Layout Design ideas

No book has your table. I went through a good number looking for a layout. They just don't make YOUR layout. But I did get ideas. Sit down with paper and pencil and draw a few drafts. I was able to make a template in excel that was about the right shape and to scale of the train table. Sounds dumb but in Word and Excel you can make basic rectangles easy. Then with the template, I could print a dozen copies and then use them to doodle on while watching tv. I went through so many.

"Puckdropper" wrote

I've been looking at Google Earth a lot for new layout ideas. *Wonderful* resource!

You can find any rail yard, main line, or industry if you know more or less where it's located, and get a satellite view looking straight down on top of it to see what the actual track layout looks like. You can also scale it up or down and print out the results.

Good for modeling roofs, too, but lousy for identifying locos and rolling stock unless you know what they look like from straight overhead. ;-P

-Pete

Windows Live Local

frequently has a "Bird's Eye" (oblique) view available that gives good definition as it's a aerial photo, not satellite image.

-- Cheers

Roger T. Home of the Great Eastern Railway at:-

48° 25' North Longitude: 123° 21' West

Hi -

I've seen you over on the woodworking group also (just a lurker there, lots to learn yet)... great hobbies!

I've got a space 12 x 18, with about a 6 foot opening along one of the 18 foot sides. What I did was build storage shelves around the walls, now am in the process of putting a 27" wide layout on top - basically a rectangle donut with the 6 foot opening on the side (2 feet + from one of the 12 foot walls). Could also be visualized as a "G" if you want. Plan to use a lift-out bridge for continuous running, otherwise point-to-point with a lot of switching. Am including two "staging" tracks along one of the 12 foot sides, coming in at a corner. This design gives plenty of aisle space - needed as I've gotten older (grin). I'd look for any and all shelf layout plans you can find and see about stealing ideas from them...

Still in benchwork stage, but I do have some pix of it; will see about getting them off the camera and onto my club's website.

Matt

I have a similar space (13.5 x 18), and after a lot of though and scrap paper I'm going in a similar direction as Matt.

With the narrower width (10, 12, 13.5) and HO scale, you can't really fit in aisles or peninsulas and still have reasonable radii (unless you're modeling traction), so an around the walls, shelf-type layout is probably going to be the best way to use the space.

And a point to point switching layout lends itself to both that shelf style, and the relatively flat Midwest terrain.

In addition to the Armstrong track planning book mentioned earlier, you should also get his "101 Layouts" book. It has plans for several shelf layouts, and even if none of them suit you, the ideas presented in that book are invaluable.

HTH, Stevert

You could run a shelf around the room (except for the door, of course). Then at each end of the shelf you could have a return loop. But then you'd have to use reversing switches. Or instead of the loop to loop you could have a long dogbone layout. This would get your train to turn around at the ends, and inbetween on the shelves you could put whatever you want - yards, spurs, whatever.

"Matt Furze" wrote in news:9zHzj.4941$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe12.phx:

Interesting way to use more of the available space. I've thought about going for an E style, with a lift bridge (or two, so it's really a 9) by the door and for continuous run.

Puckdropper

iarwain wrote in news:c7361a87-eb28-4474-9b1e- snipped-for-privacy@q33g2000hsh.googlegroups.com:

One of my track plans actually resembled an offset dogbone. One loop was to the north, and the other was to the south. The south loop also had a wye to allow access to and from the yard. I liked the general idea, but felt that plan limited my options.

Puckdropper

no_name wrote in news:4%Ezj.7851$Ie2.5999@trndny09:

I've been doing things with Right Track Software, which makes it easy to "grab a piece and put it in place." As I got in to it, I'd mark my obsticals (sp?) with a filled box, and place track outside the boxes.

In doing more research, I found a weblog of a guy who had some good design ideas. Apparently, he used to post here.

Puckdropper