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I was directed here by some Facebook groups. This site is overkill! Lots of great info.

I've always wanted to have a permanent train table. We did the Christmas loop when I was a kid but we never had room for a larger or long term layout. My wife and I set up my old train around the Christmas tree and my son fell in love with it.

 Funds and space had me start with a 8x4 layout. I have some foam board coming tomorrow and I'm going to paint it greenish brown just for basic aesthetics. I thought about taking some 2x4's and leftover plywood and making a second level for this table. However, I think my best bet is going to be to make an additional 4x6 table and make this an L shaped layout. If possible I'd like to have something my son and I can enjoy as he grows. For now, I don't want to make anything too tricky that'll he'll run afoul of using it himself. He's really loving the Lionchief plus RS3 I got because he can run around with the remote and stop the train to load and unload his mini figures from the hopper car.

There is a wealth of knowledge here and I'd like to ask if some of you think it would it be possible to make a serviceable yard area with a 4x6 addition or is it still going to be too tight? My goal for this year (Covid-19 willing) is to have a loop with a yard area on an addition to the table. I've played around with the anyrail software but I'm having trouble making anything work. I wish I had more depth but right now its probably not feasible. If anyone has any good ideas or suggestions I'd love to hear them.

 

And thank you for allowing me to join! Great site

Attachments

Images (7)
  • t1: 4x8 off Lionels Youtube channel
  • t2
  • t3: I wrapped it in some 1x6's I had left over from my barn door project. I added a lip to hide the foam board and clean it up a bit.
  • t4: Stained to match some of the woodwork in the basement.
  • t5: Instant reward
  • t6: They love the railsounds and remote
  • t7: First loco I've ever bought!
Original Post

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Jushavnfun posted:

If you use fastrack I would suggest 031 switches distance is  3" between tracks. 9" overall outside to outside.  20200409_19361320200409_193522

Most engines and cars will run on 031.

Good tip, thanks! I was looking at O36 switches to keep things consistant but O31 will give me a little more use out of the space I have.

welcome,this is a great place.  One thing I recommend is trying other rail design programs like Scarm or RailModeller pro (not sure if rail modeller pro has a windows version), they have free versions and you can see if you can work with them. I had bought RR track software but I found it hard to use), I ended up being able to work with Railmodeller pro and design the layout. It makes it a lot easier to play around with configurations once you work out how to use them.

The other idea I have is use a piece of graph paper and do a rough sketch of a layout you like (so for example, using 4 boxes=1 foot, you can layout the table alignment easily (a 4x8 would be 16x32 box rectangle), then you can rough in the track using the known sizes of the track pieces (I did this with my layout, for curves I used a simple compass). Once you have a rough design, you can scan it and upload it here and people will give some darn good feedback on it. 

A 4x6 should be big enough for a decent yard, using the kind of track you are talking about, you could also probably have some industrial spurs there outside the yard area, depending on how big you make the yard. I also think using lionchief is a great idea, it is relatively easy to wire it, a lot of lionchief engines will run on O31/O36, and your son will love using it I think. 

Welcome'... In the start it's best to keep it simple'.  You'll enjoy O36 benefits over O31.  Lew's diagram above is an excellent idea.  You want to keep it interesting and fun for your son, and yourself.  Make it complicated and you'll loose him... As time goes on, you can become more sophisticated... Take a look at you tube O Gauge/O Scale videos, also Pintrest has some great layout shots as well..  Most layouts change constantly under construction, until the right mix is achieved....  

Good luck, have fun, and enjoy your build'.....

Quarter Gauger 48 posted:

Welcome'... In the start it's best to keep it simple'.  You'll enjoy O36 benefits over O31.  Lew's diagram above is an excellent idea.  You want to keep it interesting and fun for your son, and yourself.  Make it complicated and you'll loose him... As time goes on, you can become more sophisticated... Take a look at you tube O Gauge/O Scale videos, also Pintrest has some great layout shots as well..  Most layouts change constantly under construction, until the right mix is achieved....  

Good luck, have fun, and enjoy your build'.....

I agree, we want a nice loop with a stop and a yard that I can mess around with when he isn’t playing around on the main line. 

16, 18, 20,  will all work the same.  I have all three and speaker wire, telephone wire, you name it... What you have on hand will work... """. Your track voltage will be 18 to 20 VAC... Your Accessories will be @22VAC max.  (most transformers)... With what you are showing now, I don't think you have to worry about busing... When you expand'... it will be something to consider'....

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