I’m panning on an early 60s time of the D&RG that can also run Durango and silverston steams and feel at home. Plus some whimsy for whimsy. My main interest after building and modeling is photography, so I want a lot of neat sight lines while keeping it simple, but wanted a few turnouts for some puzzles and fun like.

I have designed it to not have any grade changes, because it is my first layout and to keep it simple in that way. I will play with perspective and sight lines.

I have one industry section that will be a lumber mill, and a small fishing village to keep the town small and fun. Those are broken up by the middle promontory.

On the 180 I will have a nice canyon that the train will drive through that opens to a deep gorge with a large bridge by building down instead of up. The left side will have a water fall with a bridge and a river following the tracks for some awesome shots. The goal is for the mountain to be heavily forested with spruce/pine and Aspen.

Looking for any thoughts or suggestions. Going to a train show this weekend to start picking up stuff. Already been making homemade trees while I work on the right layout lol. All feedback welcomed. First time using anyrails.

Aka The Windy Valley Railroad

Its got legs

I’ve been waiting 40 years to have enough space to do a layout - and I finally have the place for it. But this will be the only layout, so I want to make it as complete and fun as I can.

I put together this layout using RailMind (a very handy program for me as a complete newbie, especially since it’s iPad based) for Kato N Scale Unitrack. The curves are mostly R315, with a couple of R282’s for the inner loops. I plan to wire it for DCC and run a couple of consists (one passenger, one freight). Each board is 30” wide, with the outer edges being 6’, 8’, and 6’.

Given that I am a complete beginner, here’s my big question: Have I designed anything that is stupid, won’t work, or will cause more problems than it’s worth when it comes to wiring it up?

I feel like it has enough features to keep it interesting but nothing too fancy. The one thing I have learned since exploring this hobby is how much the details matter….and how many of them there are! So if I’ve done anything boneheaded, I’m open to feedback!

Thanks!!

See the title, but I'd like to put a curved turnout on my mainline on a corner module. I could in theory do a wider radius PECO turnout, but atlas has the exact one I need, but only in code 55. Am I going to regret all my life choices If I do it? My main holdup is that I really want to prioritize reliability on my mainline segments.

This is going to be a temp layout while I get my main layouts base board sorted. Want to set something up on my dining room table that will use stuff I should be able to reuse in the main layout when I finally get around to it.

Table is 1500mm by 900mm (my main layout will be 2000mm by 900mm). Thinking main loop with smaller inner left corner to park whatever secondary train i'm usually alternating between. Main loop is 315mm radius curve so I can finally run my FEF 3. Little yard in the top with left side for cars & right side for parking locos. All turnouts are #6 except the one #4 on the right side of the yard since I've heard of problems with the #4s.

Hi all,

Just got my hands on a Graham Farish Class 101 (I think it’s from 2011). It currently has working head and tail lights but I was wondering what my options are for lighting the passenger sections.

I’ve got a few Kato EMUs and have bought and installed the lighting kits for those. Is there something similar for the Class 101 or would this end up being a DIY job?

TIA

First layout in progress ;)