How to Draw Model Railway Track Plans
Model Railroad Runway Plans
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How to create your own model railroad track plans...
Later developing your concept, or theme, you're now set to consider diverse model railroad rails plans. The information on the commencement part of this page has to do with the basic edifice blocks and various schematics that can exist used in forming your bones runway plan. You lot will probably desire to use the data here in conjunction with that on the Layout Blueprint folio, as you course your overall programme...
Edifice Blocks for Runway Planning
Basically, runway plans will normally be one of 2 types or a combination of the two:
• Point to point (simple switching layout)
• Continuous running (or loop to loop)
Here are some examples of simple continuous running track plans, which can be combined, twisted, duplicated upon each other or stretched out in dissimilar ways to make unique track plans none of which look alike:
• Elementary Oval
• Figure viii
• Twice around
• Dogbone
• Folded dogbone
When laying curved track, you should use an easement, which eases your way into and out of the curve. In other words, start your curve with a larger radius, then ease into the tighter radius, so come out of the bend over again with a larger radius. Your trains will look better going around the curve that way.
Easement:
No Easement:
You can use turntables, wyes or reversing tracks as a way of turning your trains around (without having to manually lift them up off the tracks).
You lot must think to brand gaps in the rails at each end of the reversing loop and in at least two sides of the "wye" triangle in lodge to avoid short circuits. (You brand gaps in the track either past cutting through the track with a saw or rotary tool and filling the gap with non-conductive plastic or silicone sealer, or by using plastic rail joiners sold for this purpose.)
You may need a runaround track to keep your engine or train from being blocked in on a branch line, and to permit drop-offs without tying up the mainline.
Runaround:
A passing siding is an important component of any model railroad rails plan. A conventional siding is a unproblematic manner of getting one train effectually some other. Mayhap a better, more versatile, way to do this is to use a lapped siding every bit suggested by Dave Husman in the 2007 result of Model Railroad Planning...
Conventional Siding
Lapped Siding
A configuration called a "ladder" is used in train yards to aid in sorting trains and forming consists.
Ladder:
A Spur is any short co-operative off the mainline that can exist use to service an industry, station or other facility.
Spur:
A team track is a co-operative or spur off of a mainline that can exist used to unload railroad cars to trucks for local distribution of goods.
You tin can employ whatsoever of the in a higher place as edifice blocks in diverse combinations to form the trackplan that meets your needs.
Model Railroad Track Planning
Now that you lot know well-nigh the bones different building blocks for track planning, yous tin start brainstorming about how y'all want your basic layout track programme to look and operate.
Pencil and Paper...
One way to do this is by sitting downwardly with paper and pencil (I emphasize pencil hither) and just start cartoon some ideas, based on the concept of your railroad that you have decided on in the previous sections of this site (the "Getting Started/Theme page"). You lot will most likely become through several pieces of paper before deciding on your full general layout plan here. Yous may fifty-fifty go along going back to information technology over the next few days or weeks to effort to brand it amend. It may assist to review the section on railroad train layout design elements on the "Layout Design" page. You could make a very detailed plan on newspaper before you beginning building if you wish. However, you will probably still change information technology several times as you lot get into physically laying the track. Sometimes things that expect good on newspaper just won't fit in the infinite you accept.
It helps to apply graph paper with each grid being a calibration mensurate of your layout. This will aid yous to be realistic in your drawings so that your trackplan will more likely fit into the space you lot have available. Make certain you include terrain, roads, rivers, towns, structures, etc. And try to avert "spaghetti". Sometimes simpler is better.
Don't forget about polarity
One very important thing to proceed in heed while drawing your trackplan, is polarity. If your railroad train will be looping back on itself such that it volition be returning on the aforementioned rails from which it came into the loop, yous will have to have railgaps somewhere to prevent an electric short. Some of these loops are non easy to see. For example, looking at the trackplan at the top of this folio, if you imagine a short railroad train or locomotive traveling e (left) on the bottom of the layout plan, and and so backing upwards into the branch, as it makes information technology's way back and along through the branches to get to the top of the plan, when it re-enters the mainline, it volition be going in the reverse direction compared to when it started on the bottom. This won't piece of work unless yous have a railgap somewhere in the eye.
Frankly, what I personally like to practise is but use newspaper and pencil to go a good, general idea of how I want information technology to look, then go alee and start building benchwork. You lot will have time while y'all're building the benchwork to get back over your drawings several times to refine your ideas. Only be certain that your plan is adept enough in the beginning that you won't have to later redo your benchwork because you forgot to put in a loop or branch that you lot absolutely must have.
Model Railroad Track Program Software - Powerful Tools
At some point in this procedure, afterwards you have a rough draft of your layout on paper, you may want to utilise one of the many nifty software programs available to wait at your plan in more detail and testify it to others. Many of the programs allow you lot to run virtual trains on the tracks to see how they will operate. You can even get an idea about how many sections of track and how many turnouts you will need. Go to the Software Page on this site to find out more about these helpful model railroad figurer programs.
Once your benchwork is built you tin starting time putting down some tracks loosely on the subroadbed and see how it looks and how information technology might operate. This will help you further refine your program when you tin see information technology in 3D.
Grades, clearances are important to consider Now...
If yous are planning on having grades, or elevations, in your track plan, or if yous desire to detect out more most making certain you have proper clearance for your tunnels and bridges,and the proper infinite between curving parallel tracks, etc., you may wish to visit the page on Grades and Clearances.
Accept your fourth dimension with planning...
I usually spend quite a bit of time on my model railroad track plans. I effort to imagine how my trains will travel, how they will operate, how many trains I want to have running at the same time without having to worry about crashes, how they will spot cars in spurs, how they will choice up the empty cars, how to avoid tying up the mainline, etc., etc. I practice this on paper at first with lots of dissimilar drawings of dissimilar parts of the layout so I use the Railmodeler software to "depict" it on my Mac. By and large, I want to try to avoid "re-do's" later.
When I go to run into how it works in 3D on the subroadbed, integrating the track with the terrain, the plan changes farther.
If yous know what structures y'all will be using, you can include them in your planning at this time and see how the trains interact with the buildings as well as the terrain. You lot don't necessarily have to use completed structures here. You can just employ mock-ups or just a piece of cardboard cutting out to match the dimensions of the base.
Eventually, after considerable thought and deliberation, I end upwardly with a model railroad rails plan that I'm happy with, that I think is interesting, somewhat realistic, and should be fun to operate.
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References for Model Railroad Track Planning
A keen reference on creating model railroad track plans can be constitute in John Armstrong's volume,Track Planning for Realistic Operation. This is considered by many as the bible for model railroad runway planning. I would highly recommend information technology if you are planning anything more than a very simple layout.
Track Planning for Realistic Operation: Paradigm Railroad Concepts for Your Model Railroad (Model Railroader)(3rd Edition)
Rather than designing your own layout, y'all may wish to use or modify a layout plan that has already been created. There are many first-class references containing multiple trackplans of all different sizes and shapes:
• SCARM (Simple Calculator Aided Railway Modeller) - This is a model railroad design software program, only on this item folio on their website, there are many, many runway plans to choose from and/or change as you like.
• Linn Westcott's, 101 Track Plans for Model Railroaders
Ane Hundred and I Runway Plans for Model Railroaders (Model Railroad Handbook, No. 3)
• Model Railroader'south 48 Top-notch Track Plans
48 Elevation Notch Track Plans: From Model Railroader Mag (Model Railroad Handbook, No 39)
• Big Book of Model Railroad Runway Plans
• Creative Toy Railroad train Track Plans
• Realistic Rails Plans for O Gauge Trains
• Mid-Sized & Manageable Track Plans (Model Railroader Books)
• Small, Smart & Applied Track Plans (Model Railroading)
• N Scale Model Railroad Track Plans
• Mad Trackplanner'due south Page - Lots of small North-scale layouts.
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Another fashion to blueprint your trackplan is to utilise model railroad rail planning software. This is described in further detail in the "Software" section of this site.
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