New Layout Review

Not familiar with SCARM. Can you save and post the file as a .pdf, .jpg or other readily readable type? If one doesn't have SCARM the file you've provided is not readable.

Here's a photo. It's O-36 curves/switches and I don't see anything wrong with it given the space available. It has some storage and can run 2 trains unattended.

Thanks Dave.  Looks good to me. Hard to get more action into that sort of space, and you can run your two locos over the entire layout thanks to your two crossovers.  I like the inner loop not being a mirror of the outer loop. I think that will be visually attractive.

Are you sure the Polar Express set will navigate that group of switches at the bottom?

John

Very nice Dave!

@shane333  Great job on your first post and layout.  There is something I'd like to bring to your attention.  When FasTrack switches are attached directly to a curve, many locomotives have a tendency to derail coming out of the curve when attempting to head through the out direction of the switch.  This is illustrated in the image below.  Blue arrows show direction of travel, and red arrows show the switch points that would cause derailments.

My suggestion would be to shift some of the existing short straight sections in your plan so that they're in between the curves and switches as shown with blue track in the next image.

This does shorten the yard spurs slightly.  I think in the long run this change will prevent some potential frustration with frequent derailments.  The SCARM file with these changes is attached.

Looks good, but you may want to eliminate the "ess" curves, especially the hard ones at the switches.

@ADCX Rob posted:

Looks good, but you may want to eliminate the "ess" curves, especially the hard ones at the switches.

Yes, this is a good way to do this. Many of the old time books on trackwork recommended this set up for switches.

@ADCX Rob posted:

Looks good, but you may want to eliminate the "ess" curves, especially the hard ones at the switches.

Rob thank you and good suggestions.  I like the way you changed the crossover switches to eliminate the S curve there.

Here's a variation using RH switches for the yard which eliminates the O-36 Quarter turn S curve from the yard entrance.  I presume the S curve on the top of the inside loop is intentional, perhaps for a building or accessory to go there.  If not, I agree with Rob, that it may be better to make that section straight.

I want to thank everyone for the input and for redrawing the layout for me.

I had the curves on the top of the inner loop just to have some movement and difference from the outer loop. If the curves will cause derails, then I'll just use straight track.

Thanks again everyone!

Tim

@shane333 One of the cool things about FastTrack is that you can do quite a bit with different radius curves and still have the layout work out in a smaller space. I think you have the space to make your outer loop O48, or even a combination of O48 and O60 curves. You can mix and match curves to try and create a wider, sweeping curve. As long as the angles add up to 180, you are good to go. This would shorten your straight runs, and you "waste" a little extra space in the corners due to the wider curves, but the trains running the outer loop will look pretty nice on a wider curve. Something to think about, in my opinion. You could also keep the S-curve that you added at the top of the layout, which I like for some added interest and to squeeze some station platforms in, but do it with wider radius curves so that the derail risk is minimized/eliminated.

I just played around with this using wider radius curves on the outer loop and some tweaking to the S-curve at the top. This is still a little sloppy and there is room to make this more symmetrical, improve the yard entrance, etc. Or do a crossover at the top instead between the loops, and a passing siding at the bottom for the inner loop.

In summary - if you had interest in using curves beyond O36, your table size, particularly that 62" width, gives you some options.

You could also add some switching interest by adding a siding and industry in one or more of the corners. The picture below shows how I added a switch where the curve is the main line and the straight leads into an industry. The siding holds one or two cars.