# L shaped layout



## solareclipse2 (Oct 14, 2009)

Does anyone here have an L shaped layout? If so could you post pictures of them? I have a 15x8 shaped L and I'm looking for ideas for laying out my track. As it is I basically have two loops that go around the shape of the L and a couple of sidings but that's kind of boring.

Hope you guys can help!

Thanks a lot.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

How about these at the ALL gage Model Railroading site


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## solareclipse2 (Oct 14, 2009)

Yeah, I've seen Thor's pages. I was just hoping to see what other people have done. Thanks.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

I have toyed with an L shape plan. Never built it. I call it mystery mountain. It is a figure 8 in the corner. The whole premise is to have 6 holes in the moutain. With a figure 8 you can detour a train out 3 different holes. Thats the mystery. So if children view it they will be amazed.











It would take 10 switches. A second level could be added over the 8.


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

i guess my layout is somewhat L shaped.
red section extends full 7 feet. above it is some sort of yard. it is 3" elevated above the rest of the layout.
construction of purple section is canceled.


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## montclaire (Nov 30, 2009)

I've been tinkering around with this design, you could adapt it to your space. The mountain may go in favor of a rail yard or roundhouse though.


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## T-Man (May 16, 2008)

Montclaire, call up your image and copy the url. Then paste it when you call up the postcard. The image will show up in your post.

I like that plan. XRULAND should see this plan. He's a Fastrakker too.


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## montclaire (Nov 30, 2009)

Like this?










Hey, it worked! Lol. 

Maybe I should explain why I laid it out the way I did, because it might change again by the next time I post. I didn't want to segregate trains to one side of the or the other, so I made sure that both lines travel through each side of the layout. I figure this gives interest as you might have more than one thing to look at simultaneously. I also shifted some better features to the shorter line, recognizing the larger loop as a feature all it's own. 

The sidings will most likely be doubled so we can operate different engines at will. The coal breaker is the 'regional interest' piece, and I'm thinking of doing a mine shaft with HO scale cars and track. 

Note that the trolley is laid out so that it services the neighborhoods, downtown, and the work force. This is probably as close as the layout gets to being a 'working' model, a decision that I am still debating if I should expand on or not. For example, the engine that will pass the coal breaker has nowhere to actually take the coal, and it's the same engine that services the downtown passenger station, so realism is out the window. 

I have decided to not have any elevated track or grades, but rather to raise the areas inside the return loops and around them with foam board. The back of the platform will most likely be against walls on both sides, so houses and buildings will be staged for effect rather than for realism. For example, houses will all face the operator and not be arranged like in a typical neighborhood, where you would see the back side of the next row of houses. I also plan to moderately step the foam like stadium seating. This does two things; one it shows off all of the models (not just the front row and the roof tops of the ones behind), and two, it serves to partially hide the track running along the back where it gets doubled and tripled up, again adding interest.

At this point I do not have any junctions between the two lines so it would be impossible to swap engines from line to line by way of rail. I am not sure if the plan will stay this way. I have played around with adding a junction but this creates a long stretch of straight track along the front edge of the layout, something I do not want to do. This would serve to create a dead space right where people see the layout first. I think you're better off with dead space to the rear, as your scenery will serve to block full vision of it - the trolley line screws that up enough already. Enough so in fact that I am thinking of putting the trolley on it's own transformer and having it cross both lines at multiple points, in that you would actually have to operate it rather than just be able to let it run like the two main loops. As the trolley is the shortest car on the shortest line, this might no be a bad idea and would make it more of a working model. I think much more enjoyable as well.

I'm going to finalize the plan in a couple weeks, and then whats on the paper is what gets built. If I had more room I would actually perfer to run two trolleys so that the entire layout was serviced, but how big am I going to make the thing? I would guess the layout as pictured to be roughly 15x10 with a depth of just over 60 inches. If you wanted to fit it on a 15x8, you could just eliminate the industrial section and close the gap on the return loops.


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## tankist (Jun 11, 2009)

sounds like you have a plan.I'd prefer to have the lines interconnected but thats JMO. if you ok with 2 isolated sections thats all that matters


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## montclaire (Nov 30, 2009)

It's still open for change, there has been talk of adding a roundhouse in place of the mountain, and in that case I would want both loops connected. Where or how that may happen is up in the air. 

Should that be the case, I may consider an 'up and over' track used solely for transfers. I hate adding needless track, as wherever you put rails you are stuck with dead airspace.


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## montclaire (Nov 30, 2009)

I wanted to post a follow up on this layout as we have been working the bugs out of it and are getting ready to build the table. 

I decided to make a couple big changes after figuring exactly what the scale would be so it would work better in the space we have available. The 'neighborhood' section is now gone completely and the outside loop comes back around the bootm where the trolley track is and connects with the 'mountain' loop. This means that we are now using no switches on the outside loop, an unintended cost savings measure. The inside loop remains very much the same. This gives us an L that is roughly 10' x 10'.

The trolley track has been eliminated in favor of cleaner lines and more space for buildings and accessories. Instead, there will be a switch off of the inside loop with a trolley barn. This allows a train to still run on the outside loop but the operator can choose to run one of two additional trains or a trolley on the inside loop. Best of both worlds.

We will be using probably four or five sidings, enough to allow a swap of consists on the main loop and swapping engines and consists on the inner loop. We wanted to include a cross over but the more narrow 048 switches required only come in remote operation and it's not worth the coin. Both lines are very near the endge of the layout in several areas so swapping engines or cars is really not an issue like it may be on some other massive RRs. 

I'll post pics soon


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