# 55'x25' HO double deck layout



## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Some may know that I had some computer issues about a month or so ago and I thought I had lost alot of my layouts. At some point before that I had transferred a bunch of files back and forth from my laptop to the desktop on an external harddrive. Well guess what? Yeah, most of my layouts were still on there (yes Hap, I found yours too :thumbsup. Of those was a huge layout I had been working on since earlier this year and have enough done at this point to show everyone. Ignore the grey portion on the right hand side, t wont exist on the real layout but I needed something to connect the lower and upper decks for TrainPlayer.

Since I put this whole thing on one drawing, I'll need to expalin some stuff. The upper part of the drawing is the upper level. It starts in Spokane and works its way around the track clockwise. As it aproaches the right had side it begins its descent into Pendleton and through Baker City. The bottom level officially starts at Boise and again works around clockwise til you hit the end which is Salt Lake City. All the cities on the layout are in somewhat geographical order if this railroad existed in real life, but it doesnt so it is the fictional SLC, Boise, and Spokane RR, or the SBS. It has double mainlines most of the way through until it hits the passes at Baker City, Twin Falls and the Coal Quarry. I might redo the coal area to double mainline, but its single for now. The minimum radius is 30" on the main and I think 22" on the big sidings and spurs and a few 18" on the really small spur tracks. Minimum #6 turnouts on the main, but I'm eventually going to change them out for #8's. Most of the sidings are #4's. The yards at Spokane, Boise, and SLC are the exact same size of 25' with the mains splitting the yards into north/south. I'll eventually fix the maintenance and engine tracks to look more realisic. I split the yards based on what I saw in aerial photos of Spokane, Boise and the TriCities. TriCities actually has a decent yard but a good portion is split by the main.

In total, there is about a half mile of track. I'm stil fine tuning the layout since I want the mains closer together, longer turnouts on the main, and each yard unique to itself and not carbon copied like they are now. What industries are labelled were just for my use on TrainPlayer and could be changed to whatever was desired at the time of the build. I've added the pic but due to size I wont insert it into the post. As soon as I figure out how to evenly split the picture without losing picture quality, I'll repost for better viewing. So enjoy for now!


Edit: I just checked the pic and its hard to see my labels so I'll work on putting this in Photobucket or someplace online that will keep the original size or find a way to break it down into smaller chunks for better viewing.


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

Cabledawg,
And my I ask, Was there something / someone that was the inspiration for this layout??


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Your specs you gave me this past spring. And then I kinda threw in a bunch of my own stuff like taking the double main down to single in a few spots to keep it interesting and the three big yards instead of just two. Of coarse you didnt tell me where the doors/windows are so now you have to teleport into the room 

As I said before, it's still a work in progress and its kinda hard to tell how some things should be done when all I have is a 2D image and the fact that I can only run one train at a time in TrainPlayer due to huge size of the layout. I tried to run a few at one time but unless I keep them close together, I tend to forget to throw switches and that never ends well. 

Edit: And the file name should be a pretty good clue =)


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## deboardfam (Oct 8, 2010)

Wow, that looks amazing. Huge undertaking!


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

I'm still working on yours too. Should be done this weekend. I had one done, but I hated the way it looked so I started over from scratch.


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## deboardfam (Oct 8, 2010)

LOLOL no biggie. I may not get to the table this weekend so I am definately in no hurry. 

Man I need a basement!

Also.. I have been contemplating cutting the corner off of the table (so its not so pointy) on the right side of the V the front corner. Just tossing that out. Nothing major.. just not a 90 in the corner (thats where my front door is).. dont wanna catch a hip on it.


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

You're gonna need your own Zip Code for that thing!!!

Creative work ... keep us posted,

TJ


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

I love It! You are the MAN!!!:thumbsup:

TJ, it does get it's own address!

1/2 mile=2640 feet Hummm is that long enough??? 
Did you work out the scale miles that it would travel?
I'll build the doors windows and entrances around it!
I'm thinking maybe I'll expand the main room to 110' X 65' would then be able to run the whole thing on one level!
I was thinking how about a transfer table off one yard to make it more interesting??? 
I should have enough cork,track, and switches for all of the main most of the yards, I'm going to have to get more yard switches and tortious switch machines! I'm thinking of doing localized control for the yards and computer control for the mains????
I started to buy more #8's,#10's,and #12's then discovered Fast Tracks! I think I'll just buy the #4's and #6's for the yards and make the rest. 
The initial set up is $$ but the final cost per unit is much cheaper.
You just have to have time to build them, and I've got that!
The only one's I don't think I'll build are the double cross overs or the slips, they look like they would be a lot of work to get them to compleatly alined! I thought about laying my own rails and tracks but that's very labor intensive! I want to be able to run this thing some time in the next ten years!
Keep up the great work! What do you pay a guy that has spent a year designing a layout????


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## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

NIMT said:


> What do you pay a guy that has spent a year designing a layout????


Lots of beer as a minimum


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

The Fast Tracks double slip is just like building 2 switches on top of each other. IF you have the skills to build the switches then the double cross is not going to be too hard. I have to date built 3 fasttracks switches and they are simple. My first looks just like the last and they are all working great. The only difference is the amount of time it took to build each one. The fist took about an hour the 3rd I had done in about 40 minutes. I have a friend that can build them in less than 1/2 an hour but then again he has built 30 or 40 of them so far.

Massey


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

NIMT said:


> What do you pay a guy that has spent a year designing a layout????


First off, it's been about 8 months, second is that you've given me enough freebies to pay for this. I'm still not done so dont consider this a final product. Hopefully I'll be back in that part of the country soon and I can help ya build it:thumbsup:

Thanks guys for all the compliments. It has been fun and tedious at the same time. As you can see there were alot more challenges than doing just a 4x8 or a small around the room setup. Trying to figure out how much space to use for this or how long to make a given spur track for an industry. It's like Tetris on steriods 

Sean I dont know what the scale mileage is for the mainline. AnyRail just gives me the total trackage including all the yards and sidings. I think with the track section option, I could seperate the mains from everything else and get a length measurement off that. Regardless, I have run upwards of 5 locos and 60 cars between city limits, but I think 40 would be more ideal. Still a long train by model standards and there's enough aisle space and track to have four to five operators on the layout at one time. If you take it out to 110'x65' and you could easily fit the population of Sandpoint with room to spare


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

That would be great to have you and your gang back in these parts!
I could keep all of you busy running the RR!


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## Massey (Apr 16, 2011)

Well every 60.6 feet is an HO scale mile. So how many feet of track did you say you had again?

Massey


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## cabledawg (Nov 30, 2010)

Total track length is 2895' so about 47.7 scale miles

Mainline estimated at 1270' so about 21 scale miles.

Doesnt sound like much, but I'm sure I can make it bigger


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## NIMT (Jan 6, 2011)

Wife says It's too big it will be under construction forever!
I said yep that's the plan!:laugh:
I think it could be bigger!
Keep me busy and out of trouble!
She hates the wiring and track laying, that's my job!!
She'll do the landscaping and buildings.


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