New track plan

Clark, I had time to think about what you and Andrew are suggesting. The reason I hesitated to add crossovers was I didn't want to cut down the yard sizes anymore. After looking at my trackplan again, I can add another track to the interchange without cramping things, and then put in a crossover. In my main yard, I could move the tt a little bit more to the left, and put in a runaround track. Sound good? And thanks for the advice, I need it.
This is the 4th layout I have built in two years, because they never worked right. Any more advice would be welcome.

Loren
 
One thing you might want to do before locking down a plan is really go over it and make sure it will work. Unfortunately, just because it works on paper doesn't mean it will work on the board. You have a lot of track in a small space. I downloaded the picture of your layout and blew it up. The red circles are where I saw what looked like potential problems, odd angles, kinks, etc. I understand that from your original drawing, through uploading and downloading, and being enlarged, the quality drops off dramatically. What I was looking at was very fuzzy and so I can't say for sure that there are problems. They just didn't look quite right. I suggest that you take your original plan and go over it with a fine tooth comb. Enlarge it 4 to 6 times it's original. Then go over it bit by bit. Eliminate anything that even looks like a possible problem. Once you know that what you have is solid then you can start tweaking the fine points. A fraction of an inch here can be a disaster over there. Believe me, it's much better to be frustrated on paper than when your cars and locos keep falling off the track. :curse: :curse:
I hope I'm not discouraging you with all of this. Planning is one of the things that I enjoy most. Every plan I've ever done, I've torn apart down to the nuts and bolts a dozen times before I feel confident that there is a chance that it will work. I know that a lot of people just start laying track and winging it as they go. I tip my hat to them because I wouldn't feel good laying a piece of track if I didn't have a good idea of just where and how it should go.
 

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Clark, you are definatly not discouraging me. In fact, you are just what I need. I am the kind of guy that would just say that looks good and start building. Thats why I have built so many layouts lately. I have finally learned its the little details that will make or break a trackplan. So please, anything you see, please tell me.
OK, maybe I should explain the trackplan. It is drawn with XTRK. Blown up to 1:1 all tracks flow smoothly and are joined. When I draw a piece of track, if it does not join, I will rotate or move the piece to join before I lay the next piece. At the size I have to use to upload, it makes the drawing kind of wavy, I guess you would say. I have studied the plan carefully and all tracks are joined. Plus, the graphic train with the program runs ok, and if there is a problem with a joint or a kink, it will derail. All curves have normal easment, and I am using Atlas custom line #4. Not snaps.
I made the changes you and Andrew suggested, here's the revision.
P. S. I also had the top section at 1.5' not 2' width. I resized it.
Thanks, Loren
 

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I think that it looks really good Loren. I'm sure that you'll enjoy your switching duties much more with the runarounds. :thumb: :thumb:
I figured that the problems I was seeing was the result of not having a clear picture. Never hurts to check though. :D
 
Clark, thank you very much for the help, you really helped me along, and I will enjoy operating the layout even more now. Again, thank you.
Russ , thanks for taking a look and giving the thumbs up. If you, Clark (PitchWife) and Andrew (Mason Jar) can not find anything else wrong, this layout will be the best one I have ever built !

Loren
 
Allright Loren!:)

The final design looks terrific. Every track has a purpose, and should be fun to operate.

I feel like you and I have similar thought patterns in what we want in a layout, due to our discussions in the Operations forum and with the technical stuff. I'm very much looking forward to watching your progression on this one.

After having spent a year trying to figure out what I wanted, it felt great when I was finally satisfied that my plan was a good. Seems like you have reached that point too. It will be fun working on our layouts "together" over the next many months.

Do you have the benchwork done? I'm thinking you can use part of your old layout benchwork and just add to it?

Are you planning on using magnetic uncouplers? And what kind of turn-out controls? And you are doing DCC, right? Which brand?
 
Hey, Gary:wave: . I noticed that we wanted the same things in a layout too. And your right. I think the plan I have is very good. In fact, this is first one I am really excited about.
And it will be fun to see how we progress on the two layouts as time goes by.
Your right about my tables, all I had to do was modify the two ends where the full curves were. I finished that last night, and sanded the high spots at the joints and painted the tabletop tonight. I hope to post before and after pictures soon.
My mainline uncoupling will still be on curves, so I think I will have to uncouple by hand, but on the sidings I plan to use permanent magnets. As far as turnout controls, I am leaning very heavily towards the type you showed. Right now I am running Bachman EZ Command. So far, it's done everything I want in dcc.

Loren
 
Sounds like you are making progress on the benchwork.

Using DCC sure makes things simple. Since this is my first layout, I never had the experience of "blocking" a layout for DC. But, I know enough to figure that constantly flipping block control switches and stuff would be a pain. DCC rocks! I put all my bus wiring and auxiliary power wires in the benchwork before I started laying track. It sure has worked out well.... as I put down each piece of flex track, it sure is easy to just tie it to the bus and run trains!

Today, I got the track layed and turn-out controls completed in my east end interchange yard. And then I ran a mini-operationing session and it was a blast. I'll post some pics in the operations forum because I have some questions to ask.

Post some pics when you get a chance.:)
 
Gary, ran into your other post already. Impressive to say the least. I was a modeler back in the dc days. It was a pain to wire, but if your a gadget freak like me, pushing all those buttons and flipping switches was a lot of fun. I will try to get pictures tonight, after all the honey-do stuff.

Loren
 
Hey, Grewsome. What slaughterhouse are you going to use? I'm looking for one for my new layout.
 
Tell me about it. There are three others on Walthers site. Shrock's, Swift and another one (a laser cut kit I believe). The other one is not a slaughterhouse per se, and it is eastern based and my road is based in th west. Shrock's and the other one are pricey and Shrock's and Swift are not in stock and unknown as to when they will be stocked. Damn, why are things so difficult.
 
I've got almost all the track completed along two of the walls which is 48 feet of shelves. Did a lot of running trains today, switching the spurs, run-arounds, all that, and I am loving the electromagnets and the turn-out controls. I would guess I am seeing about a 95% success rate with the uncouplers, both the electromagnets and the permanent magnets on the spurs. I found a couple of cars that are not acting properly, I'll have to adjust them. Also having very few, almost zero derailments. Good stuff.
 
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