Benchwork - Laying Track

Ok, John, here's what I come up with using 25'. I added some preliminary trackage just to get an idea what will fit. The bench work is all 30" reach. Ignore the 16'7" and note that it doesn't watch the yellow area.

@Mark Boyce posted:

John, you just gained some space; well not really, but will help on design!

Hi Mark, Yes I understand your comment clearly. I need all the help I can get on design.

Thanks for the support

@DoubleDAZ posted:

Ok, John, here's what I come up with using 25'. I added some preliminary trackage just to get an idea what will fit. The bench work is all 30" reach. Ignore the 16'7" and note that it doesn't watch the yellow area.

 

Hi Dave,

Looks great! I will fix the yellow area's as they are off and were onl a general guidline which makes it confusing to sa the least. On the bottom/north  wall there is a 4" bump out 18' from the east wall. The bump out is 19" long It looks like the yellow hide that feature. I'll make corrections and repost.

Again thanks for your help!

John

Mark, I understand exactly what you are saying. I need all the help I can get with design, even if it already existed.

Thanks John

Dave here is a better/accurate view of room with all its nuances. Can you post your design in scarm? And it appears there is opportunity for some bump outs to add scenery and spurs.

Thanks in Advance

John

John, here's your file with my additions on a separate layer (DAZ).

I've also included a view without all the extra room stuff that's not applicable to the work space for the layout. Note the changes to the Red baseboard outline. I added 2 peninsulas, each 5'x5' with 30" aisles. I haven't played with tracks yet, but I'd probably add a lift-out bridge at the top to connect the peninsulas. This was just to show a different way of looking at the space, be able to use O72 curves throughout and have access when needed without using access hatches. Note that my Green area differs slightly from your Yellow area on the right side.

Hi Dave,

Thanks for cleaning it up and using proper alignment. Huge help!  I would like to have my double track Atlas Pratt Bridge used between the two peninsulas, I was planning to hinge one side and lift the other side vertical for passage to the central area.  Now to start implementing track, industry and towns. Looking for a coaling operation, as main industry along with towns, freight etc. As far as track goes, at least one continuous loop with reverse loops and then sidings, spurs for pick ups and deliveries. possible small yard for storing trains. So I am probably looking at a 40' x 60' area which is not available... But I am extremely happy with the space I do have and will enjoy it all!

Again Thanks for all the help!

John

Did some more fiddling and came up with this just for ideas.

Hi Dave,

Your fiddling is more like a concert. Love the peninsula and the yard it affords. Looks like the round house gives the reverse options too. I do have a ross double crossover switch which could do the cross over between the two main lines at the north wall.

This is more than exciting, to see the space being used so cleverly.

Thanks

John

John, Dave really came up with some great ideas for all 4 of my plans before I settled on this one.  You can tell he likes what he is doing with the plans.  Dave fiddles as fast as Charlie Daniels did with the fiddle!!  I like what you came up with too, Dave.

I redid the turntable to make somewhat of a wye and added the Ross 11° double crossover.

Thanks Mark. Got tired of watching too much of The Handmaid’s Tale and there’s not much else on. I finished packing the car early for our road trip to Gainesville GA for Labor Day week, so why not play with some designs on a sweet Sunday afternoon? BTW, I liked the fiddle analogy. 🤪

That’s quite a road trip, Dave!  I’m glad you folks are able to get back to some traveling again!

Haven’t been anywhere since June 2019. Usually we’d have gone somewhere in September/October, Cocoa Beach FL in February, Gainesville in April and we had an extensive trip planned for this month up to the Vancouver area, over to the Calgary area and maybe all the way to Thunder Bay ON. COVID19 has really put a damper on our travels and it stinks. 😡

Here is an attempt at a workable layout, which i am not sure it really is workable. It looks like it eeds some elevation changes with over/under tracks. Hoping to fit in some industries (maybe left/below bridge) which is a lift bridge for passage to the center. Please ALL comments are more than welcome. I do like the idea of the turn table and maybe add a 3 stall engine house. Not totally happy with yard yet as it seems to take a lot of room and track maybe too close for actual operation.

Have been working on the room and have painted new wall a "sky blue" Now looking at overhead lighting. There are two air ducts running down that ceiling area that I found some Led fixtures would fit in the space between the parallel ducts. Now I need to make some mounting brackets and see how they look and the quality of light they give from that position.

John, The plan looks like a good start.  I'll leave suggestions for the yard and turntable area for others, since I never had the space to do either.  Are you planning to use a double track bridge for the walkthrough opening on the right?  It would be easier than bridges on two levels like I have.  That means the grade from there to the first overpass would be pretty steep, though my 4% grades are manageable for the short trains I'll run.  I'm thinking Dave is away on his trip to Georgia about now, so I don't know when he will be able to look at it.  I never did get figured out how to setup grades on SCARM.  He did it for me.

The blue walls look great!  Yes some lighting around those ducts would help a lot.  Are you going to leave the ceilings open, that is no drop ceiling?  I see a lot of people who do that paint all the joists black so they aren't so noticable and it keeps the dust to a manageable level.  I left my floor bare concrete.  Are you going to do the same, or put in some floor covering?  I may do something in the future, like the interlocking rubber mats in the walking area, but there is only so much money to work with.  

Mark,

There are already grades of 3.4% and 3.6%, so I'm not sure what John is saying. The Blue tracks are at 7" elevation and the yellow tracks on the left are at 1" elevation for a 6" separation.

The TT is a 34" model with crazy curved 37" whiskers done with flex track on the left and 19"-29" on the top". With a 34" TT, there's no way to fit a Round House because it has a 60"-63" footprint from the center of TT to the back wall of the RH, assuming that large engines will have to fit. The last photo is a view of the original TT configuration I sent John earlier. He moved the double cross and went lower with the elevation change. Going lower is something I always seem to forget.

Well Dave, those grade numbers sound very familiar to me.  Going lower is something I forget too.  For some reason I have found getting my vertical easements at the top and bottom of my grades muh harder to do than when I built HO and N layouts. 

I knew there needed to be a runaround track at the yard, and the tail track too.  Maybe John could fit in a rectangular two-stall enginehouse in like I have.

Mark, I shouldn’t have said no RH, depends on what he wants and how to build it.