I am doing an around the wall layout 12x 14 24 inches wide.Is it best to make the mainline just go around the room,or should I have a return loop somewhere on the layout?
Hi jelvis, two examples of model railroads.The first is a water-wing the second a donut. Both plans fit your space. The donut can handle the 30+ radii you'll need for your modern equipment. The waterwing is only possible with more moderate radii in your space. It needs almost 6 ft wide turnback curves or blobs, when applying 30+ radii. Add a small peninsula to the donut, remove the the industries from the top onto it; and you are able to envision one of the possibilities for your space. By doing so you don't need the double sided backdrop anymore. That plan was designed for a larger room, so the staging area was open to the other side. Also have a look at trainlength, the donut can handle 8 to 10 ft long trains, the waterwing is restricted to 5 ft at most. With modern long autoracks just 4 cars and an engine on the waterwing. At your service Paul
jelvis a point to point model rr needs no reverse loop as it exits one point to arrive at another. of course there (in what would probably be a yard or staging) there would be need to break down consist and put back together to exit and return to the first location. if you are more interested in continuous running as in around the room it gets a little boring not being able to run the same train in both directions. again break down of a consist and rebuilding one in a yard is a possibility but at the very least one would need a turntable to change direction. my solution is currently (in planning) a similar trackplan is to have a main level which is the oval around the walls of the room with reversing loops for both directions as part of that main level, then a lower level which would be departure/destination point West (staging yard) and an upper level which would be departure/destination point East (staging yard). the lower and upper levels will require a helix where the reversing loops on main level may require an incline (2%) meaning atleast 100 inches of track before and after crossing over the double mainline. best wishes and hope your trackplan and model rr works out well for you! sincerely Gary L Lake Dillensnyder
The question is always "What do you want to do with it?" If you have an entirely around-the-walls layout with a duckunder or gate, as your description in this and at least one of your other threads implies, and a peninsula not wide enough for a return loop, then it'll require major changes to fit it. In general, you shouldn't build benchwork before deciding on a track plan... that said, in a space this size, your configuration is a good one. It eliminates the need to allocate space for loops. In HO in a room that size, they'll dominate the design. With a continuous loop plan, it's not operationally essential to turn almost all equipment. Except in some staging setups, I don't see the need to reverse a train while leaving its consist unchanged. If, instead, you can't go all the way around the walls, you don't have enough run length for a point-to-point mainline, only a switching layout. In that case, you have to have end loops. These don't have to be true return loops. The "waterwings" example shows a mainline with end "loops" but no return loops. Only the staging area has a return loop.
