Track plan

Heehee, we're all using AnyRail, it's so fun to see that.

Anyway, it looks like a good solid plan with plenty of operational interest! I think you're going to have loads of fun with it! How much space have you go to play with?

Hi - a belated welcome to the forum.

Looking at your plan there seem to be diamond crossings or possibly double slips? Whichever they are, they are not characteristic of the railway period you are modelling. In the last few decades track layouts have been simplified to keep maintenance costs down - diamonds and slips need a lot of maintenance, so they've been eliminated as much as possible. They also cannot be used where train line speed is high and this is another factor in their removal.

Likewise the three-way point which I think you have near top left close to the depot has also fallen out of favour for the same reasons.

I'm not certain of the crossovers in the platform roads either - what is your reasoning behind their placing?

Otherwise, as Kim says, it looks pretty sound.

Regards,
John Webb

It's entirely up to you - it is easier to use plain points in the model as well as on the prototype! But I must admit double slips in particular have an interesting look about them.

Regards,
John Webb

Great looking layout.

After running my trains on baseboards for years, I learned that simple layouts work best. It's easy to draw up a layout with 50 points, but when you're installing them, fitting point motors, control panel etc. the complexities increase.

Mainly because we use the rails to transfer power to the locos. Complex point arrangements may work on one loco, but foul up others.

I've removed half the points from my original plans and I get more pleasure as more of my models run better.

Here's a revised plan after swapping a few things about
http://i372.photobucket.com/albums/oo163/T...lan2revised.jpg

Looks good to me! Reminds me a bit of the plans I've seen of the recently revised Lincoln layout, although you've got a few platforms more and a junction or two less.

Have fun building it.

Regards,
John Webb.