Take a Hint

I was cleaning my garage the other day and pulled out a 30x60 inch layout I started some years back in HOn30, but abandoned pretty quickly. The trains were just too small for me, and there wasn't a lot of equipment available -- there's no equivalent of Bachmann's relatively cheap and plentiful ready-to-run On30 cars and locomotives, and only a few kits.

I'm kind of taking this as a sign from the fates. The overall size of the old, partly built layout is in the upper range of what I was thinking about doing in On30. The curve of N scale track at the left end in the photo is 12 inch radius, and the right end is 13 inches, both in the range of what I was considering. The rest of the track plan doesn't translate so well -- the plan drawn on the board has a passing siding on the front side that would have been short in HOn30 and all but useless in On30. The upper level branchline track has a 9 inch curve, which is probably too tight for anything but an 0-4-0 in On30 -- plus, as designed it crosses over itself, which would take a ridiculous grade in On30. So the main loop is just about perfect, but the rest would take nearly a complete redesign.

After a lot of experimenting with laying flex track at different radii on a sheet of plywood, I decided that the 0-4-2 wasn't going to handle 10-inch curves reliably -- it's just too hard to get absolutely smooth, kink-free track at that kind of radius with flex. I may try hand laying a circle of 10-inch on a 2 x 2 square of EPS, but I have to conclude that the smaller versions of the mini-layout, with 10-inch curves, are not going to work. The 12 and 13-inch curves of the upcycled HOn30 layout make more sense.

I drew a number of drafts of track plans, some fairly complex, and ended up with one that uses the same sub-roadbed as the HOn30 for the mainline. In fact, I kept the N scale cork roadbed for the main, and just tacked the larger flex on top of it. The ties hang over a bit at the ends, but I figure by the time I add Sculptamold, ground cover, and ballast (mine tailings), it will be fine. The cork cuts down on the noise level at least a little.

So, here's the track plan. Two versions, same track plan but different scenery/building arrangements. The track plan is pretty much final except for minor adjustments, as I've already started laying track:

The buildings I've been including on my plans for this project have been too small for O scale -- I'm still thinking in terms of an H.O. 4 x 8 instead of an On30 2-1/2 x 5. In the version below, I've adjusted sizes after looking at O scale kit dimensions -- for example, the brewery building is based on the dimensions of Bar Mills' Mooney's Plumbing Supply. Once I've got the track done I plan to build some cardboard mockups and try them in different arrangements.