go to Lowes, Home Depot, and get some of the rosin paper, comes in a roll and with some tape and a pair of scissors you can make a template of your bench work.  get some large sheets of graph paper and sketch out some ideas with features you want, yards, sidings, industries, you get the idea.  

     Set some standards for yourself, as far as say minimum radius curve you will accept, layout height, heck even down to what you'll build the layout out of.  Remember you'll probably have to fudge on the standards a little, so be flexible, if you can't have A, well I guess settle for B.  You have a nice dimensioned drawing of the basement, look at layouts in magazines and start sketching, post some of your ideas on this forum and ask for feedback, I'm new here but Ive been lurking for a while, and from what I've seen the folks on this forum, will help you out.

      Look to model magazines for some inspiration, I'm looking at December 2013 issue of Model Railroader magazine, and Lance Mindheim's , layout, it's more along the lines of what I'm looking for, more switching then mainline running, scenery, locale, is up to you.

Nice Space, Don't be afraid of using ALL of it.

Around the wall behind the stairs makes it far easier to get at the rest of the layout. Go behind the furnace and water heater too, but remember to allow access to them (and any Valves) for maintenance.

A flip up bridge or roll aside section is required for some things.

Plan them in from the beginning, it's far easier.

For designing the track plan, Try Scarm, it's free and there is a thread here from the guy who made it.

I use RR-Track and I like it. I have made hundreds of designs and variations on my layout in it.

Both of them allow 3D rendering so don't be afraid of going off level and being more realistic in the layout.

It's a shame your builder put the utilities in the middle of the room like that and not off in a corner or a room that could be cordoned off.  Assume everything will fail and need to be replaced or access gained for repair and maintenance.

Thankfully (Can't believe I'm saying this) I had a major septic issue this summer.  My planned layout design made access to the clean out very difficult.  I redesigned my layout to accommodate easy (and clean) access.

Same with my furnace.  Repair guy was worried until and showed him I could move the benchwork out of his way with ease.

Have fun.

Ron

I've known folks who have intentionally placed utilities in the center of the room so they have more around the wall space.  So it depends on your design goals. 

Whats worse is your stairway configureation.Good luck getting ANYTHING down that basement.

The stairway shouldn't be too difficult to get lumber and sheet goods down, as long as there's adequate overhead clearance in the stairwell. It's down, turn once 90 degrees, and down the rest of the way with an adequate space at the base of the stairs.

The furnace/water heater utility area can be walled off with a nice ventilated sliding or folding door for access. You might have to bump the wall studs out just a little for the plumbing on the wall, but other than that the space is clear and should be fairly easy to work with.

Having utilities along a wall can be more troublesome, especially for an around-the-walls layout. The ideal area to begin my layout has the water meter and water heater in one corner, and then the sewer plumbing and cleanouts another 10 feet further away on a jog in the same wall. So I'll have to build out an access chase for the plumbing and a closet for the water utility area without cutting into the layout space too much. Then I'll have to figure out how to run the layout past it all and still leave access -- probably removable sections and/or a bridge span. At least equipment can be easily brought in and out of the basement through a bulkhead stairwell to the outside on the opposite end of the basement where the layout isn't going. Bulkhead access (common in New England) can be a pain, since you have to leave space for the door and an access aisle as well. 

Here's a track plan that i came up with using one of my CAD programs that I still have access too. What do you guys think? 

Looks pretty good, tho I question the crossings in a couple pairs of sidings.

I think I'd swing them inside / outside each other VS crossing them.

I like the Wye into the yard with the long looping lead, good way to turn trains.

One thought I had was what to do about staging, where to put it. Any suggestions?

are you going to frame out the outer walls and insulate, etc finish the ceiling with a drop type?  maybe they left the furnace in center for pushing the air evenly.  I know why they do this and its about balancing the air. it does take up a lot of space for a layout, but you have a great space to do this.  I wish I had this kind of space!  plus you have 10 foot ceilings too and concrete poured walls.  if you are going to finish the space, leave room for a toilet/powder room in case that's in the future.  I see you have a 4-6" that you could use along that back wall.  or maybe they stubbed that out for you.

That's a great space to work with and a good looking around the room track plan so far! With that much space, are you sure you want just a single mainline instead of a double main, or at least long sidings where the industries are so you can switch the industries without interrupting movement on the mainline? 

As far as staging, looking at the plan, you have a lot of length on the back wall and the wall on the right. You could put staging tracks on a lower level that curve around to the right side of the layout, and still have a minimal grade because of all the length you have to work with.

I took that idea and here's what i came up with. I decided to a stub eneded staging since that the idea is that a train will be turned in between sessions. 

My focus is operations and switching, which why the layout is more switching than main line running. 

OK, Looks pretty good. I like the under layout on track storage, I'm going to do that as well on my New Layout.

Mine is going to be 6 to 8 stubs tho. I don't want to have to stack trains on them, They are for dedicated Special occasion Consists.

I would consider swapping ends with the storage tho, If you bring it up at the bottom right you are close to the Wye to turn it around.

Otherwise you are going to be backing up a long ways either going in or out of the storage.

Also, I still wonder about the Crossing on the siding at the top of the Wall left of the Stairs.

One of those tracks is going to be fouled a lot unless a single engine works that area alone.

And even then, the length is limited by the crossing unless you split the train.

PS:  Don't forget the lights!  Put up "wall washer" flood lights, about every four feet--depends on layout height.  Put these wall washers on dimmer slide switches so that you may adjust the intensity of your lights.  Too many layouts have lighting that ends up between the layout and where people are standing which results in shadows being cast around the layout.  And, rubberized floor tiles are an awesome choice for a basement floor, because when your basement floods, and I didn't say "if", when your basement floods these rubberized squares can be taken outside and dried off.  Rubberized squares make standing in the basement a pleasure and not a pain!  Forget carpet!