Im looking at building my first real layout and I'm having trouble with some of the programs. I though I'd ask for some help from the experts here Here is what I have in mind Atlas code 55 flex Atlas #5's for the yard Atlas #7's mainline 12'x3' (can go up to 13') Double track mainline Yard Autorack loading/unloading area Below is a picture of member Harron's track design, I really liked the overall look and flow of it. Any help would be greatly appreciated. James
Well my mainline is 16.25" radius. Running a parallel track inside would be 15" radius. Removing the industries inside the loop and shortening the yard slightly would allow for double-track main with minimal modification of the original plan. The yard could be brought further to the left in this case to increase the length of the tracks. I ran the mainline in to break-up the parallel run, but you don't have to. By the way if anyone wants the RTS file to mess around with send me a PM.
If you are running auto racks you may want longer yard tracks. You might be able to move the yard throat to the left about 2 to 3 feet and yes, shorten them to allow room for the double track main line.
The operation I planned with this layout had autoracks dedicated to just the auto facility, not the yard which would be only for mixed general freight. Power would come from the engine facility light (or be serviced and fueled by truck at the auto facility), double-up a train, then make several revolutions around the layout (in theory the train goes offline, then the new inbound train then comes online - if I had the room this would be a move toward staging) before returning to respot the autoracks. The auto yard has the following capacity (top-to-bottom). Track 1: 5 articulated autorack cars (7 to 8 regular) Track 2 & 3: 4 articulated autorack cars (6 regular) I ran 10 articulated cars around the main the other day and it was too long for the layout in my opinion. I'll probably keep my trains to 6-7 articulated cars (8-11 regular).
Here's a quick plan I drew up using my original, keeping the mainline flow, yard and auto facility location. The engine servicing would be moved to the tracks on the left along with an extended yard lead - allowing for a few more tracks on the right for yard space. All main-to-main crossovers are #7s, yard switches #5s. Outer loop maintains a 16.25" radius for all curves, inner loop has a minimum of 15" radius. Anything else you are looking for? I was messing with the yard coming off the middle of the front allowing for longer tracks but the program crashed. I'll re-create it later. If this is going to be against a wall I'd caution against a full 3' layout - you'll be kicking yourself for reach. Mine is short (to clear a window) and I'm 6ft, still hard to reach the back corners.
Not that I'm a layout planning guru by any stretch, but what if you moved the turnouts leading to yard on the right to the left about 6-8" or so? You'd gain some space behind the tracks and it wouldnt look so cramped. You might could even move it left a bit more and add to the trackage to increase the storage capacity. Just a thought.
You could, and extend your lead around the curve with a 13.75" radius and possibly bring it back in to the mainline - either that or tie up a mainline. My original design was to allow a train to run on the mainline while switching in the yard (single operator). A longer yard could have an A/D track within the yard as opposed to in front of it. All viable options depending on what the owner wants to do.
