MYLAYOUT-1
Here is the layout I've been using. You can click on the image to see a larger version of the picture. This was created using the RR Track software from R & S Enterprises.
If anyone would like the RR Track data files to play around with any layouts I've come up with, just let me know and I can email them to you.
The entire layout is done using MTH Realtrax. The dimensions of the layout are 6 feet by 11 feet 3.5 inches, plus a few inches more in each direction because of the roadbed. The outer loop is O-72 and in the inner loop is O-54. The crossovers between the loops use O-54 turnouts. The turnout into the yard and the turnouts on the ladder are O-42.
I have two tressle bridges, two girder bridges, a switch tower, a yard tower, a house, various railroad and highway signs, a water tower, and a number of smaller accessories and freight loads. I have a long way to go to make it look nice and pretty.
My next plans are to elevate half of the outer loop and to add one or two reversing loops.
So here are some ways to add reversing loops to the layout. The first is just to create a standard figure 8 in the inner loop. I've used O-42 turnouts for this.
You can see that I've moved both crossovers to the same side of the loops. This makes the inside and outside loops more independent in terms of position and size, and makes it a little easier to make everything fit without too many pieces of fractional track.
Another way to do the reversing loop is to have an independent loop inside the O-54 inner loop. This gives you more track to run on.
Of course you could have both sides of the figure 8 be independent of the inner O-54 loop. That would give you the following layout.
The next thing is to make the layout a bit more interesting by having one of the reversing loops come back on itself rather than forming the familiar figure 8. This results in something like the following.
None of these layouts show any sidings, spurs, or yards. You would want to add those to make your operating layout more than just a way to run trains continuously. The following layout has a few added features based on LAYOUT-1B above.
If you really wanted to give yourself lots of options, you could add a passing siding on the outside loop, an O-42 yard off of the reversing loops, and an O-54 yard or spurs off of the inner loop. The following layout based on LAYOUT-1D is just under 16 feet wide and less than 8 feet deep. Notice that I've also replaced the two crossovers with a single double crossover using 4 O-72 turnouts, a 45-degree crossover, and 4 pieces of fractional track.
Here is the actual layout that I used for Christmas 2006. It was set on six 30"x96" tables, giving me an 8'x14' foundation and a height of about three feet.
