I will be tearing down and starting over a layout that was built 20 years ago in the basement of my parents house. Back when we built it, the goal was to have a permanent layout that had some scenery (as first attempt had none). The target audience was my Dad, brother, and myself. While trying to make it as non accessible as possible to anyone outside of the 3 people previously mentioned.
Fast forward 20 years...Dad recently passed away and my siblings are all married with kids of their own. Grandpa's trains have always been draw for the grandkids, but due to the poor forethought of a few teenagers during the building process, the layout never was designed to be accessible to younger kids. That all needs to change. Grandpa's trains need to be something that all ages can enjoy, and something that won't experience constant derailments while trying to run them. I want to end up with a plan that is geared towards reliability and interaction. The interaction will come through the operating accessories (of which there are several).
initial thoughts are to do an around the room style layout with at least one loop for continuous running of 1 train (2 would be preferred). Min 0-72 curves on this one.
But also need to accommodate the following Lionel operating accessories that the kids can operate
-Gantry Crane, Intermodal Crane, Steam Clean/Wheel Grind, #364 log loader, #362 barrel loader, #397 coal loader, 1-2848 Oil Derrick, burning switch station, modern version of the Oil Drum loader, #356 operating freight station, and a rotating beacon.
the other item on the wishlist (if you will) is to have sidings to store a few longer trains without having to remove them from the layout (area under the stairs)?
The room dimensions are posted here. red lines are the doorways in the room. and the black dot in front of the dryer is the waste pipes so those can't move. The red door shown closest to the dryer is where the door will be (door location shown ~210 inches from the dryer is where the door sits now) Under stair storage is limited by incline of the stairs. The area is tallest near the red opening, goes from 7'10" down to 8" at the end opposite access opening.
Anyone willing to post some track ideas? Any and all feedback/ideas is greatly appreciated.
-Jonny
It can remain in U shape (however O72 loops in U may need too much space) or can be converted to L-shaped layout with continuous track and also can incorporate your existing items. But that depends of what kind of rolling stock you want to run and which type of operations do you prefer most.
