I just laid out a small lay out in 2 sheets of 1/2 inch thick foam board, The only issue I have is that I cannot get behind a piece of rolling stock if I am in front of it, I need to put in another switch somewhere or some way of turning the loco to the other side of the rolling stock. Where you would you fellas suggest the optimal place and method would be? Thanks!
Most logical and prototypical place would be a passing siding on the main line on top. Rather than have your sidings feed directly off the main, run a left and right hand switch off the main first, then put your right hand switch in between them (using 19" radius curve sections to bring your siding parallel, of course). Let me know if you need it drawn up to better understand.
Depending on the size of your foam board from front to back, you might also be able to add a half-circle of track on the right side of your layout. One turnout (diverging right) would be added to the main line in the back, just to the left of where the yellow intermodal car is in your picture. A second (diverging left) would be added to the straight section in the front right, a little to the left of the gray car in the front right of your picture. If your foam board has a dimension of 20 inches or more, you might be able to make this half circle fit if you buy a pair of Peco shorty turnouts which have the 9 inch (not 9.75 inch) radius for the diverging curved leg, use 9.75 inch radius sectional curves for the rest, and rearrange your current track placement a little bit. This would give you another way to get a loco on the other side of a freight car.
Get rid of the s-curve that's on th right side of the plastic cup/thing/I don't know what it is. It can cause problems when switching a train.
Thieu is right. Also, that right side is really small for switching purposes. My guess is you can only get a locomotive and a single car over there, and that's pushing it. And that means switching half of the layout is pretty complicated. How big is your complete train surface? If I'm right, you've got enough room for a partial loop and a way to make for a nice industrial area where you could serve several decent industries off the main line. What kind of equipment do you have, and/or what are your interests? What era and location are you interested in? The more details you give me, the more suggestions I can give back.
And, depending of the era, maybe you also need a caboose. The questions about equipment, era, location, interests, are very important. Without answers, it is difficult to give suggestions and advice.
Motive power is a CSX MP15 so the era is modern but I do have a Bachmann 44 tonner and 70 tonner I could also use. Total surface is roughly 20x60 (inches). I don't really have any particular interests. I'm pretty open.
Perfect. I'll tinker around and see what I can come up with. Oh, and how much track do you have? If you can give me an inventory of what you've got to work with, I can make it fit. Otherwise, I can generate a shopping list and you can buy whatever else you don't already have.
No problem shopping! What you see in the original pic is what I have, plus assorted snap track pieces plus 2 more right hand switches and one left/
OK, give this a shot. First draft, just whipped it up this morning: It's got a main line, required only one piece of flex track (which could be replaced with sectional if you want) for the wide curve on the right side of the main. It's got a dock on the bottom right, industries on top and to the left, and a good passing siding to work with. Top right would allow for one track into a building, another outside with a loading dock. Buildings at the top would be shallow relief type (flats, etc.) and the rest is up to you.
Wow, I don't know if the guy you did this for is interested but I sure like the plan. I'm also sending it off to a friend who starting a 2 rail O scale layout as a suggestion for a switching area. Great design work. Dave
Glad you like it! This could also pretty easily be narrowed to fit on a shelf, and it could be included as a module on a larger layout (or you could take the shelf down and hook up an oval to both ends of the main line using some track and piers or mini-modules). Also, this was done in XTrakCad. If you want the source file, just PM me and I'll be glad to send it. Enjoy!
