Updated Pete Nolan Layout Plan

[pnolan48]

I was finally able to update my N scale nolix plan. This is the first level. There are two more levels.

[Glenn Poole]

Pete

I really enjoyed your layout in the N-Scale (I think) magazine a few months ago. 

Is this a new layout or a revision of the old? 

Can we see the other 2 levels?

[pnolan48]

Here's the second level. Squeezing a 60 Mbyte file down to 100 Kbytes loses a lot of detail. I haven't added textures yet. I'll probably do that in Photoshop.



This is my new layout.

[pnolan48]

Glenn,

This is a totally new layout. I'm still working on the drawing for the third level.

[Nelson]

Well now if you could just remember how to spell your name ;D
Updated Pate Nolan Layout Plan

CORRECTED.

[wm3798]

Is this a salvage and re-work operation, or are you planning to "gut" the room and start from scratch?
Lee

[keystonecrossings]

Guys, this is the layout Pete's been working on for a few years now. It was recently published -- N Scale magazine, I think.

Pete works a little differently than most. Most of us create a track plan that fits our space, then build the layout. Pete builds the layout to fit the space, then creates the track plan!!!  ;D

[John]

Pete works a little differently than most. Most of us create a track plan that fits our space, then build the layout. Pete builds the layout to fit the space, then creates the track plan!!!  ;D

Thats what I do

[wm3798]

That's more or less the approach I took.  Aisle width and my screwy attic scenery created the topography, then my prototype givens and druthers list took over.  The rest of the plan was connecting the dots.

Lee

[John]

So .. what are the pros and cons of either method? In my case, I spend a lot of time rebuilding

[pnolan48]

Guys, this is the layout Pete's been working on for a few years now. It was recently published -- N Scale magazine, I think.

Pete works a little differently than most. Most of us create a track plan that fits our space, then build the layout. Pete builds the layout to fit the space, then creates the track plan!!!  ;D

OK, let's straighten out a few kinks here. The N Scale Magazine article was the previous layout, demolished in 2002. That was the layout that more or less evolved as I was building it into a weird shaped "extra" room inside the house. I had to measure it to draw the track plan.

This one was designed first, then built. It should be in an upcoming issue of N Scale magazine. I have noted in the past that I often deviate from my original plans. I make curves as broad as they can be. I move switches and sidings to reduce the amount of track cutting I have to do. That is track cutting, not track fitting: I try to have 30-inch or so flextrack as much as I can.

As far as which approach is easier, I think it depends on the space you have. I've got a single garage stall, and a linear design. A grade might be 18 feet long, and straight. If a switch moves a foot or so in either direction, that's not a big deal. Now, if I were designing in a small space, it would be entirely different.

To sum: where I've got complicated track, as in a yard or a junction, I'll pretty much design it first. When I'm out in the open country, I'll incorporate changes. Jerry's ultimately right--then I have to go back and measure, in order to draw the plan.

And, when it comes to buildings and streets--that's a complete free-for-all. If it fits, plant it.

Yes, I have rather relaxed view of railroad planning and modeling. I had to tighten it up a bit in the modeling to get published, but that's in the skill's-learning category that's always good for one's soul.

[pnolan48]

Here's the third level.



I was originally going all the way around to the bottom (East) wall, but there wasn't going to be enough separation unless I went so high that I'd need a stepladder to see it. With my history withy stepladders, it was best not to do it.

In all, there's about a 315 foot run up the hill to Westover, and then a 315 foot run back down to Portsmouth. The layout is dog-bone simple. I have no theoretical nor practical problems with cross-overs and reversing loops, I just haven't seen a need for them yet. With six trains on the layout, we've never come to a situation where we even approached a problem, since the trains can be about 100 linear feet apart.

[keystonecrossings]

I forgot the recent published article was the old layout!

I must have been recalling your self-published online tour of your new layout... in a blog format, if I recall.

[pnolan48]

No sweat, Jerry! I'm at the age where I get puzzled tieing my shoes in the morning. I've been publishing a lot, all over the place. Besides, my photos and drawings means something to me because I know what I'm looking at; others don't, so confusion happens.

Besides, in the universe invented by Pete, confusion is the third stage of interplanetary travel. First was propulsion by ions created by fission; second was propulsion by fusion; third was con-fusion. Yes, I've been working on a Douglas Adams type book for many years, entitled The Cosmic Shade Tree Mechanic.

[mopaustin]

Nice, Pete. 

Amazing as always.

Hopefully there will be no more falls from great heights, breaking bridges, etc, again.  ;D ;D