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Yes, if you want to run lots of trains, that is, more than actually ran in real life. But you need not build the second track right away. A single track will allow some operation while you accumulate the funds to double up. Just cut the trackboards wide enough to accommodate the second track later on.

That depends on your rolling stock. If you plan on buying/using only current production, code 75 will do nicely, and will look much better. OTOH, it is less robust than code 100. Also code 100 will accommodate most older Hornby, for example.

I would go with electrofrog, although it requires a little more wiring. Also, it is necessary if you want to use DCC (digital command control). (I would suggest that you consider DCC now, before you invest time and money in traditional controls, whose aggregate cost could reach the same range as DCC.)

Plan for a few extra tracks at the other end of the loft. You use these to store and make up trains, so that you can have more interesting operation through Kingsbridge. (We here call them staging, but in the UK they are called fiddle yards or storage tracks.)

Your plan lends itself very nicely to building in stages or sections. For example, you could build the main line first, using both code 100 and code 75 track to see which one you like better. If you know where the turnouts will go, just insert them at the proper places, and use a pin in the throwbar to hold the points in position until you build the diverging tracks. Otherwise, don't solder the railjoints in that region, so you can remove (and cut to fit) already laid track temporarily while you insert the turnouts.

If you build in stages, you can run a train around the loft fairly early in the process, and so get a foretaste of the joys to come. :-)

You may find that scenicking the perimeter adds interest, so plan for it by elevating the track slightly above the baseboard (about 2" will do), so that you can, for example, build a nice little scene of a house with a garden abutting the tracks in the back... and stuff like that.

10" is a bit narrow, I would go for 12-16", just in case you decide to add scenery and perhaps another station later. But it's your space. More important than the extra width along the line is sufficient room _inside_ the layout for you and your family/friends to move around in comfortably.

BTW, make your Kingsbridge baseboard no deeper than 30" front to back, more than that will cause problems of reaching to the back, and may necessitate extra heavy duty construction so that you can crawl around on the baseboard while you work at the back.

HTH&GL

My Lenz DCC works fine with insulfrog.

Many thanks for your prompt reply, just a couple of questions raised by some of your answers.

Great idead about the fiddle yard as I have some spare room at the far left hand corner of the loft. .

I know very very little about DCC, and whilst the layout will be mainly used by myself, I have bought some Bachmann (much prefer their locomotives to Hornby) "Thomas the Tank" series engines (Percy, Thomas and James) for my grandson to use. Would it be possible to run the "Thomas" engines using normal control on a DCC operated track? I have not yet purchased any rolling stock for myself as I am not quite sure yet what period to model between 1930s and 1960. Although I am looking at late 50s as I feel it may give me more options of runnung stock (mid to late BR steam and early diesel.

How difficult is it to fit a DCC controller in a engine (ie if I wanted to fit them into the "Thomas" engines ?

Does the DCC take away the feel of actually driving the train? by that I mean, do you just program them and then sit back and watch? or, do you actually control the train around the layout.

Thanks agin for your previous reply.

Regards, Eddie.

Edward Bray wrote: [...].

No, as DCC puts 16 to 18V AC plus control signals on the track. The DCC controller chip inside the loco (the decoder) receives both control signals and the AC power, and converts the power to DC for the motor, as well as controlling the speed and direction. Each locomotive has its own address, and will ignore command signals intended for other locos. DCC in effect converts the whol layout inor a computer. The "command control station" is the CPU, the rails are as the computer bus, the controller is the keyboard, and the loco's decoder is a peripheral. Other peripherals to control signals etc can be attached.

I don't know, as I don't have one. I do have a Percy, but haven't taken it apart. Both engines are small, so there would be little room inside the loco to mount a decoder. Also, if the loco is not "DCC ready", there's additional work rewiring it. It's not a job I would undertake unless I really, really wanted to run Thomas on a DCC layout. Actually, I would very much like to see a DCC equipped Thomas, or at least a DCC ready one.

Many current or updated locos are now available as "DCC ready", which means that installing a decoder can be as simple as plugging it in, or as complicated as soldering four wires to a circuit board. Some are available with decoders installed. Looking ahead, I think that within a few years models offered to serious modellers will all be at least plug'n'play DCC ready, and most will come with decoders. Here in N. America, all new or updated production comes both ways, and it looks like sales of DCC equipped locos will soon outstrip those that are merely DCC ready. IMO, it's only a matter of time till you have the same situation in the UK.

On the contrary, DCC improves the illusion that you are driving the train. Each loco runs from its own controller (it is possible to combine mutliple units on one controller, though). DCC improves such features as simulated braking and the slow acceleration of a locomotive, and controls such things as headlamps and whistles, as well as signals and turnouts (points).

Traditional control assigns track sections to each locomotive, and is wired to prevent more than one loco occupying each control section or block. But with DCC you assign a controller to a locomotive, and the whole layout is available to every loco. So it's possible to have collisions if you aren't careful about setting up routes. But you can use DCC or other methods to interlock signals and turnouts so that conflicting routes cannot be set up - a whole 'nother dimension of operation, and one for which there is a great deal of expert advice available in the UK.

Since you already have a Thomas, and want to operate with him, DCC may not be an option for you. However, you could have one route through the your layout set up to operate on conventional DC. Isolate it from the rest of the layout, and use a double-pole, double-throw switch to connect to either the conventional controller or the DCC circuit.

You're welcome.

Thanks, noted for future reference.