How to make a fun/interesting railway?

[sort1796]

I have the Cargo Train set (60052); the railway is very basic - it's an oval with two switches connecting a brief side track.

On the box, there's an illustration of what can be done by adding the high speed train set (60051), but it's still very basic, as it only adds another oval to the track.

Does anybody have ideas about making a fun/interesting railway, where one can play in a more elaborate way? Right now, the only thing I can do is use the switches and nothing else.

I'm OK with buying any other (type of) set, including Technic, if that would do the work (e.g. remote-controlled switches etc.).

Thanks!

Edited April 1, 2018 by sort1796

[sed6]

Check out my Door Layout. It has two inter connected loops, a reverse loop and 5 sidings. I can run a train continuously on the outside and spend time switching cars around on the inside loop. I also find it fun to use the crossover to switch two (or more) trains from one loop to another. I won't adjust their speed, rather I'll focus on timing it just right so one doesn't hit the other. It's a challenge also to see if I can throw the correct switches fast enough!

My young nephew in the other hand loves using the gantry crane to simulate off loading cargo. He also plays with the truck and hand dolly and trash can. I never touch that stuff and don't find much play value in it but he sure does.

So that said, fun is relative. For me it's switching trains, for my nephew it's playing with cargo and minifigs. Others will of course have their own ideas. I believe though that any fun will start with adding more track and switches and trains!

[sort1796]

44 minutes ago, sed6 said:

Check out my Door Layout. It has two inter connected loops, a reverse loop and 5 sidings. I can run a train continuously on the outside and spend time switching cars around on the inside loop. I also find it fun to use the crossover to switch two (or more) trains from one loop to another. I won't adjust their speed, rather I'll focus on timing it just right so one doesn't hit the other. It's a challenge also to see if I can throw the correct switches fast enough!

My young nephew in the other hand loves using the gantry crane to simulate off loading cargo. He also plays with the truck and hand dolly and trash can. I never touch that stuff and don't find much play value in it but he sure does.

So that said, fun is relative. For me it's switching trains, for my nephew it's playing with cargo and minifigs. Others will of course have their own ideas. I believe though that any fun will start with adding more track and switches and trains!

That's amazing! Thank you!

[1963maniac]

https://bluebrick.lswproject.com/ BlueBrick is a wonderful and free software I use all the time. It's good for basic layouts all the way to complex, multi- layer layouts. You can create layouts according to the size of your table.

[tmctiger]

Hi,

on my multi layer layout I have focused on running lots of trains simultainiously on independet loops and of course on shunting. So I have four independet loops, one (the main loop) is actually a single track with two terminal loops on each end of the track. The other three loops are more the conventional ones (two standard oval ones, and one triangle shaped one) and are connected to the main line. I also have five sidings for shunting action.

Here are some BlueBrick track layout plans of my layout:

Level 1 (the red track part is the inclination from level 1 to 2):

Level 2 (the red track part is the inclination from level 1 to 2):

You can find alot more images/photos (and in better resolutions) of my layout in my bricksafe folder (and im my brickshelf folder).

And last but not least a WIP video:

For me the layout has a lot of play value, and once the main part of the layout is finished, I already have plans to add a cargo terminal for even mor shunting action:

But the main point here is, we can only show you what we or in this case I find funny and interesting. This necessarly might not be the case for you.

BR

Edited April 3, 2018 by tmctiger

[sort1796]

2 minutes ago, tmctiger said:

Hi,

on my multi layer layout I have focused on running lots of trains simultainiously on independet loops and of course on shunting. So I have four independet loops, one (the main loop) is actually a single track with two terminal loops on each end of the track. The other three loops are more the conventional ones (two standard oval ones, and one triangle shaped one) and are connected to the main line. I also have five sidings for shunting action.

Here are some BlueBrick track layout plans of my layout:

Level 1 (the red track part is the inclination from level 1 to 2):

Level 2 (the red track part is the inclination from level 1 to 2):

You can find alot more images/photos (and in better resolutions) of my layout in my bricksafe folder (and im my brickshelf folder).

And last but not least a WIP video:

For me the layout has a lot of play value, and once the main part of the layout is finished, I already have plans to add a cargo terminal for even mor shunting action:

But the main point here is, we can only show you what we or in this case I find funny and interesting. This necessarly might not be the case for you.

BR

This is... amazing. Thanks!!! I didn't think doing multi-level lego tracks was possible, as I think trains wouldn't stand the slope... well, it is :-)

[tmctiger]

Just now, sort1796 said:

This is... amazing. Thanks!!! I didn't think doing multi-level lego tracks was possible, as I think trains wouldn't stand the slope... well, it is :-)

Hi @sort1796,

thanks!

Yes inclinations are possible, even with PF-trains; you just have to obey two rules:

1. never make the inclination steeper then one plate per track element and avoid curves (I know, I know, I didn't obey the one with curves ), and

2. try to do a soft smooth transition from the even track part to the inclination part.

For heavy trains (like the full blown Horizon Express) you might need two (in my case) or even more motors. But as you can see on my various videos, it just works fine, even with the Emerald night, which is not quite "inclination friendly" ...

BTW: all trains, except the Horizon Express (because it is so heavy) and the Maersk (because I simply can ), are single motorized.

BR.