Ian, welcome to Trainboard! First, stop by the New Members Introduction area and introduce yourself, then post what it is you are trying to achieve in the N scale forum. We can help you get started right.
Ian, welcome! First thing, what do you want? For that space, if you are looking at a loop, you will be looking at a switching layout for the SP. IF I was building it, I would look at a simple oval with spurs, DPM buildings, and having some street running. I would be modeling "The Rathole" in downtown Los Angeles. I would either use a Kato NW2, a Life-Like/Walthers SW, or an Atlas GP9 for power, and use short cars. http://www.cke1st.com/m_train2.htm This site has a lot of good track plans, but he has one in HO that I think would be great in N Scale, if you build it to 2/3rds the size of his plan I like Plan Name: HO_36x78_06, he uses 15" radius track in HO, and a 10" radius would be OK for a small N Scale layout, plus if you shrink 36"x80" down to 2/3rds, you are looking at a 24"x53.33" layout, not much bigger than your real estate. another neet plan is Plan Name: 55_2x504. But it is 5 feet long
I am a fan of the central Nevada railroads of the early 20th Century. I model the Tonopah and Goldfield Railroad as well as the rolling stock (there wasn't much) of the Tonopah and Bullfrog Railroad.
Fallen Flagger here...Model NW railroads around Spokane in the early 50's. Ten by twelve foot room layout with closet for my work station. great Interchange layout....GN, Milw, SP&S and NP. Large hidden area for arring and departing trains......oh, and least me not forget, I've made and sold over 800 Fallen Flags pieces of rolling stock
I model the MKT/OKT with a little SP merged in I have been railfanning the UP and the KCS plus some SKOL.
I model defunct short narrow gauge (2 feet) lines: * 4,000 meters: Died when its only freight customer exhausted the natural resources of the area; * 35,400 meters: Died when its only freight customer went out of business; * 88,000 meter line is alive and well, but the next heavy rain or snowfall might put it out of action; * 122 kilometers: Died between spending its money of fighting the government, and a flood that washed out most of its track; * 285 kilometers: Died when a government official decided that he'd rather his trucking company got the money, than the government agency he administered got the money; Then there is the Fidalgo City and Anacortes Electric Railway, which at least one historian comes as close to saying was a real estate scam, as one can say in an academic publication, without using those words. That's the line I'm currently researching.
well, I seem to like as old as I am, I love the AT&SF and also the Apache RR in AZ. This last one has not been gone long, but I'll likely never see those old green and white Alco C-420's again, not get to listen to them between Holbrook and Snowflake AZ again. The old Sante Fe folks used to let me sit on a pedestrian overpass from the parking lot, into the yard maintenance yard in Winslow, AZ. Then NP merged and took over my railroad, becoming the BNSF, and they threw me out when I asked for permission to do what I'd done for years. They were rude at it to. When I walked along the rightofway fence they tried to run me off. didn't work, I was not on the right of way. Sorry bunch in the way they got on me after asking for permission so as not to cause trouble. I won't ever have BNSF stuff on my layout. Thanks to Atlas N scale, I own some Alco C-420's that are beautiful, and run great and are in the Apache livery.
I'm an NP/GN modeler....Although my fondest railroad is the Camas Prairie (jointly owned by the NP...later BN and the UP)which ran out of Lewiston Idaho. John
Have railfaned Chicago & Northwestern. Winter of 79-80 lived ina small town in Iowa and watched F's and 1st generation GP's & SD's roll through town. Juast have memories as had no camera. Like any of the grainger railsroads in the 50's & 60's.
Modeling the Los Angeles Junction Ry pre '90s mergers. My LAJ version is still going strong & so are the interchanging ATSF, PE/SP & UP!
Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway........step child of the GN and NP. Modeling spring 1966, on the Oregon trunk.
I have a freelance layout set in 1957. I grew up with relatives working on both the Milwaukee Road and the Northern Pacific, and was lucky enough to have spent countless hours riding in the cabs of diesel, electric and steam locomotives. Modeling in HO scale, I didn't have the room to do justice to either the Milwaukee or NP, but I do connect to both railroads giving me the excuse to have power from both railroads showing up on my tracks.
Central New England CNE pre-1900 The Prototype Iron mining, limestone quarries, iron blast furnaces, iron manufacturing, lumber, charcoal, textiles and even dental floss industries inhabited the northwest corner of Connecticut at this time. To serve these industries and the people, the New Haven (Housatonic, Naugatuck, Canal Line) and a smaller upstart called The Central New England (Connecticut Westertn) poked and crossed this area. The New Haven generally poked into this area from its southern Connecticut base following rivers to gain access to the Berkshire towns. The Central New England, on the other hand, crossed through the hills to connect Hartford and Springfield with the coal fields of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia and Reading) via its magnificent Poughkeepsie Bridge on The Hudson River. Here's a link to some ofthe history of the Central New England http://www.kinglyheirs.com/CNE/CentralNewEngland.html. (The web site is a bit dated, but still intact.) Along the line of the Central New England between Canaan and Winsted, the railroad primarily serviced iron, charcoal blast furnaces (2 in Canaan), limestone quarries and kilns (at least 6 in Canaan), charcoal and chemical production, iron tool forges in Winsted, coal delivery and the lumber industry. Old photographs can be seen from these sites: http://www.demarsimages.com/TownsSelect Canaan, Winsted towns and the Business category. Njoy. http://cthistoryonline.org/cdm/Search Connecticut Western, Central New England, Canaan, Winsted The railroad serviced the people of this area with multiple stations. Stations of interest between Canaan and Winsted include: Canaan Union Station, East Canaan,Whiting River, West Norfolk, Norfolk, Summit, Grants, Colebrook(Lawrence), West Winsted, Winsted, East Winsted. A great site to review the station history is located here:http://www.tylercitystation.info/index.html. The lay of the land for this area was mountainous (OK, these are old east coast mountains). To traverse this area, the Central New England required steep grades and winding track. This 20 mile stretch contained the worst grades of the whole CNE route, nearly 2% in the areas around Norfolk. Going west from Winsted had the steepest grade of 88ft/mile. The view using Google Earth shows the winding route. Here's an 1870's shot of the prototype, a challenge in N scale to be sure. Cheers, Craig