I am new to the hobby, having only dabbled in HO some when I was very young. My dad was the train guy and he built a wonderful layout around the upstairs room. He got seriously into HO after American Flyer went out of business. I helped him a little, but left for college. I have inherited some of my dad's track and trains. I would like to build a shelf layout, but the only place I have is my home office. I am hoping I can move my desk out of the room, but may have to work around it. I am thinking of running coal or stone quarry (1950's). I would like to have a small town involved in order to incorporate some of the buildings of my dad's. I would like a switch yard if possible. I was hoping for a loop around, but I think I will have to forgo that. Here is a hand drawn picture. Back dimension is 94".
greetings Pepley and welcome to the TB forum with the dimensions you are indicating, it will need to be a switching railroad as you do not have enough width at any place to have 180 degrees of curve to make a continual running layout. if you changed to N Scale you could get by with some sharp radius curves, but in HO most things will not run on less than 18" radius, or 15" for the shortest of cars and locomotives. that is not a problem. switching railroads are fine and enjoyable if that is what you wish to have. and you have plenty of space to include the industries you note along with a town and other scenery. i am sure there are folks here who are gifted in ideas for such a railroad. another possibility would be to add some 45 degree angle pieces to your benchwork in the inner corners and have a continual run oval with switching or yard on the sides and/or in the middle of such. i look forward to see what you come up with. keep us posted! sincerely Gary L Lake Dillensnyder
As drawn, there is no interference with a door, closet, windows? By loop around, were you meaning around the room? The widest part of your benchwork would be very a tough one, if thinking of a 180 degree curve as Gary noted. In this circumstance, would not try that at all in HO.
There are no windows, just a doorway (never hung the door) at the 15" end. I have allowed space for entering the room.
If you stick with HO, your only option is a compact switching layout with sharp curves. If you switch to N scale, you'd be able to make a loop for continuous running assuming you're willing to widen the benchwork at each end. One other observation, with the left side being 30" deep, you will have trouble reaching the layout in the two corners. Recommend making the shelf 24" deep all around, with ~30-inch "blobs" on each end for return loops (assuming you go with N scale). Otherwise, stick with max. 24" inch depth all around for an HO switching layout.
You could add a removable section between the legs of the U. It would allow you roundy round running. Width of shelf-type layouts don't have to be 30"; usually 18" will do fine. However the height of your layout is an important design issue. I prefer my tracks at armpit height. Low enough for a helping hand when (un) coupling, high enough to hide some tracks behind trees or buildings. Though drawn for a rather modern (70') era, with food related industries, having rather high design standards on a layout of about the size of yours, is no problem. In your space a 30" radius and #6 turnouts are quite possible. Lance Mindheim's East Rail is a very nice example of this kind of model railroading, though his minimum radius is 24". It might be wise to rethink the use of your dad's old stuff. Pizza cutter wheels won't operate on new c83 or c70 track. More modern 6 axle freight engines and long modern cars won't take 18" curves and #4 (or less)turnouts easily, if they do at all when shoving cuts of cars. Operating two engines independ from each other, both with sound requires DCC. It will not be easy to rebuild the older engines. The older equipment might even look crude compared with today's. Going for your dad's stuff is quite possible as well. A small yard, a village, a quarry and a coalmine are moderate wishes. The village might also need an oil-dealer, a freighthouse and a team track; maybe even a landmark industry like a brewery. An interchange track always is a worthwhile addition. Wish you luck Paul
If space is that critical and there is no way to make the layout wider, I suggest going to N scale. You could make a loop easily in N scale on 2 of the sectioons of the layout. The 15" wide section though, you will NOT have enough room to make a 180 degree turn there. My Dads layout is 24" wide and that is about and 11 1/2" radius is about as tight as I would go with N scale. I would suggest if you do decide to go to N scale use the 15" iwde section as an industrial park or a city with street running maybe.
I appreciate all of your suggestions and ideas. I have contemplated N Scale;I keep waffling. I have only one old engine from my dad's old HO set. My brother seems to got hold of the rest. If I stay with HO, that engine may only run occasionally. It does still run, but it is sluggish. I was running it with Bachman's DCC on the analog setting. Yes, I am sure I will be using DCC. Well I have a lot to ponder, before I move ahead. I have considered the a movable section as Paulus suggested. My dad had a bridge that was hinged, that was cool. I am not using any of my dad's old tables. I only have some of his old code 100 and a few switches. I have several cars and buildings. I put together some of those buildings. Maybe I should sell that stuff and invest in N scale.
While N-Scale does appear to be your best option given your space, don't be discouraged from creating a shelf layout in HO. Paying homage to your father and his modeling is a noble idea. If you change to N-Scale you can also recreate structures in N-scale to do this as well. If you decide to stick with HO, and there is nothing wrong with this, I would suggest what David K. Smith suggested, change the benchwork to 24" all around so you can reach it and build a nice switching layout.
