Actually I design that layout on 2 different prototype areas found on NS(exCR) and CSX(ex B&O) I combine my favorite industries and combine the prototype track arrangement.sign1
Shunting/Switching Layouts?
- Thread starter RobertInOntario
- Start date
Actually I design that layout on 2 different prototype areas found on NS(exCR) and CSX(ex B&O) I combine my favorite industries and combine the prototype track arrangement.sign1
Rob,
If you have adequate space, you can always start small and add to any layout. In my opinion, that is the best way to build a large layout. If you build a layout similar to the last one shown by Larry, but you want to be able to bring in a longer train than you can actually work within the confines of the switching area, you could widen it slightly to add a single track main next to the switching section with a long run around. You could also make portable track extensions for one or both ends that can be set up during operating sessions and then taken down and stored with the layout between sessions.
As an insight into how much I like switching, I used to try to model an entire railroad in a small space where I could run trains continuously. Then I joined a modular club. I discovered that even if the layout we set up was 50 feet x 100 feet, after a couple of laps it was still trains just running in circles! Another member of the club built a module based on a modification of the "Gump Stump & East Snowshoe" from "101 Track Plans" from Kalmbach Publishing. I started doing switching on his module and found that I could spend hours switching out that layout without any sign of boredom.
Thanks, Russ. I was literally thinking about this today! I was trying to figure out (in my head) how I could add a run-around loop onto my Inglenook layout. I have also started working on a small extra section -- an extension -- that I could temporarily add onto my Inglenook. The thing is, once I've shunted a freight train together, I want to actually run it!
So yes, building modules or adding on new sections certainly sounds good and feasible.
Rob
Rob: I suggest that you build the Inglenook as given. Adding a run-round loop would be like adding grooves to a miniature golf course.
What you can modify is siding lengths -- an extra buffer stop or bumper on each track would let you adjust it from Canadian cars to British cars.
If you set it up and scenic it you can always add it to the side of another layout.
I you want 3 points, I think they should be arranged so the in line splits in two then each of those lines splits.
(Note just to Rob: were you planning on going on the Platelayers home layouts tour? It was nearly cancelled because they only had about a half dozen responses; if you want to go respond soon.)
What you can modify is siding lengths -- an extra buffer stop or bumper on each track would let you adjust it from Canadian cars to British cars.
If you set it up and scenic it you can always add it to the side of another layout.
I you want 3 points, I think they should be arranged so the in line splits in two then each of those lines splits.
(Note just to Rob: were you planning on going on the Platelayers home layouts tour? It was nearly cancelled because they only had about a half dozen responses; if you want to go respond soon.)
Thanks, David. I have set up an Inglenook and have been experimenting with it. It's just track on foam roadbed placed on a foam board, but it's working OK. Yes, I could see how it could easily be spliced onto the side of a layout! Cheers, Rob
[I won't be able to make it to the Platelayers home tour ... I would like to go but we have family arriving from Ireland that weekend!]