Soliciting Track Plan Ideas

Dan, my layout is long and narrow like yours will be. I can take pictures and a video of my layout and send same to you. My layout might give you some ideas, but mine is much longer (about 35 feet around 3 walls of each of 2 rooms in my basement), but about the same width as yours. Mine is 3 to 4 feet wide depending on the specific location on my layout.

I encourage you, if possible, to have your layout run along the wall or walls, and to create a backdrop. Doing so will make your layout appear wider than it is, and will enhance your scenery. 

Another idea to make the layout appear bigger is to strategically place mirrors. Since I have only heard about this, and never actually done it, the use of mirrors is something you may want to discuss with someone else.

You have wonderful accessories. Pick your favorites and plan where you want to place them on your layout.

I prefer long and narrow layouts because the trains are really going somewhere, not just around a circle or oval.

Now, I will take some pictures of my layout and send them to you.

Whoa, I nearly broke my neck making videos of my layout. It’s not that easy to climb on a chair to take panoramic video shots.

The first video below is the far side of my layout, which is on the far left as you enter the main  room, and then I move the camera to the right:

 The next video is further to the right and towards the narrow center of the layout:

The next video is yet further to the right. The trains leave the main room and enter the laundry room where the ball park is:

Below is another video of the track in the laundry room:

I have 2 independently blocked main lines which are interlocked with switch tracks in the center of the layout, and there are reverse loops at the ends of each main line. There are also numerous sidings that are independently blocked so I can park trains in the siding while running other trains on the main lines.

I also have a further extension of the outer main line in the laundry room (not shown in the videos) that goes past the fuel oil tank covered with scenery, goes behind the washer dryer (usually covered with a green felt blanket) and there is a reverse loop when this outer main line reaches the  oil burner.

It was great fun designing and building my long, narrow layout.

Arnold

Dan, you should read through this old post about track planning in a similar space. ACE went through a number of interesting iterations on his narrow layout. I copied a few below as well. A lot of good ideas here. https://ogrforum.com/...ith-easements?page=1

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

 

Arnold, I really love the look and feel of your layout. Great mixture of realistic scenery and Postwar whimsy. Similar to a theater/play with a great set, the perfect amount scenery to get you to suspend your disbelief and let your imagination fill in the rest. 

Do you have a digital plan or sketch of your track plan?

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Whoa, I nearly broke my neck making videos of my layout. It’s not that easy to climb on a chair to take panoramic video shots.

The first video below is the far side of my layout, which is on the far left as you enter the main  room, and then I move the camera to the right:

 The next video is further to the right and towards the narrow center of the layout:

The next video is yet further to the right. The trains leave the main room and enter the laundry room where the ball park is:

Below is another video of the track in the laundry room:

I have 2 independently blocked main lines which are interlocked with switch tracks in the center of the layout, and there are reverse loops at the ends of each main line. There are also numerous sidings that are independently blocked so I can park trains in the siding while running other trains on the main lines.

I also have a further extension of the outer main line in the laundry room (not shown in the videos) that goes past the fuel oil tank covered with scenery, goes behind the washer dryer (usually covered with a green felt blanket) and there is a reverse loop when this outer main line reaches the  oil burner.

It was great fun designing and building my long, narrow layout.

Arnold

Arnold, thank you.  I have seen some of your layout in your postings.  I like the way you have arranged the track and scenery around it.  I agree, a narrow layout has it's benefits.  

JD2035RR posted:

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

 

Arnold, I really love the look and feel of your layout. Great mixture of realistic scenery and Postwar whimsy. Similar to a theater/play with a great set, the perfect amount scenery to get you to suspend your disbelief and let your imagination fill in the rest. 

Do you have a digital plan or sketch of your track plan?

 

Hi JD:

I have no digital plan, Twenty five years ago I designed it and made a diagram in pencil. I think I saved the diagram somewhere in the house. If I can find it, I’ll try to take an iPhone picture of it and attach it to a future reply.  Or, I’ll draw it out again, take a picture of it and attach it.

Maybe I was an archetect or engineer in another life. I remember absolutely loving the process of designing and drawing the diagram of my layout.  it’s a very mentally stimulating and creative thing to do., I remember spending many nights designing it. 

I oreferred designing the layout much more than building the bench work because I have a fear of power saws. I kind a like my fingers and don’t want to lop off any of them using power saws. LOL

Arnold

Dan, another thing you can consider doing, which I did and never saw anyone else do, is work into your layout things in your house that cannot be moved. 

For example, at the end of my layout in the laundry room is a reverse loop with a siding near my oil burner. Take a look at the photos below:

I believe those copper pipes are for the hot water baseboard heat in my house. Although way out of scale, I pretend that those pipes are to fill my oil tank cars parked on the siding. LOL

In the picture below, the scene shown is on top of my fuel oil tank in the laundry room. To the left is the gauge showing that the oil tank is about half full. That gauge kind of looks like a gasoline pump in scale on the dock, which could be for boats or cars:

Arnold

In the latest issue of Classic Toy Trains, there is a track plan I like.  It's for a 4 x 16 platform.  I've been playing around with some ideas to fit something similar into a 3 x 12 space.  The only problem is finding enough space for a few operating accessories.  

JD2035RR posted:

Dan, you should read through this old post about track planning in a similar space. ACE went through a number of interesting iterations on his narrow layout. I copied a few below as well. A lot of good ideas here. https://ogrforum.com/...ith-easements?page=1

 

 

They're some interesting plans.  I breezed through the post you mentioned and will have more time later to really get into it.  In the past, way in the past, I used a similar method of combining various curved sections in order to ease the train into a tight curve.  It is also a good method to hide tight curves in tunnels and such.  Thanks for posting.

Dan, do you “dare to tunnel through a wall” to expand your layout?

I ask this partly in jest.

More seriously, what I did, when I felt I did not have enough space, is literally tunnel through a wall so my trains running on my double track main lines can leave the room. The important thing is my wife was OK with it, since it was in my man cave basement and I give her complete dominion over the rest of our house, and my little kids thought it was hilarious!  Also, the wall involved was paper thin, and more of a wall panel partition than a wall, that slightly separated the play room and laundry room. Another consideration is that my layout was narrow enough so there was still enough space for a sectional couch so my kids could have their friends over to play board games, and when they were teenagers, neck with their boyfriends/girlfriends in the basement.

Please don’t tunnel through a wall if it would adversely impact your marriage, or it would significantly devalue your home. However, if you can do it, it is very dramatic when the trains leave the room, go somewhere else and then come back through the tunnel in the wall. And, of course, we train guys always crave more space. Truth is, no matter how big the layout is, it is never big enough.

Arnold

We made the freight yard a stub type, so we do a lot of action making up and breaking down trains.

Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Dan, do you “dare to tunnel through a wall” to expand your layout?

I ask this partly in jest.

More seriously, what I did, when I felt I did not have enough space, is literally tunnel through a wall so my trains running on my double track main lines can leave the room. The important thing is my wife was OK with it, since it was in my man cave basement and I give her complete dominion over the rest of our house, and my little kids thought it was hilarious!  Also, the wall involved was paper thin, and more of a wall panel partition than a wall, that slightly separated the play room and laundry room. Another consideration is that my layout was narrow enough so there was still enough space for a sectional couch so my kids could have their friends over to play board games, and when they were teenagers, neck with their boyfriends/girlfriends in the basement.

Please don’t tunnel through a wall if it would adversely impact your marriage, or it would significantly devalue your home. However, if you can do it, it is very dramatic when the trains leave the room, go somewhere else and then come back through the tunnel in the wall. And, of course, we train guys always crave more space. Truth is, no matter how big the layout is, it is never big enough.

Arnold

 

My wife is a very supportive and patient woman.  She agreed, reluctantly, to buy the house we've lived in for forty-four years. From when I was boy, I wanted two things.  To live in the country and build my own house.  The shack we bought was in the country, although it's not as much country as it is suburbia now.  We repaired and renovated the original little Cape Cod and a couple years later expanded it.  Throughout our time here we have made numerous changes and improvements.  My wife was behind me all the way.  Usually with a broom.

I doubt I'll be going through any walls as the space I have is limited to the 3 x 12 foot platform I have built.  It's in our tiny basement, 10' x 20', of which a good portion is the boiler and air-conditioning blower.  Many years ago, before we had any air conditioning equipment down there I had  a few different layouts.  The best one was 3 1/2 ' x 20'.  

I've been playing around with the design and have come up with this.  The space I have is slightly longer than twelve feet, so I made the land grab as soon as I discovered it.  While I have no passing sidings, I do have reverse loops and plenty of sidings for operating accessories, including a 456 coal ramp and 397 coal loader combination at the lower right.  The yellow marks indicate where things don't quite match, so some cutting and fitting will be required.

The other thing this design seems to do is get away from the straight looking post-war designs by using the four O72 switches I have.  

Looks good, Dan!

Okay, I have been playing around with more track plans using Railmodeller Pro.  I know I said my last idea got away from the straight forward post-war plan, but, it involves too much switching.  So this is my latest idea.  I copied the plan onto paper so that I could draw in the accessories.  I've placed a few operating accessories on it, with the thought in mind to try and fit more in.  

Some experimenting with the actual accessories will be in order once I start to lay track, but this is a general idea of where I am at now.  All track is "O" gauge.  O22 switch tracks and two O42 manual switch tracks because there isn't enough room for the switch drive.  

I will welcome any thoughts.  I must say that having these forums allows us to gather ideas from all over the country.  Compared to when I was last into "O" gauge, late '70s to early '90s, when there was no internet, gathering ideas was time consuming and mostly experimental.  

Dan Padova posted:

Okay, I have been playing around with more track plans using Railmodeller Pro.  I know I said my last idea got away from the straight forward post-war plan, but, it involves too much switching.  So this is my latest idea.  I copied the plan onto paper so that I could draw in the accessories.  I've placed a few operating accessories on it, with the thought in mind to try and fit more in.  

Some experimenting with the actual accessories will be in order once I start to lay track, but this is a general idea of where I am at now.  All track is "O" gauge.  O22 switch tracks and two O42 manual switch tracks because there isn't enough room for the switch drive.  

I will welcome any thoughts.  I must say that having these forums allows us to gather ideas from all over the country.  Compared to when I was last into "O" gauge, late '70s to early '90s, when there was no internet, gathering ideas was time consuming and mostly experimental.  

Looks good, Dan. My sense is that this plan will accomplish your goals.

Arnold

What is an O22 switch?  I thought O27 was the sharpest curve in 3-rail O gauge.

An O22 switch is the designation for "O" gauge switch tracks, not a designation for a radius.  Similarly, 1122  is the designation for O27 switch tracks.  Now to confuse matter even further, an O42 switch track is an "O" gauge manually operated switch track.  The there are O42 curved tracks and O42 radii switch tracks.  Got it ?.....LOL