August - 2016

Track Plans Gallery

On this page you can view many of the layout designs I have created for other modelers in recent years. You can use the filter buttons and site search to locate plans by scale, prototype, state, size, and other characteristics.

I use a simple 2D CAD program called MacDraft to do my layout planning. It is not specialized for model railroading, but I've been using it a long time and it meets my needs.

Here are a couple of resources that you can freely download and distribute for non-commercial purposes:

Bob's Track Planning Questionnaire is the document I use to gather basic information for designing a plan. It might help you organize your own "Givens n' Druthers." It's a fillable Microsoft Word doc.

Bob's Curve and Grade Calculator is an Excel spreadsheet with multiple tabs. It can calculate the length of tracks at various curve radii and grades, along with train lengths and other functions for N, HO, S, and O scales. Have fun.

Devin Porteus' Eastern Hills and Southern (Lehigh Division)

We fit a pretty good representation of the famous Lehigh Valley mainline from Lehighton to Wilkes-Barre along with a couple of branch lines into Devin's basement thanks to the space-saving properties of N scale. It was a trick to miss the Lally columns.

Devin Porteus' Eastern Hills and Southern (Lehigh Division)

Scott Thompson's Effingham, IL

It was an unusual shape - 4x14' island, with a couple of columns smack in the middle. But I think we made it work. I found the town of Effingham, IL, which features a junction between Scott's favorite Penn Central and Illinois Central, along with one of the shortest short lines in the country which connects them.