Three times around the tree in Fastrack

If no one speaks up, I can see if I can convert it tomorrow. Does it have to be limited to 6’6” x 6’6”?

the size can be larger than 6'6" x 6'6" 

Do you want O-36 or O-48 or is a combination of both okay?

I liked that plan the first time I saw it. If you build it, post some pics.

Eric, here's an initial O-36 plan just to get started. I'll work on O-48 and combo versions tomorrow.

Forum member Santa Fe VA has this layout - we documented his as built - it has longer legs - then we found the article - he has photos and video of it posted around 2016

thanks Dave. I look forward to the other versions that you come up with.

And thanks Carl. 

Eric

Other things got in the way today, so I’ll try to play with the design tomorrow.

I like this plan. Here's my version with MTH RealTrax; O-42 and O-54.

Eric, sorry it took longer than I thought and didn't come out quite like I hoped. At about 8' x 9.5' it's larger than I thought it'd be and there are 2 places that don't join in the software, but should if built. The blue tracks are at 0" elevation, the green at 5" and the purple have grades of 4.0% and 4.5%.

Thanks Dave. Interesting plan and how it really grew in size.  I like it but it's a tight fit in the living room! I appreciate your help with both track plans.  Eric

Eric, I wanted to see what the larger size middle circle did and I suspect even using smaller curves on the outside wouldn’t yield enough reduction in size to make it worth the exercise. Sorry it didn’t work out.

I converted my MTH version to Fastrack and achieved a footprint of 84" x 80". Although, I did have to use O36, O48, O60 and O72.

Oh man, did I mess up trying to do too many things at the same time. I got confused and used tubular track. Duh. Glad Oman saw it was supposed to be FasTrack.

Dave

Please look at my scarm file and make any improvements that you see fit. This is my first layout with Fastrack. I set the elevation at 6.5" and achieved 5.7% grades.

Keith, I’ll do that. If Eric is going to use a trestle set for elevation, they raise the tracks 5”, but if he’s going to use plywood, he’ll need 5” plus the thickness of the ply. That probably means at least 5.5”, but extra height never hurts as long as trains can get up/down okay, preferably without having to manually control speed. I still can’t believe I got sidetracked and used tubular track instead of FasTrack. 😜

Keith, I don't see anything wrong with it. I snipped the one track that wasn't joined so I could run the simulation and it looks nice. I'm going to see if I can flatten it and make it longer.

Edit: Well, trying that didn't work the way I thought, so I guess it's don't fix what isn't broke.

I'd never seen this before.....now I want to make this happen next Christmas

Just for your interest - here is @Santa Fe Va 's layout that has extended legs based on the 2006 version of the layout - someone converted it to FasTrack - then he acquired it - it was 2014 - sheesh - time flies- 

yes - it is a space eater - 8' x 8' without the extension 

Santa Fe Va Thrice Around the tree

The video is a show of the layout in the condition that he acquired it - but, it will give you a feel for how the finished build can look

How about this plan for a trice-around.  FasTrack, O36 minimum.   No steep grades.  Tunnels completely optional.  5' x 6'8".

AnyRail file attached below.

A more compact version:

Nice job. Do you have a list of track pieces as to length 

Jeff gibs posted:

Nice job. Do you have a list of track pieces as to length 

6-12014, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Straight 10". 1
6-12015, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Curve 18", angle 45º (O36) 10
6-12022, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Curve 18", angle 22.5º (O36) 6
6-12023, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Curve 18", angle 11.25º (O36) 2
6-12025, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Straight 4 1/2". 4
6-12026, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Straight 1 3/4". 6
6-12043, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Curve 24", angle 30º (O48) 14
6-12050, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Crossing 14 1/4". 22.5º 1
6-12051, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Crossing 10". 45º 1
6-12055, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Curve 36", angle 11.25º (O72) 2
6-12073, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Straight 1 3/8". 12
6-16835, 0 Lionel FasTrack, Curve 24", angle 7.5º (O48) 4

Next version is two inches less in length.  But the inside circle is now an oval, giving room for a Christmas village beneath the tree.

One more, saving an inch in width:

It may add some visual interest to elevate the interior oval of the layout at 2".   This creates two grades at 2.7%-2.8% climbing up to the center area (Christmas Village and tree stand).

I might construct this in two halves, using two 4x8 sheets of 2" thick foam.   Divided along the vertical blue line.   With a cut-out in the left section for the tree stand.   Easy to set-up and take-down, light for carrying, and to store between seasons.  Use left-over sections of the foam sheets to build up the elevated interior.   Use a foam-safe white paint (latex?). 

The track can be permanently attached to the base sections.  Lighted Christmas village buildings are removable.

Carve a channel on the underside of the left sheet foam, to run from the top above the crossing, to the tree-stand interior area, for power cords for the tree lights, village buildings, and to the track.

I would use Woodland Scenics foam inclines at 3% for the grades, to get a smooth grade without measuring and calculating.  The entire slope on each half, runs entirely on that half, so the slopes do not break across a section, but run continuously on that half of the layout.

I love this idea! Trains going around a tree always lacked dimension and this has that in spades. You should post a picture when you are done!

Ken, the latest version with the oval elevated inner loop is very interesting.  I can see this one around our family room tree in the future.

Thank you for taking the time to develop and post these plans for us.

Great layout with the elevated section.  Is it possible to post a list of the track pieces necessary?  Thank you. 

Neat - similar to my old permanent layout but a little bigger at 84" x 80" and with a spur.

Oman, Do you have a track plan for your Realtrax 3x around the tree layout?

Thanks,

Dennis32

MTH version. This version is more compact than my original. Also, the green track is on grade and the blue is elevated +6.5". But you can build it either way.

Here is a trice-around with the interior elevated at 6".  Max grade is 3.7%.   FasTrack O48 minimum (runs O42).

Revised for a consistent 4% grade (easy to work with).   Upper right has an attractive 'canyon' effect, where track runs between sections elevated at 6".   At the upper left-top, is a section of track at 0".

Nice space for a Christmas Village of lighted structures beneath the tree.

Smaller than the 8'x8' mentioned above, but still large.

Trying-out two spurs in the back, one at 0", the other at 6".   Both are pretty short.

The layout occupies less of the front space (exposed corners), fitting better into the room/furniture/people-space.

This is amazing...thanks to you guys posting this stuff up! Funny...I've spent about 6-7 hrs messing with ANYRAIL trying to reproduce this layout to no avail. I'm new to this layout software and after a 30yr hiatus from trains, a lot has changed. I'm building next Christmas' (2020) layout now, and then storing it. This has helped a lot!

Hi @Ken-Oscale, I really liked the V1d version so I replicated it in SCARM for future potential use. Thank you.

Ken-Oscale posted:

Trying-out two spurs in the back, one at 0", the other at 6".   Both are pretty short.

The layout occupies less of the front space (exposed corners), fitting better into the room/furniture/people-space.

Ken, are you willing to share this ANYRAIL file? Thanks in advance.

-Russ