The Plan

Again, welcome back, thanks for looking.

With the room and area picked out, and the size and type of bench work decided.  It's now time for a plan.

I wanted a unique plan.  Something really easy on the bench work, and track work.  Minimize the number of turn outs.  But with plenty of elevation front to back.

I am not a guy that likes operations.  I like building the layout and watching the trains go round and round. 

Goals:
3 trains running independent. 
No grades.
Multiple landscapes
Lots of tunnels and bridges.
Best view from front. (remembering that while being viewed the back site will be up against the window.)
Window view must have something fun to look at.

The Plan:

From SRO RR - Summitville Branch

Three loops.  Each loop is separated by 5" elevation.

For ease of drawing most of the plan has sectional.  It will actually be 100% Flex plus Peco insulfrog turn outs.

Green loop is lowest.  Black loop is middle.  Blue loop is highest.
The light gray is rock face/cliff, and will actually run around most of the layout.
The dark gray is flat and mid way up the rock face.  It's is the only area the middle loop will be visible.  The rest of the run will be in a tunnel.

Under the mountains will be all cookie cutter construction allowing for easy cleaning.

The back side where the tracks are stacked will be all rock face with "windows" into the tunnels.  Making it easier to clean track there.

The Area

Welcome back, thanks for taking time to look.The Room
The room I have to play with is an interesting size in that it affords me some choices. Well sort of.

With but 2 exceptions our sun room makes for a great place for the new SVRR. The first problem is during the summer it can be too hot to be in the sun room in the afternoons, and there isn't a single blank wall in the place. The sun room was added on to the house about 4 years after we built it, and has what used to be an external window along the only real wall.

The window sits between the sliding door from the house into the sun room and the TV stand. About 13 feet of space. The width of the room is about 11 feet. Due to the arrangement of the furniture, from the same wall to the furniture i have a space about 8' in width. The practical working area for a layout including the layout and walk around room is about 8X12.

From SRO RR - Summitville Branch

Table Size - 4X8 or 8X12

There are those in the model rail community that will tell you to build a layout that is 8X12, and with bench work that is 2’ deep, and have the working area inside. This is actually a great idea as uses the same area but gives you 25% more room for the layout.

I can’t do that in this case as the aisle around the layout is also the path taken to get from house to pool.

So a 4X8 table is my best option. I can push the layout against the window when not working on it giving me a 4' aisle to walk in between layout and furniture. Or pull it away from the window giving me a 2' wide aisle all the way around the layout for easy access to any part of the layout while working on it.

Table HeightNormally I build out my bench to be at eye level with the average adult. And just bite the bullet and use a step ladder for hard to reach work. I like the height for viewing. However, this time I'm going to be building at about kitchen table height.

Because the sun room does function as a gathering place for friends I'm going to make it viewable while sitting and sipping a cold brew. Also this allows the layout to be visible from inside the house through the old window.

New Beginnings

Thanks for taking a moment to swing by.

I have a couple of housekeeping things I need to take care of.

To all of my SRO friends. Thank you for a great 6 years. For a site that was supposed to be temporary it sure lasted a long time.

To everyone else, thanks for your interest. The purpose of this blog is to track the progress of my next generation of the Summitville RR. The SVRR has been started and abandoned in 4 different scales, and multiple types. G Scale, HO, N and I had a loop of Lego once. It’s been on the ground, on modules, tables and affixed to the wall of the garage. None have survived various family and time constraints.

Now with one kid off to college and the other about to embark on an independent life on his own, I’m finding more and more time that’s getting filled by various software projects and video games. (I’m kind of addicted to MMOLRPG games.)

But as a full time programmer, I need to get away from the keyboard and nothing suites that better thank finally getting my track going.

I have been modeling off and on in N Scale for about 7 years. As a serious geek, of course I'm in DCC.

Now on to planning the layout.

I have some rules I will make for myself and try to follow.

Requirements:
Must fit well into our all but unused sun room. Over all room size is ~10x20. There is no wall to attach to so it must be a table. Approximate available area is 8X10. But when not actively working on the layout it shall be pushed up against one wall.

I shall stay within a $50 month budget. (This ought to be pretty easy as I’ve got multiple $1,000s in RS, Engines, Structures and scenery materials on hand already.)

It must be viewable while sitting around sipping a cold brew with friends.

It must be portable. Ie light weight and small enough for two people to carry.

I should be able to be converted easily to a mobile layout for shows.

I must be able to run DCC or DC on independent tracks.

It must have multiple layers of track and must be able to run 3 trains.

It must have tunnels, bridges, water features, rock.

It must look great at night.

It must be unique, but simple to build.

I WILL TAKE THE TIME TO DO IT RIGHT.

The era will be early to mid-steam. With a touch of modern passenger.

Locale is a fictional run from the desert south west into the pine forests.

Industries include: Logging, Mining (gold), Cattle and Horse ranching.

That’s all for now. Thanks for looking.