One Hundred and One Track Plans for Model Railroaders (Model Railroad Handbook, No. 3)

You can find all types of track plans that can be downloaded to your computer. Some of these track plans are free. One place to find free track plans is Atlas Railroad. Atlas also offers a free download on their web site that allows you to create your own track plans using their track. Although the most fun way is to create your own from scratch. This way you have a one-of-a-kind layout. The first thing when preparing to build a layout is to figure out how much space you have for your model. Once you have the dimensions of your layout you probably need to sketch these on a piece of paper. Now you can start thinking about what gauge and era you want to model. The next step would be to decide if you are going to have mountains with maybe tunnels, or bridges crossing streams, or rivers. Also you may want your rail crossing over a deep valley or maybe an interstate highway. You will also, need to consider why your railroad exists. Your railroad needs a purpose like hauling raw materials to a factor or hauling coal from a mine or timber from the forest.

When you have all the information you need to start your layout, you will need to start drawing this information on paper to get a rough idea of what you have. Once you have a drawing to work from you can build the bench work for your railroad making it stout and sturdy. Now you can use several different things for the foundation of your railroad. Probably the most used is plywood. You can start by covering your bench work with the plywood for a sound foundation. If you have rivers running through your layout you may want to cut the plywood where your rivers will run and remove it from your layout. You may also need to cut into some of the cross members on your bench work allowing your river to be deep enough. If you have to cut very deep into your cross members make sure you reinforce them with more boards.

Now that you have your foundation you can start building your terrain. To build mountains or hills you can build these up with Styrofoam or use screen wire covered with Spackle compound either one will work well. While designing your terrain remember that the grade or rise of your train track should not be over 4o at maximum but the best is from 0o to 3o which means that for a 1% grade your track rise 1″ for every 100″. Another thing to keep in mind is that on your main lines you do not need sharp curves. Having sharp curves is probably one of the main reasons trains derail. The best track to use is flex track. This way you can make sweeping curves that make it easier for you locomotives to navigate around, but also give a more realistic look to you layout. No matter what never give up and always have fun with model railroading.

Thanks,
Steve Barnett

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