[M8 INTERNET]

One thing I can't find is the dimensions you have available
Are you limited by the size of room, room fabric (doors, heaters, etc)?

Personally, let the track plan be flexible
Know roughly what you are looking for, in this case a terminus
A terminus is actually very difficult in N gauge, and you will notice at exhibitions there are very few for this very reason!
You either need easy access to couplings (hand of God) or a very good and reliable electrical uncoupling system
As a result most are based on an expanded oval, and incorrectly trains just travel in the same direction all the time!
I got round that on my design, although the trains reverse completely to go back in the opposite direction, but its as near as you can get

Once you know the dimensions and track plan you can then start baseboard construction
Do not scrimp, construct a good solid frame and use good quality surface
Also take into account point motor location
If you want under baseboard mounted point motors then you will need AT LEAST 9mm baseboard thickness (otherwise you will need to use glue to fix the point motor mountings into place
A solution to this is to use 12mm baseboard and specific point motor mounting plates, most of which also come with screws of the required length
Buying a full set of these in advance will make sure you know which tickness of baseboard to get

Apart from that, some general hardware and carpentry skills are then required!

 

[M8 INTERNET]

QUOTE (DieselDave2007 @ 21 Apr 2007, 00:11) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Thanks to everyone for the pointers and the help, very useful indeed! I'm going to do another Xtrkcad design in the coming week with possible fiddle yard config. Can anyone give me any quick pointers on fiddle yard construction?
Your fiddle yard can either be a set of rolling tracks, a run round, or a complete set of terminating tracks

You also need to into account the length of trains you plan to use and this is your limiting factor for each of the above designs

Rolling tracks are best used for limited space, but really only suitable for single track entry / exit

A run round is a large loop which then feeds off into various tracks
This allows trains to operate continuously, but uses up a lot of space

A complete set of terminating tracks is the best option
You can share incoming and outgoing tracks (being careful with electrical continuity)
Each track then terminates, which means the outgoing train loco may need to be swapped
A kick back siding on each side of the fiddle yard will allow this operation
As each train leaves the fiddle yard the spare loco is the returned back to the kick back siding, allowing change over of locos between trains