Bob's Track Plans

Ken, a frequent flyer on Bob's Track Plans, asked for a Kato Unitrak layout to fit on 3'x3' modules sitting on ping-pong tables. No challenge too great. Trackage was kept to the edges to avoid long reaches for operating. The plan includes a passeger station big enough to take full consists and a version of Bernie Kempinski's paper mill design.

David had a small and oddly-shaped space to work with but thanks to N scale we got a lot in. Not seen offstage to the right is a pool table; and there had to be enough "cue room" not to risk unfortunate incidents mixing bank shots and trains.

I apologize for some of the names I give these railroads, but my clients know they can change them at will. John wanted to run Nickel Plate and Rock Island but also his Big Boys so we went with a 30" minimum radius and an up-and-over to give him a decent double track main on his prebuilt 8'x14' table. The wooded hill down the middle can serve as a view block and I made sure most of the turnouts were close to the table edges, because a 4' reach into the interior would not be g

John wanted to model the famous Stampede Pass in Washington state in a long bonus room with sloping walls. He does not anticipate multiple operators or frequent guests so he was OK with the minimum 24" aisles that enabled a long and prototypically accurate mainline. The west staging level is actually between the lower and upper decks to give a spectacular eye-level view of the tunnel and the ability to run some nice helper service.

To give Shawn a yard, a double-track main, two commuter rail stations, and some scenic running in the California mountains we used two-turn helixes at either end of the visible main line. These permit the construction of a relatively large concealed staging yard with enough "finger room" to rerail and maintain trains. Shawn can set 2-4 trains orbiting on the mainline while working the yard and industries for a basic, but satisfying, operating pattern.

Todd wanted to model the ATSF/UP line between Kansas City and Ft. Worth, including the towns of Arkansas City, Kansas, Red Rock, Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Purcell, Oklahoma, Paul's Valley, Oklahoma, Wynnewood, Oklahoma, Big Canyon, Oklahoma, Ardmore, Oklahoma, and Gainesville, Texas. Most of the industries represent rail-served customers along the prototype line.

Bob wanted a Colorado-themed HO scale pike featuring a narrow-gauge branch and—wait for it—a mainline capable of accommodating Big Boy 4-8-8-4s and similar big articulated steamers, despite a relatively small bedroom space. I used a central loop to add some welcome length to the mainline, fitting in a decent yard for freight switching and a small engine terminal.

John had a prebuilt table, always a challenge, and wanted to evoke the parallel main lines of the NYC and NKP west of Buffalo. The tables could only accommodate a single 18" turnback curve on each end, so I placed the mainlines on two levels and added cutoffs to permit trains to move between the NYC and NKP tracks.

The 3-rail guys have found me, and this is the latest in a string of designs for O scalers. Ben had a single-car garage available and wanted the largest curves possible for his big steamers. We were able to come up with a design that had a 45" minimum mainline radius and offer the flexibility of operating as two loops or—using the cutoffs near the station—one longer twice-around.

It can be tricky to make use of two rooms when they are available for a railroad while still maintaining access and a walk-around design. To evoke the railroads radiating west out of Chicago, I made sure most of the mainline could be operated from within the central aisles of the larger room, with some "cheating" involving extending the Eola Yard into the secondary room to achieve enough room to handle longer trains.