 Joined: 22/09/2022(UTC) Posts: 12 Location: New York, Kingston
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Hi, I'm looking for any feedback or ideas for a layout I'm building for my young son. Here are the basic goals/thoughts: - This is a 12'x7' table with an island in the middle (the green area) and everything is C track. - We are trying to combine a "folded dogbone" design with two loops. The former for slightly more realistic operation and the latter in order to allow my son to have a friend over and just each run trains in parallel. - He loves stations and especially stations with a lot of tracks. The bottom area will be the main station and I wanted it to be four tracks. the transition/throat around the corner as it moves from two tracks to four is slightly awkward but I couldn't come up with another design that did this while still leaving enough room for long station platforms. 
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 1 user liked this useful post by BillMNYC
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 Joined: 04/02/2011(UTC) Posts: 3,563 Location: Paris, France
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Hi Bill There is no perfect layout but one that suits your needs / requirements On the positive side- nice a accessible layout - 2 reversing loops On the negative side- one level approach (simpler to make and easy access to "train issues" - no loco depot - not many siding, mashalling yards, etc As I said it all depends on your priorities (how old is your son?) I just love train depots especially steam I found that staking most reversing loops on the same place (2 levels or more) allows tou having more space for landscape, industrial areas, Also, when I started with analogue operation I was not much into shunting, decoupling, assembling trains. It is perfectly true that accessibility is important and from that perspective, your layout is a winner. Here is a video to explain my "strange ideas", using Märklin C track, digital a,d computer-control with Rocrail (100% automatic operation Where I differ:- 3 levels (quite some time under the layout) - a liking for Faller Car System - a liking for automatic operation (you have to test virtually your layout for convenience for any king of maneuvers (shunting) Here is a Faller Car operation Pardon me for being so intrusive. I was just trying to pass some ideas Cheers Jean |
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Joined: 19/08/2008(UTC) Posts: 1,051
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Hi Bill,
How much room do you have around the outside of the layout? For kids the layout looks good; can run a couple trains at once with little effort. Still opportunities for collisions, not that I ever did anything like that.
Is the Kingston O gauge club still in operation? I visited it back when I was at Bard College.
Regards,
Roger |
Modeling Immensee, mile/km 0 on the Gottard. SBB Era V.
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Joined: 22/09/2022(UTC) Posts: 12 Location: New York, Kingston
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Thanks for the feedback -- it is much appreciated and glad to see no one thinks it is very far off. We have ~4 feet around the outside. That seemed like the minimum to have in order to not make it feel too cramped.
My son is 6 right now so trying to balance having something that will keep him entertained now and making sure that he will be happy in the future. I've definitely thought a lot about multiple levels but decided for now to keep it to one. I was thinking one compromise might be to do a second level on just half of the layout. But, not sure how I would incorporate that into this fundamental design.
I actually sent a slightly older version of the plan-- my current design has a larger yard in the lower right. But still probably not large enough. Given my son's interest in stations I decided to prioritize that and that made things harder to fit in. I do think a turntable and depot would be nice as well but have to figure out the location for that as well. Right now my son particularly loves modern trains so that one may wait a bit.
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 Joined: 30/08/2002(UTC) Posts: 1,288
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3 users liked this useful post by PeFu
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 Joined: 18/03/2007(UTC) Posts: 6,764 Location: Brisbane, Australia
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Hi Bill,
It is an admirable plan for the uses you intend.
For a 6 year old the simpler the better.
The beautiful thing about C track is it is easily changed (particularly if not pinned down).
I think you will find that anticipates when your son and friends have to progress to greater things.
The best of luck and fun for all.
Kimball |
HO Scale - Märklin (ep II-III and VI, C Track, digital) - 2 rail HO (Queensland Australia, UK, USA) - 3 rail OO (English Hornby Dublo) - old clockwork O gauge - Live Steam 90mm (3.1/2 inch) gauge. |
1 user liked this useful post by kimballthurlow
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Joined: 22/09/2022(UTC) Posts: 12 Location: New York, Kingston
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Originally Posted by: PeFu  I wish I could do something that went around the room but it really isn't possible with this room, alas.
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 Joined: 19/09/2022(UTC) Posts: 459 Location: Kaarina
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Hi, great work. You could move the top middle crossing futher down to create a run around / siding that is long enough to hold a complete train:  -Eino
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1 user liked this useful post by einotuominen
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