Help with layout design

[MarkB]

Hi all, i stumbled across the forum via a google search and i wondered how you guys go about designing you stations track work, i've been trying to come with some good ideas however they all seem to be lacking something (well basically they seem far to simple). I havent actually finished building my baseboard (however i shall be getting the last bits up over the weekend with the help of my granddad.

Basically my board is taking up most of a 10x7ft room and will be continuous loop, basically the main board is 10x3ft then round 7x3ft and then i will be using 10 ft wide sections to bring the track around the other side of the room angle across after 6ft and its oo gauge

Any sort of help would be great, link for inspiration or anything, cheers in advance

Mark

[swisstrains]

Hi Mark and welcome to the forum.
I am a little confused as to how you intend using the available space in your 10' x 7' room. Are you saying that there will be a 3' wide "L" shaped board around two walls of the room with narrower boards around the remaining two walls to form the continuous loop? You mention using 10 ft wide sections but could that possibly be 10 inch?
Can you give us a basic idea of the type of station you are trying to create and also if you are modelling steam days or the modern scene? It might also help if you could post some of your ideas (no matter how rough ) as a starting point.

[MarkB]

sorry i meant a 10ft long section, its been a very long day today at work yeah sure, i am going to modeling my layout in steam and sadly i cant afford to switch over to dcc just yet and plaing on running about 8/9 trains all together (i would say 5 as mainline engines).

I was thinking having some of the platforms end at the station (basically enough to hold two trains in right hand corner) and having the main lines split into another two platforms (so 3 all together so enough for 6 engines). I have also been considering having a 3rd loop to basically run off into a goods yard on the small part of the L shape (well a their is a section that forms a l that is is two 6x3 with one board having a little bit to fill in the 1ft gap).

anyways i hope thats abit more helpful

[swisstrains]

I'm sorry Mark but I must be having a senior moment as I still can't picture the exact shape of your boards in the 10' x 7' room. How much space have you allowed for the control area and how are you going to reach it? Does the room have a door?
Also, when you say that you are planning on running 8/9 trains all together, I assume that you mean you would like to have that number of trains positioned on the layout at any one time and not actually running. You would need a much bigger area than 10' x 7' in order to create a OO Gauge layout that would enable 8/9 trains to run at the same time.
If we can establish these basics then we might be able to offer some suggestions. Do you have any means of creating and posting a drawing to the forum which shows the shape of your boards?

[MarkB]

basically atm moment i have a L shape board that is 10ft across the back wall, 6ft along the side wall while maintaining a 3ft width, basically im adding a 6x1ft board and then another board which will be at a angle to connect the smallest board with the 10ft board (at about 45o angle) think of it as a box with a small part of the corner cut off.

And no im not planning on running 8 trains on that but will have 8 trains in postion to run, as it stands i will only run two trains at a time just via platforms, sidings, goods area and possible engine storage yard i will have 8/9 trains on the board.

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...an054/mark.jpg

My paint skills rock btw

For the mainline i have

1) Britannia
1) rebuilt royal scot
1) A3
1) rebuilt merchant navy
1) possibly one A4, im still undecided as if i will i just sell this or replace it, i have a rather old tender driven one

Other than that i have
1) crab
1) 9F
1) stainier
1) smokey joe (simply because it was the first train i was ever bought)

[swisstrains]

That's great. I'll try and get the creative juices flowing

[Tony]

Hi Mark, welcome to the forum.
After seeing your layout diagram I presume there is a door at bottom left. The room is the same size as I used in the past. First thing to think about is that door and how it opens; most doors open to mask the room interior as they open, in other words, the door hinges are near the middle of your left hand wall. I would suggest that the door is rehung so that the hinges are at the bottom left corner, then the door opens back against the bottom wall.
Once this has been done, a lifting section can be constructed to allow the door to open/close. It gives you much more space for your layout. As it stands the angle at the top corner will not allow a double track curve, try it with set-track number 2 curves as the inside track and you will see what I mean.
If you need help with the design of the lifting section, just ask!
Wishing you the best of luck with your plans.

[MarkB]

well basically the door isnt a problem as it hardly opens into the room (the entrance to room is rather odd) however i have to leave enough room in the corner for a book case to put all my table top figures on (so i can adjust this part slightly). What would be a better angle to allow for a double curve?

Anyways thanks guys for the interest so far

[swisstrains]

This is the sort of plan that I was considering. Based on an 18" radius inner curve I thought that it might work but as Tony points out there could be a problem. After being in N-Gauge for 30+ years my mind doesn't work too well in OO
markB_layout01.JPG

[MarkB]

thats actually now a bad basis the curve might work better if i make the section 2 across 3 up slightly wider, i could add a 1X2 bit onto the main board which might give it a little more room to turn.

I think i would also shrink the stations down slightly as im only going to be using 4 coaches per train.

Cheers mate