Model Railroading > Amazing

I've enjoyed track planing for years, especially when I started using CAD. I recently designed a track plan for a 9x11 room that is around the walls with a peninsula. If I went with an old fashioned island style layout and wanted 2 foot aisles all around to have access to the entire layout, it would only be 5x7. And most of my aisles in the walkaround layout  are 2.5 ft wide and with the backdrops and the peninsula, the operator really feels like he/she is going somewhere with their train. And I don't like 180 turns on a layout, so I ran a backdrop down the middle of the peninsula. In another location, a 180 is hidden behind buildings and in still another, such a curve is de-emphasised with a wye.

Incidentally, in this design the door will be reversed so that it opens into the hallway instead of into the room. Suprisingly, I've never heard of anyone doing this in track planning. It is so easy to do.  Initially, I planned the layout for point to point with the end points at the doorway entrance but opted for continuous running and a liftup at the doorway. IMO, sometimes it's just fun to sit back and watch the train(s) run. Like helices (on my previous layout) some folks seem to have phobias about something like a lift up entrance, but it can be very reliable based on what I have seen others do.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 06/28/20 20:19 by wabash2800.

Hi Victor! Although you didn't state any reasons, I can relate to your disliking of 180-degree turn-backs at the end of peninsulas. To me it resembles the table-top toy loop. But I'm always suprised how many big, beautiful layouts still have this feature.
For the peninsula on my N scale layout, I'm planning on putting a full loop within a tunnel, similar to Model Railroader's Clinchfield layout from the 70's. While this has a lot of advantages, I'm hung up on how to handle the backdrop. I've included a screen shot of a portion of my layout. As drawn, I have the backdrop (which is slightly off center to give me more room on the right side) ending just before the loop (the virticle double line). What I can't decide on, is whether to continue the backdrop to the layout's edge, and build the mountains up to the backdrop, or end the backdrop as shown and just make the mountains large enough to create the separtation between sides. The latter solution would make the mountains more circular and look more approriate from the end, whereas the backdrop through the loop will make the profile more pointy, but act as a scene separation. (If that makes any sense!)
At any rate, I like this hidden loop concept for the reason I've stated, plus it adds length to the main line, giving you that separation between towns, as well as providing a "mini helix" for gaining hight to the rest of the layout, which will eventually end up on a second level.
So I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on the matter. How have you designed the backdrops on peninsulas that you've drawn in the past?
Any other thoughts from any other TO-ers are welcome!
Thanks,
--Barry

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The backdrop that I have designed for the current layout, that runs down the center of the peninsula, splits into a "V" with the open end of the V closed with backdrop. The 180 pierces through both sides on the end of the peninsula. Each side has a different kind of overhead bridge. But in another scenario I might not use backdrop at all as there is a dummy railroad that parallels my railroad above grade and then crosses over it. I might be able to use that fill and some trees, etc., down the middle of the peninsula to hide one side of the peninsula from the other. One side of my RR on the peninsula runs along a highway and on the other side it crosses over a river with a big truss bridge and there is a wye for a gravel pit. If I don't post the track plan here, I'll send it to you when I get it finished.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com
 

I used the scenery itself to form a view block down the center of my peninsula. Modeling a mountainous area makes it easier to pull off this off plausibly.

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Yea, that's one of the possibilities I was thinking of. Except I would have my tunnel continue around the curve rather than outside the mountain.
Nice looking layout!

JayK Wrote:
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> I used the scenery itself to form a view block
> down the center of my peninsula. Modeling a
> mountainous area makes it easier to pull off this
> off plausibly.

That's neat! Unfortunately the nearest place to my layout where I could do that is about 300 miles away... :-D 

-Jason