My new Layout Concept

[krzyvolfan]

Good Morning,
Several months ago I tore down my HO and On30 layouts. I have been Planning a new Layout ever since. I have nothing on paper its all in my head. I thought I would Bounce my Thoughts and ideas around here. The new Layout will be an Island Layout featuring both HO and On30The layout will be "O" shaped, 7" x 16" with scenery depth of 2'. This leaves an interior space of 3 x 12. There will be 2 levels of track, At the 50" level will be On30 with the HO being at 54" one side will be HO with the other On30. The ends will just kind of happen. In the interior there will be a 2 or 3 track staging yard for HO. One end will have a mountain thru which the HO tunnels and inside there there will be a turnout to enter staging. On the HO side the On30 will be restricted to the front 5 inches, while on the ON30 side the HO will Occupy the rear 5 inches. The radius on the ends will be 24".
The Setting will be North Tennessee in the 40s for On30 and 50s for the HO. I am working on a name, I like the Letters OS & D. I am fully aware of what those letter mean in the transportation business. One town will be the OS with the other the D. Right now I am playing with the name Otter Springs and Dooley. The Otter Springs will be the HO and the Dooley the On30. The Otter Springs name may change, I like the Dooley for the On30. Both towns will have a depot, town business and a couple of industries. The On30 will have and engine house, Coaling and Water. The HO will have Sand, water and coal. I will run both steam and Diesel on both scales. I already have most of the structures, they will just need inprovements.

Questions and comments welcome.

[jbvb]

Model railroading is fun; if this is the way you like to do planning, and you like the results, great. If you have any picky equipment, or you had a derailment problem with your old layout, you might want to get some track templates (or photocopy some turnouts and track) and test things for alignment before you cut out the baseboard.

[ndwolf68]

Tom,
I'm curious, okay, so I must ask: Why combine the two scales? I'm interested to hear, as in my miniscule mellon (aka tiny brain), that just seems to confuse and take away from either scale... I do like the name, as well as the time period... they seem to go together.

R/,
Norm

[krzyvolfan]

Norm,
The reason to combine the 2 scales is I like both scales and I have stuff in both Scales. I modeled the Southern Railway for about 20 years and have kept my favorite stuff. I changed to On30 in the early 2000s. Lately I have built some nice HO stuff and want to continue to work in both Scales. I did have 2 layouts under construction, the North Tennessee in HO and Montana Timber Co in On30. I like to do a little switchin and also watch my trains run. With this concept, I can switch in one scale while the other runs around the layout. Its not a new concept,One of my favorite all time layouts is where the late Bob Clarke did On3 and HO on his Ironhead Timber Co set in the Pacific Northwest and John Labarba combines HOn3 and HO.
Hopefully the Grade separation and distance difference along with separate sections for each scale will work, they do in my mind. I picked the 2 time frames as they fit best with the items I already have that I do not wish to part with.Thanks for the complement on the name.

[NEMMRRC]

Hi Tom.

How will you deal with the difference in clearances required for both scales? Is it even an issue?

Jaime

[krzyvolfan]

Jaime,
Being the 2 scales will operate on their own trackag and I don't plan on having them cross there should be no clearance issues. There was a diplay track at one of the Vendors in St, Louis where he has O scale on the lower track and HO on the upper and he had the O Scale tunel under the Ho and the HO crossed back over, it was very effective. Even thought this option is not in my current thoughts, I think I took a picture of this . His Diorama was not very deep. So no I don't see that as an issue. Thanks for your question.

[LongHornCaddy]

Modeling 2 scales is an interesting concept. Keep us posted



Cruisin,

Long Horn Caddy