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Planning & Design of my layout - How I got from ideas & desires to running trains!

Overview:

Basic Planning / Decisions:

I gave a lot of thought on what I wanted. Operationally, I wanted two major things:
  • Two independent loops for unattended "display" operation of 2 trains.
  • The ability to run multiple trains with friends in a limited "operational" way, i.e. a real railroad.
This made some kind of remote control mandatory.
After considering battery power vs. track power, I settled on track power and DCC. My desire for MU (multiple units) and doubleheading, and no limitation in run time and ability to fit in all locos were the primary decision factors.
Being a new house, it was easy to bury conduit completely around the back yard for feeders for DCC. I coupled this preparation with the decision to use stainless steel track for low maintenance.
 
These were the major decisions that had to be made to move forward.

Track Construction:

The weather is very mild here in San Diego. My track ran several months on top of bark chips! I'm using Aristocraft stainless steel sectional track, SplitJaw stainless rail clamps, laid on a roadbed of coarse pea gravel. I use pieces of 1/2" hardibacker for turnouts to keep them level, especially crossovers and the switchyard.

Plants for Garden Railroads

I'm listing plants that work well for garden railways, and posting information and pictures of them. Please feel free to email me on corrections, additions, suggestions, etc.
 

History

 
I have loved trains, real and model since I was a kid and when we heard the Santa Fe coming, my grandmother would throw me in the car, and we would race at breakneck speeds to see it come. She would put pennies in my ears to combat the sound of the horn!

I had a Lionel 027 set as a kid, Santa Fe F unit. For the first few years, it only came out at Christmas as an oval under the tree. Later, my dad, being one of those famous do-it-yourself types, added on a room, and put a 4x8 sheet of plywood in the wall, hinged so that it would swing out of the wall at waist height. Heaven!.

We moved in the middle of junior high to a much larger house, and I built a 5 x 9 foot layout from scratch, wood frame construction, with the cookie cutter approach to use a sheet of plywood for the sub-roadbed. I used Tru-Scale wooden road/bed ties, and hand-spiked all of my rail. I also built my switches from "kits" where the frog and points were assembled. That was a challenge.

No more progress until out of college. At some point I got married, and bought a house. I bought N scale trains, but had no space for a layout. I had a simple loop of track, but that was all. I joined a club, and got my first exposure to train club cliques and politics! Didn't get to run much! Pretty frustrating, since most people in the club were retired, so time meant nothing to them, my precious hours at the club we spent listening to arguments.
 
I had been thinking of an outdoor layout since there never seems to be enough space inside. I bought some Z scale, but still no layout. I went to the National Garden Railways Convention, and since it was in San Diego, went on all the tours of people's garden railways... I was hooked!
 
We bought a new house in 1998, and I was determined to have a layout, so planned it from the beginning. What I did is make the general space, and ran conduit all around the periphery of the yard. I also assumed that the track wanted to be the greatest radius possible, so made sure no landscaping was put within 18 inches of the walls. It paid off, but it took some work to keep reminding the landscaper not to plant a 20' palm tree smack dab in the right of way!

Other things I want to do:

Make up a vertical transfer table so that the tracks come into the garage so that entire trains can be made up and be ready to go. Also want a spur to go into a little refrigerator so that cold beer can be picked up and dropped off to guests! Another idea is a lift bridge that raises to the level of the kitchen window to load food and drinks for delivery!

Philosophy and goals

I wanted the following items:

  • Unattended operation of at least 2 trains in a display mode, in opposite directions (more interesting)
  • Ability to "convert" the 2 loops above into a single "twice around" layout for a "bigger" layout.
  • Enough spurs to allow some kind of operating session with freight trains picking up and dropping off.
  • Passing sidings for more interest.
  • A yard where trains could be made up and broken down.
  • Integration into the existing landscape so the layout does not overpower the back yard.
  • Reliable operation, wireless remote control, MU capability, low maintenance.

Track Plan

Here's the current idea for the layout of track, East (the back fence), is up, North to the left. (No the track ends are actually connected, this drawing is dimensionally accurate, from RR-Track, and does not reflect the "give" in rail joints)

The "box" in the center of the drawing is the house.

You can see the inner loop, the small kidney-shaped loop on the right. The switchyard is on the right, or South side. 

The outer loop goes along the back fence, North to the property line, and then West to the gate, then it doubles back along the house and comes back along the Eastern end of the house to reconnect.

In the future, some temporary track will connect the switchyard to track in front of the house, and then back near the where the normal loopback occurs. 

You can also see a spur on the North side, this will enter the garage for storage.The current total track length is just over 700 feet. With the track across the front and the storage in the garage the total will be in excess of 1,100 feet.

Outer mainline length is 400 feet including the 2 passing sidings, or a bit over 300 feet for one circuit of the mainline.

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