A down to earth layout

In my last post I described a 2 x 8 ft. layout that will probably never fit in my apartment. Since I am probably going to be here for another year and a half I needed to come up with a more realistic plan if I was going to build a new layout.

So I came up with a modified version of my existing layout. I kept the thinks I liked and changed the things I didn't.

One the things that I discovered once I started operating my layout was the passing track / run around by the yard was too long. In reality this was never used as a passing track so it didn't have to be long enough to contain a full train. And even if it was, it was much longer then the typical 3 to 4 car trains that I would run. All this length means it takes longer to run around cars.

Another feature that didn't operate as intended was the switching lead /pocket. In my original plan it had been isolated from the rest of the track to allow a switcher to idle there while a road engine connected/disconnected from a cut of cars. This never happend since I forgot to include a place for the road power to idle while the switcher was working. It was also supposed to keep the switching operations off of the "running tracks". In reality I ended up using the passing side "running track" as the switch lead and the former lead was used as an interchange or special yard track. I also had problems with the two switches point to point in this area. This layout removes the lead and places a seperate interchange on the other side of the layout.

This layout also includes two engine storage track so I can run two engines without having to manually remove one from the layout. The sidings are also insolated so that engines can be parked in various locations while the other engine does a task.

As I mentioned before the interchange track was moved to the other side of the layout. It faces the oppisite direction from the two industrial sidings to add some variety. It also includes a short run around. This lets me operate trains in either direction without having to rely on the single huge passing track I had in my current layout.