Help, I have been granted construction rights in the back of our garage. The area is 14 by 22 and I have been stuck - can't think of anything better than a folded dogbone. I don't want any duck-unders, but want as much layout space as possible on one level. I model in HO, any ideas?? Thanks in advance for your consideration on this.
Im so jealous, I cant even think at the moment! Seriously, what are your visions - time era, location, buildings, mountains, lakes, etc...
You said you don't want 'duck unders', and I can understand that. Have you also ruled out 'lift out' sections or 'tilt up' bridge sections? Two of the layouts in the latest Great Model Railroads 2005 have them. Opens up the possibility of going totally around the wall/room. Regards
Thanks for the replies. Lift out section is not "off the table", so that is a good idea. Will go pick up the new magazine tomorrow. As far as Era - early 1960 - The SP&S (with modelers license to fabricate imaginary stuff) - from Portland to Wishram (a large switching yard) - will run at least one passenger train from Portland to Spokane(north of Wishram) and return.....still brainstorming. The SP&S line ran along the north bank of the Columbia river...lot's of short tunnels (great for scene breaks) and high cliffs above the tracks. From thick Douglas fir forests at west end to grass prairie to the east.
If I had an area of 14 by 22 feet, I might also be stuck! From the shock of having so much room! It will be fun to see what you come up with for an empire! Boxcab E50
Yes, that is a lot of space to fill with a layout. So do you have a particular real life railroad scene that you would like to model? I personally like winding main line through rolling hills, and some ocenside trackage or large rock formations. This is all Southern California scenery that I am obsessed with for some reason. And I really like Amtrak trains, ie. superliner Coast Starlight that runs through all this scenery. Amtrak dodging SP and DRGW freights, local trains and sparse industries, etc. is what I like. So what do you like about railroading? What's in it for you?
Sounds like a perfect setting for an "E" style along the wall with center peninsula. Also would allow pretty good walk-around space with no duck-unders. Don't know what min radius you plan on, but might be restricted to 18" with a single main. That's not much of a problem for 4 axle power, and 40/50' rolling stock. If you plan to recreate the SP&S, this style would lend itself well to a 1950s-1960s era, hilly/mountainous terrain layout. One section of my layout area is 15' x 23' and I use a modified "E" plan, with the top bar on the "E" extended to the right and then another section of benchwork south from that, and I really like this style. Good luck with your project, and keep us posted on your plans and progress. Sounds exciting! Bill edit: sorry, the drawing wouldn't work correctly. [ 18. November 2004, 08:06: Message edited by: Comet ]
SP&S, Sounds like a great space. I'm not clear on from which direction you enter, but one of the things I like to try to fit in any space about that size is a spiral with a peninsula. (As recommended by John Armstrong) I did a quick sketch with 28" minimum radius and it will just fit with an over-under crossing at the base of the peninsula. A slightly smaller radius would fit even better. Depending on which sides are open, you could use a double-sided backdrop to separate scenes. Just click the words "spiral peninsula" below for a .jpg sketch. The grid on the sketch is 1-foot. spiral peninsula Good luck! Regards, Byron
I think Byron has the right idea there for optimizing the amount of layout in the given space. Great sketch!
Thanks for the interest and the ideas....and the light hearted teasing about how much space I was able to acquire from the "Head Conductor", my understanding wife!!! An earlier post of mine addresses the ERa and the real life road I will model. I definitely want a nice big switching/staging yard, but also want to have trains run off the scene and return later as if they are returning from their respective destinations....so continuous running is also a must...think I need to get John Armstrong's planning guide!!! But I will keep you posted on how it is going. Will begin enclosing the area with a wall next week.
