My Layout: Tough Decisions and What Worked for Me
Steve Schullery, April 2019
A while ago, an O-Gauge Railroading On-Line Forum thread discussed the pros and cons of having one or two continuous loops on your layout. I thought others might be interested in how I made that and other tough calls over the 45-year lifetime of our layout. I am neither a craftsman nor electrical engineer, so the design, which initially had to be manageable by our seven year old son, has remained unsophisticated.
I never could get into the elegant, open framework style of layout construction, with the track plan all decided before construction begins; I like a simple flat surface that allows me to try out different track arrangements. So, all of our layouts were built on 3/4" particle board on 2x4s across sawhorses. A spread of 2 1/2" wood strips standing on edge between the 2x4s and the sag-prone particle board provides good support. Particle board is not only cheaper than plywood, it's much quieter, so track roadbed isn't as important. Easy peasy!
The vision for our first layout incuded everything: of course, loops for running two trains at once, as well as a switch yard with lots of uncoupling tracks for making up different train combinations and enough spurs and sidings to hold all of our engines and operating accessories, plus a lighted village and a passenger station. Everyone wants a big mountain, with tunnels and bridges, and we also needed a long slot car track. Finally, since both my own and my wife's grandfathers had worked on the Lehigh Valley, we needed a coal mining operation.
After convincing my wife that we really didn't need that deep freeze, our basement accommodated four 4'x8' boards arranged in a zig-zag diagonally across it. At first, having only equipment that had survived my childhood, the layout could easily handle it all, although at knee-height (groan!) to be within our little boy's reach. However, we soon discovered train shows, where it became Danny's job to spot extreme bargains in boxes under the tables. He excelled, and inventory quickly far outgrew layout space, which maxed out at eight trains; I was eyeing the furnace resentfully, but my wife drew the line.
The only photos of this layout (Figures 1-8) were taken long before any thought of publication. Hopefully, you will agree that, nonetheless, they help tell the story. Figure 8 shows the control panel with enough toggles to blocks on the mainline that two alert engineers could run two trains on the same track at the same time.
Then--in the blink of an eye--the little boy grew up and developed big-boy interests, we moved to a new house, and I had to start over, but now all alone and with even less layout space for a dream that had now grown to include an intermodal crane loading/transfer area and a military installation with rocket, missile, helicopter, and satellite launchers, exploding bunkers and boxcars, and lots of army tanks, toy soldiers, etc. Bitten by the hi-rail bug, I was also hot to upgrade from Lionel O-27 to more-realistic Gargraves track, Ross turnouts, and Lionel's new wireless control system. A roundhouse, turntable, drawbridge, and reversing loop all sounded good too.
Many relaxing hours in between grown-up duties were spent with trial track plans and pushing-the-envelope of what was possible on a smaller, narrow layout along one basement wall. But, alas, we moved to yet another house before a new track plan was ever settled for this fleeting "adolescent" phase of my layout. But, I did verify that wireless remote control is indeed way cool (to use an era expression).
Our third basement could accommodate a U-shaped layout of two 4' x 8' boards projecting length-wise out from a wall, with a 10' 8" long x 32" deep connector section comprising the base of the "U" (Figure 9) . This further downsizing and the creeping realizations that (1) my son's family doesn't seem destined to have any space for a layout, and (2) my wife was likely someday to be left to deal with a big collection of stuff ranging from semi-valuable to junk precipitated a crisis: It was time to seriously prioritize and begin divesting rather than accumulating. In the quiet moments between new track plan trials, as I kept asking myself "What do I really really want?" facts were faced and decisions were made:
- Most crucial, just watching even two trains go around and around eventually gets boring, and I really missed the operating accessories displaced by that second track loop; it had to go.
- Most surprising, I really missed the ZWs; way cool or not, wireless control had to go.
- Most obvious, making up different train combinations was so tedious that it basically never happened. Also, any worthy mountain consumes too much space, and tunnels hide trains for too long; the switchyard and mountain had to go.
- Toughest of all, try as I might there was just no way to accommodate either my nicely restored 456 operating coal ramp, for which I had long been collecting dump cars, or my brand new multimodal crane, for which I had been collecting cool trucks; they too had to go.
- Saddest of all, without a little boy to share the shoot-'em-up excitement, and considering the aging equipment's fragility, the dream of a big military base no longer made sense, and neither did the temperamental, non-scale slot cars; those collections had to go.
- By contrast, it was surprisingly easy to decide which engines and rolling stock made the cut to be kept: four steam locomotives--the original and a backup for my childhood 2035, a sweet-running 2055, and (my favorite) a 736 Berkshire; seven diesels--four colorful Chessies that Danny and I had especially treasured, a new MTH Amtrak, and two LVs; all equipment or rolling stock marked Chessie or LV (except a once-coveted scale Weaver RS-2 that was beautiful and but never ran well on 3-rail track). All the rest, including dozens of engines, had to go. Eight large cartons (about half of the collection) were sent off for sale or auction. Used slot car stuff now has negligible value and was given to neighbor kids.
The track plan I finally settled on is a simple continuous perimeter loop with two additional, long sidings (Figure 9). It uses Gargraves flexible and sectional tracks with minimum-32" curves and Ross turnouts, and holds three trains, lots of accessories, and space for dioramas, as follows: The front siding hosts most of the operating accessories that require close personal attention, e.g., milk, cattle, barrel, drum, mail, log and ore dump cars. The middle siding (still within easy reach) hosts the surviving coal related accessories and the magnet crane. The rear siding (barely reachable) hosts the passenger station. The end loops (accessible from three sides) accommodate village, farm, roadways, etc. This simple design required no construction heroics, and has more operations potential than may meet the eye. The pictures show the basic layout of the accessories, etc.; many more people, roads, vehicles, and a Martian cattle rustling operation have been added since the photos were taken. A video of the Martian operation (Menards) is posted on Youtube under "Martians visit the layout."
Using only a few center-off DPDT toggle switches on a rudimentary control panel, this track plan can be wired so that any of three sidings can serve as "mainline" for a circling train, while simultaneously either or both of the other two trains can move up and down their respective sidings and engage operating accessories. Here's how: A main control station, located at one end of the layout for a good view, has a ZW that powers the mainline and the village/street/tower lights. One toggle switches the rear, passenger station siding between the two throttles on this ZW. Thus, the right throttle, which always powers the mainline, can either incorporate the passenger station siding into the mainline, or it can power a different siding and train as the mainline while the left throttle keeps the sidelined passenger train lighted and doing its "yard noises" thing. For this to work, two additional toggles connect the front and middle sidings to either the ZW's mainline right throttle or to one of the throttles of a second ZW.
This second ZW is on a separate shelf in front of the sidings, along with the accessory controllers. Such proximity is essential for operating accessories that inevitably require precise alignment and frequent manual nudges and assists. The left and right throttles of this ZW power the middle and front siding tracks, respectively, while the short-handle controllers power the accessories and their control tracks. Division of the mainline loop into two electrical blocks enables trains to swap sidings. Two smaller transformers power turnout switch machines, crossing lights/gates, and the crane magnet. Of course, a dimmer switch on the ceiling lights allows night time to come and go, as the layout lights are turned off and on.
Although far from the grand dream, the layout is still pretty swell, and I think it has enough flexibility and fun that I won't get bored any time soon. I am convinced it is humanly impossible to not smile when watching that little man toss out the milk cans, or those little cows vibrate into and out of the cattle car, or those wooden barrels vibrate up the ramp, or ... so many other of Lionel's wonderful inspired delights.
Okay, now I'm ready for the grandchildren.
FIgure 1. So it begins. Danny paints the wall where the departed deep freeze made room for a future mountain.
Figure 2. Planning the mountain approach for the rail and slot car tracks.
Figure 3. It's important that the tunnels be black inside.
Figure 4. Slot car track over the mountain.
Figure 4a. Settling the mountain track supports.
Figure 5. The mountain takes shape.
FIgure 6. Behold, Mount Deep Freeze.
Figure 6a. Trains and slot cars on the mountain.
FIgure 7. Our first layout, complete with slot car track. Edge of mountain at far right. Lighted Goodyear blimp partly visible at top.
Figure 8. Danny showing off lighted control panel for night-time operation.
FIgure 9. Track plan for third layout. Sorry for the Parkinsonian jitter in my artwork.
FIgure 10. Third layout's mainline and accessory control panels.
Figure 11. Village on third layout.
Figure 12. Accessory sidings of third layout.
Figure 13. Close up of packed accessory yard.
