Small Layout Plans.

Sonner than expected:
Bittlesey-1.jpg
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Ray
 
...many Americans might think is odd

Well...not all of us certainly.

Here's a very small switching module/layout based on the H.O. scale Gateway Central of some years ago...

gEsEFx3.jpg


Enlarged a bit to accommodate switchers with tenders and also to take advantage of the assets available in Trainz. Made before I knew how to adjust the turnout radius. A few other adjustments done but still pretty close to the original.

Here's another based on a layout by jt burke I saw on Youtube. It was made, it seems, for testing Loksound decoders...

NsTeOP1.jpg


Again extended a bit for the same reasons however now I know how to adjust the turnout radius so the resulting layout could be smaller. The image shows about 3/4s of the whole layout.

The challenge is to make a route as small as possible while maintaining some level of interest and not repeating the same pattern over and over. Many of the huge routes are beautifully done but are too intimidating to me.

Best,
smyers
 
The challenge is to make a route as small as possible while maintaining some level of interest and not repeating the same pattern over and over. Many of the huge routes are beautifully done but are too intimidating to me.

Best,
smyers

Well said, - I completely agree. I find that when I look at large layouts with complex stations and huge yards a part of me wants to cry out, 'No, no, no....!'.
I know some Trainz folk love the challenge of operating those kinds of layouts, but I'm not one of them.

Stunning screenshots by the way. That is seriously atmospheric model making.
 
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Many thanks, all.

The small size does allow for thorough (if not obsessive) detailing. Still a ways to go on this one. Typical mid-century north eastern USA urban rabble. Here's Loksound looking the other way...

ot8J8qC.jpg


It ends right under the building, disguised as a tunnel entrance. The runaround holds 3 40ft cars and there are 4 sidings. Depending on how many cars you want to pick up and/or set out, sessions can be quite a challenge, if not downright frustrating. But to me at least it's more immersive than watching a train steam along for 2 or 3 hundred miles for hours. Sessions can be 30 or 40 minutes, or so, and that's about it for me! I begin to run out of steam at that point, let alone my loco.

Gateway Central has 5 sidings with a runaround...

H1V2Bs6.jpg


This was posted on another forum, I think. Sorry if you've seen it already. It ends right there between the two buildings, though the "main" continues for a bit so you can drive your train on or off the layout to begin or end a session. You could make a fiddle yard off layout for added interest.

Best to All,
smyers
 
@smyers Are either of these routes on the DLS? They look great and would be just engaging to operate. So much atmosphere.
 
@KotangaGirl,

I would suggest that you contact Philskene. He developed two of the layouts in TMR2017 (Port Zyd & Fulaztern, and Shorts & Kerl.) He also developed additional sessions for them, available on the DLS. He has also developed layouts and sessions for TANE and TRS19, but he might be able to tell you what of his work will function properly in TMR17, and what might work fine with a couple of tweaks.

Bob Morrison
 
Thanks Bob, but being a Uk railways enthusiast I'm not really into the kinds of layouts Philskene makes as brilliant as they might be.
 
I was thinking also of Euromodeller. He has one layout listed on the DLS as TMR2017, but in the description it talks about TANE. But he has a lot of what he calls Bare Bones stuff that you might find useful, and he is European.

Bob
 
Thanks for your suggestions Bob. Euromodeller makes amazing layouts. He's also a member of TCWW (Trainz Carriage & Wagon Works) like me. He's made a lot of TMR format assets for TS2012 as well as TMR2017, but I think he's moved onto working in TS2019 these days. It does get confusing though since I've seen TMR2017 build 4.4 assets being described as for TANE.
 
What would be the difference between using TMR and continuing to build simulated model railway layouts in T:ANE - would there be any advantage in buying it?

Ray
 
What would be the difference between using TMR and continuing to build simulated model railway layouts in T:ANE - would there be any advantage in buying it?

Ray

It's $29.99 at the moment, but I had a bundle of loyalty points I wanted to use so I got it a lot cheaper. I wanted it mainly because I wanted to make TMR layouts in a version of TANE (because that's what TMR is afterall) that wasn't going to get contaminated by updates or built-in asset problems. The only disadvantage as I see it is that installing anything from TANE will cause problems with missing built-in assets. It's not a big problem for me because I usually install TANE layouts/routes into TS2019 and I hardly use TANE for anything these days.
 
On page 617 of the August copy of Railway Modeller there's an article about a layout named 'Bala Town' and there's a nice classic BLT trackplan for the layout included in the article.

With my on-line subscription it's very confusing getting the August copy of RM in July. I thought I'd gone and overslept again.
 
KotangaGirl;1823079 With my on-line subscription it's very confusing getting the August copy of RM in July. I thought I'd gone and overslept again.[/QUOTE said:
Here in the UK a lot of monthly magazines appear at the end of the month before last e.g. August issue appears at the end of June!
 
A good resource for layout plans for use in TMR is the classic Kalmbach publications, and in particular, the books '101 Trackplans for Model Railroaders' and 'Small Railroads You Can Build' (a plan from the later book I admit I used as a basis for a Trainz route I made a few years ago as a means of taking a break from my main route building, and it turned out pretty good). I'm not sure if online versions of these books exist, but you could try looking on Kalmbach Publishing's website and see if they offer them electronically (I bought my copies years ago from a model train store so they've been part of my collection for a long time).

Either way, they have some really good trackplans that would make interesting Trainz routes, either in TRS or TMR.

And speaking of Kalmbach books and Trainz, a Trainz rendition of the layout from the classic Kalmbach book 'HO Railroad that Grows' is on the DLS and well worth a look at too.
 
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