The New 2x4 Layout!!

chancellorman3344 Jan 5, 2015

  1. chancellorman3344

    chancellorman3344 TrainBoard Member

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    So for a long time I have been wanting to do a layout this size and now I have the funds and some space.
    So what I want is
    -A basic yard to do some switching.
    -A tunnel
    -Some cliffs
    -A bridge of some sort.

    I am going to be using Kato Unitrack because I want something reliable and I don't have the best track laying skills.
    The layout will be powered by dc.
    I will be mostly running Burlington northern.

    The layouts link
    http://imgur.com/AImil2n
    Feedback welcome
     

    Attached Files:

  2. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    In order to pull a car from the yard, and shove it to that spur at right, you'll need some way to run around your rolling stock. I don't see this possibility in your plan.
     
  3. SYROUS

    SYROUS TrainBoard Member

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    I agree with Boxcab, your boxing your self in on that one spur.
     
  4. chancellorman3344

    chancellorman3344 TrainBoard Member

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    Hmmmmm... I see your reasoning. Should I get rid of it all together or would there be a way to fix that?
     
  5. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    Aside from setting a car on the main track, and running all the way around the loop to reach the other car end.... You can look for a way to add a siding along the bottom edge of that drawing. Or you could put an escape in the yard. However, for the latter, your yard capabilities would be compromised. What purpose did you have in mind for that spur?
     
  6. chancellorman3344

    chancellorman3344 TrainBoard Member

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    well I was thinking either a small industry, engine shop or just another place to store cars. It was in there for more switching capabilities instead of running in a circle all day.
     
  7. brokemoto

    brokemoto TrainBoard Member

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    I have a two-by-four, but it is a nineteenth century pike that does not use UNITRAK . I needed a runaround, as well. The best that I could do was a runaround that could accomodate only one car at a time. It comes off of the inner main. The pike is a double track roundy-round with a business area off the inner main. As nineteenth century rolling stock is a bit shorter than the modern stuff, this is not that big a deal. If the locomotive has more than one facing spot, it simply runs around the cars one-at-a-time, then takes the cut of cars into the business area and makes the required spots.

    I do use UNITRAK in places on my 1950s pike, but it is not all UNITRAK .

    One thing that you might get away with doing is placing an additional cross over on one of your yard tracks that faces the same way as the others. This might give you room for a runaround that would accomodate one car. The question that might remain would be is there enough room for the locomotive on one end of the yard track?

    The other possibility would be a runaround on the upper edge of the pike where the track plan bows inward. You could install a turnout there and run your yard and switchback off the runaround. Either that, or you could put a runaround off the main on the edge of the trackplan where your current yard lies and install a turnout there for your yard/switchback. This is how the runaround sits on my nineteenth century pike. Mine does not have a yard, it does have several businesses served by the railroad, instead.

    Is a yard a requirement, or can you spread out the tracks a bit and have several businesses served by the railroad? A small pike such as this might require the locating of more than one business on a spur. This was common in the earlier days of the railroads, I suspect that while it does occur still, it is less common these days. The drawback is that sometimes, in order to serve one business, the railroad must move a car from another business then re-spot the car. If the delivery comes during business hours, moving the car could disrupt business number one, as it could not load/unload the car while the railroad is spotting the car for business number two.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 5, 2015
  8. Burlington Bob

    Burlington Bob TrainBoard Member

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    I had a 2x4 back in the 80's and I really wanted a yard to switch my cars for my industries. Well, it became very apparent that basically I could make a switch list for imaginary industries or I could switch industries as a local coming from an imaginary yard. The local coming from an imaginary yard was far and away a lot more satisfying to operate and allowed more possibilities for variations in what I was going to do. Plus, the different industries allowed for much better scenery options, though I never got far into the scenery before moving and basically being an armchair railroader for the next twenty years or so.
     
  9. RatonMan

    RatonMan TrainBoard Member

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    I have a 2X4 coffee table plan. PM me with your email addy if interested.
     
  10. Grey One

    Grey One TrainBoard Supporter

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    From these I infer you are mostly focused on scenery. With that in mind I would not focus too much on the rest. Just do some nice scenery and don't worry about too much else.
    I personally would:
    • Change to 10" curves, the 11" is not giving you much of an edge which is still part of the scenery
    • Reduce the 'spur' to straight track and use it for an engine house
    • Build it on two layers of 2" blue / pink foam
    • Run a ravine from the bottom right diagonally up and then 'under' the straight portion of your 'bulge.
    The straight track spur simplifies the layout and allows you to have a couple of locomotives on the layout at one time.
    The 4"s of foam will give you a chance to carve down and create the ravine / need for a bridge.
    Depending on where this is located you might consider putting a divider down the middle and only put the ravine on the far side.
    Those are my thoughts.
     
  11. BoxcabE50

    BoxcabE50 HOn30 & N Scales Staff Member TrainBoard Supporter

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    I'll second the notion of using a scenic divider. This will definitely create an illusion of traversing a larger space, and make potential scenes much nicer.
     
  12. chancellorman3344

    chancellorman3344 TrainBoard Member

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    I was thinking about doing the sort of mountain divider that MC Fujiwara did on his small 2x4 layout. I usually don't like copying ideas but I really like the way it looked.
     
  13. Jeepy84

    Jeepy84 TrainBoard Member

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    As long as you recognize that the real beauty of MC's Columbia layout was how the trackwork squeezed organically between the mountains. Don't get me wrong, I love Unitrack, I use Unitrack myself, but his custom curved turnouts are what made that layout work like it did.
    Since Kato probably isn't going to be coming up with any curved turnouts soon that we're aware of, I can make one suggestion that will help make things more realistic looking. Use tapering radii in your curves. I see in your plan so far what looks like constant radius 11" curves. As was suggested by someone earlier, switch to 9.75" curves, but at the apex. This will give you a bit of a buffer to the edge, and a slight easement which will go a long way toward eliminating the toy train feel constant radii curves give off.
     

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