Where to start

I built this 12ish x 13ish track plan for another thread.  It has minimum O72 curves for your Big Boy. There are two loops for simultaneous running, two reverse loops to turn trains around, a yard and siding.

You can play with it in SCARM and see what you think...

Pictures... https://ogrforum.com/...4#155152949802973264

SCARM file... https://ogrforum.com/...0#155152949805122660

Thanks.  I’ll take a look.  

My first suggestion would be, if you haven't already decided, to choose what type of track you want to use before you get deep into a track plan.  Having a basic plan is good, but may be constrained or altered depending on your choice of track type.

Pat yourself on the back first because you have some drawings of the room in question.

One question to start: Are you going to be using command (Legacy/DCS) control next to conventional? Or just all conventional control. That will help decide how to arrange your track.

I have some postwar stuff that I don't wish to upgrade to command control but I decided it will be a small enough portion of my operating that my track plan would be geared towards command control. That means excluding a separate loop that would be electrically isolated so I could run conventional locomotives.

Command control all the way.  I was planning to buy the adaptor for legacy that allows you to run conventional.  

Not fastrack.  Atlas or Gargrave track.  

I believe that the adapter gizmo just lets you vary track voltage remotely (somebody step in if I'm wrong). So you'll be in the middle of command control but somebody else might be more knowledgeable on this than me. I don't know if you get all the Legacy features of Legacy locomotives if you're running command and conventional locomotives with the remote. You'll need to plan for electrical blocks so you can isolate your conventional locomotives (unless you don't mind removing them from the track).

Atlas, Gargraves, and Ross are the way to go when you don't have a gymnasium to build a layout. Ross switches in particular give you sooooooo much more flexibility in track planning. It's awesome!

What kind of modeler are you? Do you just like driving trains? Do you like to operate like real life? Is scenery important?

Driving trains is the goal.  I lack in artistic skills, but want to give scenery a try.  Not interested in perfect real life operation, but a reasonable facsimile between that and basic loops is my hope.  

Need to do more investigation on the adapter gizmo.  If it’s restrictive of legacy then I’d opt for what you did, have a separate loop for conventional.  

@BillYo414 and @DLC I think you all are talking about the Legacy Powermaster controller which comes in two wattage varieties.  Legacy Locomotives and Conventional can be operated at the same time, if you make the necessary track power isolation.

You could, but wouldn't have to dedicate one or more specific tracks to running just conventional and others to Legacy.  If you wire your track with electrically isolated power districts on each loop and yard, siding, etc. you would have the ability, with a track power switching array, to control which track district(s) the variable output of the Powermaster (for conventional control) would go to. This is also assuming you want to be able to run conventional locos with the Legacy remote.  There would also be the option to just use a variable transformer to control the conventional locos without the Powermaster, and still use the Legacy remote to control Legacy locos.

In addition to deciding which track(s) get variable voltage (either from the conventional transformer or Powermaster), the same switching array could also provide 18V to the other districts for running TMCC/Legacy, (and if you want) LionChief, all at the same time.  The switching array might sound complicated, but in practice it's pretty easy using something like the Atlas #215 track selector.  Each #215 selector has two power input sources (A and B) with 4 selector switches, one for each of the track output terminals.  Each of the 4 switches can select either A, off or B.  The #215's can be daisy chained to provide the same two power sources independently to more than 4 track power districts and/or blocks.

There is one aspect of this hobby that not enough is thought about.  That being the height of your tables.  My Tables are 42" in height.  This is great for eyeballing trains as they come around a curve and this height allows for the emersion into your layout.  A secondary advantage is the ease of getting under the layout to run all your wiring.  Think twice about this height as you will spend a good deal of time under your layout as you put it all together.  The second height is what I call the Jolly Green Giant view.  This height is substantially lower allowing for a panoramic look over your entire layout.  If you have youngsters, this may be a reason to consider this height as they can see what is going on without climbing on chairs or stepstools.  The drawback for this height is your time under the layout will most likely be laying on your back on a creeper.  Choose wisely (LOL).

Congratulations on the excitement of a dedicated space. Next I would suggest you give consideration to having enough outlets as well as your lighting. With the wall space you can do a backdrop before building your bench work. At the very least paint the walls. I was very happy with Sherwin-Williams “cloudless. Not to further overload your brain but I would highly recommend these books.

Building a Layout by Jim Barrett

Realistic Layouts, Use the Art of Illusion to Model Like a Pro. By CJ Riley

rplst8, I just checked out your SCARM trackplan. That is a great design, well done sir.

I don't know your age, but i was in my mid`40's when i built my 42" high layout in 1988. Back then the norm seemed to be 36", and train buddies said i was crazy to go so high; if i were to do it over again i would have opted for 50".  Having spent my early `20's jumping out of airplanes (skydiving), putting down motorcycles (600+cc Norton), and jumping out of second story bedroom windows (X rated), i'm now paying the price for those fun times and dread crawling under the 42" table to fix something.

As to kids - that's why they make stools and platforms for, plus they grow.

It will save a lot of time and energy if you give some consideration to the background of your layout and paint/landscape the walls before you put the table against them.  John

@Fast Mail posted:

rplst8, I just checked out your SCARM trackplan. That is a great design, well done sir.

Thanks!

I just saw that the OP didn’t want to use FasTrack though.  But it was more of a thought experiment to see what could be done in a roughly 12x13’ space.  

If there’s any interest I can redo it in Ross, GarGraves, or whatever, but obviously anyone is free to modify and reuse or re-post.

Try building some layout tables that can be configured in different ways. Get some trains running to get the excitement going. If I had some stuff in boxes never been run I’d be like a kid on Christmas Eve anticipating the excitement. Get familiar with the new stuff and get Dad’s post war trains in good running order. Trains today run a lot differently than trains of past. This way you’ll get a feel as to what type of layout you will enjoy. You may want to be just a loop runner or you may want prototypical operation with the newer engines using command control making up a train. The sky’s the limit. Take your time and don’t get overwhelmed by trying to do too much too soon.

@modeltrainsparts posted:

I don't know your age, but i was in my mid`40's when i built my 42" high layout in 1988. Back then the norm seemed to be 36", and train buddies said i was crazy to go so high; if i were to do it over again i would have opted for 50".  Having spent my early `20's jumping out of airplanes (skydiving), putting down motorcycles (600+cc Norton), and jumping out of second story bedroom windows (X rated), i'm now paying the price for those fun times and dread crawling under the 42" table to fix something.

As to kids - that's why they make stools and platforms for, plus they grow.

Let me pile on here.  Our first layout was 30 inches high.  The kids were 4 and loved to push their cars on the table with the trains.  It was an island layout.  Some buildings, too much spaghetti track and no scenicing.

When the kids were 8 and I learned so much more from friends on OGR, we tore that down and went 48" high, around the room.  Considering now how old I was and the time but how old I will be when the kids move out, I did not want anything that required me to crawl around on my hands and knees.  Everything is within arms reach and I have a lift bridge to enter to the train operating area.  The kids are 18 now.  Boy oh Boy am I glad to did it this way.

One last piece of advice.  Make sure your room is completely finished.  I did my room along with my layout.  I finally finished the ceiling this summer (Yes, I've been working on my room for 16 years... pathetic).  It was VERY difficult to do the ceiling with a train layout in place.

Best of Luck.

Ron

All, thank you for the encouragement and advice.  Certainly much to chew on.  

My opinion and stated above: put in all the lighting that you will want now before the room is finished. Same goes for electrical outlets. Backdrops should also be put in first if desired.

@BillYo414 posted:

...What kind of modeler are you? Do you just like driving trains?

@DLC posted:

Driving trains is the goal...

As a point of continuing education here on the forum, we don't "drive" trains in the USA. We "run" them. They "drive" trains in Europe and the UK, but the term used in the USA is always "run."

• In America the Engineer runs the train.
• In Europe and the UK, the Train Driver drives the train.

As to your original question, you're off to a great start and are getting a lot of good advice here.

@Rich Melvin posted:

As a point of continuing education here on the forum, we don't "drive" trains in the USA. We "run" them. They "drive" trains in Europe and the UK, but the term used in the USA is always "run."

Good to know! I wonder how this kind of thing came about.