Track Planning advice

I am guessing it's an open in door that swings by the edge of the top loop to the top right corner. That's on the 15" wall, yes?

 

if the door only swings 90º the yard can be behind the door. I'll try something.

Hi Tony, It looks like your room is 12 X 20, and you say there is an entry way somewhere in the top right quadrant of your illustration. Can you give a better definition of where it is, it's dimensions, and whether or not it opens in or out of the room, additionally are there any other areas of the room that you require access to, ie: windows that need to be opened or closed, closets that you require access to, a thermostat that you need to reach, and anything else that you may know of, and their locations. 

 

    What type of equipment do you run, generally do you have very large locomotives, or other large scale equipment that requires large radius turns? Do you have any equipment that needs to be incorporated? Logging, coal mines, round house, anything?

 

     Most people can get pretty bored with going around in a circles. Large equipment requires a great deal of real estate to run and that sometimes leaves you with a big boring circle that has a few stub end sidings, and very little purpose I your railroad. 

 

      You will probably get more enjoyment out of a railroad with industries that complement each other and enough room to fit them in. You could have a coal mine, and a power plant. A logging operation, a mill, lumber yard, and a furniture factory, all different sidings that you could be delivering cars to. You could have an agricultural scene, an icing platform, and a market with a population that would need regular deliveries. A yard to bring your empty, or full cars to, and from which you could dispatch them.

 

      This is a long winded story, but the point is do you want to run in a circle and look at your train, or do you want your railroad to have a reason for being in the first place. If you are content to run the smaller type equipment, then you can use the smaller radius track, and therefore fit more of the operational scenes, and uses into your room.

 

      Will this be a semi permanent train room, with tables built into place? There are many good examples of train layouts on this forum, and most are always a work in progress. Once you have a plan you can build your basic route, and run trains, while a little at a time you can add your town, farm, power plant, rail yard, etc.

 

    Let some of these guys who are really quite good at this know just what you are interested in, let them know about all the obstacles in the room and where they are, what kind of equipment you want to run ( very important, large equipment uses a large amount of space and thereby limits what you can fit into your space) and their ideas will start coming. There are very, very creative people out there who are willing to help, but you have to give them the details of the space, equipment, and what you want to do. Good luck. Rich

Thanks so much to both, especially rick so the room is 10 x 20 the top section is built to its max length because of a door that swings in as well as space next to it that is being used up.
Thee layout will focus on passenger operation as my main industry will be millitary, specifically bringing home equipment as well as troops from WWII as my layout will be set in late 1945/46.

As for equipment and other industries I plan on having an airfield, a small town and one other to be determined, I understand an airstrip is far too large to build to scale in my workspace so I plan to build the outskirts of it and allow backdrops and depth give the illusion that a full airstrip is there.
The trains I run are on the smaller size and do not need the larger radius curves and I won't be purchasing any larger engines until this layout is long gone.

I also like to run my engines in a semi prototypical way, meaning I will make stops etc. But it is not the main focus as I find just sitting back watching the trains more enjoyable

With a focus on passenger operation, the curves should be larger, especially looking at some point in the future when you end up getting a deal on some full-length passenger equipment and/or large locomotives.

 

A 10x20 space allows for the use of broader curves, so rather than a zig-zag, you would be better served with a two-lap oval (inverted figure-8) using broader curves. Also, with the interior space, you can place industries and scenery. I'm in the middle of something right now, but I think I can toss something together to give you an idea.

thanks alot matt that would be great

 

Starting with a basic two-lap oval. this is what I came up with first. The minimum radius is 36" (O-72) which will support any 3-rail item produced to date. The outside radius minimum is 40.5" (O-81). Track is Atlas 3-rail. The wide curves on the left are O-99/O-108. The interior is open and could be used to insert industries or scenery. Reducing to a single-track main with a passing siding or two would yield better operation.

 

 

 

 Another option I'd consider would be an open center design, but it would be tricky maintaining a 36" radius (O-72) minimum.

Matt I cant thank you enough, two beautiful loops that really make the most out of the space, a siding or two can surely be added to the first option as money will restrict me to a single main line, thanks again that was really nice of you to take your time to design a layout thats not yours.

 

You're welcome. One more to ponder. Instead of "loop running" in a single direction, you might want to consider loop-to-loop which creates a single line (albeit a little shorter with the large curves involved). This allows operation of industries that can be serviced from either direction without the need for a run-around siding. The turnouts used are Atlas #5's with 1/2 O-72 curves.