New Layout - comments & suggestions welcome.

[simmo009]

Greetings all. I am planning a new layout, and have been playing around in SCARM for quite a while. Got to say I find it very user friendly. After many iterations, I have come up with the following arrangement of the baseboards (see attachment).

 

The black line is the wall. It is an interior wall, so no window access to worry about. There is a door at X, but there is an alternative access point to the room, so this can potentially be restricted access.

 

I have written the sizes of the individual boards in rationalized metric, i.e 2400mm actually equals 8'.

 

Boards A & B will be permanent. C & D will need to be detachable and be stored adjacent to A & B. E will need to incorporate a lifting section / access point. F will need to be removable also.

 

 

So, what do I want to realize with this?

 

00 gauge.

 

DCC control.

 

1960 - 1965 BR, Eastern region.

 

(I have no particular area or route in mind, but the rolling stock I have lends itself to this area).

 

I am looking to have 5 or 6 carriage passenger trains on a double track mainline. Plus a branch line, goods yard and various traffic generating industries to build a timetable around.

 

My current plans will follow shortly once i get them into an acceptable format.

 

Red is passenger, blue is branch, green is goods and yellow is fiddle yard.

For the passenger lines, I plan on having two consists each way "living" in the loops, and there will also be a spare locomotive for each one housed in the shed for variety. The innermost passenger loop is for the factory traffic. The majority of the loop area will be behind a back scene. The goods loops will have two long trains to circulate, other drop off short goods trains will come on and off circuit from the fiddle yard.

 

Any suggestions or comments are welcome.

 

Firstly, how do I put an image in the body of the text?

 

 

 

 

 

             

['CHARD]

Room/ space is 6m x 3m, correct?  [Enjoying the GCSE geometry teaser!!!] 

[simmo009]

Here you go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope this worked.

 

Room/ space is 6m x 3m, correct?  [Enjoying the GCSE geometry teaser!!!] 

 

Yes, if the width is a little less I can lose it off the fiddle yard.

[simmo009]

Ok, 1 at a time then. The last one was Board F, the fiddle yard.

 

This is Boards A & B.

 

[simmo009]

And finally Boards C, D & E.

 

[Nearholmer]

Some of your removable bits are pretty large to handle, especially if you intend fairly traditional/standard constructional methods, which will make them heavy too.

 

There was a lively old debate on here recently about optimum size of transportable baseboard, and although yours appear not to be intended for portability in the usual sense, it contains advice that will be of value.

[simmo009]

That is a fair point. The boards can be made into smaller sub units if necessary. I am trying to cut down the number of connections, both timber and electrical to be honest. My trump card in all of this, its my living room, and I can do what I like with it, there is no SWMBO to overrule any decision. The full room is nearly 6m sq, so this will only take up about half of it. I am thinking it will be more or less permanent, but i want to retain some flexibility.

[DCB]

It doesn't flow very well, the tracks are very near the baseboard edge and some of the curves are very tight. The FY could be laid out better. A six coach train of Mk1s is over 5 feet long, plus a Pacific loco thats 6 feet even tight to the buffers and only 1 FY road is that long and there is no headshunt and the access is tortuous. 

 

Branch trains have to run wrong line and there is nowhere to put mainline rains while the branch train shunts. 

 

I think you need to draw the whole layout out and plan where trains run, run your finger around the layout and the problems will become apparent.  Trains need to run from somewhere to somewhere else, that may be platform 1 and back to platform 1. But that blocks the main line.    I would put hidden  loops on Board B with the branch station above and a long gradient from the thru station to it.  That way maybe 8 trains could stay on the layout in loops at pack away time plus the stock in the stations.  You can't store stock on lifting sections, well you can but its damned difficult to carry them and stock tends to fall off lifting sections when you lift them!

 

Board Fis not much use as a FY but would make a useful cassette yard with 8 foot cassettes.  Maybe with cassette storage under Board B.  I believe Peter Denny designed a lifting deck for Buckingham which was never needed but with one of those at F the FY could be under B. 

 

Generally with that much space I would consider a wall hugger and leave it in place 24/7 . Mine had a 60" nominal track height in a much smaller room with 60" clearance under the duck under which itself was removable.

[Nearholmer]

Yes, my guess is that there would come a day when having this in the living room will become an irritation, unless you have other rooms to use for that function.

 

Wall-hugging layouts also make better use of space, maximising the length of run while not chopping the space up into annoying little bits.

 

But, in the final analysis it’s your living room to do with as you will.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Nearholmer

[simmo009]

Yes, some of the curves are tight, but all are larger than 2nd radius, so it should be ok. Noted about the proximity to the edge, bit of fiddling required. The passenger trains won't go into the fiddle yard, that is for the numerous short goods trains to move to and from. I will look at reversing the branch line, there is space on board C, it should give a better balance. Food for thought David, thanks, given me some ideas. Cassettes are under consideration in lieu of a fiddle yard. There is plenty of storage room beneath A & B.

 

I will play some more tonight.

[simmo009]

Total rethink in progress.

[TonyMay]

If it's intended as portable, this is far too much track.  The portable sections ideally should be just plain double track - potentially a little boring(?) but genuinely reflective of the vast majority of the real lines which are plain double track.  The two main lines should flow together with a consistently sized six foot gap between them, and the curves should flow, being transitioned.  

[The Johnster]

Another thing to consider if the layout is not to be permanently or at least semi-permanently set up is the amount of stock on it.  If the layout has to be put away at the end of an operating session, it all has to be taken off and stowed away, in it's boxes for protection, and then laid out again at the start of the next session.  So be it if there is no alternative, but a couple of 20 wagon freights will make this very time consuming and onerous, and you will soon get fed up with it!

 

Sorry if this is discouraging and not what you want to hear.  Despite our criticisms, which I hope you can accept as constructive and well intended, the basis of a good layout is in there to be brought out with careful use of curves, sight lines, scenery, lighting, and theatrical trickery in general.

[Jongudmund]

Judging by your plan you will need to cross board D to get to your fiddle yard. You might be better served by making boards a,b and f as an end to end layout that stays up permanently with the option to attach boards c, d and e to make it into a circuit when you want to have trains running by. I'd suggest not having any industries or sidings on those boards and just have scenic double track.

 

You've also got a lot of industries/ features there. A dairy, a cattle dock, a factory, a builders yard, two stations, a loco shed and a coal drop. I'd maybe pick one or two things rather than trying to cram them all in. Maybe a station with a cattle dock / dairy.

Edited December 21, 2018 by Jongudmund