Wildcat
You are probably feeling pretty beat down right now. Don't be. As Andrew and Mike have said, take a serious look at what you are trying to do in your plans, and get rid of everything not absolutely essential. The second key suggestion is to build your layout in phases that are reasonably complete of themselves. I'll give several reasons for doing so.
On the Model Railroader forums, a friend of mine quotes 50 hours per square foot to get a layout to a reasonable stage of completion, including scenery and some detailing. That jibes with what I have seen. Typically, to get a 4x8 to the point of scenery, structures, and detailing (in addition to benchwork, bug-free track, building rolling stock, etc) takes 2-3 years. You are proposing something about 3 times the size of a 4x8 in terms of square footage. It will have more complex benchwork.
Now during the summer, you may have 40 hours a week to put into your layout - but that concentration of effort may burn you out on model railroading, too. What happens during the school year? What competing interests do you have for your time after studies, family life, girl friend, and any sports are subtracted from time available? I suspect the most amount of time you can devote to your trains during the school year is 8 hours/week (a pretty typical figure for most non-retired model railroaders).
How many years do you have before you expect to leave home? You have stated you expect your father to take over the layout when you leave. To make this happen, I suggest you plan this layout together, giving as much priority to his interests as your own. If the layout does not reflect enough of his interests, he is unlikely to carry on where you left off.
A couple of tips for modifying your plans:
- Settle on a suitable train length in feet and inches - normally equal to or less than your shortest wall for appearance. This will drive your passing siding, staging, and longest yard track length. Extra length beyond the train gains you nothing, but each of those tracks needs to be able to handle the specified length.
- On smaller layouts, you usually cannot afford the space to do anything twice. Two yards, or 2 engine servicing facilities, or 2 towns that feature the same type of switching difficulties means something else got left out.
- Most "towns" where there are industries and switching should have a runaround track nearby. At least one spur should face the opposite direction of the others. Limit use of switchback spurs (remember don't duplicate!); not every town should have them.
Again, a phased approach where you built a single circuit main line around the room first would let you begin operations early. If you don't get the whole thing built, it's not such a bad loss. The second phase might be to add a town on one side of the room, and incorporate your switching operations. Third, add staging. I usually suggest leaving the yard for last unless you particularly enjoy yard switching.
my thoughts, your choices
You are probably feeling pretty beat down right now. Don't be. As Andrew and Mike have said, take a serious look at what you are trying to do in your plans, and get rid of everything not absolutely essential. The second key suggestion is to build your layout in phases that are reasonably complete of themselves. I'll give several reasons for doing so.
On the Model Railroader forums, a friend of mine quotes 50 hours per square foot to get a layout to a reasonable stage of completion, including scenery and some detailing. That jibes with what I have seen. Typically, to get a 4x8 to the point of scenery, structures, and detailing (in addition to benchwork, bug-free track, building rolling stock, etc) takes 2-3 years. You are proposing something about 3 times the size of a 4x8 in terms of square footage. It will have more complex benchwork.
Now during the summer, you may have 40 hours a week to put into your layout - but that concentration of effort may burn you out on model railroading, too. What happens during the school year? What competing interests do you have for your time after studies, family life, girl friend, and any sports are subtracted from time available? I suspect the most amount of time you can devote to your trains during the school year is 8 hours/week (a pretty typical figure for most non-retired model railroaders).
How many years do you have before you expect to leave home? You have stated you expect your father to take over the layout when you leave. To make this happen, I suggest you plan this layout together, giving as much priority to his interests as your own. If the layout does not reflect enough of his interests, he is unlikely to carry on where you left off.
A couple of tips for modifying your plans:
- Settle on a suitable train length in feet and inches - normally equal to or less than your shortest wall for appearance. This will drive your passing siding, staging, and longest yard track length. Extra length beyond the train gains you nothing, but each of those tracks needs to be able to handle the specified length.
- On smaller layouts, you usually cannot afford the space to do anything twice. Two yards, or 2 engine servicing facilities, or 2 towns that feature the same type of switching difficulties means something else got left out.
- Most "towns" where there are industries and switching should have a runaround track nearby. At least one spur should face the opposite direction of the others. Limit use of switchback spurs (remember don't duplicate!); not every town should have them.
Again, a phased approach where you built a single circuit main line around the room first would let you begin operations early. If you don't get the whole thing built, it's not such a bad loss. The second phase might be to add a town on one side of the room, and incorporate your switching operations. Third, add staging. I usually suggest leaving the yard for last unless you particularly enjoy yard switching.
my thoughts, your choices