Planning a layout for my son

[sizemore]

I know it runs totally counter to your approach, but you might try getting a couple of Lego Building sets, and see how his imagination makes the trains a part of his world (assuming that as an 8 year old boy, that Legos are an integral part of his world...)

Andy, now 14, went from putting robot monsters on my layout, to legions of Lego storm troopers.  Now that he's in high school and is studying US history, he'll come in, pull the Sherman tanks off of my flatcar, and create the Battle of the Bulge on the ridges surrounding Maryland Jct...  Interesting cat, that Andy is...

Lee

Send him over to my garage I'm sure after a day of wrenching on "Roberta". He'll have a new respect for WWII vehicles and your layout

The S.

[Dave V]

We bought more Unitrack tonight.  We have only a few pieces left before we have all we need.

I discussed the painting and ballasting of Unitrack with Jacob tonight.  I think he'd be fine either way, but he and I agreed that leaving it nice and neat and clean was probably the best option.  We'll run a little ballast between parallel tracks (I'll mix up a batch of WS gray blend and a few cinders; it's almost a perfect match) but will leave the rails unpainted and the tops of the tracks unballasted.  If we use white glue throughout all the track can be completely reused and even sold if necessary; all the better if we don't paint it.

Since none of the track will be hidden he can decide at some future date to paint, ballast, and weather the track...  or not!

[Dave V]

OK, so we did some planning.  Still need 3 more turnouts (#6 RH) and two bumpers, but otherwise are good to go.  You can see that I've attempted to represent those turnouts with some loose track.  The good news is that the geometry works.  The bad news is that I'll need to extend the table a few inches past 5 feet long if this is to fit.



Plenty of room for the town of Apex and scenery.









This will be a fun little layout!

[DKS]

The good news is that the geometry works.  The bad news is that I'll need to extend the table a few inches past 5 feet long if this is to fit.

Was trying to figure out why it grew longer. From the photos, it looks like the culprit is the track coming off of the switch at lower left inside corner of the plan--
 

[Dave V]

Dave, you're right.  That was it!

[Dave V]

Okay correcting the problem in the lower left to match David's plan makes the layout considerably less than 5 feet long, which is perfect.  Moreover, it provides smoother geometry into the passing siding.  The downside is the geometry looks a little strange, but that's the limitation of Unitrack.  I will say, though, I love how quickly you can make changes and test new arrangements.  I haven't had this much fun with track since the boys were into wooden Thomas.

[Dave V]

Just ordered the last pieces of track we need from M B Klein's...

So I'm going DC for now, with the outside loop on one power pack and all the inside trackage on another.  Cost-wise it's cheaper than DCC out of the gate...  He has 3 locomotives we'd need to add decoders to plus the DCC system itself.  We already have one power pack that came with the set.  We will very likely switch to a DCC system at a later date, though.  This route gets us running two trains at once faster and cheaper, though.  I suspect some of you will give me crap for that choice, but that's fine. ;D

For fun we ordered one of the IMEX "highway department" buildings:

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/v/vspfiles/photos/IMX-6334-2.jpg

...to represent the Apex, NC fire department:

http://www.consultwebs.com/ncphotos/images/apex/2/apex_fire_station_7990.jpg

It'll get a new sign reading "Apex Volunteer Fire Department."

[DKS]

I suspect some of you will give me crap for that choice, but that's fine.

Not me! I might make one recommendation, though. If you want to move trains from one loop to the other, you might want to think about using a traditional block control system. You can do the whole thing with just five DPDT-CO toggles, plus two SPST toggles for the two stub-end sidings. Then you can store the third loco on a siding, if desired.

Looking forward to progress!

[Dave V]

Dave,

I thought about that...  However, the Kato #6 switches are power-routing.  So, I plan to use that feature on the sidings.  Primarily, the outside siding was designed to represent the pit track at Apex.  The other two sidings can serve as a parking place if the switch is thrown against the loco.  I don't want to go too heavily into block control since I do plan to go DCC in the near future for him.

[wm3798]

If you can use some simple Atlas controllers to split the block controls, I've got some I can pop in the mail to you.
Lee

[Dave V]

I don't want to make it too complicated for Jacob either...

[DKS]

Well, if the trains will always remain on their respective loops, then that's fine. But if you want to swap them, then at a bare minimum you'll need to set up one of the two loops with a block control, and provide a kill switch for half of that same loop. Otherwise the crossovers don't serve much purpose (until DCC is installed).

[Dave V]

OK...  I'm listening...  I've only ever once helped build a block-wired layout and I swear I didn't understand it.  I'm pretty smart when it comes to physics and calculus, but wiring gives me fits.

EDIT:  It may be time to re-think the cost of DCC...

[DKS]

This is about as simple as you can get and still allow trains to switch lines. Cab A runs the outside loop, and optionally the inside loop depending on the setting of the DPDT switch. Cab B only runs the inside loop when the DPDT switch is set for it; when the switch is thrown for Cab A, Cab B essentially doesn't do anything, and Cab A runs the whole layout. The SPST switch kills half of the inside loop, which lets you park a train on the inside loop and allow a train from the outside loop to cross over to the inside.
 


There are insulators on both tracks at the crossovers; there is an insulator on only one rail for the inside loop to the right (represented by half-circles).

This is not really full-bore cab control; it's just a simple system that permits a fairly comprehensive set of moves. Would this be too complicated for your son? Or for you, for that matter?

[Dave V]

Would this be too complicated for your son? Or for you, for that matter?

Hahahahaha!  No, probably not...!  It would work and be easy enough.  Not ideal, but not bad.  The nice thing is this lets us move on to DCC at another time.  Thanks!

EDIT:  My wife is worried this is blooming bigger than she'd anticipated, both in budget and complexity.  The cost of DCC is probably going to be prohibitive.  I'm trying without much success to convince her this is for Jacob and not for me...

OK, so what's the scenario for the train going from inside track to outside?  I assume at that point there's nowhere to store the train on the outside track unless he parks the locomotive on the siding (power-routing again) and then switches the whole layout to cab A, and uses A?  And yes, I know I sound like a blithering idiot...