New Layout design

Welcome back, Hop in and enjoy.

Nice area and interesting layout.

I see the Red and Green lines go up and down for clearance with less grade.  I make out 6 !! Reversing loops.

I expect you want to do lots of switching as I only see 2 loops inside all that track.

The only problem I see are some Switches (one in the red line, 3 in the blue) being very far from a table edge. I would recommend a pop-up or drop out hatch near those for any derailments.

I see the same issue with the yard but nowhere to put a pop out for access. Nice Yard tho. Lots of storage although some legs are a bit short. (Life in O Guage)

Reversing switches depends entirely on the track you choose. Several modern switch makers have anti-derail built in so you could ignore them, the train would loop the other way around the next pass through.

Fastrack and RealTrax both do anti derail switching. Scaletrax has passive anti-derail, the wheels push through the points easily and they return to position.

Atlas switches have a bit of a bad rep. Gargraves switches are well thought of and Ross Custom Switches are the best according to many here. I also have some Ross switches and I Love them. They come in do it yourself switching or with switch engines. They do not do anti-derail without extra wiring unless my info is out of date. Ross also sells an entire line of track, a bit pricey but made in the USA and HAND SPIKED Rails on Real WOOD ties. It doesn't get any better. Ross also has Top Shelf Service and no-one has a better selection of switches.

thanks Russel its nice to chat with a fellow airman. Yes the idea is to have trains running and still be able to do some switching. as far as the switches being hard to reach, the area was used as an HO layout and i had the same problem so (being a machinist/welder all my life) i designed and fabricated a colapsable aluminum ladder that ties into strategically placed hooks in the ceiling and gives me an 18" X 4' platform to lay on above my layout in the hard to reach places. As mentioned before I plan to use  gargraves track and switches unlees i can find something better for the reverse loops. 

Ahhh, I missed the Gargraves line but as I said, lots of folks here like it.

I'm switching to ScaleTrax for the close to scale look of it but everyone must make their own choice.

Having any method to get in over the track works fine. You have an interesting way of doing it.

I wondered, Do you have a view block down the middle? It looks like it was made for one.

The  block down the center is the divide between the 1st and 2nd level  which is about 10 inches higher I was thinking of some kind of block to seperate the two areas to make it seem  larger and more individual town type atmosphere. I model the New Haven RR so it will be  50's 60's time period (reliving my childhood i guess I grew up in a small town next to the tracks)

I suspect by the picture of an I-5 that you will want to run some passenger trains.

Have you looked at how your intended equipment will look on 054 curves? Full scale passenger cars really look best on curves that are 072 or larger.

How would you feel about an around the walls layout with larger curves and less track?

ctr;

I think he is re-using existing benchwork. That's a lot of lumber to replace.

Russel is right I am re using most of the foundation of my old layout, The homasote is gone because of a plumbing  break, after tearing up the old  rr I thought about  rebuilding but like i said previously eyesight and finger dexterity lead me back to the O gauge. The frame work is still very solid and the ply is still in good shape. I thought about around the room but i could not come up with anything that would allow several trains to run unatended while still doing some switching also I need to leave the 4' area open in front of the layout to access the utility room. I have done a little more tweaking so that most of the exposed curves on the first level are actually 072 with one being 063. The reverse loops are 054 but they are going to be out of sight as they are under the 2nd level.

 The 2nd level is a differently story  the outside curves are 063 and the inside curves are 054. I am still trying to work the yard so that the loop there will have an 054.

  I do have 3 passenger sets 2 are 4 car lionel and they are the smaller 0-27 scale slightly smaller than full scale and 1 williams 5 car set that are 60' madison in NH.

 I am not saying i will never invest in any full scale passenger equipment  but for now i will be looking to stock up on freight equipment which will be a ways off because i have been pricing the track and it is going to take up all and then some of my modeling budget for a while.

 I am still in the process of cleaning off the  bench work as it has collected a lot of junk over the years and i am still open to different ideas if i can work them in.

 Thanks for the input I do appreciate any and all ideas and comments.

   Gary