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Can you tell us more about the purpose of the plan? The why it is the way it is story.

1) Make your drawing bigger,

1) Make your drawing bigger, show us how it fits into the room. A layout that is standing in the middle of a floor has different access than one that is squished up against a wall or into a corner, or is surrounded by walls on three sides.

2) Tell us what scale this is. I assume from the codes (like "At-152") that you are talking about Atlas Code 100 H0 scale snap track - which means that you are planning with pretty sharp radii - 18" radius. If so, it will limit what engines and trains you can comfortably run.

3) Tell us what your goals for your layout is - what do you want to be able to do on your layout?

4) The most critical part of your design is the switching lead/turning wye tail horizontally across the top, going across the 19 degree crossing in the upper right hand corner.

 If you want to be able to keep a train running on the outer loop while switching in the middle, cuts being switched must be less than about 3 feet long (call it a medium sized diesel and four, maybe five 40' H0 scale cars - or you will be fouling the crossing and cause a collision with a train on the loop.

 Likewise if you want to use this track as the tail of a turning wye, to turn trains around - max train length about 3 feet or so.

Smile,
Stein

...

Geez...whatever happened to just looking at a track plan and going with that??  Do we really need the life story behind it?

Here's what I see: if we number the side grid A-D and number the top grid 1-8, I really do think you need to flip the crossover at A-4 so that the whole curve is then effectively available as a passing siding - make the crossover a pair of left hand turnouts instead of the current right hand turnouts.  Right now, as it stands, you will not be able to pull a train into that siding and then pull it back onto the mainline.

Otherwise, it could be fun enough.  I presume you're using 4 axle GPs or short steam switchers and 40 foot cars.

Purpose

Giving the railroad a purpose makes things a little more logical than slapping down track randomly. Knowing the idea behind the design makes it easier to critique. There's also a big difference in critique if the purpose is "relaxed circle running" (aka "roundy-roundy") versus "some sort of realistic (or at least logical) operation". If he's not interested in operations and just wants to be able to run a short train, the design will work fine. If he wants to operate and perform switching it could be fairly lacking, since there's only a few yard tracks and no industries.

That said, a couple general points - I wouldn't have the yard lead crossing the main oval like you have in the top right of the drawing as any switching of the yard tracks blocks the main (although a layout this size probably only has one thing moving at a time anyway).

The crossover right in the middle connecting the top to the bottom creates a reversing section. Not in itself bad, but it's very short, and any reversing section needs to be at least longer than any engine or set of engines that could be using it. It's possible you might need to include part of the main oval in the reversing circuit to make it long enough. Just something to be aware of before you start wiring things.

I agree with Benny about the crossover at top left. In order to make the second track at the left side into a useable passing siding, the crossover should go the other way. Alternatively for maximum flexibility, keep that crossover but move it to the left by one track section, and then add a second crossover going the other direction. Then you can use the siding from the main, but also go from the main to the yard lead without backing up.

Hi everyone, thanks for all

Hi everyone, thanks for all the quick replies!

The "story" is essentially this: it started as a platform that I set under our Christmas tree because I wanted a train around it- it was basically an inverted figure-8 with the inner circle being mostly 15" radius.  I wanted a permanent layout to keep up all year, but want to keep the winter scene.  Since it will be permanent, I've expanded and stayed to a minimum of 18" radius curves.

1. The layout will be in my fairly-large basement, but I don't want a huge layout because I'll be doing everything myself with limited time to actually get down there and work on stuff.  The top of the picture that you see will be against a wall, and the right hand edge will go up against an existing layout (possibly 1-2 feet of space in between to allow access to both).

2. It is HO scale and yes, as mentioned I've expanded the layout from my original plan to stay away from those 15" radius curves.  All my engines are on the smaller side (4 axles) and I have no rolling stock over 60'.

3. My goals are basically to have 1 train running at a time with some space for parking, with plenty of open space for winter scenes.  It will be a rural scene with a skating pond, some houses, etc...  I will be running trains on the other layout at the same time.

4. Yes, as you mentioned the purpose of this wye is to be able to send trains back to the other layout.  Perhaps I can work this a little to make that section a little longer.

Thanks!

Another suggestion

  Mmm - you mention that you want to have plenty of space available for winter scenery and need space to park some trains.

 As you have things set up now, your train parking (and the wye to allow you to turn trains) takes up quite a bit of the potential scenery space.

 Have you considered pulling the layout forward a couple of feet, and putting up a viewblock across the table, so you can have staging ("parking") behind a screen and have the rest of the layout available for scenery. Concept sketch:

 Of course, it is not at all a given that you would want to create the impression of looking into a scene at a train moving trough the scene, instead of creating a layout where you are looking down from a helicopter perspective at a train that runs in circles on a table.

 Different people like different things, and you already have another layout next to this one, which probably is made in a totally different style.

 But just thought I would mention it, in case you hadn't considered that option.

 Smile,
 Stein

Modifications...

Thanks Stein, I'm not crazy about the backdrop/viewblock idea, though I see the value of it.  I've made some modifications- a little less parking area (unless I use the turnaround loop for that), but still have the general idea of the layout and definitely more scenery space.  See what you think...

(again, ignore the random "At-152" in the upper left corner- my RTS program is doing some weird things)

 Well, it is not really my

Well, it is not really my cup of tea, but it frees up quite a bit of space for scenery. 

Operational possibilities are fairly limited - but that's not really a problem if what you want basically is a Christmas village type of diorama with a moving train in it.

You probably realize that to change direction of looping from clockwise to counterclockwise, you will have to back up through the inner loop.

You could get a functionally equivalent layout with less track by simply replacing the inner loop with a diagonal across from the upper right hand end of the inner loop to a LH turnout in the the lower left hand corner (where the inner and outer loop run right by each other).

How it would look is dependent on your scenery plan, planned layout height etc.

Smile,
 Stein

I see your changes...to be

I see your changes...to be honest, I liked the first plan better, even though this one seems a bit simpler to build.

It is just about impossible to judge a layout

without knowing what your interests are or reasons for building it.  If you are interested in a layout where you sit trackside and watch trains go by, kind of like a railfan view, then I think your 2nd layout will probably work fine.  I'm in agreement with Stien though, if all you want is to watch trains run, you could simplify the track even more and add more scenery.

Another go at it...

Alright then, here's another go.  I still like the idea of 2 curves on the left hand side, but I took it out to simplify the track.  The cross-through flex track section in the middle is similar to my first attempt, but longer so I can fit an entire train in there.  I would still like some parking area, so I went back to my original idea, but they are much closer, leaving much more space for scenery.  I'm only afraid the top parking line may be too close to the main- the rails are 0.8" apart- is that too close?

For those just joining- I am building a winter scene in the railfanning style- a train running around the main line through a  winter scene...  The open area on the left will have a skating/ice-fishing pond, and the area on the right will be primarily residential, with a "Christmas village"-type feel.  The "track to nowhere" in the upper right corner will go to another, existing layout.

Thanks for all your input!

Sideswiping

You need at least 1-13/16" ctc for your track on tangents. Wider for parallel curved tracks.

http://www.nmra.org/standards/sandrp/s-8.html

Thanks for the measurement-

Thanks for the measurement- here is the layout design based on Stein's concept a few posts ago.  Obviously if I have the crossing in the upper right corner, I'll need to add some track between this and the other layout so trains have space to wait to enter.  Speaking of the crossing, does anyone know whether Atlas crossing tracks are connected, or can they be controlled separately?

I like the design and that there is plenty of parking and plenty of scenery space left, but it does require a bit more track than my other designs... 

Your thoughts?