Charlie has been in touch with some simple track plan layouts – and one very ambitious one.
And he got me thinking.
Do most of us wing it, or religiously work from a track plan?
“Al:
I’ve been playing at HO layouts for years, but finally decided to get serious about it.
A design that has been in the back of my mind since 1965 is finally on paper, with plans to start building as soon as I can bribe my wife into letting me have the garage.
I have tried my hand at scenery, but I would rather run trains.
Here are a few layouts I offer free to anyone interested, as well as a copy of my dream layout, the “RailRunner Special.”
Please pass these on to your subscribers.
Charlie
Las Cruces, New Mexico, USA”
A big thanks to Charlie.
Scott has been in touch too with his track plan:
“Hi Al,
I’ve talked about my N Scale project a few times on you blog when contributing my two cents once in a while.
I thought I’d attach the SCARM drawing I used to build it, which proved to be invaluable throughout its construction.
Let me know if you’d be interested in a few pics of what has become quite the monstrosity, with 3 levels.
It’s not at all finished, no landscaping yet, just getting the bugs out of things running right, as you can probably imagine.
Let me know,
Scott”
I’m very much looking forward to seeing Scott’s and Charlie’s layouts as they progress from a track plan to reality. Ambitious stuff.
I’m always intrigued by track plans. Some people use a computer, and some use pencil and paper.
Which is best? I’d really love to hear your thoughts on this one. Please do leave a comment below.
Another thought that crossed my mind is how a track plan that looks ‘too’ simple, can turn out really well.
Years and years ago – 2011 I think – Barry sent in this track plan that he created his fab layout from:
Here’s a pic of it too:
I asked Hall of Fame member Dave what he thought, and he came back with this which really made me think:
“HI Al… I don’t have a track plan as I have never worked from one.
I did take a look at the Peco book of track plans many years ago (they still do them ) and found that its not one for me.
You have to take in to consideration your buildings, platforms, the length you want ie 3 coaches or 7 to fit along the side the platform, so from day one which is 15 years ago now, I have laid my main track then worked from there – the sidings, and outer tracks…
The other consideration is if you work with set track or Flexi track, most of the track plans tend to be using set track.
So all I can say its been done add hock with using my imagination…
Regards
Dave”
I really get what Dave means with this, and it immediately made me think of another Hall of Fame member, Bill, because he draws out his track plans onto his base, so he can really ‘see’ the layout before committing.
And what about the larger than average layouts? So then I thought I’d ask Dick from yesterday’s post:
“Regarding the train layout…like you I prefer pen and paper, I started drawing track plans way back as a child in the late forties.
I just love drawing track plans. The track on my plans represent the centerlines of the track. I have tried several computer aided track planning softwares and I just can’t get the hang of it.
To do this big plan, I drew to scale the space I had available in the depot to use, arranged my pre-built 3′ by 6′ tables to scale on paper, then drew the plan using available track I have
to come up with a decent plan. I must say it came out very well.
I then used the scale plan to draw it out on the table tops. I only had enough room to set up 4 tables at a time in my garage. So I carefully plotted it out on the tables, then took the tables down, and set up the next 4 tables and continued drawing out the plan on the table tops.
Each section of track was labeled with a number/letter combo so that when we set up all 28 tables at the depot it was just a matter of placing the track sections in the proper places..
Dick”
I’d really love to know what you all think on this one.
Please leave a comment and let’s see where we go on this one.
That’s all for today folks.
Please do keep ’em coming.
And if today is the day you hit the fun button and join in, the Beginner’s Guide is here.
Best
Al