Have a look at plan 6, it seems to be the one I prefer. I have gone down to the room and checked the heights, and came back up pleased.
I have plenty of rail ready to make points.
Now, to clear the room for full taped mockup of the aisles etc....
To another topic, those hidden return loops. I have been following disussion on the LDSIG about the use of small cameras to watch and operate hidden trackage. One poster got me thinking.
Any hidden trackage is hard enough, but my plan calls for a upper staging yard over 2M high. You cannot see the trains. I will have a specially constructed stool to access the platform , but for operating sessions it would get in the way. A video camera would be easier than setting the yard up with detectors, circuitry etc.
But there is another way ! At a few points, say like where the clearence points for each loop is, you replace the baseboard with clear perspex ! Then all you do is look up to see if the train has cleared !
In the diagram above, look at the image labelled bottom. you can see the track arrangement, a three track staging yard. Train enter from the right and exit from the left. From below all you can see is there is a train in the top yard that has just fits into the yard. There is no train in the middle track , since you would usually come into the light at the end of the yard. The third track has a train arriving into the yard from the right, and hasn't yet reach the left hand end, and is stil on the mainline.
I think a camera up there will be just as useful, in additon to the above. - the camera will need to be hooked to a computer to allow multiple people to see the camera's output.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ldsig/message/31438
From: Trevor Marshall
Date: Fri Feb 1, 2002 5:46 pm
Subject: Re: [ldsig] Re: Video monitoring
Hello everyone:
Beyond video and occupancy detectors, there are a couple other options to consider for checking staging tracks. 1 - cut-aways in the fascia. One layout I used to operate on quite regularly had small smoked plexiglas windows in the fascia at the throats to hidden trackage. One window allowed operators to confirm they were clear of the fouling points on a reverse loop.
Another allowed operators to confirm they were in the clear for a three-track staging yard. The benefits of these included low cost (the smoked plexiglas was cheap, and eyeballs are free. Glasses, if required, are needed for other things so their use as an aid to detecting hidden trains are essentially free), incredible reliability (the plexiglas will never stop working, and hopefully the eyeballs won't either), and a wealth of information -- not just occupancy and clearance, but also speed and direction, confirming there are no breaks in the train, nothing's on the ground, etc. 2 - mirrors.
I have a hidden stretch of mainline on my layout, where it doubles back on itself to return to a single staging yard that serves as both ends of the run. The hidden stretch is quite long, so I added a siding (essentially, the hidden section is two-track). I've placed a low (6"-8") backdrop in front of this siding and the switches at each end, with reach-over access. This gives me a third place where trains can meet or pass. To confirm that trains are in the clear, headed in the right direction after a meet, etc., I have mounted a small convex truck mirror up near the ceiling, on a bracket made out of 1/4" copper pipe. One quick glance tells me I'm on the move, at an appropriate speed, and in the right direction. The same benefits I mention in the fascia cutouts apply here as well.
Mike Hamer's B&M layout (featured in MRP 2001) had a mirror mounted in one corner to work the same way. He removed it because his operating nights always draw a crowd, which means someone's always working in the staging area and performs the same functions previously handled by the mirror: That staging person says "you're clear" or "other forward" as necessary.
- Trevor in Toronto