Modern Era Notes
Tips for avoiding madness caused by right-of-way
TOTHER THAN LOCOMOTIVES, the largest expense you may have getting into this crazy hobby is the cost of the track for your railroad. You can drop $600-$700 in no time at all, and still not be near finishing the job.
I know, because after many years of indecision, I finally got around to re-tracking my O gauge railroad! I had a plan, but as you might guess, it was a “living document” that seemed to change every few days.
My original layout was roughly 16 x 24 feet and had three loops. Two of them had a connection simply for switching out trains. The inner loop was connected to a yard that, while track-powered, was used only for car storage.
I originally used one brand of track on the inner loop and yard and a second type on the two outer loops. Over some 20 years I really, really, really got tired of needing to add power feeders to sort out dead spots.
I was also decades older, and my knees and back took exception to my climbing under the benchwork like I was a member of the French Underground planning to blow up a German troop train.
About a decade ago, realignment of piping in the basement was my excuse to do a major re-work of the layout. This cut-down benchwork is about 8 x 24 feet, with an L-shaped spur adding a deadend line of about 20 feet. I wanted everything to be mostly within arm’s reach.
I had one easy-to-maintain oval and so was pretty happy running a single train.
Then the change bug bit me. I wondered what else I could do with the lines.
Getting ahead of myself
I had a plan, but once I started I promptly diverged from it!
The first easy step was adding a siding to park a string of passenger cars. Ouch, that was a quick $50 or so.
Next was another switch off of the main oval to the L-shaped line to be a yard to store both a full freight (25-30 cars) and a passenger train of 6-10 cars. Then I added a switch off a switch and, of course, a third off of that.
I also noticed that without opening any more boxes, I was filling up the siding with loose cars that were just hanging around. Not good. I’m running out of room, and the cost is starting to add up!
Back where my first siding was, I was hit with a capital “S.I.” Swell Idea: Run a switch off that track and loop it around to connect with the original yard!
That might work only if I made it a dead-end yard. I know me, after all, and I knew that if I didn’t place some buildings there to block it, I’d be trying to recreate a second loop. I didn’t have the room to do it, and I knew I’d be back where I started. Sigh.
Track is your friend
Just as with real railroads, your train operation will only be as good as the rails it runs on.
It can be both tedious and irritating to install roadbed, track, and ballast if you use it – but oh so nice when that first train starts and keeps running.
Remember, this is a terrific hobby where you’re never without a project!