Feedback for design for my garden layout

[DGE-Railroad]

Afternoon all!

I thought I'd spend a bit of my home isolation thinking of the design for my first layout.

The Home Office has graciously given approval for work to be carried out on a bit of garden to the side of the house. So I've come up with a quick design before permission is revoked.
From everything I've read most designs evolve rapidly over time anyway, so I'm not expecting this to be the finished article but something to start with.

I'm expecting to make this initial layout elevated and will be running Deadrail Battery and hopefully some live steam. All pointwork is going to be pneumatically controlled.

I'd be grateful for a bit of feedback on the layout as it stands, whether it's missing anything particularly useful or there are any glaring issues.

I've tried to keep things fairly simple and I've not got to the point of working out the exact radii and pointwork yet - I will lay everything out on the ground once I have the rough idea. I wanted to keep large radii wherever I could, with the exception of the tightish little return loop in the top right, which coulc be used by the smaller locos.

One concern I do have is that it's an enclosed double loop which may make getting to/maintaining the centre a bit of a pain as you constantly need to cross the track.

Thanks!
Darren

 

[PhilP]

How elevated will the track be?

I assume you need access for a mower, as well as yourself?


If you are deadrail, then a lift-out section / bridge is an easy option, as there is nor need for electrical continuity.. It is awkward for acces during a running session though.

I think I would possibly try to incorporate a lift-out section for mower / heavy access, and perhaps a pedestrian footbridge, as a feature?

 

[dunnyrail]

You rightly say that getting into the middle on a raised line is a complete pain.

Are you totally wedded to the double track loops?

If not perhaps a Dog-bone may work a little better in the space you have available. Something like this or a variant on the theme gives you an out and back via the triangle plus a good length of double track if that is what you would like. Also as an out and back you get almost twice the length of run perambulating around the garden almost twice. Plus no duck under! And you still have a continuous run again much longer than the loos as in your original. Plus somewhat cheeper on track.

 

[DGE-Railroad]

How elevated will the track be?

I assume you need access for a mower, as well as yourself?


If you are deadrail, then a lift-out section / bridge is an easy option, as there is nor need for electrical continuity.. It is awkward for acces during a running session though.

I think I would possibly try to incorporate a lift-out section for mower / heavy access, and perhaps a pedestrian footbridge, as a feature?

Thanks Phil, just the sort of thing I was after.
I haven't settled on a height yet, but would like to keep it low in order to be able to incorporate a bit of scenery without digging up the garden to lay the track on the ground.

I've given some thought to the benefits greater height brings from the viewpoint of maintenance, decrepitude, running live steam and so on but;

I'm not convinced this will be the layouts final place and would like to get running fairly quickly (lending itself to a raised trackbed)

I'd prefer a lower height - I'm still limber and active enough for it not to present a problem at the moment, I don't have any live steam at the moment and it would mean I could maybe still incorporate some ground level features that would be harder to do at say, waist height.

Access to the centre as you say is at least easier due to the lack of conductivity needed. A lift out section would be ideal for maintenance but less than ideal for pedestrian access.
The idea of a walkway/bridge I really like. It could add feature as a tunnel and if wide enough, could accommodate garden maintenance equipment - I think that's what I'd favour

 

[Greg Elmassian]

Keep the elevated design, make a lift out double track section for access, the folded dogbone kills your minimum radius. Live steam locos are very sensitive to grades and curves, watch videos and you can see this. Even though remote control helps, it still presents difficulties, so I think your original plan is good.

How level is the area? (thinking about the variation of the distance from the ground) I would shoot for a dead level layout.,

Greg

 

[DGE-Railroad]

You rightly say that getting into the middle on a raised line is a complete pain.

Are you totally wedded to the double track loops?

If not perhaps a Dog-bone may work a little better in the space you have available. Something like this or a variant on the theme gives you an out and back via the triangle plus a good length of double track if that is what you would like. Also as an out and back you get almost twice the length of run perambulating around the garden almost twice. Plus no duck under! And you still have a continuous run again much longer than the loos as in your original. Plus somewhat cheeper on track.
View attachment 264359

Lovely! Nope I'm not precious about the design at all, the double loop can go if it's causing problems.
So I wondered about the ubiquitous dog bone bit wasn't sure if be able to make it work the way I'd want it to. Definitely worthy of laying out though I think, given the benefits you've outlined.
My reasons for not opting for it had mainly been;

Return loops seemed likely to be fairly tight

It seemed as though the layout would start to encroach on the middle of the garden quite a bit, due to the loops.

I want to try and keep the layout from looking too invasive and I think my worry is that unless it's ground level, I've already got a job doing that.

A deformed dogbone though, certainly solves a few issues so I'll definitely lay it out to see how it looks.

With regard to track, I'm hoping not to buy any, I've got a fair amount squirrelled away - mostly Flexi but with some 16' curved track too and a good sprinkling of long points and crossings

 

[a98087]

Looking at the first initial plan, you might want at least one crossover to allow trains to access both loops form the bottom left station.

And as your deadrail you can have any combination of junctions,, wyes and reverse loops. As you have no wiring, so be creative!

 

[DGE-Railroad]

Keep the elevated design, make a lift out double track section for access, the folded dogbone kills your minimum radius. Live steam locos are very sensitive to grades and curves, watch videos and you can see this. Even though remote control helps, it still presents difficulties, so I think your original plan is good.

How level is the area? (thinking about the variation of the distance from the ground) I would shoot for a dead level layout.,

Greg

Thanks Greg. That's reassuring to hear and I appreciate your input. The ground itself is pretty flat and I'd told myself I should probably try and rule out grades if I could (I did fancy a decent trestle bridge which kind of goes against the low height I was shooting for but there is no doubt a compromise that could be had between the two...)

 

[Greg Elmassian]

I'd read some specific live steam forums too, like the one on LargeScaleCentral.com and mylargescale.com you will get a lot of experience as people describe their layouts.

double track is a great idea, as you can be steaming up one loco while another runs. A separate passing siding as a steamup track is also good.

Greg

 

[DGE-Railroad]

Looking at the first initial plan, you might want at least one crossover to allow trains to access both loops form the bottom left station.

And as your deadrail you can have any combination of junctions,, wyes and reverse loops. As you have no wiring, so be creative!

Brilliant!

Thanks very much, that's a really good point (no pun intended ) I'd completely overlooked the fact that the initial design prevented this.

 

[Paul M]

One thing I would think about in the original scheme would make the terminus junction triangular, so you can access it from both directions, save having a loop

 

[DGE-Railroad]

One thing I would think about in the original scheme would make the terminus junction triangular, so you can access it from both directions, save having a loop

Good point. Thanks Paul!

 

[voodoopenguin]

Greg mentioned levels. You might be surprised that what initially seems like a level site does have a slope. I would suggest working out those slopes by driving a peg in the ground and gradually working round the site with more pegs and a spirit level. It might end up being ground level for a small section (easy access) and elevated elsewhere.

Paul

 

[DGE-Railroad]

Greg mentioned levels. You might be surprised that what initially seems like a level site does have a slope. I would suggest working out those slopes by driving a peg in the ground and gradually working round the site with more pegs and a spirit level. It might end up being ground level for a small section (easy access) and elevated elsewhere.

Paul

Thanks for the wise words Paul, will do

 

[Paul M]

Greg mentioned levels. You might be surprised that what initially seems like a level site does have a slope. I would suggest working out those slopes by driving a peg in the ground and gradually working round the site with more pegs and a spirit level. It might end up being ground level for a small section (easy access) and elevated elsewhere.

Paul

Although some sort of incline can make for interesting running

 

[David1226]

Am I the only one with concerns about balancing the track on top of those trees, one strong wind and...…..

David

 

[DGE-Railroad]

Am I the only one with concerns about balancing the track on top of those trees, one strong wind and...…..

David

That'd be madness David - I'm going to cut tunnels through them all instead

 

[Paradise]

Each to his own but trains look much better when weaving around corners each way rather than following the square circle of rigid conformity. As the real ones do going around hill and dale to consistent grade.
Apart from the return loop in the first plan above the train will either be going straight or around each corner the same way. If you are also in the habit of always running in the same direction, premature wear will occur on one side of the consists.

 

[a98087]

here is a photo, showing then previous point about meandering s bends,

It’s more work, but can provide a bit more interest as the trains meanders along

 

[Paul M]

Am I the only one with concerns about balancing the track on top of those trees, one strong wind and...…..

David

You Obviously haven't twigged, it's a branch line