So I've been fairly scarce for the last three months or so, but I have been working on the new layout. Sheila & I closed on our home at the end of August, moved in at the end of September and have been living our own version of HGTV since August. The great news is the new home has a FROG that will be solely used for the "Train Room" It's about 13'-6" wide and about 14'-8" long. Since I'm going to have a desk and hobby work bench, along with the built-in storage closet, I have figured that a U-Shape with one 8' leg, one 9' leg and 10' wide will work well. I have had a lot of help from TXTrainGuy (Tom Wright) some great help from David K. Smith (White River & Northern) and some input from Byron Henderson (Layout Vision) - I final have a pretty decent direction. At least I thought I did, until I realized that the power plant cannot actually receive any coal from the coal mine. I have been looking at this plan for awhile and fighting my analysis paralysis (I was an architect for years) so I thought I'd post where I am to the N Scale Net Layout Forum for some guidance and suggestions. Since I haven't updated the blog in a long time, I thought I'd update with the same post here.
At this point, the elevations haven't been worked out, other than conceptually in my head. I'm using AnyRail (great product) and haven't started setting track height. I'm using Atlas Code 80 and predominantly #4 turnouts, since I already own a large quantity of track pieces and about 40 turnouts. I used the #4's on my last layout (with servo control) and didn't have any issues. This layout has eliminated the vile 9.75" radius curves with 11" set as the minimum. I have included a reversing loop since I have the Digitrax AR1 and like being able to switch direction while running.
Glad to be back & finally have some forward momentum on the new layout.
