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You may have seen my current layout. I built it last summer on my old slotcar base board.
It was an island layout that could have about 6 trains running around the mainline or a secondary figure of 8 line in the middle. The baseboard was about 430cm x 210cm.
The track was fixed, but apart from a few trees, buildings and stations, there was no fixed scenery.
This was a typical tail-chaser, not very protypical at all. My first baseboard layout was much the same, but a little smaller.
After chatting to some of our members and getting some great inspiration form some magazines that Dennis sent me, I have decided to build a walk-around track.
This is the rough plan. Grid is made up of 1m squares.
The mainline will be situated at around 47.24" (120cm) high off the floor. It will rise by about 16cm on the East part of the layout before going into the return loop. The two return loops are hidden. 24" (61cm) radii. They are contained in a double height box fixed over the workshop at about 8 feet off the ground. Access is quite easy if required using a step ladder and opening a hatch in the box.
This shows hidden staging tracks under the main yard.
The trains arrive at the staging tracks from a gentle descending curve from the shelf. They leave via a route that takes them behind the scenery backdrop and onto the layout through a tunnel. I could probably link the hidden staging yard to my workbench so that trains being worked on could drive straight onto the layout.
The whole scene is European with English, French and German/Swiss accents. A bit of a fantasy layout.
The mainline, yards and staging will be DCC with 3 power districts. The idea for the North yard/station is for it to be industrial and build-up, same thing with the West yard. The East area is countryside with farming activity and a small country station.
Please give me your thoughts and suggestions before I start building the benchwork.

It was an island layout that could have about 6 trains running around the mainline or a secondary figure of 8 line in the middle. The baseboard was about 430cm x 210cm.
The track was fixed, but apart from a few trees, buildings and stations, there was no fixed scenery.
This was a typical tail-chaser, not very protypical at all. My first baseboard layout was much the same, but a little smaller.
After chatting to some of our members and getting some great inspiration form some magazines that Dennis sent me, I have decided to build a walk-around track.
This is the rough plan. Grid is made up of 1m squares.

The mainline will be situated at around 47.24" (120cm) high off the floor. It will rise by about 16cm on the East part of the layout before going into the return loop. The two return loops are hidden. 24" (61cm) radii. They are contained in a double height box fixed over the workshop at about 8 feet off the ground. Access is quite easy if required using a step ladder and opening a hatch in the box.
This shows hidden staging tracks under the main yard.

The trains arrive at the staging tracks from a gentle descending curve from the shelf. They leave via a route that takes them behind the scenery backdrop and onto the layout through a tunnel. I could probably link the hidden staging yard to my workbench so that trains being worked on could drive straight onto the layout.
The whole scene is European with English, French and German/Swiss accents. A bit of a fantasy layout.
The mainline, yards and staging will be DCC with 3 power districts. The idea for the North yard/station is for it to be industrial and build-up, same thing with the West yard. The East area is countryside with farming activity and a small country station.
Please give me your thoughts and suggestions before I start building the benchwork.