Toy's N-Scale Layout: Opinions Please

I've been working on a layout for the past couple of months and attched is what I have come up with so far. It is based on the MRR Western Maryland Thomas Subdivision. I have not thought about scenery yet and want to bounce some ideas off all of you.

Here is some of the criteria that I have been working off of

I have an 13.5'x 7' area the wife will let me use in the "spare guest" bedroom.
I wanted a LONG mainline.
No curves less than 18" radius
A turntable
Steam - Diesel transition era

That's about it. I'm open for any opinions, critiques and scenery suggestion. I almost want a large city theme but I do have one limitation I have to deal with. The walls are 56" high then they start going up at a 45 degree angle. The only place that is not like this is where the bottom "peninsula" is, that part of the wall is a normal 8' wall.

3D Version:

 

Looks from the passing tracks like you intend to run 11' trains on a regular basis. which, of course, means that "yard" is hardly more than an engine terminal. You can't fit a functional yard for trains that size on this size layout. Very little switching, then; trains will mostly just circulate. I really think this needs some staging somehow.

 

Hi,

I agree with Triplex, also there is not much room at the end of the bed (looks like 18 inches) to squeeze through. You may be able to get pass by sitting on the bed but your guests will not be happy and the will be setting stuff on the layout. Can you turn the bed 90 degrees? Can you remove the bed altogether from the "spare guest" bedroom?

What is a "spare guest"? LOL

Gary

 

Looking at the original plans, the long run in the back was hidden behind a hill and backdrop to an extent and was labeled as staging. However, there also was a true staging area off of the loop on the top. I removed that due to the space limitation. Maybe I'll do that double helix I was thinking about...

Of course I could move the turntable and extend the "yard" so it is longer. I'll play with that and post a change in a couple days.

 

We have a guest bedroom, a guest kids bedroom and then a room above the garage that I will be using. The wife says I have to have to leave room for a bed. So yes, I can turn the bed and put it in the corner.

Course I doubt we ever put a bed up there...

 

I changed the Model Railroad track plan "Western Maryland's Thomas Subdivision" and how it will be used on my layout will be completely different. I picked the the track plan simply because of the criteria I had and how I could get it to fit in the area I have.

Yes, if I had any ability to do one from scratch I would

(actually I have a few previous attempts from scratch that look similar and then I found this one)

 

Here is v2 where I moved the yard to be able to make it bigger. I tried to leave about 7" before/after the curves to allow for better transition from the curve before getting to the switch. I did use medium Peco code 55 switches but not sure if I should go with the large ones for smoother operation. Do you think this is sufficient area for "staging"? If not I'm afraid I'll have to go with a multi-deck scenario with helices to provide more staging and that then becomes a challenge with the roof layout.

I also could use some input on spurs and just ideas for making the layout more interesting. As it stands Anyrail reports the mainline as 64.5'. I'm thinking on a city on the left loop and mountain scene on the right. Maybe work in some water and bridges here and there but I am pretty much open for any ideas.

 

Here is another with a little more detail. Any comments appreciated as I have no idea what I am doing.

 

Seems you have started with a shape but haven't really defined what you want except for a long mainline. What you have meets that one interest. It is hard to give you any suggestions without knowing more of what you want to do and whether what you have besides some scenery suggestions meets your need.

You have a yard and engine facility but it seems all you can do right now is make up a train, go around for awhile, then return to the same yard and create another train. That may keep you interested but I know it would bore others quickly. We need to know.

What else, if anything do you hope to do? What industries (if any) interest you? Are you at all interested in operating more than one train at a time? You have chosen a subdivision to model. What is it about that sub that interests you? Industries? Scenery? Passenger trains? Interchange traffic? Towns along the way? We know so little to give you much assistance. Perhaps you can help us help you by defining more of the givens or the druthers for us.

Mark

 

I like your first one better. I mean yeah, now you have a bigger yard, but you lost those dual passing sidings. Remember you always need at least TWO passing sidings on a single-track main to run two trains in opposite directions.

 

Get a cheapo rolly chair (you can find used at an office supply store) and then set your table height to chair eye level. That should be about 40-44". From there you have plenty of space for a city.

Also, if you go with a city, put that part of the table 2-4 inches below track height and run the track across as elevated. This gives you room to put taller buildings in, and if you want to add a streetcar line later you can do that too.

 

What about this?



This is your basic 18" radius folded dogbone with an additional 14" minimum radius 'high line' added. You keep the "shorty" yard where it was, but cannibalize 18" of space under the back eave for a second, longer stub yard.

The main line ducks under itself and runs on a "sub shelf" a couple inches below the shorty yard. This is as easy as cutting a thin strip of plywood and suspending it below your layout board using 2x2s and drywall screws. The "high line" has a wye connection at the south end. If you want you could add yard tracks to the "high line" along the back eave and have a point-to-point yard operation, otherwise the return track at the top leaves the opportunity for a second continuous run path. With continuous running on the main line and high line, trackage is shared past the "shorty" yard - you can use one of the yard tracks as a passing siding, or you could just double-track this segment so you can run two trains and forget about it.

It might look complex but really, with the Woodland Scenics foam inclines this sorta thing is cake. CAKE.

 

I'll have to think about this spaghetti bowl approach. It seems you could get as much main line run with a simpler approach. Also, I'm not sure your switches for the yard are as long as they might be in practice.

I'm away for a while, but will try to get back after April 15.

 

I would not disagree. Yes, this would bore me quickly too.

Well, really I am not sure what all I can do.

Logging or mining is my primary interest but I don't know if the fits well with being able to run the trains I want. Yes, I would love to do a narrow gauge railroad but I don't think I can do it in N scale to the detail and reliability I want. Upkeep, sound decoders and smooth operation are some of my concerns with n scale narrow gauge.

Other interest is a large city. Something along the lines of a big city rail station (NYC type feel). I'm not sure if I have enough room to do this properly.

I don't feel logging/mining and a big city feel belong together in the space I have based on the (perceived) limitations for narrow scale.

Definitely. Need to put the Digitrax system to work.. I also want to expand into computer controlled automation at some point.

I really have no interest in the subdivision other than it was the most easily adaptable to the space I have. I have no problem scrapping the plan all together. I probably need to look at scenarios of a big city rail station and how to lay that out. and start from there and expand out.

I really have not thought about passenger trains but based on the above it is obviously part of the layout needs.

Other scenery thoughts are "forest", river and bridges, mountain. So probably jsut about everything to a point and I know I can't do it all.

I also could change to a "walk-in" type layout that way I could get away from the loops on each end and provide more room for different sections.

 

I definitely do like it. Has more character than what I have.

I could work on the wife for that space later. Currently there is no bed up there and I think part of her concern is how much i really can get done at once.. I could add that stub on later as I get some stuff done.

I'm not sure what is happening from an elevation standpoint on the north and south loops. On the south with the wye, I assume the "high line" is elevated and has to come down around the loop to meet up with the main line at the wye.

I do have to agree with Mark's questions about what I want with industries, scenery and other things. I seem to be trying to fit the track to the space and then the scenery and industries to the track and I probably need to reverse that thinking to a point. Space, scenery/industries and then track. But they all do fit together all at once too...

 

I appreciate you trying to sort things out for us. Otherwise it would seem like throwing darts at a hidden target. Might get a bulls eye, but most likely not.

It took me over two years to work through the various things I wanted. That's way too long for most people and not really needed for your size space, but it was what I needed. Lots of layout plans were drawn up and discarded during that time. I, like you, started with available space and kept trying to fit things in. After awhile I realized what I really wanted and how I had to go about accomplishing that. Some of it still isn't nailed down yet, but I have time to accomplish that while I work elsewhere.

So as you can fill out some of your 'druthers' maybe we can do a better job helping you realize your dream.

Mark

 

That's a legitimate concern, look at Joe Fugate's Siskiyou lines... the thing has been under construction for 15 years and half of it is still paint and masking tape.

Maybe if you get the main table up and running quickly, eventually she'll let you take over the whole room. Or the whole house...