# Layout recommendations - HO



## thx712517 (Dec 31, 2010)

I've been a "run on the floor" guy for a while, but I've finally been granted a dedicated space for a setup. I've got a corner of one room in our apartment. 

Space is 24" in depth, and roughly 4' to 5' in length. I have the option for grafting on a smaller 2' segment to turn it into an L if I wanted. 

As far as rolling stock is concerned, I have a Hornby T9 4-4-0 (OO scale) in BR livery and a small oil tanker car. I also have a NYC 2-8-2 and an HH600 in HO, as well as a half dozen coal cars, a few boxcars, and a cattle car, all NYC. 

I was gifted an HO/OO scale station house. All the track is Bachmann EZ track (18" radius curves), including six switches (three of each).

I'd like to construct a point to point line to make the most of my space. I'm thinking an end of line layout. I'd like to incorporate the switches and the station house. Short term I feel like I could run English or American locomotives on the track, but when it comes time to work on more scenery I'll need to make a decision. I really enjoy the Hornby product line, but gosh, expensive!

I've uploaded my thought for a 1950s-era American end of line with a caboose converted to a diner for some fun scenery, but after viewing hundreds of layouts it feels underwhelming and the shunting possibilities are lacking. I also took a shot at something a little closer to what I've been thinking lately, but it just looks pathetic. 

Do I modify an Inglenook? Morph a Tymesaver? And what do I stick on the other end of the line?


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## broox (Apr 13, 2012)

I think if you've got space to run an L shape, you wouldnt regret it, just a touch more space that might make the difference.

I'm gonna go check out your plans now


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## PRR975 (May 5, 2012)

This is just personal musing, but since you have 24 inches deep, you could make a main line that stretches around the switches, making things more interesting, especially if you run dcc.


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## broox (Apr 13, 2012)

I like it, not too full on. Means you can focus on scenery, and giving it the detail it deserves.

Personally, I can't resist cramming as much track as possible into ay space, I find it hard to restrain myself! And the worst part is, I know I'm worse off for it 

But dioramas like shays (and others, I forget off the top of my head. Apologies.) look fantastic. You can build so much detail into them, really giving the scene purpose, which is what its all about!

One quick tip I've read is not to lay the tracks perfectly parallel, have them offset a bit, its something simple that just adds a touch of realism.

Have you looked at many track plans?
I spent ages looking at plans on this site www.thortrains.net . Its designed terribly, but theres great info in there if you spend some time.
I think these two pages (and the links from them) probably gave me the most use, so its a good start I guess 
http://www.thortrains.net/poorhox.html
http://www.thortrains.net/4holayx.html

But theres are heaps of other sites around, a good search term is "shelf layout" or something similar.

thers also this site, which you've most likely stumbled upon 
http://www.carendt.com/microplans/index.html
If memory serves, the front page doesnt load, so you've gotta use the links* 
*might be fixed now, not sure.


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## thx712517 (Dec 31, 2010)

Been spending a bit of time on the websites you've listed and churning over what I want to do. I'd like to run a line with two stations, one of them with an engine shed and water tower (possibly coaling facilities later on) for some scenic potential. I used an Inglenook-style layout and sketched a rough idea for that end of the line. 

Maybe I'm wrong but using an Inglenook-style layout for an end-of-line makes it feel British. At the moment I'd say it was a BR branch line served by a T9 being used as a mixed traffic engine. Two suburban coaches for passenger service, and maybe four or five freight trucks (small tanker, coal car or two, a box car, a brake van). Not sure what I'd put on the other end of the line, but I'd concentrate more of my shunting activities on that end. 

At the same time I feel like since I've already got a NYC 2-8-2 and an HH600, as well as a number of coal cars and a boxcar or two, it'd make the most sense money-wise to continue with NYC equipment and do an upstate NY branch line in the late 40s early 50s transitional period. Some place way out of the way and just about forgotten. It just seems like there's a lack of NYC locomotives out there in HO that could handle an 18" radius curve. 

There was a mention of stretching the mainline around the switches - how so? I like the layout shown here but I might trim it down a bit. Having a hard time making it fit my vague mental justification for said branch line, which I picture as being out in the sticks somewhere.

My apologies for not being more helpful. I'm up in the air with English versus American. I'd like to use as much of the stuff I already have (18" radius track, bunch of switches, some long straights, a small branch line style station house) which puts a crimp in acquiring bigger locomotives.


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## thx712517 (Dec 31, 2010)

I think I'm leaning toward selling off my NYC rolling stock and going English. I grew up watching the Railway Series so I've got a soft spot for the English locomotives, and I can probably fit more action into the same space using the smaller Hornby stock.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

broox said:


> I spent ages looking at plans on this site www.thortrains.net . Its designed terribly, but theres great info in there if you spend some time.


Ugh, that site is terrible. Pretty much all of the "switching layout" plans are entirely useless. Just a random collection of switches.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

thx712517 said:


> Space is 24" in depth, and roughly 4' to 5' in length. I have the option for grafting on a smaller 2' segment to turn it into an L if I wanted.
> 
> I'd like to construct a point to point line to make the most of my space. I'm thinking an end of line layout. I'd like to incorporate the switches and the station house.


At only 5' of length, you won't really be building a point to point; you'll be able to just build the one point, with possible a fiddle track attached at the one end, British terminal layout style.



> I've uploaded my thought for a 1950s-era American end of line with a caboose converted to a diner for some fun scenery, but after viewing hundreds of layouts it feels underwhelming and the shunting possibilities are lacking. I also took a shot at something a little closer to what I've been thinking lately, but it just looks pathetic.


Of the two drawings you posted with the original post, I like Scenario 1 the best. Scenario 2 doesn't have much going for it.

Why?

Scenario 1 has your double ended track to perform a runaround and a couple of spurs. The runaround and parallel spur make for a reasonable, if tiny, minor branchline terminal. An arriving train should be able to turn around (at least get the engine to the other end, the engine can run in reverse, but it should be pulling, not pushing the train. A runaround is also needed to move the engine to the other end of a car or group of cars in order the switch spurs in opposite directions. Scenario 2 has none of this.

One of your diagrams marked a separate track as a "refueling" area, but in such a small terminal, any servicing would be done on the same track as the little engine house. The remaining track can be used to service an industry.



> Do I modify an Inglenook? Morph a Tymesaver? And what do I stick on the other end of the line?


The thing to remember about puzzle layouts like the Inglenook or the TimeSaver is that they are specifically designed as a puzzle, not a realistic layout. They serve their purpose, *if you recognize what that purpose actually is*, but aren't really recommended to develop an actual layout off of.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

thx712517 said:


> At the same time I feel like since I've already got a NYC 2-8-2 and an HH600, as well as a number of coal cars and a boxcar or two, it'd make the most sense money-wise to continue with NYC equipment and do an upstate NY branch line in the late 40s early 50s transitional period.


If you do keep the NYC stuff instead of going British (which you mention you're leaning to in your next post) I'd add a small freight shed and a coal dealer with an unloading trestle to your plan to use your existing cars. I get the feeling that if you go the British route you're starting with more of a clean start.

The first and best question to answer before going forward is what you want to represent or accomplish with the layout. 

Is the layout only going to run some light passenger service? The last diagram you posted based on the "inglenook" plan (which really isn't going to work for a terminal in any case) has just a station track and track labelled for parking coaches.
Do you want to run freight cars?
Do you want to switch cars from industry spurs?
Do you want to run a mix of freight and passenger? (Probably unrealistic to combine too much in only 5' of space, but you could model a branchline station served by a "mixed" train, that handles freight and passenger cars in the same train. This was common on minor branchlines in the 1950s and before.)


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## thx712517 (Dec 31, 2010)

The layout would run, let's say, a Sunday passenger service, with the work week dedicated to a mixed goods train. 

I'd like to run some freight cars, because I like the variety of appearance and being able to put more units in the same length of space. 

I'd like to switch cars, either in a yard assembling a train to go "off layout" or a lightly developed industry. 

At the moment since I'm space-constrained I'd like to make a branch line, which limits me to smaller locomotives. When I'm a house dweller rather than apartment, I'd like to expand and grab some bigger locomotives - a Peppercorn A1 if I went English, or a Mohawk 4-8-2 if I went American. 

Still torn between the appearance and variety of English locomotives which I really like, versus the "I was born in New York and the NYC is my railroad" emotion. 

So how would I go about developing scenario 1 to better suit a mixed goods branch line?


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

Well, ultimately in your case the space limitations are going to be the biggest concern. You said you have about 5' of length? That's going to be difficult.

Scenario 1 is a good start for a reasonable small branchline yard, with a runaround and a storage track.

However, the railroad doesn't just move freight cars between yards. The railroad is in the business of shipping goods from a shipping customer to a receiving customer. Without a railroad served customer to which to actually send a car, there would be reason for the branch's existence. (Although it could have been picked up on the way to this terminal, on the "off-layout" portion of the railroad.)

A few possibilities that you could do that would be common and appropriate:
-add a small freight shed next to or attached to the station for express and "less-than-carload" package freight.
-a fuel dealer (coal for home heating, and in later years probably also handled fuel oil)
-a small feed mill or grain elevator (in the '50s grain was still shipped in boxcars)
-cattle pens and a loading ramp for stock cars
-a team track (track with an open driveway next to it for companies not otherwise served by the railroad to receive shipments and unload a railcar into trucks or wagon teams, depending on era)

Obviously you likely won't have room for more than one or two of these suggestions. There are of course always plenty of other possibilities as well like various factories or mills, but these will take up more space.


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## thx712517 (Dec 31, 2010)

I think going with what I currently own, I have more stuff geared toward an American layout. The station I was gifted doesn't look very English. Let's cast the dice and say this shelf layout is American, somewhere in the late 1940s to early 1950s. 

So let's say it's a branch line in rural upstate New York. There's a 2-8-2 (IHC, DCC ready but not equipped) for hauling the larger stuff, and an HH600 (Atlas, DCC ready but not equipped) for yard work. Mixed freight - some coal, a boxcar or two, a cattle car and a caboose. A tanker for diesel fuel sitting on a track out of the way. 

I like the idea of using a team track and a freight shed at this particular station. Maybe it makes more sense to make it a stop along the way rather than an end of line. At the moment I have about 5' to work with. Given time, I might be able to negotiate that up to 7', possibly 8', at the cost of width. 18" or so instead of 24".


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