john, nice sketch -- but it still looks like an HO layout. you could put a city on each wall and yards in a couple of places and still have lots of room for scenery. it will be a grand and scenic layout in Z, as you have submitted it, but i think you would be cheating yourself if you didn't do much more with it. that's my opinion. whatever you do i know it will be great. dave f.
What part of it looks like an HO layout? I am not sure where you are going with that one. Is it the whole folded dog bone shape? Is it the fact that there is still a lot of straight track? Give me a specific and I may be able to tweak the idea. Remember this is still a work in progress.
john, i was just commenting on the length and use of space. with all the layout room you have you have kept it simple -- as if that is all the room you have (if you know what i mean). no criticism intended, just with Z i think you could feel free to fill the spaces with more track work (and i don't certainly mean spaghetti) and not have a crowded layout. don't get me wrong -- it's great, and the scenery will be breath-taking. it just seemed to me that you were still thinking you had less room (as with HO) than you do. but you know your space better. i'm looking forward to seeing it come to life. dave f.
I agree with Dave, I think you can add much more track, and still not have a spaghetti bowl. Z Scale track is almost half as wide as N Scale track, and a double track mainline only takes 2" of space as the track centers are 1" apart. Don't worry about not having enough scenery space, because Z Scale is almost ALL scenery space. As far as a Yard goes, those 3 modules will give you a huge yard, but I think you need to add a lot of industry sidings so you have a reason for the railroad's being. Pick a spot and add a 36" siding, connected to the mainline at both ends, and throw some grain elevators inline there. Pick another place, and have a small siding for a fuel supplier, to support 3 or 4 tank cars operation. Add a siding for a cold storage fruit packing operation to support reefers. Add a coal mine, another siding with 2 or 3 tracks under overhead loader, etc. You have to give your railroad a reason to be there, and that's to serve customers with products to move. There is extra plenty of space left over to sit and watch the long trains go by.
Dave/Robert, As far as room is concerned I can only use the outer walls like I have shown since I MUST leave the middle of the room open for other uses. The plan you see now is just to get the mainline roughed in to make sure I could get a continuous run and not make it look too crowded. I also want to ensure I can get enough space between towns so I am not stopping as soon as I get going again. As I get farther along in the planning process I will be adding multiple sidings and not just the 3 little towns you see. Each yard area will have a half dozen or more sidings for local industry. Along the line I would like to have 6 or so more small whistle stops on passing sidings and several industries that are just spurs off of the mainline that would receive rail traffic. Perhaps a passenger station at each, local LCL freight house, team track if a freight house would not suit the space, engine servicing, etc. There will be much more but I do not want to draw it all up until I am sure that the mainline works like I want it to. A 180' is a long mainline (7.5 scale miles) and I can fit a lot of small towns along that length. Now I just have to place them, which is coming, but I do not want to get ahead of myself and have to redo work that I already did.
got it! you have this all thought out. good, i can't wait to see how it develops. i wish i was your neighbor and could run trains with you on this layout! as it is i'm stuck in the middle of "no-Z-man's land". he he he. dave f.
I just wanted to make sure you guys knew I was always thinking ahead and did not plan on that being ALL there was LOL
I like it. Just adding the bulge and wandering the track a bit makes for a more pleasing look to the eye. I'm with you on track usage as well. I like long runs through scenery, minimal yards and detailed scenery to pull it all together. I recommend a small town at each end of the "U". This gives a reason for the railroad to exist, ie. 'point to point'. I enjoy sidings to mines and lumber areas. I'm not a 'yard' guy. But that's just me. Good luck. See you at ZCS. Cheers, Jim CCRR
I like that track plan !! It is truly a folded layout, creating a very long mainline. Like Chris's vidz, he passes single mainlines together and it creates the illusion of a busy line. Even if one track higher than the other, still looks more interesting to me than 1' apart. Only concern I have is he over/under on the lower corner. That's going to be more than 2%. Might have to make the crossover a bit farther towards the middle module. .
I like that plan too! Take a look that you use big radii for the curves, it's that what Zscale makes looking realisitc! you could build a big yard on the upper modules (shown as horizontal), and add some industrial spurs i.e. to a warehouse, cement plant, stone quarry, or even a port! to get some ideas, check the article "designing a mid-size n-scale layout" on page 54 of the july 07 edition of model railroader. In spite of that article concerns N-scale, you will discover some important DO's and DON't's and perhaps get some inspiration! :tb-nerd: daniel
Thanks for the votes of confidence everyone. I am going to make some changes sometime today. I figured out a way to gain a little more length on the mainline and give the line a chance to curve back over itself a couple times to give a bit more scenic interest. I'll post the alternate mainline layout as soon as I get it completed.
Hey all, this is a quick hack at an alternate mainline arrangement. Still no sidings or anything yet but I sort of like this better than the previous version. Please let me know what you think. it gives me about 165' total mainline which I like. I think this version gives me more option for town placement and sidings
Hey John; Nice layout, and boy do you have a nice space to work with. This large of z layout will be fantastic... Question; Are you doing a double track mainline???? Or is the main a single????? I read through and found you said it would be a single track main..... I think your going to need reversing units for your end loops. If you are running a double main, then you will not have a poarilty issue, unless you install crossovers on the main at any of the yard points.. Question: Are you planning on using DC or DCC on this layout???? Either way you are going to need to think about cross over's and reverse loops. Personally, i use Tony's DCC reverser units that i think are made by NCE (not sure). They are seamless and perfect every time. On my old VGgB Marklin layout, i used their reverse loop track set, and it worked ok..... ok for DC. Anyway, just wanted to get your mind thinking about polarity, and wiring. I strongly believe that well thought out track plan always involves an eqaully as good wiring design, for trouble free opperations. Tony B.... Wasatch Z Club
Tony, Sorry I didn't reply earlier but my boys were wrestling today. Single. I was thinking about that today. I would rather have single mainline and lose some length than have a double as shown. I will have reverse loops at the ends and will maY automate the turnouts for the reversing section so that if a train triggers the reversing section the turnout will throw automatically. For sure. Digitrax or NCE are the likely candidates And I have been going at my track planning all wrong. I have been making sure I did not use the center of the room so I have been limiting myself to the walls. But today I thought, I can add a penninsula in the middle of the room that is made of a couple modules that can be stored under the layout when not in use. It will gain me about 18' in length and a nice scenery area with a town on each side of the module.
