Track Plan Details

(Updated April 16, 2023)

Introduction

First, I would like to thank Norm of Norm's Trains on YouTube. Watching his videos truly opened my eyes to what is scenically possible on a model railroad and the idea of 3-Rail Scale as a whole, and during the course of my many designs I wanted to pursue 3-Rail Scale. Although I've decided to settle for building a detailed high-rail layout, I dream of one day building a layout that is on par with his modeling craftsmanship and detail.

My parents bought me my first train set, a New York Central Flyer (6-31969), for Christmas when I was a kid. Included in the set was a getting started DVD, and running the train and watching the DVD with all the sets and layouts it featured had me dreaming of building my own giant layout one day. Well, after a long hiatus spent in LEGO, video games, and college, I have come full circle and returned to trains, and now the Lord has blessed me with the means to finally fulfill a childhood dream of building a large layout. Designing this layout has been a long, frustrating process due to how much I wanted to cram into my layout, and I may in fact still make changes. I had to drop elements like an engine service facility (coaling tower, multiple in/out tracks to the roundhouse, etc), O96-O84 mainline, a reverse loop for the upper level, and others that I would like to add in, but as a whole I am happy with how much I have managed to squeeze into my space while preserving O72 minimum on all the loops.

Below I will first detail how I plan to operate my layout, followed by switching and yard options, and finally some inspiration I took in my design as well as a showcase of how the design has evolved.

Operating Philosophy

The layout is designed to incorporate both looping, switching, and very small classification operations whlie making use of both large and small steam. All of these can cohesively work together, as explained below.

1. From the lower storage, a mainline train emerges, comes up to the upper level, and arrives in the yard. (optionally, it can loop on the main if the operator is not ready to let it in the yard, or just to stage an incoming train for a future operating session)
2. The locomotive uncouples from the train and heads to the roundhouse for maintenance before its next run. In the mean time, a switcher will break down the train into departing freight for the next town beyond (ie, back to storage) or into a local freight for switching.
3. Once breakdown of the arriving train is complete, either the switcher or another small engine will switch out the local industries, setting out the newly-arrived cars while picking up other cars ready to move out of town. The local returns to the yard with the pick-ups.
4. Once the local freight returns, the switcher adds the pick-ups and a caboose to the departing train, which is now ready for departure.
5. A new locomotive emerges from the roundhouse with a fresh crew ready to haul the outbound train. Once coupled up, the train departs. The outbound train can loop around the main, or descend to the lower level and loop the lower level before getting sent to storage.

Switching Specifics

The yard is composed of three tracks and a yard lead, and is double-ended to allow arrival/departure from either direction. The track closest to the main will be the arrival track since it should be long enough to hold a locomotive and a train (though longer engines may end poking out onto the main). The middle track will aggregate the outbound cars, and the farthest track is for the local freight. On the right hand side is a caboose track, as well as a short run-around off of the yard ladder.

Industries are in two sections. One is along the mainline-yard, and will be predominantly building flats or fronts built over the grade down to the lower level. The second section is more in-town, at the other end of the yard lead. The switches are all trailing/facing-point switches, so switching those out is releatively simple. The industries here will include a team track, WS Morrison Doors, and OGR kits (Barrettsburg Tool & Die, Acme Machine Shop, and Homestead Furniture).

On the lower level is a coal mine off of a reverse loop. I don't have formal plans for operations here, but I have designed it to have enough track to hold around 20 55-ton hoppers, or 10 with room for a couple of locomotives.

Lastly, under the yard on the upper layer is where I will have my hidden storage. This will consist of four long tracks, between 150-180" long, suitable for some passenger trains in addition to freight. I may add locomotive-only storage to other sections since I have the space, but we will see.

I would have liked to have an O96/O84 double main, a reverse loop on the upper level, sizable engine service area, and more. But unfortunately not everything could be squeezed in without becoming a total mess. This was the best combination of needs and wants that I could find. I think it should still be fun to run!

Inspiration

I took inspiration from many sources over the course of my design, but I will add and embed links to layouts that helped shape what my layout is today. Some were inspiration for scenery, others I learned broader concepts from (eg, track and switch placement for switching layouts), and still others have elements I could not fit on my layout but would like to include in future layouts.

I am sure I took some form of inspiration from other layouts that I can't remember now. In the year or so I have been designing, I have had plenty of time to research layouts for novel ideas, and I have seen many! I am thankful for everyone who shares their work online, my track plan would almost certainly be much more mundane otherwise.

Older Designs

Below I'll include just a few pictures of older layouts I designed and then scrapped for one reason or another, all of which ultimately informed the design of the layout today.

12x25 v1 - from June, 2022. A two-level layout, one of the first designs tailored to the home I was buying, with a very early attempt at designing a switching layout across the back. What a mess! A defining feature of these early designs was the use of a "twice-around" design, where there were two graded tracks that allowed a train to traverse between levels without having to turn around.

12x25 v9x - from July, 2022. Heavily refined version of the first design, which I actually posted about on OGR a long time ago. The killing blow to this design was the 4" curve spacing, which I was advised is just too tight for articulateds, a deal breaker. Back to the drawing board!

10x25 v10 - from October, 2022. I decided to further restrict the layout space for easier front access and walking around the basement in general, and with less space I decided to stick to a single grade and add a reverse loop. I also have a very early concept for an engine service facility (really just a coaling tower). This layout is a messy case of trying to have my cake and eat it too. I wanted to have a large coal mine while preserving access to the back along the whole length of the layout. I greatly disliked the separate sets of coal mine tracks (front left yard trackage), and I later realized that I may have reach problems with switching (front right). Time for another overhaul...

10x24 v13 - from January, 2023. I opted to further restrict the layout size for the sake of easy plywood cutting. I added a second reverse loop on the advice of this forum and to ditch a turntable and roundhouse, which I was not sure I wanted to spend the money on. The reverse loop turned into a bridge over the mine tracks, which I thought would make a great scene, and I became quite fond of this layout shape. A few issues I disliked were that the yard and coal mine tracks felt very short, and I didn't like the switching layout for the town. Later on I would do the math for benchwork, and realized that the layout was just too low for for a duck under for the max height I wanted on the upper level. This meant a lift bridge was mandatory, and the only place I could think to add it was where the town was. Back to the drawing board once more, but this time I had an overall design I liked. We're getting closer...

10x25 Part 2 v10 - from February, 2023. I decided to put a little extra work into building the benchwork and widened the layout to the full 25-foot basement width. I also had warmed to the idea of a turntable again. Here I thought I would try a single level layout with extensions outside of the main loop. Again, the coal mine tracks felt too short, and the outer extensions (particularly track to/from the turntable) did not feel wide enough for both scenery and track. It felt messy, and I decided to continue trying to put things inside the loop.

13x25 v9 - from March, 2023. Here I decided to go back to the shape I liked before, but I was just cramming too much into one space. Still struggling with yard trackage being too short, and the coal mine/upper reverse loop restricted access to the upper yard ladder and coaling tower/engine service, which I did not like. Also, I actually forgot to leave space for a lift bridge!

13x25 v12 - from April, 2023. The final design I have today. I finally decided that O96 curves were a problem and used smaller curves so the lower level didn't feel so cramped. I also ended up cutting the upper reverse loop and moving the lower reverse loop and mine to the other side, and also cutting the engine service/coaling tower tracks entirely to leave more room for a longer loop and yard. Although the town switching is now much smaller than I wanted it to be, it is made up for by the fact that I have switching along the back of the layout, so there's still plenty of opportunity, just more spread out. This has pretty much everything I was hoping for on a layout, and this is what I will begin building towards.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading! I have spent so much time on the design process it almost seemed a shame to not share at least a small fraction of what went on. Thank you for your time!

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CJ, I like your overall plan.  One thing that's a little unclear is how one would navigate the lower level (green track) to walk through the upper level lift bridge to the interior of the layout?

Is this where you intend to place the lift bridge?  Do you have another bridge in mind for the lower level too?

@SteveH posted:

CJ, I like your overall plan.  One thing that's a little unclear is how one would navigate the lower level (green track) to walk through the upper level lift bridge to the interior of the layout?

Is this where you intend to place the lift bridge?  Do you have another bridge in mind for the lower level too?

Yes and yes! In Jim Barrett's book (page 27), he has two lift bridges (I just now realized he calls these "hinge sections", sorry for the confusion). The upper one swings upward while the lower one swings downward. I am thinking of doing something similar. The upper bridge section I would like to be a double-track Atlas Pratt Truss bridge, which is 40" long. The lower section will not be as wide, so I may have that open upwards as well, independent of the Atlas bridge, creating a sort of "nesting" lifts. Lift the upper bridge first, then left the lower one, which fits inside/under the Atlas bridge. The blue square in the image below is where I will have the lift/benchwork, and the black space represents aisles.

One of the reasons (among others) that it has taken me so long to complete this design is that I could not decide where to put the lift bridge and the lower reverse loop while leaving space for operations. Something always seemed to clash with something else. My concession was to make a portion of the reverse loop part of the lift bridge. I had tried to avoid this (especially with switches added to the mix), but I have occasionally seen examples of these hinge/lift sections, even with switches, so I am going to give it a shot, albeit with extra thought given to making sure the track aligns with the switches once it comes back down.

I'll also mention, the inner aisle I have planned is only 24" wide. This is admittedly tight, but it is enough room for me to turn and move around within. I thought about making it wider, but I would honestly prefer more space for scenery and industries.

@0-Gauge CJ posted:

One of the reasons (among others) that it has taken me so long to complete this design is that I could not decide where to put the lift bridge and the lower reverse loop while leaving space for operations. Something always seemed to clash with something else. My concession was to make a portion of the reverse loop part of the lift bridge. I had tried to avoid this (especially with switches added to the mix), but I have occasionally seen examples of these hinge/lift sections, even with switches, so I am going to give it a shot, albeit with extra thought given to making sure the track aligns with the switches once it comes back down.

This seems like a solid plan.  I can relate on all counts.

@0-Gauge CJ posted:

I'll also mention, the inner aisle I have planned is only 24" wide. This is admittedly tight, but it is enough room for me to turn and move around within. I thought about making it wider, but I would honestly prefer more space for scenery and industries.

Same here.  After a more than a year (on and off) of designing it , I'm still contemplating my future layout plan.

Here's a link to the most recently posted version of it: Appalachian Mountain River Town

At any rate, best of luck as you begin your bench work.  I look forward to seeing your progress.

P.S. I like the Virginia and Lake Erie name you chose for your layout.

@SteveH posted:

This seems like a solid plan.  I can relate on all counts.

Same here.  After a more than a year (on and off) of designing it , I'm still contemplating my future layout plan.

Here's a link to the most recently posted version of it: Appalachian Mountain River Town

At any rate, best of luck as you begin your bench work.  I look forward to seeing your progress.

Thank you!

That looks like an ambitious design, I like it! I am slightly jealous of the extra square footage, glad you can put two rooms to work.

@SteveH posted:

P.S. I like the Virginia and Lake Erie name you chose for your layout.

Thank you again! I wanted a name that (broadly) reflected different areas where I lived. I had been toying with different names when one day "Virginia & Lake Erie" came to mind and I was instantly sold. The rhyming abbreviation "V&LE" is an added bonus I may rename to "V&LE - [XYZ] Subdivision" or something, and then let the name V&LE be the overarching name/"theme" of the different layouts I build over time. We will see! Thanks again for your input!

I understand your double lift bridge concept, but I'd like to offer one warning.  The points/frog of one switch on the lower level seem to sit right on a joint for the planned bridge.  Please place that switch either completely on (probably won't work because of curve dimension desires) or completely off the lift bridge to avoid electrical and (more likely) track positioning derailment problems.

Chuck

@PRR1950 posted:

I understand your double lift bridge concept, but I'd like to offer one warning.  The points/frog of one switch on the lower level seem to sit right on a joint for the planned bridge.  Please place that switch either completely on (probably won't work because of curve dimension desires) or completely off the lift bridge to avoid electrical and (more likely) track positioning derailment problems.

Agree, this is an issue. I have not designed the lift bridge yet but this is absolutely on my mind. Thanks for pointing it out!

Today I took a small, but important, first step to getting started on my layout by purchasing some powers tools. There was a promotion at my local Lowe's and I picked up a circular saw and a sander at a discount. Tool-wise, I still need to pick up a carpenter's level, square, and some other smaller tools, but I think I have all the big pieces I'll need to start on the benchwork. In addition to being my first permanent train layout, this will also be my first woodworking project, I'm excited to get started!

Also, a small layout design update/change:

Earlier this week, I was thinking about how in some of my older designs I included a reverse loop on the upper double-main. I really liked that feature, and also have also started to have second thoughts about including a turntable on this design, as it only stores a handful of locomotives, is very expensive, and doesn't leave much space for associated engine service facilities, which I really would like to incorporate. But to preserve the functionality of the layout and allow traversal between layers, I need a way to turn locomotives around on the upper layer, so I have always resorted to either the reverse loop (dropped from design) or a turntable (uncertain about). However, this week I had an epiphany and started working on an alternative to the turntable: a wye!

The wye is part of a stub-ended yard and will be used exclusively to hold locomotives. I now have space for engine service facilities including a coaling tower, maintenance shed, etc, and room to store more locomotives than I would have been able to store with a turntable while occupying the same footprint. Although I prefer Ross's #4 switches to provide a more-prototypical track appearance, I've opted for O72 switches for this yard as I think the wider track separation will make it easier to get engines on and off the track and check to make sure all the wheels are resting on the rails properly, etc. I'll update the Layout Design post with the change later.

Earlier this week I sat down and actually did the math for how much the track and switches will cost. It was more than I thought it would be (I did not realize just how many switches I included in the design!), so instead of going on a mad-dash to the finish line, I'm instead going to work on this in chunks over a few years (less if I commit to not buying any more trains for awhile, we'll see ). Alternatively, I could also trim back the design. I am not particularly inclined to do so, but maybe in the future I'll soften towards the idea. We'll see! Thanks for reading!

I am back with some thoughts on how I will design and assemble the benchwork.

Because this layout will be built near and around important household utilities, I want to design and build the benchwork to allow it to be taken apart in pre-determined chunks so I have room to repair, replace, etc said utilities without dismantling the whole layout. It will also allow me to easily tear down and put into storage when the time to sell and move inevitably comes. This also means the layout will not be attached to the wall, but must be freestanding.

To accomplish this, I have designed each table-chunk to be assembled (and broken down into) separate sections: the table, and the legs. The table is both levels of the layout, composed of 0.5" or 0.75" plywood, with the base layer framed with 2x3s (including one going down the center).

Each table will have two pairs of legs (assembled separately from each other), each pair made of and braced with 2x4 and attached to a 2x3, which will slide under the table framing.

The legs will be attached to the table the same way the tables will each be attached to each other: in the 2x3 side pieces, both for the legs and the table framing, I would like to drill 2 or 4 holes which I will then use lagbolts to to screw the legs and each table together (see below):

The final table (or one chunk of it) would look something like this:

Feedback is always welcome. I am not decided on the size of the wood I am using, as both Jim Barrett in his book as well as others have said 2x3s are sufficient. In particular, I would like to see what people think of the lagbolts idea, and if anyone else has ever tried it. I may buy a few small pieces of wood and a couple lagbolts just to prototype the idea and see if the table not hold holds together but also make sure the table ends stay flush with each other. If these pieces can't stay aligned then that means derailments and I will need to find another way of holding things together. I do hope it works out though, because this would make a great way of easy disassembly and compact storage, should the need arise! Thanks for reading!

Like you, I wanted the capability of easily yet infrequently disassembling and reassembling my modular layout bench.  I considered lag bolts, but because the threads in the wood weaken each time a screw is removed and reinserted, I opted for 1/4” bolts and nuts with washers on each end.  I only used bolts where the legs attach to the top frame, on leg braces and where frames mate to one another.  For more permanent connections like frame corners and horizontal braces, I used wood decking screws, predrilling and countersinking in one step with a purpose made bit.

Wherever the bolt heads would have been proud of the surface, I used a 1” Forstner or paddle bit to allow the washer and bolt head to recess into the wood.  If using a Forstner, it’s easier and more accurate to drill the recess first before the 1/4” through hole.

Thank you for the information Steve, all of that is helpful and it sounds like I am on the right track!

@SteveH posted:

I opted for 1/4” bolts and nuts with washers on each end.  I only used bolts where the legs attach to the top frame, on leg braces and where frames mate to one another.  

This was about what I was thinking of doing, but when you mentioned weakening threads I realized I may have something wrong. Well, a quick internet search shows that lagbolts are NOT what I was thinking nor what I wanted to use, but actually the nut-and-bolt you mentioned instead. If you couldn't tell I've never done a woodworking project before, you definitely can now!

With spring well under way, I have some outdoor tasks I need to take care of, but I am hoping to start on the benchwork in May. The tentative plan is to buy enough wood to complete a few of the table sections at a time, then build those sections, rinse and repeat until all benchwork is complete. As I type this up, I am reminded that there are a few areas where the floor is not completely level, so I will need to add leveling feet or something else to the design before I get started, but this is still overall great progress. Thanks again for your feedback, it's very much appreciated!

For bolting sections together in the middle, I've typically drilled holes and then used carriage bolts with a washer and nut on the other end. The carriage bolt has a square shoulder near the head, which will "bite" into the wood and prevent the shaft from turning as it's pulled in. (The square shoulder is slightly larger than the bolt diameter; only drill a hole big enough to fit the bolt, not the shoulder!) Just snug it down from the side with the nut against a flat washer. Easy, since you don't have to hold the bolt from turning with another wrench. If you disassemble the sections, the carriage bolt will fit straight back into the squared hole it made when it was originally tightened down.