Helping my dad with his new railroad.

[Asayaga]

Greetings everyone.
I'm helping my dad with his new track.
So i got anyrail as a way to vissuallize the size of what we could do.
But now my lack of "design" experience is kicking in...
I made a plan but i'm not really euh happy with it.
I'd like it to be more organic or something like that.
We're using marklin M rails because we already have a truckload of that from when my dad was a bit younger.
Any sort of input would be nice. Even a complete new track if you want to go wild.
The size of the table is as big as i could get it without making my mom blow a gasket.

Thanks Erwin

[glakedylan]

greeting Erwin, and welcome to AR and the forum

first, what does your father want to do with the trains
<> watch them run around and around
<> operate the model railroad somewhat like a prototypical railroad
<> both

what kind of trains is your father planning on running
<> most HO equipment does not function on radius of curves less than 18" at a minimum (although one can sometimes get away with 15" with short engines and shorter freight cars)
<> if he is only going to run transit trains the 10" curves might suffice depending on the size and number of axles on the locomotive and cars

in designing a model railroad
<> a point to point (departure/destination) plan works best for prototypical ... also having a means of reversing the trains(s) at each end
<> a run the trains around and around plan is fine, if that is what you desire ... what makes it look better is to minimize the track that parallels the border of framework and also the 90 and plus degree curves that stack up like a wedding cake
<> mainlines that parallel each other are fine, many railroads having at least 2 ... for operation sake it is good to have means of crossing from one main to another and maintaing a workable space of separation between the mains (in HO i believe that would be 2" on straight track and a bit more on curves, especially the smaller the radius of curved track

i hope this information provides some help in the way of answering your question. there are several really gifted track design folks here at AR and on the forum and they will certainly be in contact as well.

Again, welcome and best wishes!

Gary L Lake Dillensnyder

[Mike from CT]

Let me add my greetings to Gary's....

I've never worked with Marklin and I have a (purely psychosomatitic) allergy to working with fixed track.  I'm too lazy to go where the track wants to go.  I want the track to go where I want it to go.

That said, a couple of observations to add to Gary's:

   
• That bench work is far too deep.  If a train derails along the back, you won't be able to reach it.  Different folks have different arm lengths and there's been some discussion about how deep is too deep, so you and your dad will have to decide for yourself, but I reset the measurements to inches (I'm provincial - can't pictures measurements in the metric system) and that upper section is almost 4 feet deep, almost 6 feet on the bugle at the left.  (All is not lost, however.  There is room for access if you create a series of removable panels the center of the top.  Unfortunately the same problem exists at the bottom right and there is no equivalent space for access.
• Think about how long (how many cars) you want in a train.  Right now, the yards and passing sidings look like all they'll handle are really short trans (not sure how long European cars tend to be, but it looks like, tops, 5-6 cars and a locomotive.  It may be that fewer, but longer, tracks in the yard will produce better results.

I think that, if you go back over Gary's points and decide first what you want the layout to do and then what tack plan works best fitting that into the given space, you'll make certain that you have a layout that's fun to operate for a long time.  This isn't saying anything against layouts like the one you've designed.  I got hooked on model railroading long, long ago by looking at the Christmas time displays in a huge toy store in New York, with trains running round and round.

Best of luck,
Mike

[RhB_HJ]

Welcome Erwin!

@all 

Forget everything you ever learned about min rads and such matters. Märklin has a very tight geometry i.e. if they provide that curve radius their stuff will work on it. It may look like cr.. but it will work.

You need to switch to the '50s toytrain mode and take it from there.

[glakedylan]

Posted by: RhB_HJ
Forget everything you ever learned about min rads and such matters. Märklin has a very tight geometry i.e. if they provide that curve radius their stuff will work on it. It may look like cr.. but it will work.
======================================

HJ...that is interesting to learn! Thanks for setting us straight. Wow, it is difficult to imagine that reality but you viewpoint is always respected as truth. Thanks again.
Gary

[RhB_HJ]

Gary

And they are not the only ones. In Large Scale LGB established a radius that is referred to as R1, it is all of 600mm (24") which is approx 6" when you convert it to HO. And yes, there are people who are so cramped for space that they use that as their standard.

Not only that, Aristo, Bachmann and USA Trains followed suit and used the same rad as their minimum for the starter sets.

[Asayaga]

First a big thanks for the replys.
I'll grab senior by the ear and squeeze some answers from him.
Realised that i'm not even sure about the era that he wants... (guesing something german/swiss/austrian from the 60's/70's)
I do know that we'll go round and round  and then some.
About the depth of the bench work. We're all pretty tall in my family, i'm 6.5ft and my dad's a little bit shorter so the almost 4ft isn't really a problem depending on the height of course. (but just to be sure i'll make a mock up and do some bending and reaching )

To be continued

[chaz]

Hi Asayaga,

If you are thinking Bavarian, Swiss and Austrian...take a look at these...

This site is organized by line and station.  The station maps include crossing and signal placement.
http://www.mittenwaldbahn.de/

This site has a lot of information from the steam era in Germany. 
http://lokalbahn-reminiszenzen.de/start.htm

This site is organized by country and operator with lots of pictures of rolling stock.  Click on a flag, then an operator.
http://www.railfaneurope.net/list_frameset.html

And lastly, the island station at Lindau, Germany.  About as unique as a passenger station can get.

Chaz