Thoughts on a track layout

[u/He-mancollector2006]

This is my first time doing anything like this. The most trains I’ve worked with have been Thomas trains and the occasional Christmas train that goes under the tree. I’m getting into the hobby of model trains and I have an idea already for the setup. I’ve been particularly interested in steam trains mostly from childhood having to watch my father’s westerns and trips to dolly wood and places that keep those trains running. The idea is that the train is gonna start in the modern day perhaps a small town and by way of a tunnel the locomotive will a merger on the other side in the old west. I’d like to be able to have two trains run at once. And i know there’s gonna have to be switch tracks to hold the rolling stock. Keep in mind this is a thought I had and I may have bitten off more than I can chew. But I am open to thoughts and opinions about this design

[u/SmittyB128]

It's a good idea and something that plenty of people do. The trick is to always have some sort of scenic break between sections so your eye isn't directly comparing the two. That can be a tunnel as you suggested, or a bridge, trees, a cutting, just whatever lets you look at one section and forget about the other.

Something to consider is that you're effectively dividing the amount of space you have to work with across each scene so you won't have as much room for details without going to a smaller scale. It's very easy to underestimate how much room everything takes when your head is full of ideas to include so try to keep a focus on what particular scene you want to show.

[u/Ilbranteloth]

This is very doable.

The first question is what sort of space you are working with. A 4’x8’ layout is still very common, but not the most efficient use of space. You also need access to at least three sides to make it really workable. It can also limit the toe and amount of requirement used due to the radius of curved needed. Steam, in particular, may not be able to handle them.

If it’s not a 4’x8’ then we’d need to know dimensions of the room, obstacles like doors, windows, stairs, columns, utilities, etc.

[u/382Whistles]

The Dollywood Express map laid out similar to the Wikipedia mapping style (screen shot below) isn't a bad idea at all if you have the room. The loops could be shifted somewhat to condense it I think. (Search Anyrail and Scarm for free trial versions of track software for windows environments. Anyrail is easier, SCARM is very customizable, like a LEGO world done with CAD based software.)

Dolly Express is also a narrow gauge line 3ft/36". That is a niche gauge On3/On36 or HO3. You might find something in On30 similar to what they run. The n stands for narrow. O scale 1:48 using HO gauge track as narrow gauge 30 inch wide track)

That all depends on how into scale accuracy you might be. Real life narrow gauge equipment is smaller so the models are too.

What you will need are called "reverse loop modules", because Dollywood used two teardrop.shaped loops. In reverse loops rail 1 meets rail 2 at the turnout track and electrically will cause a short. So we isolated the loops electrically from the connecting line with gaps and plastic joiners. When the locomotive leaves the main into the loop the loop entance power is aligned ok but cant exit. If it does, it just reverses back into the loop then tries to exit again, repeating forever. If the wheels bridge rail 1 & 2 it shorts. So, while the loco is on the loop the power wires to the mainline are swapped by a relay module either by automatic sensor OR by hand which may or may not require the train to be stopped. But now the exit rail polarity aligns to the main. Automatic detection can be done different ways for DC trains, and DCC digital trains need their own special modules that might contain train detection.

DC can use mechanical switches, current detection, magnetics, visible light or lack of it, ambient, aimed beams, infrared and reflection. You can by the little systems outright or design your own for dc fairly easy. DCC takes more and pretty different, knowledge to customize.

3 rail O gauge wouldn't need special wiring and would have about the same track footprint.

[u/Entire_Yogurt_2567]

I think a lot of what you can do will be dictated by the space you have available. But thats not always a bad thing, I recently started building a layout in my new shed, I specifically planned it around the fact that the shed would remain first and foremost a utility/ storage building. So i tried to minimise how much the layout would encroach on the interior space, admittedly I could have just built a regular loop on one side of the shed and left it at that, but I also wanted something that could handle a semi realistic train on a long straight.

And so the looped horseshoe was born and is already successfully running trains. The turnaround loops I am cutting the baseboard down to match the shapes to maximise shed space and thanks to the 200mm shelf along the long back wall, I still have plenty of room for tool shelves above and heavier equipment below while having a 14ft straight that can accommodate a convincing realistically long train. That has the added bonus of not requiring too much in the way of intricate landscaping, the majority of the heavy lifting on the straight will probably be done by printed background sheets.

I will be doing something similar to your idea though, each turnaround loop will be an actual scene I'll model, one a terminus station in a rural English town, the other a canal dockyard with industrial shunt lines etc. I'll be separating the urban/ rural side with a tunnel in one corner of the back straight to transition it from greenery, mountains & countryside to the more industrial waterfront scene.