OK, I am not abandoning Playa Desnuda, but I do want a small roundy round for my 1980's era equipment, especially my pair or Intermountain SD40-T2's, and I am thinking either Tehatchapi or Sierra Nevada style scenery, with the longest mainline run possible to hide the fact that it is a small loop. I have a 2x4 sheet of plywood doing nothing, plenty of Atlas Code 80 Flex...and a desire to build mountains and maybe a station...anyone have any ideas for a track plan that could work?
Some ideas. This site had been around forever Even if you don't use one, might get some ideas and modify one? Also, mine is 2' x 4' , actually two to form an L if I choose, so I am really looking forward to what you do? http://www.cke1st.com/m_train2.htm
Drawing not to scale, and on a 3x7' HCD, but here's what I did: More images here: https://www.trainboard.com/highball/index.php?media/albums/d-rgw-secret-places-sub.1811/
Could always go with Mike Danneman's Grande plan, if you have 5x7' I have always liked this simple layout
Can't believe I've never seen that angle of the layout - I would have remembered as that has awesome visuals (esp the snow side) packed in such a small footprint. I'm making an assumption, but did that make it safely home from APO NY? @bremner - I like your plan and the first thing I thought of was Mike Dannemans layout, too. I saw it way back in the late 90s when it was set up at the local n scale shop in the Denver area. I had never seen such a high quality, small layout before. Always thought it would be neat to build my own for a corner in my small office space. Either of those would look great hosting some tunnel motors.
yeah, if I didn't have kids still living with me, I would be looking at building something bigger in one of their bedrooms....
That is the layout as it currently sits in my train room--I crated it in 7/16" OSB on all 6 sides from Montana to Germany and back to ND, and it survived with only a tiny bit of damage to my snowy trees. One of these days I need to finish the fascia over the removable tunnel side seen there in pink and blue...
Yeah, I drew this for JNS 10+ years ago so it’s set up like a little Japanese fishing village. But the twice-around gets you more runtime than an equivalently sized figure 8.
That's a very long reach to the rear tracks in the corner. What is the max grade for this plan? The two bridges & tunnel at upper left will make it hard to achieve necessary vertical clearances without some pretty steep grades. Personally I prefer a Figure 8 or a Folded Dogbone, since they give you the appearance of running in different directions, rather than orbiting in one direction. And a reverse loop is usually fairly easy to work into them. But your twice-around fits your available space better.
That it is. Unless it could be easily rolled out for access, then quickly rolled back again. Otherwise, I like the plan. Very nice.