New Interest

One of the members..dave at Pine creek railroad is a master at cramming in a layout in tight spaces plus he runs Legacy and DCS..hopefully he will chime in.

willygee posted:

One of the members..dave at Pine creek railroad is a master at cramming in a layout in tight spaces plus he runs Legacy and DCS..hopefully he will chime in.

If he is a 3-railer, that doesn't provide much help for those new folks here on the 2-Rail SCALE Forum.

Duly noted although DCS is both 2 and 3 rail.

willygee posted:

Duly noted although DCS is both 2 and 3 rail.

But that has no impact on the original poster's plan for a 2-Rail layout with his allotted space.

For starters, suggest you draw and post a scale plan of your available floorspace and show us some photos of the space. And describe what kinds of 2-rail trains you are interested in and whether you have acquired or budgeted for any of these yet.

Since you have some experience with HO layouts, why don't you review some HO plans that you like then double the dimensions for a rough idea of how much space they need for 2-rail O-gauge. Of course that does not allow for changes needed to maintain access.

ICG68 posted:

The room I have to work with is about 13 X 13. 

You have a bit more than I do.  The limitation that will ultimately constrain you is the size of curves that you can realistically install in that space, which in turn will restrict the size of engines and rolling stock that you might be able to reasonably use w/o looking too silly.

You can probably use smaller diesels, smaller steam, and 40' freight cars w/o too much compromise is you want to do a bit more than a point to point.  I take it that the 4th wall has a door, windows, etc.?

I have a similar space for my home layout. it is around the walls with a drop bridge across the walk-in opening. I've kept the track plan simple, modeled after the PRR Bel-Del branch in NJ. Martin is correct, use 4 axle diesels or 3 coupled steamers, 40' rolling stock. My radii are about 42"-45", rather steep, but it works for the bridge line I am replicating, since the prototype follows the terrain along a river.

on two walls the benchwork is 24" wide, on the other 2 walls the benchwork is 12" wide.

I have a track plan somewhere, but it is not digitized to post.

That's a decent space for a carefully planned switching layout. I can envision any number of nice plans. Such a layout would force the concept of "less is more" into the picture...which in my view is a great approach to model railroading.

Make scale drawings of your exact space and work from that...this is very doable...have fun.

Bob

     Mine is a small 9x12 oval that I managed to squeeze a short siding and 3 spurs into. Curves are in the 28" range which is pretty restricting for 2 rail. If you're planning on modeling with modern equipment a switching layout would be the way to go. Even with that you might have to do things like changing couplers as some of the stock couplers don't have as much side to side travel as a Kadee would. I've had HO layouts as well and they were fun but I still prefer O even with the compromises. Good luck!

Gentlemen,

   Although 2 rail will take more actual engineering space to build the engineering is no different.  1st we need to see the actual room the 13' x 13' allotted space actually resides in.  Doorways, windows, poles, ect all need to be taken into account.  Then Bill (Willygee) needs to advise him as to which 2 rail Track & switches he actually needs to purchase, for that real building space he has available.  Switches, Track & Curve availability will play a big engineering part in this small 13' x 13',  2 rail space allotment.  PRRMAN has a real good idea of what actually can be engineered and constructed in this limited space, I agree with him, and maybe something similar can be engineered for this gentlemen if the 13' x 13' is all usable space.  Sense his other layouts were in the basement, he will probably construct this layout there also, exactly where are the main beam upright supports located in his 13' x 13' space allotment, this kind of info is critical engineering information for layout design.  I always look at 2 rail engineering space requirements in the same manner I look at STD Gauge, Scotty we got to have the required actual open usable space, to construct a nice layout with the Track & Switches actually available, before we start to design/engineer a layout. 

PCRR/Dave

Hi guys, Thank you for your input. I think I can download the dimensions of the room and will try to do that tomorrow. The 4th wall is not usable due to a piano being in the way but I am thinking I can move it away from the wall and run track behind it for continuous operation. Based on what I've been reading I think I can make 36" radius work. 

You might consider building the benchwork above the piano and let it stay in place.  Taller benchwork makes it easier to duck under bridges across doorways.

Hi Roger,

You might take a look at Paul Lally's Youngstown and Southern.  It has appeared in OGR fairly recently and also in the June 2015 RMC.  There are also videos of the layout on Youtube.  I'm not sure of the overall size, but I believe he utilizes fairly small radius curves.  He still has managed to create a fantastic layout despite the required concessions.  I know that he limits locos and rolling stock to short wheelbases.

Jim

Paul Lally's layout should give you some great ideas.

Also see Michael Culham's series of articles that started in issue 18 of O Scale Trains (available as a free PDf download at):

http://oscalemag.com/wordpress/covers-contents-1-59/

You could do like I did and use 3-rail track, then pull out the middle rail, if you want to waste a lot of $$$ in the process.

Here's a very simple plan I drew using the old Atlas software, for a 13x13 room, with 49.5" radius curves and #5 switches.  Each side is 36" wide:

It'll give you 3 sidings and a loop for running.

Depending on where the doorway is, you could rotate things around and have a lift out bridge/section of track to gain access to the room.

Here's the 12x12 layout I currently have, with a 24"x12' extension down the side:

My layout was 3-rail with 072 curves (36" radius), but back in May I converted all my 3-rail steam to battery-powered RC and took up the middle rail (and removed all the 3-rail components on the engines).  The engines facility in the drawing was redesigned to what you partially see in the photo below:

Here's what the engine faciliaty looks like now:

It pales in comparison to most 2 or 3-rail layouts, but it has worked for me and accomplishes what I wanted, a simple layout that was easy to use and maintain and provide me with hours of entertainment.

Right now there's not a single wire connection on the layout, but I plan on wiring the building with LEDs soon and may re-wire the switches that make up the Wye.

Just curious, what is the tightest radius available for 2 rail?

ES44AC posted:

Just curious, what is the tightest radius available for 2 rail?

Since a number of suppliers offer 2-Rail flex-track, one can make the radius anything desired, especially for those modeling interurban and/or trolley systems. 

Hot Water posted:

ES44AC posted:

Just curious, what is the tightest radius available for 2 rail?

Since a number of suppliers offer 2-Rail flex-track, one can make the radius anything desired, especially for those modeling interurban and/or trolley systems. 

Actually, I think you will hit a limitation on bending flex track due to the way that the ties are attached.  I suspect that you can go tighter hand laying your own track.

Here's one I did in response to a challenge from a couple of H.O. modelers. It's 10x10 with 36" radius (O-72 in hi-rail speak). This was done on RR-Track with Atlas 3-rail track, but the same components are offered in the same sizes in Atlas 2-rail track. It's an around-the-room type designed to be operated from the center. So, small space is a challenge, but not a bar to O scale. The big thing to keep in mind is that the equipment will have to be smaller and the trains shorter.

If continuous isn't for you, a switching layout can work. I've had a lot of fun designing these. This one is 12 feet long and 32" wide and is centered around Citrus operations with a packing house, an ice house/dock, a "box shook" plant and a small depot. I live in San Bernardino and these were all over the place at one time.

.

This last one is based on a small part of a surviving "street run" in Anahiem, California. The line served some packing houses and a lumber yard. The line is now just a route to other industries as all of the former rail-served industries are gone. This is 12x12 with 32" deep decks.

The input has been great! I've attached a drawing of the room I have. My thought was to have something basic so I can do more detail work to the layout.  I can't go above the piano because I will lose vertical clearance for buildings due to ceiling height. I am thinking of a short siding with maybe a couple of staging tracks and few rail industries.

Also, is there any 2-rail shows in the Chicago area? 

ICG68 posted:

 

Also, is there any 2-rail shows in the Chicago area? 

 

 

 

Coming right up!  Normally in March.  This year in early April for some reason.

Chicago March Meet

Awesome!  Guess I know what I'll be doing that weekend.

You also may want to explore http://www.carendt.com/micro-layout-design-gallery/