Jul
4
Layout 3.0
Filed Under Layout Design
As most enthusiasts will admit, your layout design will be in a constant state of major revisions until: A) You have met most, if not all, of your goals/wants/needs; B) Get to the point where you are starting to wonder if you have bitten off more than you can chew; or C) You run out of real estate. For me, it started to become an epic battle to slay the Demons called “Space” and “Wants”.
On Layout 3.0, I had no idea that my battle was just beginning. I purchased a beautiful complete set of MTH Premier SP Daylight passenger cars [5-car set, plus Diner/Sleeper set, plus Vista Dome]. Before I bought them, I checked the radius requirements and they are stated at 042 minimum. I errantly figured I would be okay with my 048 curves. I put the cars on the 048’s and the amount of overhang just didn’t look right to me.
I then bought some 060 and 072 curves and rechecked the overhang. The overhang difference between 048 and 060 at the middle of the car was about 5/16” [5/16” more overhang on the 048]. Because of this, I figured that the overhang difference between 060 and 072 would be just as pronounced. However, I surprisingly found out that the overhang on the 060 curves was only 1/16” more than the 072’s… barely noticeable. Since space was still a major bottleneck, I decided to re-do the layout again using 060 minimum curves, with 072 on the outer curves. There was no way that I was going to give up being able to run the SP passenger set I bought.
[Flashing forward to recent months... my thoughts on curve radius has changed many times. My current layout design uses 072 minimum, with 084 being the norm. Todd]
Layout Revision 3.0 proved to be a bit of a challenge. My available space had not improved by much [another 6” in width], and my list of wants kept growing. I had been through 20 or 30 layout drafts. With my new passenger set, I needed a much longer siding at the station, although there is no way to hold all eight cars in front of the platforms. I tried many different ways to increase my trackage by going vertically with an elevated loop. However, I did not have enough linear space to get up to 7” and hold my grade to 2.5%, and still have enough room to go back down to my starting elevation. I thought about having a self contained upper loop, but this would have meant that I could not turn trains without covering most of the lower level trackage. Since the layout had to also back up against two walls, I still wanted a walk-in layout to eliminate any need for access hatches.
Layout 3.0 used 060 and 072 curves and 060 turnouts. To help show the layout design better, I’m putting thumbnails below that will open up larger views of the layout.
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