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Hi all,
First let me say what a wonderful forum this is. Lots of great people here. I'm trying to work on setting up a layout that will go on a fold-up table. The max size I have allotted to me is 6'x8'.

My requirements: Fun for all. kids 3, 7 and 38 Big Grin
Track: MTH Realtrax
Conventional control at this time. Don't see the need to go command control on a small layout, but I'm not ruling out something like DCS remote Commander.

See the attached pdf for a layout I did.

My idea was for the front area (lower part) to be for a passenger/freight loading/unloading area - put that upfront for the kids. Perhaps have the ability to turn the sidings on/off to allow for two trains on the track (one running, one in the loading/unloading area).

In between the figure 8 would be a small town setting possibly. The line at the back of the table will have a covered bridge going over a pond or body of water.

As usual, I think I've overthinked this and I'm doubting if I can do it or not.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Ryan

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Block out your siding and your yard so you can park a train and still run an additional train on the rest of the layout. Looks like fun for the kids.

It's pretty simple, you can use the 40-1029 10" Insulated Straight Section" just remove the jumper underneath for the center rail. Put one of those insulated sections with the center jumper removed at each end of the siding after the turnout and on each spur in your yard you can put one in. When you run power from the transformer or if you use a buss to the isolated siding and yard spurs you can put a toggle switch to turn those sections on and off. Kids love to flip switches. I put the lights on several switches as well.


2011 6x10 layout 3-18 a by tedmackel, on Flickr
Thanks for the replies.

I planned on making the siding & branch lines isolated just for the reason of running a second train.

XTrackCAD is working out OK. It's free and has pretty good support. There is a bit of a learning curve, but I'm picking it up quickly.

There will be some scenery, I just don't think my kids are that interested in the scenery part, mainly just the running of the trains. The scenery will be more for me.
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