Beginner + first layout design

[DrCro]

Hi all. I'm Dries, 33 yo and I live in Belgium.

My son (6 years) wants to buy the 60051 and when his grandmother heard about this, she bought the 4-in-1 super box with the 60052 for his communion.

For the last few weeks I've been frequenting this site for general info, and the AFOL virus got me... I downloaded Bluebrick and made a first design.

I have a quite big attic where i have a table of 7,5m wide * 2m deep on biggest side where i used to run my Ninco slotcars. I cleaned it up and now we are going to put a permanent lego rail layout here.

First raw sketch:

I need extra straights (+- 130, yeay for bricklink), and we'll need extra connections between inner loop and outer loop. I also want the train yard to be compacter, but i'll look into that.

Tips and tricks are welcome.

[Pop Bumper Pete]

Looks great

Plenty of opportunities for shunting

I would add a spur to the inner loop into the town for an industry

[patje]

Welcome dries in the world Lego trains

the layout looks good.

would have 1 swits

to return to the outside circle

and shunting tracks horizontally to have

more place to be able to build other things

(city montain ets ets)

Edited April 3, 2015 by patje

[ecmo47]

Add another pair of switches to connect your inner loop with the outer loop. Right now, once your train enters the inner loop, it's stuck there.

[MusicaRibelle]

Welcome, Dries.

You have a huge space, though I understand half of it is not very wide.

That said, I would try to optimize for more trains, both more trains concurrently (given the space, three instead of two) and more trains parked on the track -- to make a station scene nicer or as part of a shunting yard.

For example, instead of the long straight at the back of the space, make two connecting loops, and them one more inner loop on the right side of your plan, where it is wider. The yard may go on the left side, to accommodate two extra trains.

Of course that's just a personal preference. I prefer six trains of four cars (loco + 3) than four trains with six or more wagons each :)

And you'll want them too .... you have high speed passenger train and an american freight train. Soon you'll want a steam train, maybe a european freight train, then something else.... they add up fast :)

[DrCro]

Thanks for the nice words. Left side is actually 1m15, but I didnt find manual dimensions in bluebrick. Extra connections between inner and outer are comming but have to be accessible by Rune at the bottom side of the layout (other three sides are walls).

Bridges and tunnels are soemthing we want very bad, but not in this first layout to learn some geometry.

Train yard needs to be compacter and for more trains, so top right is for scenery (low accessibility). Bigger radius me tracks are also an option fort outer track so we can run the fast train fast :).

Grts

[patje]

nice idee

I'm from belgium

from which region are you

Edited April 3, 2015 by patje

[PasDeChocolat]

Hi dries,

I also live in Belgium, and also started to build train layout and MOCs. Looks like the virus has reach the country (a few of my friends are also preparing big things).

I don’t have much experience but did a lot of thinking already (see Compact double level track layout).

One point I want to bring your attention to is the playability aspect of your layout. Let me explain: you have a 6y old boy and I’m sure he I will be playing a lot with your project.

In respect to that, and it is something I completely missed in my first attempt, is the accessibility for the little ones.

My 3y boy had to carry along his little chair to stand on it and play with the train. But he was never able to actually reach something 40cm further form the table border.

What I and maybe you should consider is the have the layout laying lower AND don’t have tables setup wider that what a little guy can access in the middle from both side.

I’m not sure if I’m clear, but it just means that I would rather have a hole in the middle of the table that the boys can access from below so that they can reach every area of the layout.

It may also help you if you need to switch the tracks at the other end of the table.

I hope it will helps , anyway all the best for the realization of that ambitious project!

[phoenix42]

I've a 4yr old who loves playing with my Lego trains (just the red and blue cargo trains... so far), and there are three things he enjoys doing with them:

1. just watching the train go around in a loop
   
2. changing directions, and changing speeds - but not the precision control needed for shunting
   
3. flipping the switches to change where the train goes - this goes to you set having the train get stuck on the inner loop
   

What I would change on you setup, for my kid (every kid is different) is to drop the shunting yard, and have several loops that the trains can go between with flipping switches, but never get trapped in a loop and reverse out - sorry, I don't have a particular layout to suggest - have fun!

[mostlytechnic]

I'll add to the suggestion of getting another connection between the loops. Maybe in the D2 area of the layout?

Also, as someone with a sorta-similar setup (big table in a corner), that back corner will be a bear to get to when a train derails there. And it WILL derail - take the corner a bit too fast, and wreck in the most inaccessible spot. So just plan on having to crawl onto the table where you have the shunting yard to reach wrecks in the back corner. I'd avoid putting a tunnel there unless you have REALLY easy way to get inside the tunnel.

[DrCro]

Add another pair of switches to connect your inner loop with the outer loop. Right now, once your train enters the inner loop, it's stuck there.

Thanks for the tips. I'm planning on more switches, but first need to layout the track to see where its best so me and my son can reach everything and still play :-)

nice idee

I'm from belgium

from which region are you

Hey Patje, Thanks for the answer. I'm from Bavikhove (Harelbeke, close to Waregem and Kortrijk). You? I'm going to BrickMania in Wetteren in 2 weeks. Are you there with BeLug?

Hi dries,

I also live in Belgium, and also started to build train layout and MOCs. Looks like the virus has reach the country (a few of my friends are also preparing big things).

I don’t have much experience but did a lot of thinking already (see Compact double level track layout).

One point I want to bring your attention to is the playability aspect of your layout. Let me explain: you have a 6y old boy and I’m sure he I will be playing a lot with your project.

In respect to that, and it is something I completely missed in my first attempt, is the accessibility for the little ones.

My 3y boy had to carry along his little chair to stand on it and play with the train. But he was never able to actually reach something 40cm further form the table border.

What I and maybe you should consider is the have the layout laying lower AND don’t have tables setup wider that what a little guy can access in the middle from both side.

I’m not sure if I’m clear, but it just means that I would rather have a hole in the middle of the table that the boys can access from below so that they can reach every area of the layout.

It may also help you if you need to switch the tracks at the other end of the table.

I hope it will helps , anyway all the best for the realization of that ambitious project!

Thank you, maybe if "finished", you can visit with your son. I saw your track and my son was playing behind me. He loves it very much and was very enthousiastic. The playability is what it is and I cannot change a lot on the table. It is luckily quite low, but I cant make any holes because under the table is the storage room of my wife :-). I'm allready very happy with the table :-). Where do you live?

I'll add to the suggestion of getting another connection between the loops. Maybe in the D2 area of the layout?

Also, as someone with a sorta-similar setup (big table in a corner), that back corner will be a bear to get to when a train derails there. And it WILL derail - take the corner a bit too fast, and wreck in the most inaccessible spot. So just plan on having to crawl onto the table where you have the shunting yard to reach wrecks in the back corner. I'd avoid putting a tunnel there unless you have REALLY easy way to get inside the tunnel.

Thanks for the tips, D2 looks good, also because of good accessibility. I'll look into it when I lay the layout.

Nice to be on an active site like this. Greets!

[patje]

yeah I go two days to wetteren

you can find me on

administration table

or on the sales table of belug

bavikhove harelbeke

we are almost neighbors

(izegem)

Edited April 4, 2015 by patje

[PasDeChocolat]

Hi, I'm living near Binche, we are not so close :-) but I have family in waregem, zeel, sint-niklaas... so everithing is still possible.

Brickmania? did not know anithing about it but from what I could see on the web, I'll do everithing I can to be there !

[zephyr1934]

Looks like a great first layout that will then continually grow organically. One quick space saving suggestion would be to make single crossover switches, e.g., as discussed here.