You will have noticed in my sketches I pay little attention to the method of storing the trains off stage. I do that because basically everyone has their own perferences.
There are several choices on how to do this.
The simplest and probably the one that takes up the most room, is the simple fan of sidings fed by a series of points/switches. I think 3 sidings is a good minimum. So in order to store three 4' long trains off stage you'd need one three way point (about 8" long) plus a curved section to take the sidings out to standard track centres (so the trains don't foul each other on sidings) another 6-8" minimum. So to store a 4' train you need approaching 5 1/2" foot of space. Perhaps not a problem if your layout stays home all the time but if you like to go to train shows and you only have 4' 6" space in the back of your car then you might have a problem.
Aonther solution that takes up less space is the traverser or transfer table. Here a section of baseboard with the three tracks lined up on it slides on drawer runners or a similar mechanism to line up with the tracks on the main baseboard. This arrangement need only be as long (or perhaps in inc h or two longer than the longest train you plan to operate on the layout. You want a 4' train? the traverser could be as little as 4'2" long.
A variation on this is the sector plate/train turntable. Where instead of sliding across the baseboard. Your transfer table rotates around a fixed point. Handy if you want to turn your entire train offstage so that the loco leads without getting your grubby greasy fingers all over your pride and joy. Of course if your sector plate is 4' long and pivots around a central point you need 2' clear space fron and back when you rotate the traintable around through 180 degrees. If you don't need to rotate the turntable through 180 degrees. You can always move the pivot point off centre so when the table swings it doesn't protrude as much.
A fourth option is the train cassette. A cassette is a length of track with protective sides and carrying handles thay you can store a train on that are kept out of the way when not required and plugged into the layout when the train is needed. Cassettes can be kept stored on a rack out of the way taking up very little room. My only concern with this method is how unwieldly a cassette of three feet plus in length might be. Short cassettes to carry a railcar are certainly very viable and I'd certainly consider the cassette option for a railcar on the Duluth Steam layout. The PECO Locolift is a good simple cassette for such a purpose.
There is also room for experiment too.
On a small Gn15 layout I built called The Apple Valley Light railway. I developed a hybrid system called the "traintable" I used a kitchen lazy susan as a turntable and constructed interchangeable train cassettes to plug into it. You can see it in the background of some of the pictures. It worked quite well on the small narrow gauge trains.
So there you go, as they say.
"You pays yer money, you takes your choice" I've built sector plates with no problem but have had a few issues building traversers. So I prefer sector plates. But will use cassettes when the need arises. Like I say it's all up to you.
There are several choices on how to do this.
The simplest and probably the one that takes up the most room, is the simple fan of sidings fed by a series of points/switches. I think 3 sidings is a good minimum. So in order to store three 4' long trains off stage you'd need one three way point (about 8" long) plus a curved section to take the sidings out to standard track centres (so the trains don't foul each other on sidings) another 6-8" minimum. So to store a 4' train you need approaching 5 1/2" foot of space. Perhaps not a problem if your layout stays home all the time but if you like to go to train shows and you only have 4' 6" space in the back of your car then you might have a problem.
Aonther solution that takes up less space is the traverser or transfer table. Here a section of baseboard with the three tracks lined up on it slides on drawer runners or a similar mechanism to line up with the tracks on the main baseboard. This arrangement need only be as long (or perhaps in inc h or two longer than the longest train you plan to operate on the layout. You want a 4' train? the traverser could be as little as 4'2" long.
A variation on this is the sector plate/train turntable. Where instead of sliding across the baseboard. Your transfer table rotates around a fixed point. Handy if you want to turn your entire train offstage so that the loco leads without getting your grubby greasy fingers all over your pride and joy. Of course if your sector plate is 4' long and pivots around a central point you need 2' clear space fron and back when you rotate the traintable around through 180 degrees. If you don't need to rotate the turntable through 180 degrees. You can always move the pivot point off centre so when the table swings it doesn't protrude as much.
A fourth option is the train cassette. A cassette is a length of track with protective sides and carrying handles thay you can store a train on that are kept out of the way when not required and plugged into the layout when the train is needed. Cassettes can be kept stored on a rack out of the way taking up very little room. My only concern with this method is how unwieldly a cassette of three feet plus in length might be. Short cassettes to carry a railcar are certainly very viable and I'd certainly consider the cassette option for a railcar on the Duluth Steam layout. The PECO Locolift is a good simple cassette for such a purpose.
There is also room for experiment too.
On a small Gn15 layout I built called The Apple Valley Light railway. I developed a hybrid system called the "traintable" I used a kitchen lazy susan as a turntable and constructed interchangeable train cassettes to plug into it. You can see it in the background of some of the pictures. It worked quite well on the small narrow gauge trains.
So there you go, as they say.
"You pays yer money, you takes your choice" I've built sector plates with no problem but have had a few issues building traversers. So I prefer sector plates. But will use cassettes when the need arises. Like I say it's all up to you.
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