the MRH Forum

Working on the track layout for the new board Journals/Blogs
Reply
Regular poster 482 posts David Pennington Long Haired David Regular poster 482 posts
David Pennington Long Haired David

I have been thinking about what I want from the new main board for my railroad.  I have been working on, as you would say in the USA - or at least John Armstrong used to say - my givens and druthers. These come out as follows:

  • Must have two separate loops around so that I can run two trains whilst I am switching in the main yard.
  • Must be, ultimately, end to end.
  • Must have two towns for Way Freight operations

So this is my first step - I have laid out all of the track using paper templates so that I can be reasonably sure that it will work. It is on two levels, which, of course, I can't do with templates but I am pretty sure that I can do what I want with what I have. Notice that I have laid out the points in their boxes so if I have a point wrong, I can still change it back at the shop.

Anyway, this is where I am at:
 

David
Hi from the UK
Main man on the Sunset North Eastern and now the Great Western
My Blog: http://www.gmrblog.co.uk
Reply 0
Ken Biles Greyhart Frequent poster 551 posts
Ken Biles Greyhart

Meets The Criteria

What you've got seems to meet the Givens & Druthers you've posted. It's not end to end, but I see the leads that could run off to the other end. You could also have two small "towns" sitting on either side of the table.

The problem is that we don't yet know what it is you are really trying to do with this "new main board" (addition? extension? new layout?). What is it's purpose? Both the purpose for the railroad to exist, and the purpose for the model. Is it just to run trains around in circles? If so, it's perfect. Is it to do work (make switching moves)? Is it the entire layout, or part of something larger? What does your railroad haul? Why does it exist? Every railroad needs a purpose, even a model railroad.

The more details you can give us, the more helpful we can be.

 

 Ken Biles

adBanner.jpg 

 

 

 

 
Reply 0
David Pennington Long Haired David Regular poster 482 posts
David Pennington Long Haired David

Meets the criteria - reply

Thanks for your comment but I am not sure that I was looking for help. I have a pretty clear idea of where I am going with this.

Firstly, I have a small 8" x 3' board which was my old staging yard. This will be bolted onto the front of this larger board and will be connected by a track coming round from the back on the left hand side. I will then be able to run end to end from the main terminus around the two loops for a few turns and then into the staging. I can then hand shunt, as we call it in the UK, the train into a new one and send it back.

I like to watch trains just run so I have the option of running the trains around the loops as often as I want - and I will want to do this whilst I am switching in the main yard. One of the benefits of DCC is that this is easy!

If you would like to see what I have done on my previous N-Scale layout, which was unfinished when I dismantled it as I was moving house, you can see a couple of videos on You Tube :

Have the sound up for the second one.

David

 

 

David
Hi from the UK
Main man on the Sunset North Eastern and now the Great Western
My Blog: http://www.gmrblog.co.uk
Reply 0
Reply