Thoughts on a new layout

[alain10025]

I recently started to use XtrackCAD and I am really please with it. It helps me plan for the next update of my layout. Here it is: 

 

 

 

Any thoughts or comments ? I am still pretty new to the hobby so I would be happy to get your thoughts ! Thank you.

[cteno4]

Welcome Alain, 

 

wow lots of track!
 

Xtrakcad is a nice program and being maintained pretty well. Good to keep notes as it’s one program that I find I forget a number of the moves after not using it for a few months. Frustrating but some notes cured that pretty fast.

 

have you set up track yet just on a table and played with your trains much yet? It’s a good thing to do before diving into a big layout to see what you like and don’t like in your playing with trains. Some folks find they hate ovals and want something more complex, others find they want more or less scenery. Hard to see with 2D (or even 3D) track planning. But running trains a while gives you a lot of direct feedback quickly. Starting right off with a layout this size it might be worth getting some inexpensive folding tables to try some different plans out and play for a while and experiment with some of the heavy point sections to see if it works good enough to make you happy. Just mock up sections so you don’t need to buy a load of track. Luckily most track would later be used in the eventual layout anyway and track actually holds pretty good value and used Unitrak sells for decent prices at shows and on ebay.

 

it looks like you want to have a lot of trains running at once. Looks like 6 main loops and a lot of sidings and yard space. There is little space near the main tracks for much scenery. The two back corners will need to probably drop in pieces of scenery as bit too deep to work on them easily. Looks like you want to keep a lot of trains stored on the layout, but this will block the view of the running trains a lot in this setup. One usual approach is to do a double viaduct/embankment loop and then 2 ground level track loops for express/local trains. You can potentially wander a bit of the ground level tracks apart for a while to mix things up some. Loops within loops of double track can get repetitive. Also the heavy point work can be troublesome, especially with longer trains with derailments. Lots of frogs and point blades to go through. They also are expensive, the track most prone to breaking, hardest track piece to replace, and most prone to scenery and schmutz causing issues easily. Wiring all those points also is a bit of work. Keeping track of the points using the regular point throw mechs is a challenge where you need look at a diagram for the point number and determine direction you want and then find that controller number and throw it the correct direction, it’s a bit tedious. Alternative is a large control board with switches and/or lights that indicate direction, but that is a very large wiring and engineering job. Dcc can be used with computer control, but that’s a lot of money and engineering as well.

 

did you look at potentially expanding the loop all the way around the edge of the room? Maybe a strip 2’ wide all the way around the layout. May give you a longer running path and distribute sidings and small yards around the 4 walls. May make more space for more continuous scenery and allow different walls to be different scenes (ie large station, industry, rural, city). Could potentially poke a yard out into the middle of the space as well. A cheat to get a set of long yard tracks for storage is to have a bunch of tracks in parallel and mount the platform to a par of drawer slides to move the platform back and forth to put the approach track to the desired yard track. Sort of a large transfer table. Not prototypical but you can pack a lot of long tracks in a narrow space and not have the huge point branch needed using points. Also let’s you pack the tracks close together (like double track spacing) to cram more trains in the smallest space. Could have some roll around work benches you could just move under the layout when you run trains to clear up the center area.
 

few questions:

 

- Are all the loops on the same level?
- Do you want to run shinkansens?

- what kind of operations do you want to do

- how much scenery do you want to do?

- any particular track related structures like stations or 

- dcc or dc?

- Kato or Tomix track (looked like Kato)

 

cheers,

 

jeff

[alain10025]

Hello Jeff,

 

Thank you very much for your very detailed answer. I agree with you, it does take some practice to better know what you like in this hobby. In my case, I set up the structure of the layout last Fall. Since then I have been mostly experimenting some tracks and trying to improve my ballasting skills. I found that I like to run trains, especially high speed trains (TGV mostly as I do not have any Shinkansen yet).

 

I have wired a layout that is not significantly less complex than the one I showed above but I am aiming at building a large and busy station. To give you an idea, here is what my set up looks like right now.

 

To answer your questions: 

 

- Are all the loops on the same level? Yes, so far, I plan to keep everything on the same level but I want to use this new layout to try to incorporate some scenery, maybe some tunnels or mountains... I need to practice those...
- Do you want to run shinkansens? So far, I mostly run French and European high speed trains. Though, these can be very long. I run a 2-train TGV Lyria and an extended Eurostar, this is the main motivation for the long garage lanes on the tope of the layout.

- what kind of operations do you want to do. I like to run trains simultaneously, at speed.

- how much scenery do you want to do? Still a rookie... I need to practice to try to make levels and eventually some mountains...

- any particular track related structures like stations or. I have a couple of Kato station buildings but I would like to try a more European style. I found this very nice station that I am considering buying for the layout...

- dcc or dc? For now, I am 100% DC. I find it enough for my needs and it gives me the opportunity to get familiar with the mechanics and cleaning process

- Kato or Tomix track (looked like Kato) I am 100% Kato unitrack for the tracks. Most of my trains are Kato (with a couple of exceptions for Fleischmann locos and Minitrix passenger cars)

 

Here is a small update...

 

 

Regards,

 

Alain

Edited April 11, 2023 by alain10025

[cteno4]

Cool, sounds like you are well on your way with it and most of my points are moot. Looks like you have a good start of trying how well the large array of points work for you and how the trains look running for you, that’s great.

 

ballasting is a bit of an art and mainly take practice and some experimenting to get it easy and good. One big warning is being careful around the points. Kato points can wick up thin glue solutions in the bottom seams and cause problems. Also stray bits of ballast in the mech is a pain.

 

keep us posted!

 

jeff

[alain10025]

After a month and half, the first trains are running on it ! 

 

[disturbman]

That's a lot of TGVs, and a few SNCF locomotives. You only collect/run French trains?

[alain10025]

I mostly collect French trains but I also have a couple of nice Japanese and North American trains. I did not put them on the layout yet but I have the sleeper Asakaze and a few steam Japanese locomotives that I really enjoy (including the SL Hitoyoshi, a beauty !).

[alain10025]

I am starting to think about the next iteration of my layout, here is one suggestion below !