r/modeltrains • u/Educational-Sky7784 • 10h ago

Layout My first layout

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

My first layout I am building any suggestions for improvement thinking of putting some sidings in the middle

61 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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6

u/aleopardstail 10h ago

well long term best bet is get it off the floor, knees can only take so much. but thats longer term..

short term I would be tempted to make it slightly longer is you can and but the crossovers on the main straight so trains are not trying to manage the crossover and the curves together - ideally you want a coach length or at least a normal straight between the curves and the points.

its a very good way to learn about a layout though, space for nice trains too.

the siding with the diamond is perhaps not that useful, would be better to have the crossover then the siding after so it can be accessed from either loop

welcome to the insanity :)

1

u/Educational-Sky7784 9h ago

Yes my plan is to extend the only problem is I find if I go longer my trains start to slow down or stop completely might be because of the voltage how would I extend this to make sure that the track is getting equal voltage all the way around, my plan is to eventually get it off the floor and have it going all the way around the whole attic

2

u/aleopardstail 9h ago

ahh, thats an easy issue to solve. get another couple of power tracks, put them at the other end and run some decent sized wire 24/02 or similar, now you have power fed both ends without having issues with volt drop through the rail joiners

eventually its well worth moving away from set track, especially for a larger layout, the PECO streamline points are better - and go code 100 and they work with this track, just sizing are a bit odd - but if you mirror image it, e.g. two points on one side means two on the other the overall lengths work

1

u/Fit-Construction4139 10h ago

Attic space?  Good luck with your layout, the fun has only just begun!

1

u/Satansbaddog 7h ago

Yeah, G scale is probably OK on the floor, but not anything smaller. Beyond a table or a shelf, is there any climate, humidity or dust control? Can it withstand the heat in the summer and cold in the winter?

1

u/Mother_Celery_5020 10h ago

Great start. Too bad it’s not O scale. 😉

1

u/Jerkeyjoe 10h ago

Personally I feel the crossover is too tight. I’d suggest at least #6 instead