Whst would be your ideal layout?

[Trainman203]

If this has been discussed before please advise, if not, tell.

[Jerrys HO]

One I can finish 

[Trainman203]

It's not very difficult to continue to be polite, so I am going to continue an adult discussion, and describe my ideal layout. If some of you have some kind of issue, you just don't have to read what I have to say, and instead  work on your layout or whatever needs doing.

Railroads go from Point A to Point B which are some  distance from from each other , or there wouldn't need to be a railroad.  Model railroads always have difficulty creating an illusion of distance.  To overcome that, I'd like to have a building 10' wide by 1000' long.  An HO scale mile is a little over 60', so I could have a point to point line somewhat over 12 scale miles long. I've never done anything but shortline and branch line layouts, and many such lines were that long or less, so distance compression wouldn't be a concern.

My layout now has an interchange point and a single ended yard on either end, with two on line rural settlements having a much too short passing track and a couple of rural customer set outs  like a co op warehouse.  If I had my 1000 foot long building, I'd have the very same railroad, but with 20 or 30 car passing tracks, longer double ended yards, and have a nice 2 or 3 scale mile countryside run between each location.  I don't ever  run my trains more than 15 or so scale MPH, like shortlines, so a through train would take almost an hour from end to end, but I don't run through trains , only local mixed trains, so with switching it could take hours.  I'd also have what I don't have room for now - a wye on either end where I'd meet the mainlines, engine service facilities , and a lot of space around the buildings like in southern small towns.

To some this sort of thinking about a model railroad might seem pompous.  I would not understand why.  Models of any kind are about creating realism in miniature, why not replicate a prototype as much as you can.

[Jerrys HO]

It's not very difficult to continue to be polite, so I am going to continue an adult discussion, and describe my ideal layout. If some of you have some kind of issue, you just don't have to read what I have to say, and instead  work on your layout or whatever needs doing.

T203,
I hope you are not insinuating I was not being polite or that I was being childish.
I actually would like to have one I can finish. Sounds like yours is a good plan and wish there were pics for all to enjoy.
If you thought I was intentionally doing any of the things above you are dead wrong.
Jerry

[jward]

I am not sure that bigger is better. one of the things I've noticed about larger layouts is that maintainence takes up a lot more time.

my ideal layout would be modest size, with mountains and very little straight track. curves are more interesting to the eye, and greatly increase the illusion of distance. I will give two examples to show what I mean. the first is a local model railroad club. this layout consists of several peninsulas running the length of the building, but parallel to each other. trains basicly go down long mostly straight stretches, then turn 180 degrees and loop back on the other side of the aisle. you can watch a train the entire distance of this. the long stretches only serve, for me, to amplify the size of the building.

the other example is my dad's wvc&p railway, which appeared in a past issue of model railroad planning. he used modest radius curves (24r) and aisles that wind through the layout  the tracks often loop back on each other at different levels, but they are mostly curved. it is impossible to see from one end of the layout to the other. when you follow the aisles you are surrounded by trains and mountains. the overall effect is a layout that looks and feels much larger than it actually is. this line occupies the basement of a modest single story home, which it shares with a single car garage.

I much prefer the latter, as it just looks more real to me.

[jbrock27]

One that my son and I enjoy together for a long time  .

...larger layouts...maintainence takes up a lot more time.

...and we certainly know that TM is not a fan of maintenance .

[Jerrys HO]

Jeff I remember the pics of your dad's, it was awesome! I have to agree bigger is not all ways better. I am in the process of redoing my trackage as I have too much too many.
Jeff I wish you had a track plan to share as I loved the few pics you provided.

[Trainman203]

I can man up and apologize Jerry.  I did misread.  Not the first time for me.  I could never be a politician.  Life's too short to get high blood pressure, I already have it anyway.  

There aren't any pictures , that narrarative is just the layout of my dreams.  However if anyone has come close to my dream layout it's  a guy named Charlie Duckworth in Omaha.  He's got a weedgrown MP branch line with pretty good travel distances and lots of space around everything, real small potatoes railroad like mine .  He has some pictures on the net, I'll get the links.

But folks, if you could have anything you wanted for a layout, what would it be?

[jbrock27]

Vehicles that also moved around and performed functions on their own.

[Trainman203]

Jeffrey you are correct about the maintenance  thats for sure.  My 50 feet of msinline is enough.

Google a guy named Verryl Fosnight.  He's got a UP layout with I think  5000 feet of mainline and a lot more in the yards.  The only time it ever runs is monthly ops and it takes 35 guys to run it right.  He pays a guy to go in every day and run something over all the track to keep it from crudding up so that it will not stall out when they come in.  I wouldn't want anything like that, would you?

[jbrock27]

Sounds like a lot of fun ...No.

[Trainman203]

I don't think there's 35 model railroaders in Louisiana.  Mr. Fosnight did tell me that he' s got regular operators who travel a few hundred miles to his ops, he's in the Phoenix area somewhere.

[jbrock27]

Not what I'd be doing, but...

[Trainman203]

Me neither Brock.  Fosnight must have to herd those guys like cats.

[jbrock27]

LOL !!

Here kitty kitty....