possible layout

[baldwinmikado]

This summer I plan to make a layout but I'm not the best layout planner and I havent found a suitable plan I liked. I like layouts that keep the engineer busy and not bored. Does anyone have any interesting plans that match my specs?
Here are some dimensions:
-8x8 outside perimeter
-5x6 inside perimeter
-a little complex but not mind boggling

The layout I pictured has an interior island where the engineer stands and the trains go around him. A table like this here engineer is in the middle trains go around

[baldwinmikado]

https://www.google.com/search?q=ho+scale+track+plans+shelf&client=ms-android-att-us&hl=en-US&source=android-browser-suggest&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=R2f3UuvoBees2wXC5YGwBQ&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAA&biw=640&bih=335#

Picture wouldn't come up so here is the link. Go to picture with "Heart of Georgia Railroad" in the middle of it. Thats how I want my table to be

[Joe Satnik]

Dear baldwinmikado,

The layout that you refer to uses flex track.  (Note phrase "Curve By Eye".)

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j284/cudaken/Repair%20and%20detail/Better20Starter20Layout2051120-20Complete.jpg

It is possible that you could "wing it" using sectional track, but difficult.   

To change the table dimensions as well as the radius and straight lengths from HO to N, multiply by 87.1/160, or multiply by 0.544.

For example, 12" squares in HO become ~6-1/2" squares in N.

(12" x .544 = 6.528", .528"x 32/32 ~= 17/32", + 6" ~= 6-17/32", round down to ~6-1/2")

Another:  25-3/8" radius in HO becomes ~13-13/16" radius in N.

(3/8" = 0.375", +25 = 25.375", x .544 = 13.804".  .804"x 16/16 ~=13/16", + 13" ~= 13-13/16")

To avoid the extra step back to fractional inches, it may be an advantage to convert to metric lengths.

In that case multiply decimal inches (13.804" in example above) by 25.4mm/inch (~=351mm in example above).

There seems to be no provision for a lift or swing bridge to get in or out of the center of the layout.

That means "duck-under", which gets more difficult to do as we age, so start out with your benchwork tall. 

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

[baldwinmikado]

That's the stuff I needed when I did HO! Where were you then... but I put the picture just to show the table not the track plan. I'm putting it in a room that isn't just for trains so a 10x11 that fits the room isn't possible.  The table the track is on is what i want to build, I just haven't found a suitable track plan to go on it (no one really uses an 8x8 and the few I found wouldn't keep me busy; I would get bored quick). So pretty much what I'm building is a 8x8 square with a 6x5 rectangle cut out of the middle. I'm not to concerned about crawling under the table

[Joe Satnik]

Dear baldwinmikado,

N scale 1/160         8'          6'          5'

HO scale 1/87.1    14.7'      11'        9.2'

O scale  1:48          26.7'    20'         16.7'

1:29 scale              44.1'     33.1       27.6'

Using this chart, a published HO layout of 14.7' x 14.7' with a 11' x 9.2' hole in it

will scale down to exactly what you want in N. 

MR subscribers have on-line access to their layout database. 

Do you or someone else close by subscribe?

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik

[baldwinmikado]

I don't subscribe to mr but I do get their emails and some access to their database. I just never sent in the paperwork or done it online to become fully subscribed. Thanks for the conversions, I never thought of scaling down a larger layout. Ill look into it and see what I can come up with

[baldwinmikado]

One final question. What would you call this kind of a layout. Shelf? Island? I think a name would help search...

[Joe Satnik]

Dear  baldwinmikado,

Well, it depends on whether you run it from the inside or outside. 

If you stand on the outside, *John Armstrong would call it an "Island" layout

with a big access area in the middle, or a "Doughnut". 

If you stand on the inside, Armstrong might call it an "Along the Wall"  or "Around the Room" layout. 

This assumes you are open to scaling down room sized HO layouts of those types.

*From the book "Track Planning for Realistic Operation, Third Edition" c1998 by John Armstrong, pg. 88.

Here is a sample of what you can do with the AnyRail.com free (for the first 50 pieces) Track Layout CAD program:



Hope this Helps.

Sincerely,

Joe Satnik 

   

[baldwinmikado]

Mine will be an "around the wall" layout so I have access to all switches and control options and don't have to go climbing to get to them.