I am renovating my O scale switching layout. Have had this up many many years and the laundry room has been generating plenty of dust. The main layout is compact 6x10 feet, added some extra support beams underneath as a foam base and the heavier engines were causing it to sag. This part of the layout is chest height with a 3 rail layout below and around the ceiling for the long trains.
I got some old Roco track many years ago really cheap and it has worked really well as snap track just using the turnouts with the manual throws. There are 2 main loops of track if I just want to let the trains circle for an open house or something. There are 11 sidings of various lengths.
There is a connecting track running along the walls over the laundry to a 5 track 16 foot yard along the opposite wall.
I just added the extra bracing underneath, a thin layer of foam sound deadening (for tile floors) over the foam base under the track and will ballast and scenic when time. Foam blocks sit over the middle of the layout between the sidings and 4x8 Foam sheet sits on top where I have 3 loops of HO track to run ON30 trains, a loop of road and some buildings in the middle, thus the city over the sidings below.
This makes for a fun 3 operator railway. 1 sorting trains in the yard, another running trains from the yard to the city through the many many miles through the grueling Rocky Mountains (a few feet along the wall over the laundry) and another operator sorting industries under the city.
