Post your layout diagram?

Great track plan Lee...you may want to consider posting this over on the track plans and layout design forum for even more coverage...

Alan

Yes, I might post there, too.  But the e-mail inquiries came to me because of my postings here (the only forum I post on although I read on others I rarely post anywhere else), so I figured those wondering about how I squeezed the SS roads into a layout that already had four train loops.  I find it interesting that almost all the roads are near the edge of the layout.  Not sure if this is how others do it but it worked out for me. 

Maybe Rich or Allan could put links to other forums.  I've noticed that Rich is starting to do that with some of the "Real Trains" stories.

I really like this thread.  Thanks for starting it, Lee.

I just posted this on the Layout forum, too, along with a photo of what I mean by "does not look very crowded" (which is, of course, a matter of opinion).

No diagram since I freehand it but I guess a photo is the next best thing...

Not the best photo as I didn't have a tripod available at the moment but this is the most recent photo of my 4x8 layout. Two loops, upper loop does have a switch and siding (switch is where that Chessie boxcar is and siding is on the other side of the boxcar). Upper loop is 0-27 Lionel Tubular track and Lionel Manual 0-27 switch.

Lower/Main loop is 0-27 style 0-42 curves/Lionel tubular with 3 sidings (or two depending on how you look at it below...) Switch is a Lionel 0-27 in the foreground. The other switch, under the C&O Baggage car on the other side of the layout was another Lionel 0-27 but has recently been replaced with a Ross 0-31 switch. I have just about the entire month of May off and have many projects planned. One including doing the rock work, similar to how the cliff is on the layout, around the exposed wood on the outside of it. The white paint I put on there about a year ago to dress the layout up for visitors coming specifically to see the layout and was meant to be very temporary....at least I didn't intend for it to be on there that long! All of that will get covered by the rock work as seen on the finished layout. 

In a few weeks, I will probably start another thread with some update photos as I don't have time at the moment to take new photos and a few things have changed and will be changing in the next few weeks. 

 ** I recommend viewing the larger size photo as it looks a bit better than the smaller version. Sorry again for the blur. When I do the layout update, I will use a tripod!**

Great plans and great pictures all!

I don't have a photo yet, but will upload when the first of switches are laid in the yard area. I am essentially waiting on a number of things for the new month.

I don't use any sort of programs to plan. I literally just flop track down and keep working it until I have what I want for the area. Half is staging, middle is engine area and end is yard and some switching if I am lucky.

I think this is the most effective (and fun) way to do it.

My layout is the same shape as yours except it spurs into another room. It took 44 sheets of OSB topped with 44 sheets of Quietbrace. It tunnels through the wall about where the bath area is on your layout.

Good bench-work.  I like the tunnel through the wall.  Great idea plus it creates two different areas you can conceivably do different scenery themes on.  Nice.

No pictures but this is the latest video that shows all of it 

It is good for me because I can run 4 trains and have some switching action and a figure eight. It is 5 by 8 feet the outer tack is 0-54 the inner is o-36 and the next in is o-27 with a straight in between two curves and the most inner is an o-27 figure eight with 4 Lionel o-27 switches I am in the process of adding more scenery and will post updated videos and pictures when I do 

Nice Williams.  Is that the most recent versions?

Lee: That is one great layout.

Dale H, how much space do you have between the bench work top and the top of the opening through the wall?  From the pictures you have shown, it doesn't look like very much.

Larry

DaleH

Based on the nice quality of your benchwork the Cleveland Public School system must have had a top notch Woodworking Shop course for its "products". Quite a high class layout you have underway, are you gonna name it the "Relay Railroad"?

Larry.

about 8 inches,will be a bit less when I frame the top. The layout is in an old school and the wall is about a foot thick but I cut the tunnel where a window used to be. 

Dewey

I did take 1 year of wood working,thanks for the kind words. I learned a lot of carpentry skills restoring the building circa 1908. The bench work is just a bunch of 2X4s really.

Will use lots of relays,the outer 4 loops 2 on top and 2 on bottom using K-Line O-120 Shadow rail will be automated where 3 trains follow each other on the loop running one at a time from a staging area. This way I only need 100 watts per loop of transformer power and dueling sound systems will be kept at a minimum. I will make a soft start system for realistic operation. For the for loops this will take about 160 relays. I will fill the inner loops with trolley lines and a short line,with an automated passing siding.

I hope you use a digital system.  Wow . . . 

No pretty simple circuit really. I was certified for Allen Bradley logic controllers many years ago but forgot it all.  I used to be a pinball mechanic and remember all so I enjoy  electromechanical operation. Some of the relay contacts serve as primitive logic circuits technically. I do use solid state timers,each loop will require 2, 1 repeat cycle and 1 interval. Stopped train will accelerate in 8 or more speed steps over an adjustable period, bell will turn on and off and whistle will blow at crossings,all automated. No need for high tech here.

Dale H

Our layout, the Lighthouse Point RR, is 6 X 15 with an O-64 outer loop and an O-54 inner loop.  The layout is set in a beach town which is an interesting theme to model.  We have an entertainment area, a oil refinery, a missile railcar base and the seashore along the edge. 

The layout takes up half of the 18 1/2 foot X 14 foot room room shared by the trains and our blues bar.  The benchwork is from Mianne, the layout top is 3/4" plywood covered with 1/2" Homasote, the track, roadbed and switches are from Ross and the uncoupling/unloading tracks are from Gargraves.  It's all conventional now with DCS to be added within the next year.  The scenery is about 90% complete except for the front corner where a lighthouse will go in a few weeks.  (In the 3D drawing below, the area inside the blue line below the diaganol boulevard is the missile rail car base.  The layout photo taken with a cell phone dates back a year or two.)

The train room photos date back to 2006 or 2007 just after we assembled the bench work and attached the layout's top surfaces.

You can see more photos on our web site, Bluejeans Place at www.bluejeansplace.com .

Very cool layout Pat!  Nice train room, too!   And two oil wells on your layout - I see how you can afford for all that neat stuff!!!

Heres mine 30x14

Cool.  Nice trainyard(s).  And good arrangement to run a bunch of locos all at once.  

The small 5 x 5 foot loop in the upper right, not connected by switches to the rest.  Is is it for a special train or a trolley line through a town or something like that?

GG 1 3 pass cars on small loop

Here's my latest iteration of my 11.5x12 layout, with a 2 feet wide by up to 12 feet long area down the left side:

I haven't been happy with the new "yard" and feel it doesn't reflect actual RR practices in any way, even though it does give me some place to store cars.

Here's a design I've been working on the last few days that I feel gives me more "play" value while having less sidings:

I think I've been trying to cram too much into such a small space (common problem from what I see).

Instead of having 8 industrial spurs I've cut it down to 4.  I plan on having the top left spur serve a single, large industry (probably something like Birdsong Peanuts in Franklin Va), the top right spur serve a small downtown area, and the 2 lower spurs serve another large industry (something like a Union Camp Paper Mill on a small scale).

The track along the left side will be the Arrival/Departure track, heading offline to a connection with the main Subdivision line.  The tracks next to it will be where I pickup/drop off the cars and hold my engines and cabeese.

The "Wye" will be on a hinged section so I can raise/lower it to gain access to the center of the layout.

I don't look forward to tearing up what I just put down, so I'm taking my time with this design to make sure it'll do what I want.

Personally I like the modified plan a lot more - I'd do it. All the work of building the hinged section, which could be a pain to get aligned right, would be it would be worth it in my opinion.  Good running configuration. 

Thanks for sharing.  

Lee,

I'm going to play with the design a bit more, but this is close.  Once I get my 3rd Rail E7 I'll probably be running passenger trains more often, I might see if I can swap 096 for the 072 outer loop and 072 for the 054 inner stuff.  I currently have a WBB E7 and don't think it looks bad going around the 072 curves, but it won't go around the 054 curevs because I fixed the pilot and added Kadees.

My drawings a scrunched horizontally here, i.e. should be wider, but I can't figure out how to fix them.

.....

Dennis