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In August, 2021 I relocated to the greater Atlanta area. Even before the move, I began thinking about building a new model railroad to be located in a spare bedroom. This page will document the project. Follow my progress and feel free to send me your comments and suggestions. Heck, feel free to design the whole layout if you want!
The Layout Room
Let's examine the space. My new home is a three-story, three-bedroom townhouse with the third bedroom located on the ground floor. The third bedroom is completely finished, has its own bathroom, a back door to the outside, and easy access to the front door and garage. Since it is on the ground floor, has a nice high ceiling, a good deal of shade on the outside, a ceiling fan, and its own AC it should be pretty easy to keep cool even on the warmest days with a full crew in attendance.
That's the good news, now here's the bad news. Take a look at the pictures below.
Now take a look at the floor plan.
As you can see, the room is a very odd shape and has a number of doors and windows. All of the doors, five total, must remain clear, however, the windows can be blocked if necessary. Although not evident in the photographs, it could use a fresh coat of paint but since I would want to repaint most of the walls a sky blue color anyway that's not a big deal. Some new lighting is also needed and that will be one of the first things to get done.
Options
I have marked two separate areas as potential layout spaces, a 144" x 150" block on the left and a 38" x 172" space on the right. What are some of the options that I should consider?
Option 1. Two separate layouts. This option would keep the main aisle completely clear and allow me, if I so desire, to model different prototypes, eras, seasons, even scales. Interesting, but I don't think so.
Option 2. Two separate sections modeling the same railroad connected only with a car ferry. As with Option 1, the main aisle is kept clear. Plus, the proper loading and unloading of the ferry before and after its cross-waterway (aisle) journey would be an interesting operation. This is definitely worth considering.
Option 3. One layout with staging yards on the right connected to the left section with some sort of lift or drop-down bridge. This is my least favorite option and unless I have a complete change of heart I've already eliminated it.
Option 4. One layout again with the left and right sections connected with a lift or drop-down bridge. The right section could have a yard, industrial switching, a passenger terminal, or some combination of two or all three. Another good option.
Druthers
When designing layouts the late John Armstrong used to have his clients put together a list of what he called, givens and druthers. In other words, what the client had and what he wanted. So far I have shown you my givens, the layout room. Here are some druthers, what I want. It's not a complete list but it's a start. Of course, it is subject to change.
Scale: HO
Prototype: B&O or perhaps a fictional B&O subsidiary
Era: Mid-1950s
Operation: A mix of freight and passenger with local switching. A continuous run option is desired.
Locomotives: E and F units, Geeps, maybe some 2-8-2 Mikados and 4-6-2 Pacifics
Freight Cars: Mostly 40', some 50'
Passenger Cars: 85'
Minimum Radius - Visible: 30"
Minimum Radius - Hidden: 24"
Track Centers - Tangent: 2"
Track Centers - Curves: 2.5"
Minimum Turnouts - Main: No. 6
Minimum Turnouts - Crossover: No. 8
Minimum Turnouts - Industry: No. 4
Maximum Grades: 2%
Minimum Aisles: 36"
Minimum Distance of Track Centerline to Front Edge of the Layout: 3"
Maximum Distance of Track Centerline to Front Edge of the Layout: 30"
Minimum Track Height from Floor: 44"
February 5, 2022
Revised Druthers
After looking over the available floor space and trying to come up with some sort of plan, I decided that changes would need to be made to my druthers. Here's the revised version.
Scale: HO
Prototype: B&O or perhaps a fictional B&O subsidiary
Era: Mid-1950s
Operation: A mix of freight and passenger with local switching. A continuous run option is still desired.
Locomotives: F units, Geeps, maybe some E units, 2-8-2 Mikados, and 4-6-2 Pacifics
Freight Cars: Mostly 40', some 50'
Passenger Cars: 85'
Minimum Radius: 24"
Track Centers - Tangent: 2"
Track Centers - Curves: 2.5"
Minimum Turnouts - Main: No. 6
Minimum Turnouts - Industry: No. 4
Maximum Grades: 2%
Aisles - Minimum: 24"
Aisles - Normal: 36"
Minimum Distance of Track Centerline to Front Edge of the Layout: 3"
Maximum Distance of Track Centerline to Front Edge of the Layout: 30"
Minimum Track Height from Floor: 44"
Options
In the floor plan above I marked two separate areas as potential layout spaces. Here are the options that I mentioned before.
Option 1. Two separate layouts. THIS OPTION HAS BEEN REJECTED.
Option 2. Two separate sections modeling the same railroad connected only with a car ferry. This option is still being considered.
Option 3. One layout with staging yards on the right connected to the left section with some sort of lift or drop-down bridge. THIS OPTION HAS BEEN REJECTED.
Option 4. One layout again with the left and right sections connected with a lift or drop-down bridge. The right section could have a yard, industrial switching, a passenger terminal, or some combination of two or all three. This option is still being considered.
Here is a new option that uses the available space differently.
Option 5. One layout, no separate sections and, hopefully, no need for any lift or drop-down bridges. See the alternate floor plan below.
That's all for now. Follow the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Network's Facebook page so you will be notified every time I update this page.
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