Bob's Track Plans

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.

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.

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.

Bob had a nice space and a distinctive prototype in the Cleveland, Akron, & Columbus Railroad, a Pennsy-owned short line in Ohio. He also had a very inconveniently located pipe protruding from his basement wall - but we managed to design the peninsula to take advantage of the interruption in the long wall. A circuitous route to the staging helped with access to the lower-level tracks and gave Bob about the longest mainline possible in the space.

Fuad asked for a modified version of a commercial track plan. Fortunately, he had more room rather than less for his version. Can do.

A single-deck (whew, I've been doing a lot of multi-decks recently) railroad inspired by the Denver & Rio Grande Western in Colorado. Jim...

Matt has a fairly small area for an O scale layout, even with the relatively tight curvature common to three-rail components. He also...

Now this was a challenge. Greg wanted to model Pullman Junction, a key spot on the South Side of Chicago where five different railroads...

Bob wanted long trains, wide curves for his Big Boys and DD40Xes, and a Sherman Hill feel with the ability to break up the stark scenery...