Model Railroading

[VaPaL]

Any model railroaders here in the forums? I know that there are some train lovers here 

So I'm thinking in coming back to this hobby, more like starting at it actually, since I was a kid/teen and it was more like a toy at that time .

Anyway, I'm design my track layout and my ideia is to have a big city with a big yard and station in one side and a smaller city on the other, some farms in the middle. I like the idea of geting cargo/passengers at one place and delivering it/them at another. But this is just the main concept, I don't know if it will be possible to do it all or, if it's possible, if the result would be good. I will adapt it as I go. Size is not a problem, so I'm not concerned about it.

Is started with the yard and the station of the mais city, I was going for a square design, but I changed my mind to make it around the room so the tracks will change a bit. The problem is that I'm not happy with it, and I don't know much about real life train operations to make a better design. I doing my search but I thought that you guys could help me out or point me in the right direction  

BTW I'm design in HO scale.

Thanks!

(Sorry if this is a bit confusing, I'm at working so I'm writing intermittently)

[The Raging Sandwich]

I have a cool table that I'm not really using anymore:

Spoiler

It's a bit of a mess because I haven't used it in a while, just like that whole entire room. I only really use it for watching movies now and keeping old toys in.

[VaPaL]

@The Raging Sandwich Cool! Looks like the one that I had (may still have... somewhere) but way better build! Mine had problems with the tracks, they didn't fit no matter how weel I place them, at some point they would overlap or lack. Don't know why, I check every single one, and the match the instructions. Solutions was leave some gaps spread across the model, but it caused some problems.

 

[Cydonian Monk]

Maybe......

Why do you ask?  

[ZooNamedGames]

Umm....

Calling @adsii1970 to one of his other favorite pastimes?

[Dman979]

I wish I could help, but the last time I did anything with trains was when they had faces on them. :/

Good luck!

[VaPaL]

@Cydonian Monk That's AWESOME!!! Maybe someday I get to this level!!

I'm having trouble design the yard in a way that it looks realistic. I look some real ones, but I had no luck so far. This is my lastest 'design', it looks promissins, but I don't feel confident. Any tips, literature or something? I looked on forums but most of what I found was about operations or what is what and how it works, but not so much in how to design one properly.

 

EDIT: the lower part is a station, the upper is the yard.

Edited October 21, 2016 by VaPaL

[tg626]

Virtually, it's called Trainz.

[Cydonian Monk]

Thanks. For what it's worth that's not my layout, though I did build and/or paint everything in that scene except the post office and the Thurmond depot, so it might as well have been.  

Here's a slightly different angle:

 

52 minutes ago, VaPaL said:

Any tips, literature or something?

Yes. Start small. Figure out what works for you and what doesn't. Don't be afraid to throw everything out and start over. Actually throw everything out and start over. Avoid the temptation to put in too much track. Never have track parallel to the front of the layout. Never take any rule too seriously.

 

I'd start by digging through the LD Sig literature, though I'm not sure how much is available for free or even still relevant. 

http://ldsig.org/

 

Also check out the ARM website. Dan has some nice sketches of small yards that might be right up your alley. 

http://appalachianrailroadmodeling.com/

 

I've found small, less complex, less cluttered scenes with larger buildings work best. Here's one of my late friend's scenes, part of the Rochelle, IL section of his layout. Over the five or six feet of that scene there's really only six car spots. Four on the opposite side of the mains, two on the front side. (The rest of the CalPac plant is just to the right, out of view.) Of course there's more work for the train crew to do in Rochelle, but this scene really came out nice.

 

Edited October 21, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[VaPaL]

@Cydonian Monk Thanks a lot for the help! I'll try to follow your tips, the hardest part will be to avoid putting too much track. Trains and everything around them are pretty big things in real life, so I find difficult to be satisfied with small trains and yards, for instance, but that's just when i'm imagining, I found pleasant to see even the smallest one.

The first picture you posted has 3 locomotives so I imagine that that model is kinda big.

I like both, a more closet and cluttered scene in a city on one side and a moral open rural area on the ohter, that way I imagine I could role play a bit more and with more variety. But everything is uncertain for me, everything I see I like . Here in my country there ins't any big community around this hobby and not even raileways and trains either, so it's hard for me to go and look for my self.

I find your models and your friend's are amazing, and that quality is something I never seen around here, sure it exists, but it much more rarer.

 

About starting small, my plan is to build section by section, it section whole and fuctional (with temporary tracks), then expand it until the final result. It probably will take some years to finish, but...  

[VaPaL]

@Cydonian Monk So this is my 'final' layout for the big city yard and station... it ended up pretty  big (8m long x 1m wide) , but it's very simple to shorten it. Beside it's size, what are your thoughts on it?

I don't know if I like that diamond section of the yard, I may change it's orientation.

 

EDIT:

Edited October 21, 2016 by VaPaL

[NSEP]

7 year old me would love to see this!

[Cydonian Monk]

47 minutes ago, VaPaL said:

what are your thoughts on it?

Which country's railroads are you modeling?

The first thing that jumps out at me is that bubble loop. What is that, a 25cm radius? Presumably it's only for turning locomotives, and very small ones at that. 

I'd be inclined to add more to the yard lead for the large yard at the top of this sketch. You need some space to pull cars from the tracks as you're working them. You have a bit of that at the top, to the right side of that middle yard ladder, which is good. I'd almost pull the two other tracks in at that point, so you can get to all five of the main yard tracks from that one ladder.

What's the diamond yard for? It seems rather short, track-length wise, with a lot of mechanical complexity. If it's serving a specific goal, then ok.

Which side is against the wall? I'd be concerned about being able to reach either the top or bottom of this from 1 meter out, especially if working the yard. The passenger part doesn't need to be in reach so much, as I'd assume any train building for such would take place in a coach yard. 

Edited October 21, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[VaPaL]

9 minutes ago, Cydonian Monk said:

Which country's railroads are you modeling?

Brazil's railroads, but there aren't as many here as in US or Europe to use as an exemples. Here are some (http://imgur.com/a/OHWva) the first one is on my city, but I haven't been there for some years.

The loop is 27,5cm in radius, and yep, only for locomotives, what radius do you suggest? I'll try to add more space for maneuverability, I'll see some videos of yards operation to get a feeling for that.

The diamond have no specifica purpose, it's there to add more tracks as possible, they are 920cm long. The wall would be at the top, but I'm usure about that yet, I want to see both sides of this, so I may leave some space behind it or figure a way to put it in the middle of the room (somehow). I was thinking in using the sema yard for coaches, bad idea?

[Cydonian Monk]

25 minutes ago, VaPaL said:

The diamond have no specifica purpose, it's there to add more tracks as possible

The amount of space used by the switches will make such a yard nearly useless. Might only fit one or two cars once you consider clearance points, etc, and it might fit fewer cars than it would if it was just a straight section of track.

One idea: Use a similar design in the same location and have only two or three tracks: specifically for locomotives or storing other non-revenue cars (ex: cabooses, if they're still a thing). Not a bad design if it has a purpose.

The radius of the loop may or may not be a problem, depending on what you try to run on it. Many HO-scale locomotives will have problems on that tight of a radius, unless they're small locos. I know modern Brazilian locomotives are basically the same thing we have in the US, but 4-axle units not coupled to anything may be fine with 27.5cm. 

Edited October 21, 2016 by Cydonian Monk

[monstah]

Railroader? Hell, no, I'm a sandbox GM!  

[VaPaL]

@Cydonian Monk Thanks for the tips man. I wil be without a computer for the weekend, but I will tale what you said, do some research, visit my city's yard and make more concise plan and considerations of what I want from this model. From that, on Monday, I will make some adjustments on my design. If it's ok for you, may I keep clarifying some doubts and getting feedback with you?

[Cydonian Monk]

1 hour ago, VaPaL said:

If it's ok for you, may I keep clarifying some doubts and getting feedback with you?

Certainly. Feel free to ask any questions you have.

[CAKE99]

Well... One time when I was 6 or 7, at Christmas, IDK specifically when, I made a large-ish rail thingy around the room with the tree in it using Thomas the Tank Engine track parts, not a model railroad, buuuuut...

Spoiler

 

[Shpaget]

Model railroading is not my hobby. It's my day job (during the night, I'm Batman, but that's a different story).

Seriously.... This is what I do:

www.backo.hr

(English version of the site may suck, pictures are multilingual, though)

 

Edited October 22, 2016 by Shpaget

[The Raging Sandwich]

7 hours ago, Shpaget said:

Model railroading is not my hobby. It's my day job (during the night, I'm Batman, but that's a different story).

Seriously.... This is what I do:

www.backo.hr

(English version of the site may suck, pictures are multilingual, though)

 

That's awesome! Wish I had stuff like that for mine... 

[legoclone09]

Does putting Lionel tracks and setting up a train around a Christmas tree count? I also used to make Lego tunnels. That was fun, one of the best parts of Christmastime (other than presents).

[Ultimate Steve]

Well, I did some of it a while ago, I've got a pretty big "train" table. One day I decided that I'd go all out and tear everything down so I could plan out an epic railroad with mountains and bridges and cities and everything. However, it hasn't happened yet and that table is currently covered in model rocketry supplies.

[TheKosanianMethod]

I have no actual table or anything,  I just have a whole bunch of stuff in boxes. However,  I can recommend a good book: "Scale Model Railroading" by Leslie T. White. I have no idea if it's still in print, but I have read it,  and it taught me almost everything I know about this topic. Hope that helps!

[The Raging Sandwich]

11 minutes ago, TheKosanianMethod said:

I have no actual table or anything,  I just have a whole bunch of stuff in boxes. However,  I can recommend a good book: "Scale Model Railroading" by Leslie T. White. I have no idea if it's still in print, but I have read it,  and it taught me almost everything I know about this topic. Hope that helps!

I'll have to read that some time.