using fastrack how many loops can i comfortably fit on a 8' x 16' layout and is there any free or inexpensive software available to help me design the layout and to figure how much track i will need. thanks.
Original Post
Replies sorted oldest to newest
We set up on an 8x16 every December for the City of Los Angeles. We usually have four loops -- two O-72 and two O-36 of various configurations. On one occasion we used a five-loop setup with an extra O-36 loop. No turnouts since it's a display layout and we didn't want to deal with the extra wiring, cost and operational complications of switches on essentially an elevated carpet central. The two O-72 loops were command controlled under DCS and TMCC while the inner three were conventional under separate transformers.
Attachments
Images (1)
hi Matt, i'm glad it's still early on the west coast. Thanks for your reply. My original thing was four outside loops but you have given me something maybe even better. Your way will give folks (kids) more to play with. Thanks.
Originally Posted by dawkil:
hi Matt, i'm glad it's still early on the west coast. Thanks for your reply. My original thing was four outside loops but you have given me something maybe even better. Your way will give folks (kids) more to play with. Thanks.
That's exactly why we do it that way. We often let the kids handle the remotes since the trains are running solo on the loops. We'll also occasionally put a command locomotive on one of the smaller loops as well so more kids can run. We've gone back and forth about whether we want to build a portable layout, but so far FasTrack on boards has been more practical.
You might try SCARM, it's a free track planning program that I think a lot of folks around here are now using. I have tried it, but I already had purchased RR-Track with several libraries and didn't want to learn another program, still learning with RR-Track. There have been some very nice track plans posted here that were created using SCARM.
