oddly sized space for a railway

Hi, it may seem odd size to you, but this is quite big, with endless possibilities. For yourself , a country station, plus a scenic break with single track, and a fiddle yard. But for your youngsters I would suggest a twin track end to end with a scenic break (bridge or tunnel). To be a bit imaginative, the scenic break, if a tunnel, could incorporate a small fiddle yard, say just a single loop, but you should be able to squeeze in two loops, but this might be difficult handling stock, if it really is a shelf. Try and incorporate as much shunting at each end for your youngsters, DMUs could provide the passenger service, as this simplifies the turnaround. Just checked the size again, 12feet by 1ft 7in! Room for an intermediate station, with a branch into the tunnel (see Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire, and I daresay lots of others) and lots of scenery.

Jim,

Following on from Brian's suggestions, if you've got two kids then have two terminal stations separated by a scenic break like a tunnel or road bridge.

Personalise the stations for your two kids but keep the track layout the same so that you don't got into the "my station's got more points than your station" scenario :-).

Provide good freight facilities at both stations to allow for plenty of shunting. Match the industries at both ends so that one station can send a goods train to another station's facilities.

I agree with Brian's suggestion for using diesel multiple units for passenger work. You've then got rid of the tedious marshalling of passenger stock which takes up a lot of space, and the shunting of the trains would probably have to encroach on the other station's territory which could cause problems :-) The shunting of freight trains could probably be kept within a station's limits, which should keep everyone happy.

On electrical control, you can either make it simple, elaborate, or DCC. The simple way is to wire a single controller for each station and provide plenty of isolated sidings or spurs to park locos when not in use. To drive a train from one station to another, make sure both controllers are set for the same direction and at approximately the same setting when crossing the join.

The elaborate way is to install full cab control with a control panel, but that might be a daunting prospect for young operators.

The third way is to install DCC with decoders in all locos and then your youngsters can control whatever loco they like without having to worry about section feeds, whatever. There is normally a knock-on in additional cost with DCC, but you might be willing to trade this off against peace and quiet :-)

If you have more than two children, then you have no doubt learned how to settle matters of ownership by now ;-)

Jim.

check out the plans and get advice from the guys on this group ---->

they specialize in this kind of space layout.... Cheers Gene

An idea I tried many years ago was to have two routes between the two terminii. One was the conventional station to station, the other was from one factory siding, through the factory "break" and into the yard at the other end. Thus; loco takes train from yard A to yard B, wagons run into private siding, private loco runs wagons into factory and out into private siding at A. And vice versa. Seemed to make the layout busier with an element of surprise about what comes out of the factory and how to dispose of wagons, and breaks up that "you to me, me to you" feeling along the main line.

Ken.

I've done more or less as you suggest with the added bonus of sticking an industrial scene in between (on an elevated section), it appears to work OK,

2 children now have a choice of 3 "driving" positions - either station or the industrial section.

If the OP wants to take a peek at

all should become clear. The pics are out of date (I'll publish some more as soon as I have the time) but it should illustrate what we've been talking about.