Traction Focused Track Plans

In O-scale all of the layout space problems vanish with Traction, while at the same time all of the Conventional Railroad operations modelers crave in a layout can be implemented.

Rapid Transit Layout

The following track plan is built in an extendable bagel shape, conceived for an attic space accessed centrally from below. It represents a double-track Rapid Transit line running on downtown elevated trackwork. Downtown Rapid Transit passenger, as well as some freight operations, are both featured. Stations are long enough to accommodate trains the size of an Electoliner. Assuming a low ceiling height, the trackwork elevation is therefore only an illusion (it actually rests directly on the benchwork), being inferred through modeling only the scenery buildings upper floors, and representing the elevated structure and lower building floors through the magic of a trompe l'oeil. Note that the lattice elevated structure covers over most of the one-way alley, but overhead lights under the roof-like station keep the alley from becoming a "dark tunnel".

O-scale Attic Rapid Transit Layout     O-scale Attic Rapid Transit Layout 3dView
Rapid Transit (*.pdf) - 12.5' x 13.5'
~ Rapid Transit (zipped *.scarm) - (Atlas 21st Century Track)


Published Track Plans

Because even in the smaller scales Traction has so many advantages for modelers, it is almost irresponsible how few track plans have been published. Many that are published are often poorly conceived novelty plans, apparently drawn in a hurry for a magazine deadline. The freelance traction modeler is encouraged to study fixed bus routes in major cities to understand how a for-profit trolly system would actually determine its routes.

Collected below are all of the publicly available previously published Traction Themed track plans that could be located on the Internet at the time. The plans range from just okay, to some truly exceptional gems. Although traction has many faces, published plans typically only imagine trolleys running amok! Study them all though, to help you coalesce the concept for your perfect traction themed layout.

   + = Example shown in HO or N scale

Adaptable Track Plans:
+ Compact Freight Layout (*.pdf)
+ Freight Interchange Layout (*.pdf)

Traction Track Plans:
   "Creative Model Railroad Design" (*.pdf book) = page 83 features a Rapid Transit layout designed by the dean of model railroading
+"More Railroads You Can Model" (*.pdf book) = page 68 features the "Roarin' Elgin" Interurban railway
+"Traction Guidebook for Model Railroaders" (*.pdf book) = page 112 begins a chapter of assorted traction track plans (of note is the San Francisco Muni)
+"Starter Track Plans for Model Railroaders" (*.pdf book) = page 40 features the Valley City Street & Interurban interchange railway
+ Interurban Layouts (*.pdf) = an assortment
+ Trolley Layouts (*.pdf) = an assortment
+ A Rapid Transit system (*.pdf)
+ A traction layout for beginners (*.pdf)
   Bill Brandts Traction Modules (*.pdf)
+ Modeling street life and streetcars (*.pdf)
+ Cape May, Delaware Bay, and Cooks Point Railway (*.pdf)
   Railroad Transportation Museum (*.pdf) - {modern freight trains and antique trolleys legitimately sharing track}
+ Sacramento Northern Railway (*.pdf)
   The Clayville and Butterwood Traction Railway (*.pdf) - {a micro-layout}
+ Vancouver Power and Transportation (*.pdf)

The PDF book "Track Design for Scale Model Railroading" includes the following traction layout plans:
+ City Traction Company (*.pdf)
   Greenwood Traction Co (*.pdf)
+ Indiana Midland RR with Hoosier Traction Co (*.pdf)
   Manhattan Traction Company (*.pdf)
+ The Toronto Railway & Traction Company (*.pdf)