# Eager to learn



## Cowboy (Dec 31, 2010)

I am new to the hobby although I have been waiting a couple of decades to start. I finally made the plunge now that DCC is available as a starter set. From what I have read DCC appears to be a system that I would really enjoy.

My initial setup is the Bachmann Digital Commander and First Railroad Track Pack. My bench will be two 4x8 tables setup in a "U" shape. Here is the rough drawing of the track plan I am working on.










It will be built and expand to this in stages as I learn (and purchase) more. Most of the switches, at this time, will be manual and I will only have two trains.

Please feel free to offer any and all suggestions. Looking forward to learning much more on here. 

Thanks for your patience.


----------



## Reckers (Oct 11, 2009)

Cowboy, welcome to the forum! Nice to have you join us. As for your layout, my only critique is that you have four places that seem to have 4 places where a turnout is followed either immediately or almost immediately by a second turnout. Most regard this as a high-derailment practice. 

Best wishes with it!


----------



## Cowboy (Dec 31, 2010)

Reckers said:


> ... As for your layout, my only critique is that you have four places that seem to have 4 places where a turnout is followed either immediately or almost immediately by a second turnout. Most regard this as a high-derailment practice.


Hmm, interesting observation, and that makes sense. I will work to separate them further (or remove some). Is there a 'rule of thumb' distance to follow for multiple turnouts?


----------



## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Cowboy,

Welcome to the forum ... great to have you onboard.

You might want to look into track layout software options. Several guys here on the forum have had good success with AnyRail, and are pleased with how the library of track sections helps them to visualize and plan their layout efficiently. You can download a demo/starter version of AnyRail for free, to try it out a bit. www.anyrail.com

Reck's point is a good one. My HO layout is too simple for me to comment with any depth of experience, but you might also want to delve into the track layout standards and suggestions offered by the Nat'l Model RR Assoc (NMRA):

http://www.nmra.org/standards/sandrp/consist.html

Good luck!

TJ


----------



## Cowboy (Dec 31, 2010)

tjcruiser,

Thank you for the software advice. I checked them out a while ago, but they don't have anything for my Mac. I even sent Anyrail an email to see if they were coming up with something for the 'other' computer platform and they said not at this time.


----------



## Reckers (Oct 11, 2009)

Cowboy, a good guide is to have at least one length of straight track between any two turnouts. Even a half-length is better than connecting them directly to one another. 

Also, consider your direction of travel on the layout---most run either clockwise or counterclockwise, but avoid both. Your spurs on the right are goin to require you to run in reverse (clockwise) on the right, but the general layout seems to lend itself to counterclockwise operation. That's not a criticism, just an observation of how it's going to work when you have two or more trains running at once.


----------



## sstlaure (Oct 12, 2010)

I highly recommend a book that I've been reading "Track Planning for Realistic Operation" by John Armstrong. It has tons of track layout recommendations to avoid derailing, etc. It will give you tons of ideas as well on overall layout use. With as much space as you have available, you can have a wicked layout.


----------



## Reckers (Oct 11, 2009)

And finally, lest you take any of our advice too seriously, let me acquaint you with Model Railroading Rule #1. "On any layout, the sole authority of what is correct or proper is the one who runs the layout. All other opinions should be politely listened to, and then ignored unless they agree with you." In other words, it's yours: have fun with it and don't let anyone, including us, tell you how to do it. Your way is the right way: what we offer is good advice, but do it the way you want to.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:


----------



## MattyVoodoo (Oct 26, 2010)

I agree with Reckers, it's up to you, if space is a factor, put turnouts together. Sometimes, the track layout and space dictates a less than optimum choice, but if it physically works, do whatever you want.


----------



## jbmombasa (Jan 16, 2011)

Cowboy said:


> tjcruiser,
> 
> Thank you for the software advice. I checked them out a while ago, but they don't have anything for my Mac. I even sent Anyrail an email to see if they were coming up with something for the 'other' computer platform and they said not at this time.


Hi Cowboy, if you can get a copy of Windows, then you may consider running it on your Mac using VirtualBox. It's free for personal use. Cheers.


----------

