Some time ago I became member of a model railway club. After a while I got the 'itch' to create a layout for myself, at home. I have a room that served as an office, but since I quit working now is available for other purposes.

So ... a 'model railway project' started somewhere in June 2014.

I (try to) keep a website / blog with the project progress. Here's the link to the blog.

Progress of past week: in stead of tinkering with electronics (which is fun) it now was time for some 'real hardware': creation of the wooden tables (which is also fun ).

Hi Rudy,

Welcome to this forum,It's nice to read it and also in English 'm currently working on an online English course.
I go look at your blog tomorrow and you never know maybe I learn even more from your layout.






with best regards Evert en Bas (father and son)

btw zag ook een draadje op bnls (NL)

Hi Rudy,

welcome, too.

For better understanding your project it was nice if you give layout of your railroad. It is much easylier for everybody to read at one place. And your thread become more attractiv if you posting more picture. We love pictures
The first look at your blog: Nice

With best regards

Thx for the welcome.

Yes, 'grenadi', I'll post the layout as soon as I have figured out which way it is going. It is still in the 'trying and trowing away ideas' stage

This weekend some progress has been made on the layout design.

If you think 'he just threw all the track on the table he had room for' ... then, well ... you might be right I did read several articles on layout design. About time periods, about setting goals for your layout, about the design of a shunting area ... and what not. The point is, probably I'm not a 'typical model railway hobbyist'. To me it need not be 'prototypical'. My main interest is on the electronics and the computer control. That is what the layout caters for.

Detailed info on the website.

Curious on any feedback / advice / pitfalls you may see.

To check the dimensions of your layout:

The left part 180 cm? and the right 300 cm? Also 180x300x300?

For the accessibility you should maximum 80 cm however your arms ... . This become on the left part very deep. Perhaps 180 to 180 cm? This depth of engagement isn't good. Check your layout for better accessibility. Or have you planing a removable area at this point?

Seers Markus

Thx for your feedback Markus.

The two long sides of the table are against the wall. There is a manhole in the middle at the left, which makes it possible to reach the area close to the wall. Also the laptop rests on a lid that can be taken away. I hope that will be enough. Here's a 3d presentation of the room and the table.

Some very useful feedback on the layout has been received. Based on that, four changes have been made:

1.One lane of the South terminal has been given up. One switch less was needed, which allows longer lanes, which allows longer trains.

2. Lane 4 of the South terminal is allocated to store the loco that is going to pull out the train from lane 3. That got rid of the short sidetrack in the middle of the North bend. This gives the layout a bit more ‘calm’.

3. The switch for the West terminal lanes was moved from the main track to the terminal tracks, without sacrificing train length: the whole junction-street was shifted North a bit.

4. Two industry sidetracks are added. Together with the sidetrack that already was there and the inner lane of the North bend this now forms an industrial area with some shunting play possibilities.

Hi Rudy,

you have an enormous work last weekend For better understanding your work it is better that you posting the complete track layout (one figure for every level). It is a hard work to look at the blog and check here^^
Some people here are very "professional" planers who give you some good ideas for planing. They can help you check the possibilities and the tracks.

Based on some useful and constructive forum feedback, a few more revisions have been made to the layout. Also a small turntable has been added, where the locs that are going to pull the cargo trains out of the terminals can be turned around.

Traffic wise, I decided on having 2 'Intercity' trains. They run only on the mainline and they have a stop at station West, lane 3 and 4, and sometimes at North lane 4. But they never enter the terminal stations. Then there are two shuttle passenger trains and two cargo trains that can drive everywhere, they also enter and stop at the terminal stations.

The layout is simulated with 'Eisenbahn-X'. That way traffic flow can be visualized and possible problems or bottlenecks can already be found before building the layout in real. In the sim train traffic is fully random, with the only restriction that the two Intercity trains never enter a terminal station. For those who own EEP-X, the layout and LUA code can be downloaded here.

The videos shows that train traffic actually runs quite smooth. Please don't look at the backward driving of the cargo trains. Decoupling and coupling of another loco is not included in the sim.

Some times trains have to wait a bit, until the block they want to enter becomes free, but not in a way that it looks disturbing. The South loop single track does not seem to be much of a bottleneck. It more looks like station West lane 3 and 4 (where all trains halt) are the bottleneck of the layout. Also it canbe noticed that there is very little traffic at terminal South lne 3 and 4. My bet is that with some tuning of parameters in PC control software this might be improved a bit.

All and all I think this is the layout that is going to be built ...

Here are two video's:
- This one has comments that explain things a bit.
- This one just shows some minutes of LUA controlled train traffic.