www.trainplayer.com SupportNewsAboutContact
      HOMEPRODUCTS  TRACK PLANS     NEWSLETTER     FRIENDS
User Layouts Gallery Contents
 

Inland Belt Line

Benjamin's Room

Guelph Junction RR

J & B RailRoad

J & J Railroad

Lancaster N-Scale

Boar Harbor (Long Island Railroad)

Oakland Harbour Belt

Ohio Southern Lower

THB Hamiton Dundas Sub

Wild Horse with Ships

CP Layout

Coewydd Valley Line

Digital & Virtual RR

Connolly RR

Jan's Valley RR

Northern Malone RR

West Lakes RR

Lego Layout

Lizard Head

Mike L Layout

Bree Turn

Steve Z Layout

Chantilly Central Railroad

Lachlan

Nickel Plate Wheeling District

Pueblo-Canyon City-LaJunta

L & M Woodland Express

Castleford High School

Cheryl Junction

Stanley Yard

Pine Ridge RR

Pennsylvania Railroad Ohio Division

Ohio Southern

Lakeport Short Line

San Francisco Peninsula RR

Shady Brook

Aquebogue Light Railway

Harrisburg RR

Industrial Portage Co.

Ellensburg Railroad

Ingersoll Terminal Railway

1x21 Switchback

Schwartz Mine RR

Ontario Western Lines

Wild Horse Timber & Mining Co.

Wabeno Timberline Railroad

Santa Fe and San Antonio

Binkley Railroad

Brussels Northern

St. Paulton & Meriscove

Miller Industries

Axle Wrap RR

N-Scale Peanut

Sandric & Lake Superior RR

Hubbard's Micro

Southern Pacific Tucson Division

San Ramon Valley Railroad

Industry_&_Yard

Kingfield & Kennebec RR

Westport Terminal RR

Walla Walla Valley Railway

Georgetown Branch

Michigan Eastern & Ohio Western

The First George Baustert Collection

Napa Valley Northern

Southern Tier Connecting Railroad

Rio Grande Southern

Angmar, Tharabad and Sarn Ford Rwy

Santa Maria Valley RR

The Denver, South Park & Pacific

Rio Grande Southern

Possum Valley RR

Central Appalachian RR

GM & GP

Atlas HO-28 Granite Gorge and Northern

Farquhar Branch

Midland Short Line

Callahan Central

Boy's Life 4x8

Bill Koehn's 6'x15' N-Gauge Union Pacific Empire

Bill Koehn's 3'x5' N-Gauge Coffee Table Layout

Blackjack Ridge

Michigan Central Division

Timesaver

Farmersville Jct

Double Crossing Belt

Wisconsin Central

Two Layouts

 

These layouts were submitted by users between 2005 and 2008.  We are delighted to have them and we thank the contributors.  New submissions are always welcome.


Inland Belt Line

Another beautifully precise club-size layout by Ed Avetta.


Benjamin's Room

by Harry Vig.

This is in Bachmann 1:20.3 scale using a 4-6-0 and four of five narrow gauge mining and gondola cars.


Guelph Junction RR

by Bruno Pigozzo.

GJ RR does NOT actually have any engines or rolling stock - just track in the city of Guelph.

The CN main line runs through the city usually with long drags of container cars, grain hoppers, and occasionally auto racks. In the 50s - early 90s, CN ran some GP9 and GP38s to handle local switching. Today that task is handled by the Goderich and Exter RR (GEXR) based out of Kitchener and points west. GEXR uses GP38s mainly and also some  GP40s plus one old SW1200.

CP Rail in the 50s - early 90s ran a mixed freight through the city to switch key industries. Today that task is handled by Ontario Southern RR on the CP lines. OSRR uses some old RSD18s and an old SW700 for its chores.
Passenger service is now only via the former CN station and features VIA FP40s, Acelas and the occasional AMTRAK via Chicago. In recent history, Govt. Ontario GO trains and CN RDCs serviced the needs of local citizens.

The hidden storage tracks are designed to handle at least 15 - 50' or 20 - 40' freight cars on the CP rail portion. For the CN portion similar freight storage is provided for plus some space for a VIA train or and RDC car.

The local industries produce a variety of goods from water pumping and purification equipment, hydro transformers, auto parts, cardboard box containers, wood and steel products etc. Cars switched range from flat cars, hoppers, boxcars, tankers and gondolas.


J & B RailRoad

by John Hill.

Outer edges will be at "ground level" with a mountain in the upper left corner and another in the center extending to the right corners, thus making the tunnels. The switches in the center tunnel will allow for "guessing games" with the grandchildren (where will the train appear next?) This is a jpg file with the drawing originally created in Microsoft Power Point, so turnout angles are not precise.

Instructions: Obvious switchback headaches.


J & J Railroad

by Larry White.

I am sending you the J & J HO layout, the existed during the seventies.

The gray area is a wall made from metal shelves with paneling of the train room side.

The area under the stairs was plain plywood, but it did not look right on the drawing. I had to build a plastic "tent" under the stairs to keep the dust off the rails (big problem). I removed the plaster board front the wall where the tracks entered the area. The track ran between the wall studs. The "mountain" I envisioned to cover them, never got built.

Much of the layout was undecorated, most of the buildings were hand made from cardboard.

While I liked to have operating sessions, I also liked to watch trains run.

I used Atlas "Right Trak" software to make the track plan and Paint Shop Plus to add the details and color(any graphics package would work). The point is that I didn't need TrackLayer to perform these functions.


Lancaster N-Scale

by David Lancaster.

I have my own layout that I took a picture of and did the trackwork with Trainplayer. I would like to offer it to your site for free ing by others. I have checked all of the track and switches. Everything functions perfectly. The original trackwork is 8' long and 3.5' wide and is an N scale layout.

I have been working on this 3.5' wide by 8' N scale layout off and on for 20 years. I really don't have a name for this layout. There is an outer loop and an inner loop which has an inverted dogbone over itself. The layout actually folds in half and stores on it's side. I take this layout once a year to a nearby train show (Great Train Expo). Originally, there was to be a station in the middle, but I don't permanently attach any buildings so ayous to be able to have a different looking layout at each set up. In the upper left hand corner (where the snow is), there is a removable hill which makes the inside a night scene. I use security door eyepieces mounted at "human" level to force perspective - to make you feel only about 1/2" tall.


Boar Harbor (Long Island Railroad)

by George Bacon.

Fast paced passenger action on a shelf type layout. Also boasts engine service, a small freight yard and harbor switching. Work against the clock with scheduled incoming and outgoing passenger trains on this end-of-the-line commuter railroad. Things can get further complicated by the occasional freight.


Oakland Harbour Belt

by Byron Henderson, tracked and submitted by Bruno Pigozzo.

I am attaching an email of approval of use from Byron Henderson (see his website @ http://www.hendoweb.org/ohb) who is a professional designer of model rail road plans for enthusiasts. His Oakland Harbor Belt has huge operating potential and his supporting documentation is superb.


Ohio Southern Lower

by Jim Jendro.

This is the lower level of the Ohio Southern (see Upper Level below).

The layout was cloned from Jim Hediger's "Ohio Southern" bi-level layout (Feb 1983, MR). At some point I should add in station id's to match the place names in the layout article. All the scenery was done with PaintShop Pro.


THB Hamiton Dundas Sub

by Bruno Pigozzo.

The Toronto Hamilton Buffalo's Hamilton Dundas Sub plan is built on an actual schematic that I found in a history of the TH&B. Appropriate cars are already place on the tracks. Makes for some interesting switching jobs. The grid squares get really small but this makes for a more realistic urban railroad. I have added a wye turn at one end and a loop at the other end of the track which will allow for some continuous running.


Wild Horse with Ships

By Larry White and Peter Lloyd-Lee. Based on a design by Ed Avetta (the Wild Horse Timber & MIning Co).

Suppress display of the track, and you will see a little boat running around in the harbor.


CP Layout

by Clarence Plisky.

Freelanced, continous running in midwest, (Indiana, Wisconsin) area. DCC control, mid to late 1950's period.


Coewydd Valley Line

by John Widdows.

The actual track plan I sent you is originally in black and white and has been "coloured" up by me to make it look a little more realistic. It is printed in a book called PSL Book of Model Railway Track Plans, writen by a gent called C.J.Freezer and published by Thorsons Publishing Group, Wellingborough, England in 1988. I like the layout because it has a terminus at each end and also has two "through" stations. It is ideal for running trains from a simple timetable - although they look fascinating I am not keen on the large tail chaser layouts. Perhaps a case of different country, different preferences.

The squares are in fact for 12" for 00 gauge. The preamble in the layout book is:- 00 gauge 4.00m by 3.00m. Steam motive power. Country of origin UK. Other recommended gauges EM. HO & N . Minimum radius 500mm. Train length 3 coaches. Small radius points. Extensive single track system inspired by Colonel Stephen's light railway - the said colonel is famous, or infamous for a very ramshackle railway he owned in southern England many many years ago.

The layout is fairly typically English yet it doesn't jar the mind to see half a dozen boxcars running along behind an Americal loco. Strange what we can shut out and alter our imagination to.


Digital & Virtual RR

by Mike Henley.

HOn3 layout for an 8x12 room.

From Mike:

I just bought TrainPlayer, and I am quite excited about it. It offers what 3rd Planit (which I also own) does not: running trains in plan view. It is nice to run in 3d, but if I add any more objects than the bare track, ground and train, the redraw rate soars. With some buildings and trees on it, you see a "flick show", of one frame at a time. And, I am running Windows 2000 Pro, a 2.3 Ghz processor, and 1 Gb of ram. Flight simulator runs beautifully on this computer, as does TrainPlayer. 3rd Planit should too. The help section in 3rd P does not say much about exporting files, and frankly, I don't know if you can use my plan, but the expertise will have to come from your end! :) I also own Cadrail, and not only is it a bit primitive, but I cannot even load a plan into it right now. It can't find any swithces!!!, of all things, and I can't run a train on it, on a predrawn, or personal layout.


Connolly RR

by Mike Connolly.

Double oval on 40"x108" peninsula on left leg of "U" plus small yard with roundhouse and continuous run loop on right leg.  Sharp curves and short trains are necessary, although the switching possibilities are good.


Jan's Valley RR

by Jan Dreyer.

This will be my first major layout attempt. And I will start construction in March 2007. I have a small 2,4m x 2,7m room available. The small valley operation is designed for Steam and diesel locomotives. Jan's valley is an imagination of activities. Somewhere between mountains and water ways

If the layout function would complement my imagination, I would surely enjoy building, using and sharing it with you. I hope it meets your requirements, if so, let us share if with others

Track by Peter Lloyd-Lee. From Peter:

This plan is based on a small N-scale layout being build by Jan Dreyer of South Africa. The original plan calls for a 5-track train turntable beneath the paper mill, but this has been replaced by a conventional staging yard for ease of viewing. As Trainplayer has the facility to turn an entire train end-for-end with a single keystroke, this arrangement works well.

 


Northern Malone RR

by Michael Arnold.

This is a freelanced, H.O. layout and has a beer industry for you, also the malone sheds to store your loco's and is for any era, and a staging line so you can run 2 trains at once.

Track and staging yards by Peter Lloyd-Lee. From Peter:

This is a very simple "railfan" layout with large hidden staging yards. The main operation format is to watch long trains running through a scenic section. Very little on-line switching is necessary. For best effect, this layout should be run with the tracks turned on.


 


West Lakes RR

by Caleb Beckedorf.

A simple oval on a hollow core door with the backdrop at an angle through the center of the layout.  A small yard on one side of the oval takes up most of on side, with a couple of spurs on the other side.
 


Lego Layout

by Robert Fries.  Track by Peter Lloyd-Lee.

I just came across TrainPlayer & TrackLayer for the first time, and my immediate thought was "is there any way I could use this with my Lego trains?"

This layout is set to OO scale, so the overall size and train sizes come out about right.


 


Lizard Head

Created using 3rd Plan-It by Chris Marco, TrackLayer track by Peter Lloyd-Lee.

This plan is based on the trackage through Lizard Head pass. Extensive staging tracks have been added to the original plan. For best effect, the track display should be left on while operating.


Mike L Layout

Created using 3rd Plan-It by Chris Marco, TrackLayer track by Peter Lloyd-Lee.

This plan is based on a high-rail layout that runs around several obstacles in the owner's basement.
 


Bree Turn

Switching Puzzle by Peter Prunka.

This is a set of dominos on my new AT&SF whch represent the industrial city of Bree. It also makes one heck of a switching layout! You are facing WEST, with North to your right and South to your left. The Bree & Buckland RR at the rear is a narrow gauge line that serves the ancient Hobbit region of Middle Earth. It crosses the AT&SF to serve Rivendell, now a tourist resort. An interchange is maintained by manual loading and unloading of freight.

Bree is a large industrial city in the Middle Earth of the Sixth Age. It is served by a daily freight out of Fornost Yard to the North, as well as several passenger trains each day. Also passing through town is the Bree & Buckland RR, a narrow gauge road that serves the Hobbitish areas of Middle Earth, as well as the tourist resort at Rivendell.

Layout comes with detailed assignment instructions and rules.  Good luck!

 


Steve Z Layout

by Steven Zegalia.

This layout is my attempt to do a figure eight inside an oval doing all over-under crossings. The idea was to have a train go over the entire mainline with out touching a switch. The sidings were added later for on-layout storage.


 


Chantilly Central Railroad

by Joe Krueger.  Trackwork and decoration by Peter Lloyd-Lee.  Two levels connected by helix.

This is a freelance railroad. So far, the long dogbone is tracked and partially scenic-ed.

       


Lachlan

by John Noller.  Trackwork by Peter Lloyd-Lee.

The is nothing particularly original about the underlying set-up. It is the classic type of looped eight, with a few bells and whistles.  The main innovation, which I have not seen used elsewhere, is to give part of the trackwork multiple identities, enabling an operating schedule close to the prototype in a restricted space (and on the actual model getting triple use out of some of the buildings). This is explained in the accompanying notes and drawings, which should be read in reverse order.
 
As I see it, the main difficulty in adapting to your system would be labelling the schitzophrenic upper loop.  The various items (stations, industries etc.) could be given triple slash separated identities for the three different line usages.  If your software can accommodate it, a more elegant solution would be to have a three-way toggle switch for each of NORTH/SOUTH/BRANCH which would display only the item identifiers for the line in use.
 
An improvement in the layout, which I did not drop to until it was in use,  would be to have at least two of the sidings in the main holding yard accessible from the upper loop by a facing switch near the duck-under, necessarily at a lower level than those in the remainder of the yard.  This would eliminate the current need for cumbersome reversal of trains running on the "Main Line South" to and from the holding yard.
 

As an alternative to the layout as is, for a simulation where space restrictions are less pressing than than on a real model,  I could devise an end-to-end adaptation having separate trackage for each of the North, South & Branch lines

 


Nickel Plate Wheeling District

by Kyle Young

Coal road based on southeastern Ohio, Nickel Plate Wheeling District.  Coal mine and power plant are connected through hidden trackage for Loads in- Empties out operation.  N scale, 12' x 12'.

I designed this myself to fit my workshop. The layout is located overhead and use a 2' platform to stand on and operate it. It is loosely patterned after the Nickel Plate Wheeling District. A coal road in southeastern Ohio. It runs from Toledo to Wheeling and the portion from Brewster to Adena is modeled. It has a mine at Adena and a powerplant outside Brewster with a empties- in, loads- out connection. Toledo and Wheeling in staging.

  


Pueblo-Canyon City-LaJunta

by Jerry Wilson

Yard in Pueblo serves Canyon City via Rio Grande and LaJunta via Santa Fe.  Early 1970 era.

Plan submitted in two sections via Atlas software. "To LaJunta" track in one section connects to "To Canyon City" track on the 2nd section.

 


L & M Woodland Express

by Lynn Boyd.

This layout still has a bit of work to do with regards to a few of the  spurs. Most industries other than the coal mine in the lower left are  wood related servicing each other. The cad file is done in xtrkcad.

The layout has an extensive hidden staging area.  Both layers are in the same layout.

 


Castleford High School

by Richard Martin and his club at Railsoft UK.  A "what if" project on a schoolyard photo.

 


Cheryl Junction

by Chris Marco and Jeff Zarend.  Created using 3rd Plan-It.

 


Stanley Yard

by Jeff Zarend.

This is the Stanley Yard. I think it's currently owned by CSX. It's located in Walbridge, Ohio, which is right outside of Toledo. If you drive down State Route 795 you drive over part of the yard. It's impressive. You can "google" for many different rail fan photos.

  


Pine Ridge RR

by Steve Feek.

Here is my first TrackLayer file!  This is my 1x4 layout which is on my website. The layout, Pine Ridge (formally called Blackwood) has been to a couple of local shows and people enjoy watching me switch cars on the layout.

In this file - I extended the trackplan to give the user some room to do some work, including adding the staging track.

  


Pennsylvania Railroad Ohio Division Mainline

by Mike McKenzie.

This is a display type layout.  It is N Scale on a 6.5’ X 16’ island with a view divider in the middle.  The staging side of the divider uses a city & industry backdrop including some building flats for better depth.  The rural side uses a western Pennsylvania / eastern Ohio hills style backdrop with the scenery blending into it.  I have not shown any switching sidings since this layout’s purpose is to show off long mainline trains in a scenic setting.  However, there is plenty of room to add sidings at various places for a local to do some switching.

Detailed operation instructions are included, along with two linked layouts for more variety.  Open the PRR_Ohio layout.  The two wyes at the bottom lead to add-on layouts.

 


Ohio Southern

by Jim Jendro. 

This is the upper of a two-level layout.  Track and artwork by Jim.

  


Lakeport Short Line

by Ed Avetta.  Based on a design by George Baustert, with art assistance by Bruce Bates and coloring by Jim Dill.

  

Colored version coming soon.


San Francisco Peninsula RR

by Enzo Fortuna.

N gauge and Nn3 short logging line.

Room Dimensions: 3,70 x 4,20 mt (12'15" by 13' 8" ) Track MicroEngineering code 55. Turnouts on the visible mainline are mostly Peco. Main line 20,50 m (not including staging leads) Branch line 10,32 m (not including staging leads) Narrow gauge line 10 m Min mainline radius - 24" ( 60 cm ) Min mainline turnout - #6 Min industrial turnout - #4 Era is around 1940 -1945. Continuous run for shows or relaxed ops.


Description: Main line go from SF (I thinking about SP&ATSF interchange yard at Mission bay + ATSF ferry + roundhouse and some industries) to San Jose and Los Gatos. Main line is turning back to SF via a tunnel to separate the view and enable to have continuous loop.

The San Jose yard is not so big as in reality but will provide the Roundhouse facility at Lentzen Ave. as well some local industries. From San Jose is departing a branch line to Felton ( and here a tunnel to a stage track simulate the line to Santa Cruz ) At Felton there is a turntable and an interchange with a little Narrow line ( Nn3 ) to Boulder Creek This narrow line continue to a little lumber camp, and a silver mine, free-lanced transfer for the New Almaden one. On the narrow line there is a sawmill. This Nn3 line have two back-loops at both ends to turn the loco's

Designed using 3rdPlanit.

 


Shady Brook

by Jim Jendro.

Route based on the area around Weston, WV as served by the B&O. The local glass, coal, and gas industries are represented. The Clarksburg yard needs a lot of work...

Jim created the track by hand, without using TrackLayer.

 

 


 


Aquebogue Light Railway

by Bruce Bates.

Small island lighthouse railways (2) both variations on the same theme. Ask Peter Prunka, he has a sculpture of another variation. All in all two small railroads with an interesting amount of operation designed in.

I was designing this for a contest in Yahoo's group "Small Layout Design" and it was getting too big for the contest rules, so I had to modify it into the ALR. The original concept offers more operation with two spurs at each end of the line. You can figure out wherer the missing turn table should go, which should only be large enough for a short engine and one car, as is the case on the ALR plan as well. [ Webmaster's note: the missing turntable is supplied in the working version.]0-2-0 engines only need apply.

See Bruce's Site featuring the notorious Birdwater and Raspberry.

       
 

                  
Peter Prunka:  Bruce and I have been friends for 35 years. I have the 1/4 scale model of the ALR sitting on the desk in front of me, lighthouse, wizard and all. It's a whimsy layout. He designed and built it for me, the "Wizard of Aquebogue" (my former home). The railroad receives carloads of beer and whiskey (and the occasional food) via car ferry and transports them to the lighthouse storage area.

Photos by Bruce Bates.  Click to enlarge.


Harrisburg RR

by Karl Stewart.

I built this layout in my garage. It had two scratch built hand held throttles and cab control. A helix got you down from the outlying area into the hidden staging under the city of Harrisburg. The Rockville bridge was a scratch built 9 arch stone bridge over 2 feet long. In reallity it is many many arches and is about 3/4 mile in length.

The circles to the left of the Rockville bridge was where I put Three Mile Island even though it is actually about 10 miles downstream from there. The river is the Susquehanna.


Industrial Portage Co.

by Ed Avetta.

This layout is just for having fun switching cars around from and to the different industries. Wouldn't really want to build a layout like this, but having a plan that I could play with, shifting rolling stock around, would be a real pleasure.


 


Ellensburg Railroad

by Mike Jones.

Two level switching layout with continuous run. Pier area designed for Walthers Car Ferry and other units in that set.

Blue track is level at Elev 0". Red track rises at 4% grade to upper level at Elev 3.75". Upper portion of blue track is hidden staging for two trains and a Budd Unit for passenger service.

[Webmaster's note: we changed the colors.  The green track is high elevation, gray at ground level.]


   


Ingersoll Terminal Railway

by Gary Pembleton.

Based loosely on a 1964 MR track plan New Orleans Public Belt Line.  Allows various industrial switching moves plus a branch to a rural station.


 


1x21 Switchback

by Steve Benezra.

This is a switchback plan to take cars from mines to a lower level. Since it is a long space, the grades are under 3%. In HO shays, or other geared engines can be used. in On30, Porters or geared engines can be used. There is potentially quite a bit of operation in a long narrow space.

 


Schwartz Mine RR

by Steve Schwarz.

This is a standard and narrow gauge layout which has a working narrow gauge steam museum in the lower left corner. There is an operational mine on the upper level at the lower right corner.  Steam engines leave the museum grounds and grind up the 4% grade to the depot.  The road engine then takes waiting empties back down through the helix to the transloader for shipment on standard gauge.  The empties are taken up to the mine by a geared locomotive and dropped off.  Full cars are taken back down to the depot.  A switcher at the mine takes the empties through the tipple for loading.

There are also industries along the dual track mainline for more switching action along with passenger stops.  This layout combines modern diesel operation with a plausible narrow gauge steam operation all at the same time.

[Webmaster's note: this layout contains two files, one for the lower level (shown here) and one for the upper, with a working 3-loop helix in between.]
 


Ontario Western Lines

by Steve Feek.

I am building this 4x8 layout. When complete there will be staging and interchanges with 4 other railroads!  The OWL is a bridge line connecting these 4 railroads.

.  


Wild Horse Timber & Mining Co.

by Ed Avetta.

Ed says:  "This is a layout I have always wanted to build but didn't have the space to do it.  I was inspired to develop a mining and lumber railroad by an article that I saw in the May, 1976 issue of Model Railroader called "A Day at Mule Shoes Meadows" by John Olson.  It was really a series of dioramas that looked so real that they just made me feel what it was like to have lived during a time like that. I still have a copy of that issue and look at it now and then still wondering what it would have been like to live in Mule Shoes."


 


Wabeno Timberline Railroad

by Robert Prondzinski.

Ten interconnected sections in schematic form, prepared by Train Controller

    


Santa Fe & San Antonio Railroad

by Lee Cook.

The Santa Fe and San Antonio Railroad (SF&SARR) is a fictitious prototypical layout of a connector route between the ATSF in Houston, Ft Worth and Santa Fe, similar to several of the small feeder lines serving the San Antonio area. Scenery covers the Piney Woods of East Texas, the Hill Country, the Big Bend Country and the Pueblo/Butte areas of West Texas and New Mexico.

Certain scenes on some modules can be changed to accommodate various periods - Early 1860-1890; Steam 1880-1950; Transition 1940-1960; Diesel 1950-1990 and Modern 1990 to present day. Of course if you select present day, it becomes the AMTRAK and BNSF with its arrival to serve the new Toyota Plant. Since the SF&SA RR is basically a fictional railroad, sometimes mixtures of all periods can be found running together, just for the fun of Model Railroading.

 Lee drew the entire layout in TrackLayer from scratch.

NOTE: this layout has a blank background.  By default it comes up with track display turned off, so all you see are the switch lights.  Use View Tracks to show the tracks.  If you upgrade to ver 2.18, this layout will automatically come up with tracks on display.


Binkley Railroad

by B. Binkley.

Simple yet functional design. Outside loop is a Freight Loop with Right Switch To wrap around loop for future freight station use. Inside Loop is a passenger loop running either throught the tunnel or bypass the tunnel to the passenger station. 4x8 layout running all PRR Engines and Rolling Stock.


Brussels Northern

By Chuck Weber.

Extensively modified N scale version of "The Soo's Red Wing Division", a 4x8 HO layout which appeared in December 1994 in Model Railroader magazine. Our version uses Kato Unitrack and elevates the center of the design.


St. Paulton & Meriscove RR

By Bill Savage.

This is a passenger oriented layout, large stub terminal, coach and baggage facilities, with a small engine terminal. Also, it is one-way (clockwise) traffic flow. It is currently in the process of being constructed in N scale.

Bill says "I have spent about a complete year in the design of this passenger folly. Lots of fun. All done in autocad."

 
 


Miller Industries

By Jason Miller.

A basic yet very useful layout in a small area to utilize businesses as drop off points. Two outer loops for continuous run but a fun yet easy to use inner section of switching.  In N scale.


Axle Wrap RR

By Harry Vig.

Harry's first module, a scenic 2x8 switchback in HO.  Complete operating details enclosed.  Plan by XTrkCad.


N-Scale Peanut

By Gary Jacobs.

Here is the whole layout of my first N Gauge (and model) railroad. I call the design a double peanut. Both loops, high and low are curved, something like a peanut. The time is circa 1900. No automobiles, but covered wagons, oxen, horses, and bicycles. A trolley runs down both main streets. Still trying to figure out catenary (wires) for them. Spur to the top right, with caboose, will eventually join the second board that I am working on.

  


Sandric & Lake Superior RR

By Eric Lundberg.

The S&LS is in reality the Royal Gorge Route of the Denver & Rio Grande Western RR. Allowing for the necessary selective compression, I model the D&RGW in its entirety. This means the mainline between Pueblo, Colo. and Salt Lake City, Utah. And it includes the Moffat line to Denver. Denver, Pueblo, and Salt Lake are all represented by staging yards.

It is HO. It is both narrow and standard gauge. There is approximately 2100 feet of track. On the plan the standard gauge is printed in black, narrow gauge in green and dual gauge in red. The layout is in a basement measuring 43-feet 3-inches by 34-feet. Heights at various points are indicated in inches inside a circle.

This layout demonstrates a new feature of TrainPlayer version 2.14.  The two levels are in separate files, but the train can travel between them.  If you have a big screen, you can tile the two layouts and watch them both at once.  TrackLayer users should turn off track display for better appearance.

  


John Hubbard's Next Layout

By John Tryon Hubbard.

I'm currently building a small layout that may be interesting.  As it stands right now, I have most of the track laid and am pausing to do some scenery work that must be done before I can proceed.

One thing that has been added to this layout concept is that between the time I started thinking about it (3 years ago) and now, I built a HOn30 Class A Climax loco. So the layout will be its new home.

  

This HO-scale layout is less than three feet long!  A true micro layout.


Southern Pacific Tucson Division

By Phil Scandura.

Phil Scandura's N Scale layout, the Southern Pacific Tucson Division "West Valley District," depicts a fictional branch line connection between the Southern Pacific and the Santa Fe railroads, just outside of Phoenix, Arizona. The branch starts in Glendale, as an interchange with the Santa Fe mainline, and continues through Tolleson and into Avondale where it joins the Southern Pacific mainline bound for Yuma. Layout is controlled by Digitrax DCC and was originally designed using CADRail layout design software.

  


San Ramon Valley Railroad

By Stephen Foster. 

 


Industry & Yard

By Paul Omilian.  Industry & yard with hidden staging under the industry tracks.

  


Kingfield & Kennebec RR

By Ed Kozlowsky.

On2 layout of a fictitious link between the Franklin & Megantic at Kingfield, Maine, and the standard gauge Somerset Railway in North Anson, Maine in the year 1895. Sidings pending on lower portion. Benchwork is nearly complete, with some track layed.

Beautiful two-level railroad with excellent rendering and a four-layer helix.

   


Westport Terminal RR

Wolfgang Dudler's HO-scale empire in Germany -- the new revised version (the original is below).  For photos and lots of details, see Wolfgang's site and the Westport Terminal page.

    


Walla Walla Valley Railway

By Blair Kooistra Artwork by Donovan Furin.
 
  


Georgetown Branch

By Kelly Regan.  Top plan is the latest; below is the now-gone past version.

 

    


Michigan Eastern & Ohio Western

By George Baustert. 

   

George says:

The Tennessee Eastern Ry, #93 in the 101 book, was the inspiration for the Michigan Eastern & Ohio Western, called the "cat's meow" by those who appreciate great model railroading. It has a major passenger station that features head in and back in from two directions plus 2 suburban stations. It features steam and diesel locos and the service tracks and engine houses for both. Traffic runs out and back, in both directions, east and west with around the room running and several return loop patterns. A double track interchange at the right end and multiple industrial sidings along the right of way provide plenty of switching beyond the main yard switching.

The main station and platforms are elevated above the rest of the layout, which is flat and has multiple crossings. The main station is reached from below via a long street ramp out in the front at the left end. Road and buildings are located below the station and platform area.

The freight yard and especially the freight yard lead, both follow the grade approach to the station on the front side of the layout. Likewise, the industrial tracks along the rear of the layout follow the grade approach and a connecting loop track provides quick access to the service area below. Otherwise, engines have to run around the freight yard to get to the service area. This is similar to the layout and is where I got the idea from. The rest is all my own doing.

The layout is HO scale, 11'6" x 18'8", 3/4"= 1' grid. The frieight yard and roundhouse are at the front of the layout.


The First George Baustert Collection

22 interesting and intricate layouts designed and hand-drawn by George Baustert.  Layout descriptions include operation and historical commentary by George.  Download all 22 together as a package.

                    


Napa Valley Northern

Giant club layout at the fairgrounds in Napa, California.  .

    


Southern Tier Connecting Railroad

By Al Olsen, Voorheesville, NY.

Plan by Railplan, Baltimore.  A short line between Binghamton and Elmira, NY.  Elegant plan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 


Rio Grande Southern

By Steven Haworth. 

An alternate-history version of the Rio Grande Southern, assumming it had been standard gauged at some point and survived to at least 1958. Current details on the RGS itself and this layout at rgsrr.info.

Compare with the Larry Nyce version from Finescale Railroader Annual.

    


Angmar, Tharabad and Sarn Ford Rwy

Drawn and submitted by Peter Prunka. 

According to Peter: The Angmar, Tharabad and Sarn Ford Rwy. (AT&SF) was created as an homage to J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle Earth. The railway represents Middle Earth at the dawn of the Sixth Age, around 1945 in our terms. The railway was designed using Tolkien's own topological maps of Middle Earth and represents the mainline of the railway from the Iron Hills in the north through its connections with the Gondor and Rohan in the south, along with a subsidiary line (the Bree, Rivendell, Eregion and Eastern) through Elven territory at Rivendell and hobbit country at Bree, terminating at Eregion.


Santa Maria Valley RR

By Byron Henderson. 

Featured in Model Railroad Planning 2004. See Byron Henderson's site.

      

 

 

 

 


 


Westport Terminal RR

Wolfgang Dudler's HO-scale empire in Germany.  See Wolfgang's site and the Westport Terminal page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

  

The Denver, South Park & Pacific

This layout was created by Andrew Dodge and featured in the 2004 edition of Finescale Railroader Annual.  Submitted and tracked by Larry Kuretich.

   

COPYRIGHT 2004 FINESCALE RAILROADER MAGAZINE / WESTLAKE PUBLISHING COMPANY. USED WITH PERMISSION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


Rio Grande Southern

This layout was created by Larry Nyce and featured in the 2004 edition of Finescale Railroader Annual.  Submitted and tracked by Larry Kuretich.

Compare with the RGS built by Steven Haworth on the User Layouts page.

  

COPYRIGHT 2004 FINESCALE RAILROADER MAGAZINE / WESTLAKE PUBLISHING COMPANY. USED WITH PERMISSION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED


Possum Valley RR

Contributed and prepared by Steve Ward.

   


Central Appalachian RR

Contributed and prepared by Casey Sterbenz.

   


GM & GP

By Paul Omilian

The GrandMa & GrandPa RR!  Our seven year old grandson is quite into trains. I built a 4x8 Tyco layout for his Dad twenty five years ago and it was up against the basement wall 'till the grandson came along. Needless to say it has just snowballed since then. Still run some of the old Tyco stuff when he wants to see "crashes" at the cross-overs, which is most of the time.

The layout is built on three 4x8 tables. Prodigy Advance DCC control. Completely freelance, no time period, just fun!  Laid out with Atlas Right Track Software.

    


[Paul took the photo and applied the track using a beta version of TrackLayer.]


Atlas HO-28 Granite Gorge and Northern

Contributed and prepared by Richard Kuroski

   


Farquhar Branch

Contributed and prepared by Steve Ward

  


Midland Short Line

By Eric Skinner

The Midland Short Line (MSL) is a freelance On30 line.  Two versions were submitted: the first is built and operating, the second is a plan for a possible rebuild.

  


Callahan Central

By Steve Ward

This layout is a combination of 3 layouts in one: the Callahan Central, the Cripple Creek and a timesaver .


Boy's Life 4x8

Submitted by Glenn Barton

This layout is from an old issue of Boy's Life, a favorite of Glenn Barton's since youth.


Bill Koehn's 6'x15' N-Gauge Union Pacific Empire

Adapted and expanded from an S-gauge layout in COMPLETE LAYOUT PLANS, FIFTH ENLARGED EDITION by Carstens Publications, and drawn with RRTrack. Plan features 4 independent but interconnected loops: 2 inner and outer ovals, and 2 middle figure 8's which can easily be connected to form a much larger folded dogbone. Trains travel counter-clockwise in outer 2 loops and clockwise in inner 2 loops but with no reversing loops anywhere in the layout. DCC operation throughout. All Kato Unitrack except Tomix turntable.

[Bill prepared this layout himself, using a beta version of TrackLayer.]


 


Bill Koehn's 3'x5' N-Gauge Coffee Table Layout

Just a simple folded dogbone with passing siding, water mill with stream & pond, and 3 industrial sidings. Trackplan drawn by RRTrack. All Kato Unitrack. Layout is in wooden frame with plexiglass cover and part of mountain lifts off in case of derailment in tunnel.

   


 


Blackjack Ridge

By Jim Kline

Blackjack Ridge is a small (3 x 8) N scale layout that hides behind the couch in the family room. It represents a sectional repair and servicing facility with a holding yard somewhere along the CSX system. Additional industries, or maybe the time-saver switching puzzle, will be added in the open area in the center.

The stations marked UNCPL are the locations of the MTL uncoupling magnets. Cars must be uncoupled at these locations and the steam switcher can only push cars to the spot location. (Micro-Trains Lines Magne-Matic coupler operation).  Build a train, pick-up the empties, spot the new cars and then classify the empties back into the yard. Use the Clock tool to keep score.

Jim Kline drew this layout completely freehand using TrackLayer 1.26.  There is no background image.

   


Michigan Central Division

By George Baustert

 


 

From George:

I noticed that locos and trains automatically backed up after running out of track, especially at the edges of the layouts, so I figured we could use this feature in an elevated line at the back of a layout and so this one was born. However, it went through several stages, before it finally was completed. (A single commuter unit would do.)  It started out shorter and narrower and I just kept adding to it. It is more of a game board layout, what with a turntable at each end of a common yard, which started out as visual staging and can still be used that way.

The idea is for the yard to be thought of as a division point where locos arrive and are turned to go back over the same track that brought them. Thus, when arriving from the west (left) they will pass the turntable there and then after stopping and uncoupling from the train, they will go back to that turntable, via the main line and get serviced and turned. Then, for the return trip, they simply get onto their train at the end closest to their terminal, the left one.

When they arrive coming from the east (right), they run past that turntable and do the same as before, but in the reverse directions. After being serviced and turned, the loco will take a new train back over the line and arrive as it did the first time. Etc. etc. etc.  Passenger trains do the same thing, except that they back into the station platforms, upon arrival and then leave with the other train, going back over the line.

The curved crossover just past the center to the rear is used by the yard switcher to get to arriving and departing trains, which are then switched onto one of the 3 tracks, used as the yard. These are also used when switching the industries next to them.  The rear side of the layout has industries on both sides of the mainlines and is switched by the way freight trains. Likewise, the industries on the right end.  A passenger train can be parked on one of the through tracks so that freight cars can be spotted at the front of layout industries, as a diversion of operation.

Passenger trains can also make "whistle stops" at the platform on the rear side of the layout, while the operator does other moves with other trains.  Likewise, it can do a "whistle stop" at the front. The second sidings at the rear industries can be used as interchange tracks. Multiple use of tracks is the key to diversified operation.
 


Timesaver

John Allen's classic switching puzzle, drawn and built by Charlie Comstock. 

 

The TrainPlayer version comes with a pre-recorded solution.  See Layout Properties for instructions.

  

 


Farmersville Jct

Classic switching puzzle by Robert Hargrave.

    


Double Crossing Belt

by George Baustert

    

George says:

The DCB started out as a study layout and thus has a number of innovations. It resembles a figure 8, but is not. It has 4 switchbacks in the center area, only 2 at the interchange tracks, like the Grand Banks has. The end sidings are longer, thanks to the 30-degree crossings. The mainline crossovers are located in the center, rather than towards the ends and the service areaas are also moved.

Two passenger stations are provided. The train is to be created and deleted, upon demand. Likewise, locos.  The rear triangle area on the right is a cattle pen with ramp into the building, which is a meat-packing house. The rest is up to you to decide.

With no staging tracks or carfloat, the outer interchange tracks become the prime source of traffic, except for the passenger trains, which can be made up on the end area of the outer loop or even on one of the end sidngs and then run around the outer loop and crossed over to the inner loop to make station stops and then exited (deleted) out of any available siding at the outer edges, that run off of the layout and thus connect with the world, beyond the layout.

The main street runs beneath the building and under the track at both ends, steep ramps up to the stations. There are 62 40' cars on the interchange track and an equal number at the industrial sidings, so the system is balanced and no cars will need to be added or deleted, once the system is filled. Of course, cars and locos can be changed at any time, on TrainPlayer.
 


Wisconsin Central

Submitted by Chris Gilbert in England.  Based on industry around Menasha, Wisconsin.

 

  
 


Two Layouts

From the design collection of Robert Daniels.  Prepared with Microstation. 

 


 

Layouts
  Copyright © 2005 - 2021, TrainPlayer Software