I'm a few months from actually starting, but I've decided to take down my 7' X 7' table top layout and small yard and build an around the room layout - about 11' X 15' using Lionel Fastrack - in the same room in my basement.
As part of the design, She Who Must be Obeyed has given me permission to break through a wooden wall and use a 48" x 130" portion of the family room. I've decided that I would like to use this new area for yard storage of trains and rolling stock and this will be the first phase of the new layout. It can also connect to the old table top, so I can tweak it if necessary before building the rest of the new layout.
The outside track will be a loop to connect to the new layout. I would like to maximize the number of spurs and length that I can fit in the new yard area. My existing yard has 2" of space between the tracks and that seems to be enough clearance to run my LC and Legacy trains, so I'd like to stick to that dimension for the new yard.
I've tried to use SCARM to create a basic design and have attached it here. I can't seem to get the knack of using the program correctly (too old and computer illiterate) and I know points don't close properly, etc., but the design would look "something" like the attached. I also don't know if I can actually fit the number of spurs the plan shows into the above dimensions. The wall is on the right side of the plan and the train would run CW and then back-up onto the spurs.
I realize there are some reach and potential fouling issues, but as it's basically all track and there won't be many accessories, if at all, I'm willing to live with those in exchange for the storage capability. I'd also like to eliminate the O-31 curves at the top left of the design for O-36.
If anyone has time to tweak the design or come up with a better plan, it's greatly appreciated.
Thanks - Rich
