[cidjackaries]

Alright all I am stuck.

I am about to move and I am preplanning my new layout. I currently have 3 designs so far:

1-Lots of track, little room for buildings and roads. (10 foot by 17 foot)
2-Little track lots of buildings and roads.(10 foot by 17 foot)
3-Mix of both.(10 foot by 15 foot with a detachable storage yard)

I think I am all over the place on what I want. I want lots of track (3 lines for running 3 trains at a time), lots of storage, 3 passenger areas, a small town, and a unloading/loading of well cars.

My current stock of trains is 60% passenger, 40% cargo. (All HO)

Any advice you all can provide will be helpful and Appreciated.

 

[stationmaster]

What exactly do you want? A yard will provide action. But a triple main takes a lot of room.

Bob

 

[T-Man]

I think Stationmaster has a good idea with modular components. 10 by 17 is large. You walk into room a see ooh 10 by 17. That's it. But with modular your eye has to follow the track. So you need to look more to enjoy. Then it is much more complex to plan one out and you can work with one at a time. You could start with 4 by 8 and add from there. Mods can be substituted to be worked on.
By answering the question, modelling or running? Expressed your interests in how much track to use.
Tables, once they hit 10 feet slim down in width from a square and go with a donut, L or a T.
It all depends on how to use your space.

 

[stationmaster]

A 10x17 modular walk around would be HUGE by most standards. You would effectively double the amount of track, action, work, cost.... But. it would have nearly unlimited possibilities.

And if you use a standard such as the NMRA standards an Best Practices, you will be able to build interchangeable modules that allows you to change scenes in minutes. I do this and it is really cool to be able to change eras in a little over an hour. It's all plug and play.

Bob

 

[cidjackaries]

Thank you for the ideas so far.

I was thinking Modules for DCC powering reasons, but the idea of interchangeable would work as well. (Run passengers one day, cargo the next. etc). I do have the space to do a U shaped (More like a U next to another U shaped as the area I have to do this in is large and in charge.)

Time to dig up the other Model railroad mags and find some additional info on Modules.