RE: Help for a Rookie

Maybe put a switch by your “15.7” location off the outside main to your staging area. JohnA

Would you attach your SCARM file so I don’t  have to guess at or redo the shape of the bar? Also, what areas inside around the liquor shelf is open? How wide is the bar and any other decking under the tracks that are there?

Dave is right- a better picture of your room with details  would help a lot . JohnA

I'd be happy to

@DoubleDAZ posted:

Would you attach your SCARM file so I don’t  have to guess at or redo the shape of the bar? Also, what areas inside around the liquor shelf is open? How wide is the bar and any other decking under the tracks that are there?

Dave,

I was thinking a 24inch uniform octagonal shape for the bar. Underneath I was going to build a wooden trestle bridge to give the bar a further railroad theme, however; I was going to support it with stronger material hidden or blended into the background. As it stands I can be pretty flexible with a walk in layout, staging areas, or a town / industries. My only hard constraint is the load bearing post and  the walls. The area opposite the stairs could also be a straight run as well.

Here's my initial shot to see if I understand the basics. I moved the labels to a separate layer and there are coordinates for the baseboard points on another layer. Ignore them though because the design was flipped horizontally so I could set them easier. I filled the staging area with as much as I could to see what all fits. I reconfigured the right loops so they'd connect, all are O-72 or larger. Both loops have a small gap around 0.1", give or take.

Dave thanks for the work. I have been digesting your model and have updated some dimensions. I appreciate the work you put into this. I'm looking over it and will discuss more.

"We're all rookies. Some are just more rookie than others"

Just so you know, I simply tried to outline the maximum track and landscaping space while maintaining a 30" reach. I assume the Political Boundary is a soft boundary, not a wall, and you'll have access from that side.
I changed the switches from O-72s to #5s to allow a smoother transition for the Big Boy through the crossovers, #7.5 switches would also fit.
I changed the approach to/from the lift-out so a straight bridge will fit there without curves leading to it. I just changed the curves to the left of the lift out and added the Atlas Double Truss Bridge. The curves were O-72/O-81 and now they are O-81/O90.
Also, be advised that the switches leading to the storage area may cause some difficulties because trains will always have to go through the curved part of the switches and that's not generally what you want on mainlines. That said, I added some alternative storage configurations. Trouble is they may interfere with landscaping plans. Spurs are difficult because there are few places with straights.

I'm baffled how quickly you do this.

Been playing with SCARM for many years and hundreds of iterations of a LOT of designs. I’m also retired with few regular chores, so I’ve got a lot of time on my hands.

One thing I forgot to ask is do you want this converted to GarGraves/Ross? It won’t take me long to do that, but GarGraves almost guarantees you’ll need to learn hot to cut tracks because it does not have small filler pieces. I’ll probably convert it anyway, but it won’t be until tomorrow because I have an appointment this afternoon.

Dave, I'll get back to you. I'm active Navy XO on a SSGN out of Kings Bay. I'm looking at this space and brainstorming some more routes, less storage, or a sub level for storage etc.

Thanks

Thank you for your service. Way back in 1966 I started to enlist in the Navy, but the recruiter was busy on the phone, so I went next door to the Air Force and the rest is history. I have the utmost respect for submariners, not something I think I could have done. In the early 70s a seaman gave me a tour of the Enterprise and even that just wasn’t for me.

Dave, maybe consider removing the "S" next to the bridge and install the bridge on a slight angle.  Slight trimming of curve pieces to soften the right of way travel.

CLH, not many of us are experts, this is just where we come to get our ego tanks refilled.

Yeah, Tom, something needs to be done there for sure. That was just to finish connecting the dual mains that were left half finished. Now I’m going to wait to hear from the XO before making further changes. Thanks for mentioning it so I don’t forget about it.  I may go ahead and fiddle tomorrow, my plate is empty.

Hummm...I just noticed the label on the red barrier, "political boundary".  I smiled, when we purchased this home the steps to the basement are our political boundary.  She gets the main floor, I get the basement.

Trust me, I am filling up the place with as much bench work as possible to guarantee that no sewing room or family sitting room will ever encroach onto RR property.

I laughed at that phrase too, Tom.

Since I had nothing better to do this morning, here's another rendition. I may have assumed too much space for the yard given the new drawing, but thought I'd expand it anyway. I reduced the width to 36" for reach and added a crossover in the lower right. Now a train can pull in and the engine can "escape".

I reworked the lift-out area to make for a smoother approach and no "S" curve. I also removed the upper yard and added 3 spurs, 2 in opposite directions so different trains will have to service them. I added the Atlas Double Truss bridge as well as an Engine House. With no reversing loops or wye, a train will have to pull out of the yard to go counter-clockwise or back out, then pull forward to go clockwise.

OK, I may be dense, but that exactly is accomplished by these switches?

The lower one on the right lets a train pull in, drop cars, then the engine can go through the crossover to get out and take another consist out or whatever. The ones on the left were supposed to be reconfigured to eliminate the top one and move the others to the outer track. I just got in a hurry when I deleted the other outer tracks. I’ve already made those changes in my file.

BTW, there’s no pride of authorship here, so if you have suggestions, please make them. I don’t even know yet where this design is going to go, so it’s just a work very much in progress at the moment.

OK, the switch to release the engine makes sense, I'm glad I asked.   It doesn't look like you can get too many cars in there, especially if you leave room for the engine to escape, but at least I know why it's there.

I guess my feeling is the lack of reverse loop capability is a key issue, at least for me.

GRJ, the lack of reversing capability is an issue for me too. Unfortunately, I don’t see a way to add it. I have no idea what kinds of operations will be conducted, what equipment will be run (other than the Big Boy), how long the trains will be, etc., so I’m just throwing out some options.

Well, if it makes you feel any better, after looking at the plan, I can't quite imagine how it would fit in either.

Definitely a design for loopers. I love the glass bar idea for the Big Boy though.

FWIW, I converted the design to Ross/GG and it requires 21 cuts.

I’ve thought about doing that, but I want to hear what CLH has to say about the general design first.

The beauty of curved turnouts is getting the diverging accomplished before you reach the straight track.

Curved turnouts have stretched   several of my sidings allowing additional cars to stand ready off line either in a ladder track or compound manner.

You can even fudge in numbered compound turnouts into curves to kinda get a similar action.

One of the nice things about using compound turnouts is that the resulting yard tracks are close to the same lengths.

Compound #5's

@Tom Tee posted:

The beauty of curved turnouts is getting the diverging accomplished before you reach the straight track.

Curved turnouts have stretched   several of my sidings allowing additional cars to stand ready off line either in a ladder track or compound manner.

You can even fudge in numbered compound turnouts into curves to kinda get a similar action.

One of the nice things about using compound turnouts is that the resulting yard tracks are close to the same lengths.

Compound #5's

Cool turntable!

Thank you for posting this.  I guess I need to check out SCARM.
You’ve got a bit more space than I do.  I think I am going to post some pics of the layout I made for me and my son.  It’s a 8x6 plywood table I made myself.  It’s really great to see other people’s layouts here.

Thanks for the updates. I'm mulling over in my head if I want to try and create a third line tighter curves for the L branch and build a second level for storage. Thus allowing me to have more trains running vs. two loops. I think I might actually hire a layout designer to develop it with me. I figure someone with that level of experience would be worth getting the most out of a tight space. I'm going to delete that liqour shelf and open up space there and simply move the storage under the bar as well.