Garage Layout Version 2

[Mutley]

Hi everybody, I posted an intro way back in January promising to open a thread on my layout but for various reasons, I never got around to it:

 

 

Seven months on, I've settled on a track plan that works for me operationally (there have been many progressions in between) ... and we've decided to move house and the layout will start to come apart within the next two weeks ☹.

 

On the plus side, the railway in the new place will have a larger home and it'll be fun working out how to modify the current plan to make best use of the extra space.

 

Operations generally happen as follows (see the plan below):

 

1.     Train comes from the yard into one of the 'inside line' platforms in Station A and proceeds left to right from there.

2.     Train runs along the back of the layout, climbing to pass along the back of Station C (there was going to be a backscene here hiding this part of the line)

3.     Around the curve at the bottom right hand end of the plan (all behind the scenes still), exiting a tunnel just before the viaduct section starts.

4.     Trains can reverse in Station C, or continue onwards along the viaduct section and back around behind station A.

5.     Following the track around, the train descends along the back wall (top of the plan) and eventually runs along the back at the left hand side, running out under the viaduct sections to Station B, where again, it can reverse using the double crossover, or continue onwards.

6.     Continuing onwards, the train runs under the viaduct that leads into Station C, under the curve at the bottom right of plan and back along the front, creating (in appearance) a 4 track section.

7.     Train runs back into Station A.

8.     Generally, trains circulate like this before reversing at either Stations B or C at which point, another train can take it's place from the yard.

9.     Trains then eventually end up back in the terminal roads at Station A and either start again, or head to the yard.

 

Running with the controller at half speed, a train takes roughly 4 ½ minutes to complete a lap.  This all works very nicely and it's a real pleasure to run the high quality Kato stock, it all runs so smoothly and quietly 😊

 

I say Stations but I don't actually have much in the way of platforms as I keep being lured by trains and money goes there!  I have a birthday approaching though and have resolved to ask for a couple of DX island platforms sets and additional 'A' and 'B' sets that will give me three of the 6 Islands that this plan calls for 😮  Either that, or perhaps I'll go for the older style and spend some time detailing / adding lights.

 

Here's the plan and some photos, I'll post some more photos shortly.

[Mutley]

Some photos showing the run down to the bottom right hand corner of the plan through Station B, with Station C perched on the higher level above.

 

Lots of scarring on the baseboards from long-extinct OO Gauge british layouts.  I might treat myself to fresh boards after the house move.

[Mutley]

Some shots showing the left hand end of the plan:

[Mutley]

Finally for now, some more shots of the area around Station A and a night-time shot of my two recent purchases (E233 Saikyo Line and 189 Series Upgrade Azusa):

[Kamome442]

Fantastic work, I can see you having many hours of fun running trains. I look forward to seeing your layout develop. The last picture is very atmospheric.

[cteno4]

Mutley, 

 

wow, that’s got some really nice long run is it! Going to be great fun! New digs with more room will be nice!

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[katoftw]

Agreed. Really nice long runss. I though first you had upper and lower tracks. But then realized it is a massive dogbone figure of eight loop.

[roadstar_na6]

Very impressive, I wish I had that much space and tracks 😄

[Yavianice]

All it needs is a small connection track between the upper and lower track 😄 

[GCS]

Really impressive layout man, hoping I can have something of a similar scale when I move somewhere more permanent with a garage.

 

I bet Shinkansen’s, TGV’s and the Eurostar would look amazing whipping and snaking around that layout (hint hint 😄)

 

Guy

[katoftw]

1 hour ago, Yavianice said:

All it needs is a small connection track between the upper and lower track 😄 

But they are connected?

[Yavianice]

1 hour ago, katoftw said:

But they are connected?

Oh derp.

 

I shouldn't post in the middle of the night.

[paolo]

21 hours ago, Mutley said:

 

 

Amazing, really great work! I wish I had all that space!

Did you get an inspiration from a real station or area? I see that most if not all of the trains are from the Kanto region, and they all go through either Tokyo station or Shinjuku.

Do you plan on adding Shinkansen as well? I guess that's what the elevated tracks are for?

[Mutley]

21 hours ago, Kamome442 said:

Fantastic work, I can see you having many hours of fun running trains. I look forward to seeing your layout develop. The last picture is very atmospheric.

 

Thanks!  I have to say that I'm really taken with the DX platforms (especially the lighting) even though they're expensive.  Once the move has happened, I'll get around to adding all the detailing parts and some passengers to catch the ever expanding fleet of trains 😀

 

20 hours ago, cteno4 said:

Mutley, 

 

wow, that’s got some really nice long run is it! Going to be great fun! New digs with more room will be nice!

 

cheers,

 

jeff

 

I've been to the new place to measure up the garage so that I can start planning and I'll have an extra foot in width and two feet in length.  I'm hatching a plan to include elements of this layout, with a narrow long run down each side (but not symetrical), and a penninsula in the middle as I struggle to get to the back - as somebody pointed out I would in my original intro thread!

 

17 hours ago, katoftw said:

Agreed. Really nice long runss. I though first you had upper and lower tracks. But then realized it is a massive dogbone figure of eight loop.

 

I'm quite pleased with how the track plan has worked out and by breaking each loop into sections that I can switch on and off, I can stop a train at a station and run another one into the station before it in sequence, and then shuffle the first train to the next station and so on.

 

It wasn't orignally planned this way and was two separate double tracks for a few months, I will post some photos and the previous plan shortly to show how I've arrived at this point.

 

5 hours ago, roadstar_na6 said:

Very impressive, I wish I had that much space and tracks 😄

 

My wife reckons she's in overall charge of the household (she is in reality  😄) but the garage is my domain and it's the only requirement I have a new house.  Not so worried about trivial things like having enough space to sleep, somewhere to make food etc, as long as I have room for the trains.

 

It does feel like a much smaller space if you try to run O Gauge, which is where I was about 18 months ago!

 

[Mutley]

5 hours ago, Yavianice said:

All it needs is a small connection track between the upper and lower track 😄 

 

Two versions of the layout ago I did have that as they were separate double tracks.  I ran Shinkansen on the upper level, with a connecting line down to ground level that started at the left hand end of Station C and dropped down to join the Yard area before allowing trains to run into terminal platforms adjacent to station A.  Didn't quite hit the spot for me with only the single line connection unfortunately:

 

[Mutley]

5 hours ago, GCS said:

Really impressive layout man, hoping I can have something of a similar scale when I move somewhere more permanent with a garage.

 

I bet Shinkansen’s, TGV’s and the Eurostar would look amazing whipping and snaking around that layout (hint hint 😄)

 

Guy

 

Inded Shinkansens do look good on the long runs 😄 . 

 

A couple of photos and plan attached from just last month when the Shinkansen were out and about on their own dedicated two track circuit, using what has become Station C and their own Terminal tracks, raised a little behind (inspired by Tokyo Station).

 

The plan is a little different as I hope you can see.  In theory, it was perfect because I could run two Shinkansen, I had operational interest by taking them down to the Terminal tracks and swapping for another train on the main run and I had the overall hustle and bustle of a busy urban scene. 

 

Trouble was, with 4 tracks in operation, I hadn't reckoned with there being only one of me!  Yes, I could just leave 3 of the trains running and actually control the 4th but somehow it didn't quite hit the spot for me.

 

What I find with the current setup is that I can set the switches so that a train runs (for example) from  Station A to Station C to Station B, where it can just be isolated through my switch panel and I can run another train from A to C and then shuffle them along a section at a time (if any of that makes sense!).

 

I did have a 500 Series and an N700A but decided to focus on JR East Shinkansen, so have an 8-Car E2 Asama, E3 Tsuasa, E4 Max Toki and 12-Car E7 Kagayaki, all currently boxed up.

 

[Mutley]

2 hours ago, paolo said:

 

 

Amazing, really great work! I wish I had all that space!

Did you get an inspiration from a real station or area? I see that most if not all of the trains are from the Kanto region, and they all go through either Tokyo station or Shinjuku.

Do you plan on adding Shinkansen as well? I guess that's what the elevated tracks are for?

 

Thanks!  Nowhere specifically but I have watched a lot of videos on Youtube of trains running through various parts of Tokyo and that's certainly where I got the inspiration for running the Shinkansen (on my last version of the layout) on the elevated sections behind the Commuter / Ltd express lines.

 

I'm a subscriber to your YouTube incidentally and find what you've done there inspirational 👍.  Love all the automation and I may get back into DCC again once the appettite dries up a little for just buying more trains (my British OO Gauge layouts were DCC for around 20 years).

 

[GCS]

9 minutes ago, Mutley said:

 

Inded Shinkansens do look good on the long runs 😄 . 

 

A couple of photos and plan attached from just last month when the Shinkansen were out and about on their own dedicated two track circuit, using what has become Station C and their own Terminal tracks, raised a little behind (inspired by Tokyo Station).

 

The plan is a little different as I hope you can see.  In theory, it was perfect because I could run two Shinkansen, I had operational interest by taking them down to the Terminal tracks and swapping for another train on the main run and I had the overall hustle and bustle of a busy urban scene. 

 

Trouble was, with 4 tracks in operation, I hadn't reckoned with there being only one of me!  Yes, I could just leave 3 of the trains running and actually control the 4th but somehow it didn't quite hit the spot for me.

 

What I find with the current setup is that I can set the switches so that a train runs (for example) from  Station A to Station C to Station B, where it can just be isolated through my switch panel and I can run another train from A to C and then shuffle them along a section at a time (if any of that makes sense!).

 

I did have a 500 Series and an N700A but decided to focus on JR East Shinkansen, so have an 8-Car E2 Asama, E3 Tsuasa, E4 Max Toki and 12-Car E7 Kagayaki, all currently boxed up.

 

Looks fantastic mate! You’ll have to upload a video of the trains running so we get the full effect! 
 

Guy

[cteno4]

2 hours ago, Mutley said:

I've been to the new place to measure up the garage so that I can start planning and I'll have an extra foot in width and two feet in length.  I'm hatching a plan to include elements of this layout, with a narrow long run down each side (but not symetrical), and a penninsula in the middle as I struggle to get to the back - as somebody pointed out I would in my original intro thread!

that’s always a challenge! I just am sensitive to it from my old large scale exhibit modeling days where getting not the center of the models either meant climbing into them or hanging vertically out in the air over them with a trapeze contraption I made hanging from the rafters! Too many hours of holding My long arms out straight reaching way back into the models. Peninsula may help as you can have that fatter and get in from both sides and have wall areas thinner.

 

looking forward to 2.0 here!

 

you can always sleep under the layout noshing on takeaway...

 

jeff

[Mutley]

21 hours ago, GCS said:

Looks fantastic mate! You’ll have to upload a video of the trains running so we get the full effect! 
 

Guy

Will do, I'm going to try do some filming at the weekend before it all comes apart, so I'll knock something together then.  Might even have to get the Shinkansen out for a run as it might be a month or two before they see the light of day again.

[Mutley]

19 hours ago, cteno4 said:

that’s always a challenge! I just am sensitive to it from my old large scale exhibit modeling days where getting not the center of the models either meant climbing into them or hanging vertically out in the air over them with a trapeze contraption I made hanging from the rafters! Too many hours of holding My long arms out straight reaching way back into the models. Peninsula may help as you can have that fatter and get in from both sides and have wall areas thinner.

 

looking forward to 2.0 here!

 

you can always sleep under the layout noshing on takeaway...

 

jeff

That really is taking things to exremes 😀

 

I have to stand on a chair to get over to the back and if the weather's not too bad, I have the garage door open.  Once or twice, I've been on the chair and sensed somebody watching me, and turned to see passers-by staring back in at me ... you can almost hear them saying "look ... he's doing it again ... what on earth is he up to?" 🙂

 

[cteno4]

3 hours ago, Mutley said:

Once or twice, I've been on the chair and sensed somebody watching me, and turned to see passers-by staring back in at me ... you can almost hear them saying "look ... he's doing it again ... what on earth is he up to?" 

 

Far side cartoon!

 

when I see old friends from those days at the aquarium they always say “remember when you use to hang from the rafters on that contraption...”

 

a friend got one of these to get into the deeper corners, works ok.

 

https://www.micromark.com/Topside-Creeper-Step-Ladder-Support-System

 

jeff

[James-SNMB]

Cool layout!

 

One of my favourite aspects of this hobby (apparently) is to dream up and plan layouts I'll probably never build. (Maybe I should go work on the one I've got?) Anyway, I always try to consider "reach" as one of my limitations. But here, for a brief moment, I had thought you had found a way to break that rule without consequence, and I was getting excited to let my imagination run wild with possibilities I'd previously struck off as impossible!

 

Then I got down here to the last couple of posts... I guess we're stuck with this reality.

 

Really like a lot of the elements of your layout. Some great ideas and inspiration there for me to chew on. Can't wait to see what the next version looks like! 

Edited August 30, 2020 by James-SNMB

[cteno4]

It’s one of the Murphy’s laws of model railroading, the plan you like most requires you to have to reach in 6 feet and float like tinker bell to get at the back recesses!
 

always that tradeoff of space, layout wants and what you put next to the wall and what sticks out. My last plan for the grand basement layout I tried to keep all the wall sections to about 2’ 6” with one corner a bit deeper but was dong a hillside there so no deep reaches and no detail access needed (ie planting 250 people...) and the two peninsula chunks I could have like 4’ across to have some larger chunks of scenery. I have like 2/3 the basement area so want to maximize that space. I keep ending up with sort of G shaped layout designs. The ends are peninsulaS and the idea was to have the on rollers So I could detach them for working on those corners and get access to everything. 
 

im a firm believer on Murphy’s rule of model railroading #1, if you build a built in layout you will have to move once it just starts to really come together! I’ve dismantled a couple of friend’s built in layouts due to moves in the past and it’s soooo sad... so I’m always thinking of movable chunks that bolt together. But this still requires space big enough and shaped right in the new place (I guess that would be Murphy’s corollary 1.1, you will have a different shaped and sized space the new home so have to start from scratch...), but at least maybe some or all can be salvaged. I’ve also had a friend have to have one end of his builtin basement layout torn off (literally used the sawsall to take off a 4’ section that did not come apart well and pretty much a complete rebuild) because of a major plumbing issue that needed heavy demolition and rebuild in that corner.
 

cheers

 

jeff

[James-SNMB]

I told my wife that although they may appear to be solid, model trains are actually a gas because they expand to fill the room that they are in.

 

It also never fails that my ambitions will slightly exceed the available space, regardless of which space I'm considering.