Thought....

Hi,

Lot of work!

I'm partial to industry and switching so the top, V8, is my preferred.  The yard looks a little short to me.  I wonder also if it could be built on a grade to end in a staging yard with no helix or a second level to do staging and car storage.  It's very easy to (over?) populate rolling stock.

Enjoy your journey!

Nick

Out of curiosity, where are

Out of curiosity, where are the walls in the room with respect to the layout? If it was me, i would try to put the yard as close as possibly to one of the two "ends" of the layout if we assume point A is one end and point B the other. That way you could get the maximum possible mainline run from the yard to staging. Similarly if i used a helix to get to lower level staging, i would try to put a helix at each end of the layout. So something like the V9 but with the upper left helix where the big industry on the left is. I hope i am making sense with this.

Hi, walls are around the

Hi, walls are around the outside so its a shelf of sorts,garage door is on the North wall so freestanding table with backdrop, likewise with East side, its also freestanding as I have other toys on that half of garage.

The Helix is at the end, the industry on the left over hangs my bench so can only be upper level, lower level will start at left helix and go around three sides to bottom Helix, this will be my main yard, top level is more switching Industries and small towns etc.

I made a commitment to going with the bench work in V9 but track plan may change depending on feedback and some operational advise.

Thanks

Paul

Paul, if the benchwork is set

Paul, if the benchwork is set for V9 i would propose (if it was me that is) getting the yard where the large industry on the west side is, and move industrial switching where your proposed yard area is on the east side. That way you will be able to assemble a train in the yard, run the entire layout and then go to staging. A bonus is that you have a wye near the throat of the yard which is handy for turning loco's or entire trains to be backed into the yard and have the motive power on the "right" end so that it is "free" to get to the servicing facility. The scenic area on the inside of the upper left helix could be used for placing the locomotive servicing facility. All this of course assumes that the space for the yard is sufficient ( i assume 1 square is 1 square ft? If that is so, then you got something like 7 to 8ft for an A/D track).

Mission?

What do you want?

V8 is a one train at a time layout, with everything on the front half of the loop, and no meeting points on the back half.  Most of the tracks parallel the edges of the layout.

V9 has much more scenic potential.  I don't like the lumber mill section.  While all the scenes and track arrangements look forced to a sectional footprint, it especially does.

Regarding the yard, what do you want the yard to do?  The yard you have drawn is a more of a staging yard than a switching yard (if you want a separate switcher).  The proposed yard is on a 5 ft long section.  Unless it overlaps one or both of the adjoining sections it will be very small.

In order to get good operations, it often helps to NOT design the layout on the benchwork.  Design the layout as a schematic, where the main track is just a straight line across the page.  Add all the sidings, spurs and yard tracks in their relative position along the main.  Draw it to scale for how long you want the stuff to be.  Then make  dozen copies of the plan and cut it into chunks.  Then you can arrange the pieces on your footprint.  Don't be afraid to cut the bigger chunks into smaller pieces.  Also flip the schematic left to right and top to bottom.  Since you are freelancing there aren't the constraints.  I think of the schematic as a string of spaghetti and drape it around the benchwork.

Thanks Yannis, this is the

Thanks Yannis, this is the kind of feedback I'm after, Yard on the West peninsular with engine facility on the corner below the Helix (its only a 1 turn as it will have a grade before and after as will the other end) and Industries on the East with a local to run around to the Yard to make up the train, I like it, thanks I will draw it up tomorrow and see how it looks

PS: Coal mine will be a unit train, my initial thoughts were to model the area around Billings using BN @ late 80's with the Mine being Decker heading up through Sheridan then on to Glendive via Huntley, I will still use this as a basis but this is much more freelance as I had mentioned, I will do a Logging yard on the top right corner with trees's on the side of the hills and a lake and river running through the scene. ne other scene will be corn and silo's along the rail and another scene will be Produce, maybe oranges. This will all be in a later stage though as I will do it in sections starting with the East and top left corner, they are all modules so I can take to the bench to work on.

I should start a Blog as I only started the build today...

Research, Goals, and Logistics

It's very tempting to start laying down plans just to fill existing space.  

What are your layout goals and purpose: Realistic operation, scenic runs, easy operation, yard operations, etc.

Logistics:  What is the longest car you plan on running?  Are the curves big enough to accommodate? How many cars on your average train?  Can the yard tracks accommodate? 

Are your layout plans "realistic" in regards to time you can or "want" to devote to building, care, and operations?  

You may have already considered these things which is a good thing and can certainly help narrow down which plan is right for you. 

I learned the hard way.  Built a bedroom sized N-scale layout based on "what would fit" and quickly ran into problems and dislikes. 

Joe

I am glad that you found my

I am glad that you found my feedback helpful, its based on my layout preferences though (yard placement etc).

What Dave and Joe mentioned are of crucial importance Paul, (if you haven't done already), to decide what do you want from the layout, train lengths, number of trains (tells you about staging needs), operating solo or with others? Operating session length? etc.

Reading an excellent book by Lance Mindheim on operating a switching layout, gave me lots of info and insights on how many industries and car spots i would want my layout to have as a solo operator, so that i do not build more than i can operate. So even if it was about operations it taught me a lot about how to design a layout suited to my needs (especially helpful to me since i am a few thousand miles away from the US and US railroad clubs).

I would try...

.... to tweak all those parallel tracks and roads. Prototype is seldom that neat.

Jose.

A General comment on bench depth

I'm guessing those are 6 inch squares.  If that's so, some of you're reaches are pretty long, especially in corners. Depending on the height of the benchwork I wouldn't want to have a reach longer the 18 inches.

I know you often hear 2 ft. That's probably fine if the track is only used for running through a scene.  If you're trying to reach in and uncouple cars with a pick, you'll want to keep your benchwork narrower.

N scale rolling stock is light enough that you can easily derail cars with an uncoupling pick. If you're hand is shaking because of the long reach, you'll knock them off the track for sure.

gs

"N scale rolling stock is

Yeah, For N scale I found it often easier to just put my fingers around the car and lift the couplers clear  like we did with dummy couplers  in the old days before Kadees.  I didn't try  magnetic operation of the MTL couplers, does anyone have success with it? .....DaveB

Feedback response...

Thanks again for the feedback, I will finish this post here and start a new one on the Blog section for my track build from start to finish but so far most comments have made me think a bit more about the plan which is what I was after.

Yes, each square is 6" (150mm actually) so the straight sections are 18" and the corner modules will have hills etc so no track past half way deep into the corner. Height of track is 54" (1370mm) high at the Yard and will drop to @ 44" to the staging which will run between the two Helix's.

As far as what I want from the track: Scenic rail fanning with local operations for 1-3 people max. Layout will mainly be operated by myself.

I plan on doing a lot of scenic sections so single track main line runs and then areas of Industry so having the two should break up the layout to make it look like towns/industries are well spaced out.

Anyway, thanks for all the feedback, I will now switch to my Blog post so jump in and help me along the way with what you have learnt or know and please point out if you see me heading for disaster...  

Power Plant

You may want to do a scenic divider behind the coal mine and put a power plant on the opposite side with hidden tracks between them, for a loads in empties out operation.