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Hi guys,

I am looking for some advice and general ideas for a layout that could fit in a 23 x 16 foot room that uses at least O-60 curves, so I could run Lionel Heavyweight coaches behind a GP9. I cannot use the entire room, as the sliding door and an air-conditioning unit cannot be blocked. Any advice, tips, and ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Alex

 

EDIT: Room is actually about 22 foot x 15 foot, not 23 foot by 16 foot

Last edited by Lionel2056
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It seems as though you have room for curves larger than O-60.  Generally, a good rule of thumb is to use the largest curves compatible with space available and railroad activity.  How much switching do you want to do?  What industries do you want to serve?  Do you plan to spot sleeping cars at stations and have the evening passenger train pick them up?  How long will your passenger station be?  On a spur? One or more tracks?  Kindly give your reading public a hint as to what you want your railroad to do so members can build on that rather than wasting key strokes on a blank canvas.  A diagram with dimensions and restrictions would be helpful.

John in Lansing, ILL

Last edited by rattler21
rattler21 posted:

It seems as though you have room for curves larger than O-60.  Generally, a good rule of thumb is to use the largest curves compatible with space available and railroad activity.  How much switching do you want to do?  What industries do you want to serve?  Do you plan to spot sleeping cars at stations and have the evening passenger train pick them up?  How long will your passenger station be?  On a spur? One or more tracks?  Kindly give your reading public a hint as to what you want your railroad to do so members can build on that rather than wasting key strokes on a blank canvas.  A diagram with dimensions and restrictions would be helpful.

John in Lansing, ILL

Hi John,

sorry that I haven't provided a diagram. Here's a rough sketch of how the room looks.

Room

(Made an error with measurements: Should be about 22 foot x 15 foot,)

When you are standing in the doorway (foot of the stairs), looking into this room, you will see a small alcove on the other side. To your left, centered on the wall, is a sliding door. On the same wall as the doorway (entrance into room), offset to the left, is the air conditioning unit (don't know what you call it). I have colored, in red, the things that cannot be blocked. The doorway, the air conditioning unit, and the sliding door.

 

Restrictions:

  • I cannot block the doorway, sliding door and air conditioning unit (highlighted in red)
  • Must be a path to easily reach the air conditioning unit, so if someone needs to repair it, that my layout doesn't get in their way
  • Must be a path to the sliding door, if there is a need to open it. Note: Could a hinged section be built in front of it, that could easily be lifted, rotated, or removed in case there is a need to open that door?

 

Ideas:

  • Single or if possible, double track 'mainline'. (Can loop over itself)
  • At least one station, but if it will work, two stations.
  • Drawbridge (could be section that moves out of way of sliding door?)
  • Small engine yard for storing engines
  • A couple of industries, with spurs to park freight cars (tank cars? box cars? hoppers?)

 

General idea - Maybe a track plan inspired by MTH's Tall Timber Mountain? https://mthtrains.com/45-1106

Could that work? I like that track plan, but it's a little too big for the room I have to build my layout. Maybe a smaller version that is similar?

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Last edited by Lionel2056

What ever plan you come up with you will need to decide on minimum curve. Check all cars and locos you have or contemplate ever getting for minimum radius. For instance the GP9 is probably good down to O45 but the heavyweights (if they are the full scale) may be good down to O54 only.


I had to compromise with my 18 x 14 layout. I have O63 outside and O54 inside curves. This locks me out of the big steam locos (O72 min) but fortunately I like diesels more. I do have a couple of 482 Northerns steam that are 054 min. The outside loop is O63 but that is strictly 'watch the trains go around in a circle'. The inside is all O54 which includes all yards and spurs. This is so I can park the bigger diesels and steam locos on spurs or inside sheds or switch with any locomotive in my inventory.

Joe

The way I would do it is to build the layout in the roughly 13x20 space ,the 13 being top to bottom and the 20 right  to left based on your sketch. I don't know how far the AC extends into the room, one thing would be the use a 13 foot width, and by the AC have a removable section to allow better access to the AC, or you could have the layout curve in then out with a flowing curve, where the deepest part of the curve is in front of the AC. This would leave a direct path from the door in the room, past the a/c and to the sliding door while giving you decent space for the layout. On the top left of your diagram, above the sliding door, you could build an extension of the 13x20 layout that could be a staging yard or engine terminal,would be roughly a 3x7 area.  In the kind of space you have, you could have pretty large curves depending on your track plan, I recommend designing it for the largest curves you can use on the mainline runs, even small scale equipment looks  great running on larger curves. 

I did a basic plan of the basement and then where I wanted to put the layout and allow access to everything necessary.  I settled on the area in red.  This allowed access to all the necessary stuff, and use all the space in that area that I could.  Bigger is almost always better until you get to really large spaces.   Allowing for a minimum of O72 curves was a must for me.

Layout Location

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  • Layout Location

I would concur with the comments of at LEAST O-72 curves, especially with as much room as you have.

My last layout was 14' x 17', a O-63/O-54 (gargraves/ross) double-main with lots of sidings (22 RCS turnouts) and a 29" turntable.  It was lots of fun.  Great layout to run my scale Pacifics and Mikados.  Not so great, however, for my scale T-3 (due to an S-curve) and I could NOT run any of my scale passenger cars.     I was in the process of building a 22' x 17' extension to the layout and replacing all the O-63 and O-54 curves when we decided to move.  My current layout in our rental house is a carpet layout in my 12' x 17' trainroom.  This time, I went with the largest Lionel Fastrack curves that I could buy, O-96 and O-84.  Now I can run ALL of my trains!

Jim

Hi guys,

been a while since I last posted, but I am still thinking about building a layout. Most of my engines can run on O-31 or even O-27, while the largest engine, runs on O-54 minimum. With the exception of the S-2, most engines are no longer than a 4-6-0.

Here's what I am thinking:

  • Would like to have a double track mainline, with sidings for freight trains
  • Would prefer it to be a loop for continuous running, which could allow more than one train to run at a time
  • A passenger station (or two) for my passenger train
  • Removable bridges or hinged sections that lift up are fine
  • Mountains and/or inclines are fine
  • Era: 40s - 60s America, could be any city, state, region, etc...

Would there be an interesting track plan that "appears" to be larger than it is, that could fit in the space I have?

IMG_0085

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Lionel2056 posted:

Hi guys,

been a while since I last posted, but I am still thinking about building a layout. Most of my engines can run on O-31 or even O-27, while the largest engine, runs on O-54 minimum. With the exception of the S-2, most engines are no longer than a 4-6-0.

Here's what I am thinking:

  • Would like to have a double track mainline, with sidings for freight trains
  • Would prefer it to be a loop for continuous running, which could allow more than one train to run at a time
  • A passenger station (or two) for my passenger train
  • Removable bridges or hinged sections that lift up are fine
  • Mountains and/or inclines are fine
  • Era: 40s - 60s America, could be any city, state, region, etc...

Would there be an interesting track plan that "appears" to be larger than it is, that could fit in the space I have?

My track plan is evolving as we speak, I have a platform that is 23x13 on one end and 23x11 on the narrow end.  My main track will appear to be a double track main, but it will be a large folded dogbone with around 120-130 feet of track.  There will also be a second single loop that will have switching on and off the mainline.  Of course, there will also be sidings for passing, freight consists, and industry scenes.  To augment the parking, I will be adding a yard, and probably a yard extension, see the green areas.

The yard will have two tracks on a small lift bridge for access, the yard extension will have a single bridge that swivels out of the way to access the sliding door behind it.

Big plans, we'll see how far I get.

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  • mceclip0

You might look around on the forum for track plan ideas.   For instance, there is a thread at 14x24 planning that discusses an evolving layout plan and track plan for a similar space, with large diameter curves.  Here is the current plan, I used AnyRail rather than SCARM:  Don't forget about good space for operators, and visitors.   -Ken

M1424A_V3c

 

Looking at your room space, it looks like you might have an aisle-way along the bottom and left side (partway up).   That would leave you with a space of around 13x20, or 13.5'x20.5', with a nook at the top-left that extends the full-width to 23'.  With perhaps an indent above the AC unit.

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  • M1424A_V3c
Last edited by Ken-Oscale

Here is something just to stir your thought process. This is similar to Ken's but is all 072. Just a concept of what you could do without needing to put a removable section in front of the sliding door.

This could be modified based on the width of the sliding door and it's exact placement on that wall.

It could also be modified to include a second inner main which would be less than 072.072

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  • 072
tr18 posted:

Here is something just to stir your thought process. This is similar to Ken's but is all 072. Just a concept of what you could do without needing to put a removable section in front of the sliding door.

This could be modified based on the width of the sliding door and it's exact placement on that wall.

It could also be modified to include a second inner main which would be less than 072.072

Looks like you "condensed" the AC unit, to just a bump.   I assume Alex showed that it occupied a couple feet of width from the wall for a reason.   How big is that door, and how wide is the aisle?

Lionel2056 posted:

Hi guys,

I am looking for some advice and general ideas for a layout that could fit in a 23 x 16 foot room that uses at least O-60 curves, so I could run Lionel Heavyweight coaches behind a GP9. I cannot use the entire room, as the sliding door and an air-conditioning unit cannot be blocked. Any advice, tips, and ideas would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Alex

 

EDIT: Room is actually about 22 foot x 15 foot, not 23 foot by 16 foot

Hi Alex.

The first place to start is with a drawing of the room, showing where the entrances, obstructions, and windows are. That way, you know where the aisles need to go, if any.

Next, over the long haul you'll probably be better served by going "around the walls" rather than having an island in the middle of the room. Around-the-walls layout designing lends itself to larger curves, leaves the center of the room open for other uses, and gives a better observation of the trains as they run since you have to follow the train through each scene.

Finally, plan for the future. You noted O-60 curves. But O-60 curves aren't compatible with larger equipment either operationally or aesthetically. You're better off with O-72 or larger if you can get away with it. To date, every piece of 3-rail equipment will negotiate O-72 curves (36" radius in 2-rail terminology).

Ken-Oscale posted:

Here is a 12x20 plan that you use for ideas and modify:  It has O60 minimums, and an outer loop across the bridge that is all O72.

12X20wO72V8a

Perhaps flip the plan left-right to better fit your space and doorways.

Looks like you could stretch the plan to fit with O72 curves on the outside.   I see there is a bit more room perhaps you could go with O81/O72.  -Ken

Alex-planningv1b

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  • Alex-planningv1b

Alex,

I've designed layouts for 3-4 forum members over the last decade.   My Harpers Ferry layout is min O-54 but will be minimum O63 when I switch to Atlas.   I think I could design (and depending on where you live, help build) a layout that would meet your needs.  Here are some links to layouts I've designed:

Bobby Cox layout: https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...onstruction-progress

Sleepy Hollow layout:

https://www.youtube.com/playli...t=PL9540060CD900CC72

Attached below is a 3D of a minimum O-72 18x14 layout plan I could expand to meet your needs.18x14 O-72 layout for Andrew by Obsidian 3D1

Let me know if I can help.

Ken

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  • 18x14 O-72 layout for Andrew by Obsidian 3D1

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