# Hit a road block



## mrazz (Oct 11, 2010)

Hello, I’m looking for help. I’m trying to jump start my layout project but can’t seem to get a clear direction for my track design. My son is a passenger train fanatic. We have a small fleet of 85 ft passenger cars that we will be running. Here are my parameters:

I have a large area in my basement to work with, 10 ft x approx. 24 ft

HO scale

30” curve radius

No. 6 Turnouts

I want to design the bench work to go around the wall with at least a 2 ft wide surface area. One major feature we would like to design is a reasonable size Union Station with a track design to accommodate either 2 or 3 passenger platforms. I want to add limited industry to run a freight line also. One design that has caught my eye is No. 76 on page 60 of the MR magazine 102 Realistic Track Plans.That is the general design I was interested in. 

If anyone has any constructive ideas on a track design I would love to hear them, any input would be a big help.

Thanks, Mark


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

welcome.
it sounds like you have good idea of what you want to build, so perhaps more specific questions about specific concerns would be more helpfull. also if you could post that No.76 diagram here instead of people going to look for it, would be awesome as well (i'm not home to take a look if i have that one scanned).


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Mark,

I'm about as far from a layout expert as one could get, but I'll pass on two quick suggestions...

1. Invest in some track layout software. Many guys here on the forum like using AnyRail (Google for website). You can download a starter version for free (limited number of elements), and upgrade from there. Could be a huge help in visualizing your layout before you commit to a real install.

2. This site below has a reasonably large library of layouts of different gages, sizes, configurations, etc. I'm sure seasoned modelers would critique many of them, but you might scan through the lot for some starting configuration ideas:

http://www.thortrains.net/

Cheers,

TJ


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