One Room, Two Track Plans

BigJake Jun 8, 2022

  1. BigJake

    BigJake TrainBoard Member

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    The July '22 issue of MRR has good article article presenting two very different plans for a small, spare bedroom layout.

    The author's chosen space is a 9x14.5 foot bedroom with a door and including a 2x5 foot wardrobe closet at one end. The latter is to be used by both layouts.

    The author chose a loop and a dogbone for the two base designs, and documents the major decisions and rationale well. Both are in HO scale (this is MRR after all), but he does mention how much more could be done in the space in N scale (duh!) Both use the same minimum radius (18" HO), support running in either direction, and include staging tracks. That last detail really ended up limiting his options on the loop plan, since he needed a wye that chewed up a lot of space. The dogbone plan has the staging wrapped around one end of the bone, and a double crossover to accommodate access to/from either end of staging from either track in the shank of the bone. The loop includes a draw bridge for operator entrance to the middle of the loop, while the dogbone's interior is open, but he uses a duck-under to access staging hidden behind a backdrop.

    In the end, he prefers the dogbone design, which is actually a twisted dogbone, wrapped around the walls of the room, but he also classifies it as a Figure 8 plan. Tomaetoes, tomahtoes...

    I could have agreed with his conclusion from the start, without reading the article (folded dogbone plans are my favorite,) but it is informative to go through his design and evaluation process for each, with their respective limitations and advantages.

    In closing, he encourages the reader to "break out your graph paper and sketch out all your ideas before settling on one." I'll break out my favorite track-planning software instead!

    Anyway, I thought the article and his design choices were well justified and interesting, and would like to hear others' opinions on it.
     
  2. Shortround

    Shortround TrainBoard Member

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    My copy was laying here not opened yet. So I went looking and the room is similar to what I have. Mine is 10x13 with the door on the other wall from that corner and the closet runs the full with. But the closet wall opposite the door is 4'3" long. So running into the closet is out. I still use it anyway.
    So would go with the dog bone layout with turnarounds on both ends. 10' wall, 10' wall with window and then a13' wall. So the loops wouldn't be opposite each other. Leaving about 2' between.
    No bridges/gates for this old man.
    I liked that abandoned farmhouse as well. It looks familiar.
     
    BigJake likes this.

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