Advice on First Layout Ever!

[myhotrs]

Ok, so St. Nick brought me a train (not sure which one, going to buy one today). It will be HO scale and I am planning on using a 4' by 8' layout. This will be my first experience with trains, I'm 26. My girlfriend is the arts and crafts wiz and is excited about working on the layout with me. So this is something I drew up after some research. The outside loop will be for a passenger steam loco and the inner one for a freight train. Any help will be appreciated. Do I need a DCC system, what track to use (I'm thinking Bachmann E-Z). How much power will I need? What industry should I build. I dont need it to be accurate to the real world so no yard for me yet, maybe later.
I think the layout jpg is attached, not sure about how to put in pics though.

Thanks all!!
Greg

 

[FiveFlat]

Hi Greg,
I'm new myself, so I can't provide any suggestions to your layout, but it looks good!
I might suggest that you make that run down the front sraight so you can get full speed along there (I like to see a train run full speed)

 

[Ralph]

Hey there Greg and Fiveflat, welcome!

Greg, your illustration is a bit optimistic for a 4X8 in HO. You'll find that using 18 inch radius and 22 inch radius curves that your inner and outer loops will be closer together, creating a busy double track look. That's not bad but you won't be able to separate the inner track far enough for the mountain and tunnel in the upper right corner. You could run both tracks through though and it would look great.

Your plan is very simple for wiring. You don't need to go DCC. If you wish to independently control two trains at the same time on your plan all you need are two power packs with direct wiring from each to one loop.

Keep us up to date!
Best wishes,
Ralph

 

[Triplex]

I've never used E-Z Track... and, from what I've heard, I'm lucky. It's supposed to be a low-quality product.

 

[myhotrs]

After messing around with it yesterday, it definetly has some flaws. however, if I take the time to make sure they are all connected right, it works great. Now if I could just get my cat from chasing the locos everything would be great.

 

[JAyers]

4X8 train plans

The Allgauge website has a lot of simple 4x8 plans for HO. Here's the link:
http://www.thortrains.net/poorhox.html

Also, check out the Atlas website at atlasrr.com

John

 

[myhotrs]

Thanks a lot JAyers, thats a great reference site!

 

[kchronister]

You should download RTS from the Atlas site. It's free, pretty easy to use, and will make sure you're desining 'reality-based" things, because it forces you to use actual pieces: 18" radius curves, switches properly sized, etc.