Need input on a small track layout

I am new here and to the model train hobby so I need your input. I am creating a very small layout in an under bed storage box. The workable area is about 33"x16" and I understand that this is small even for n-scale. The theme for the layout is going to be WWII military base or airfield. Because of the limited space, I have decided to go with Kato Unitrack. Also because I am noob and that looks like it would be easy to install.

So here is the layout that I would like your input on:



I understand that with such small layout, I am not going to fit a lot of scenery or expand the tracks but I have to work with what I have. I would like to stick with DC as there is going to be only one loco running on the layout.

Also, if you have totally different idea of the track plan I should use, please let me know.

Thanks.

 

Based on the constraints you describe, the only thing I can think of is somehow finding a way to get a track to serve as an interchange so you can simulate traffic entering and leaving the layout. You could put the track on one side almost to the edge and use the extra space to add a second turnout and a line to the edge on the other. It doesn't have to be long, just long enough to spot a couple of box cars or coal hoppers. Another way to get a little more space is to use half 6" and half 7" radius Unitrack. Sorry that I can't draw it out right now - I hope you're following what I mean.

I'm assuming you are planning on using something like a Bachmann GE 44 ton switcher for power.

Andy
Tetsu Uma

 

If you could expand it to 24X48", I have a great plan for you. PM me with your email address if interested.

 

Given your space constraints you might consider Z scale instead of N scale. Rokuhan track, distributed by Intermountain, is very similar to Kato Unitrack and quite easy to work with. Z scale is however, a little bit more expensive but there are a surprising number of products available. If you are already committed N scale, your track plan looks like the best use of space for such a small area. 7 inch radius curves are very tight, so I would resist the urge to make them smaller.

 

This is kind of what I had in mind. I don't have layout planning software to check to see if this works. I just wanted to give you a basic idea of what I was talking about before. This plan retains your 7" radius.



Andy
Tetsu Uma

 

Oh yeah. Just so you have and idea of what small radius track looks like with a 40' boxcar, this is 5.5" (140mm) radius Tomix Fine Track. I've never even tried a regular (U.S. style) locomotive on this small a radius. 7" radius Kato Unitrack is going to give you another 1.5" in diameter. Unitrack also has wider roadbed.



I see that Kato does have a turnout available for the 6" radius Unitrack Compact which would change my plan a little bit and leave more space at the edges.



Andy
Tetsu Uma

 

RatonMan, I would like to see your 24x48 layout. Can you post it?

 

I have a layout that represents a WWII Naval Air Station for BLIMPS but it is bigger than your plan- 24 inchs x 36 inches. I built it ALL with sectional track so I would know I was not cheating by bending track too tight.
Blimp's eye view:

Interchange track from Santa Fe at lower right through gate.
Fuel dump (military equivalent of bulk oil dealer as far as RR operations) inside right end.
Navy stores warehouse (flat) and helium tank unloading, track outside left.
End ramp unloading and open loads flatcar & gon unloading area, inside lefrt end.
The switcher makes runaround moves to switch "wrong direction" spurs by running all the way around the loop track.

Some features:
Navy motor pool building (scratchbuilt following ruins of prototype building)
Concrete WWII water tower to save steel for war effort. Blimp hanger painted in perspective on background.
Fuel dump (based on photos from a Naval Air Station yearbook)


Admiral's headquarter admin bldg. kitbashed from 3 "Grandma's House/ Bella's farmhouse" kits to resemble prototype building.


Entire layout on display at Galveston, Texas train show Oct2012.

 

I would definitely consider at least expanding to 24 inch depth. You'll be suprised at how much will fit into the center field.

 

Perhaps you might think about using a different layout theme? How about a trolley/traction line? You won't find much in the way of available rolling stock, but that would create a new modeling challenge for you. There are a number of compact powered chassis units made by Kato, Tomix and others, which you can use as a basis for a number of interesting pieces of equipment to run.

 

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions.

Unfortunately, I can't expand beyond the 33"x16" as this is the biggest under bed storage box I could find (it is also what is going to actually fit under the bed).

I am going to stick with the 7" radius curve and the initial layout and see how that goes. I may add an extra track that enters/leaves the layout as suggested by Andy.

I like the Naval Air Station layout. I was thinking of something similar but with planes if I can fit an airstrip in the middle of the layout. I am going to be creating this layout together with my kids and they are set on the military theme.

 

You'd be surprised on how many locos will run on 140mm/5.5 in track. The Atlas MP-15 will even run on 103mm/4 in radius tracks all day long. Cars with talgo trucks have no problem either. Just run them at prototype speed. Walking pace.

Here's what I did in that same space…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7sTIRe6sOo
I used the cover as the base the lower part of the container makes a great cover. only the church spire has to be removed to make it fit. The track used is Tomix Mini Fine Track. The layout was built before the Wide Tram Track was available. Which would be even easier to build with. The plan uses both 140mm and 103mm radius curves and switches.

Your simple plan with 7 inch radius curves will work just fine. I'd go with the Tomix track though, it has more possibilities. It's available through
• Walthers
• www.BTtrains.com
• Hobby Search Japan
and others.

 

Air stations require a lot of fuel. The railroad wouldn't be down by the flight line, it would be over by the supply buildings and fuel tanks. Use painted or printed backdrops for hangers, etc. Micro-Trains has all those laser cut WWII era military buildings that would look good on a small layout on a WWII era military base.

My Intermountain 40' boxcars bind up on 103mm radius Fine Track. I'm going to have to test for myself what locomotives will run on 103mm radius . . . . Which gives me a good excuse to set up track instead of doing yard work this weekend.

 

Using Tomix Fine track, you can assemble a pretty nice little layout in 33" x 16", complete with a usable runaround.

 

Very nice David. I think the only thing possibly worth adding would be a spur in the lower LH side to connect to the 'outside world' or expansion.

I'd suggest that the 'ideal locomotive' might be the Bachmann Spectrum GE 44-tonner in the US Army scheme. I've run them on my 8" curves on the HV module, I'd be curious if anybody has tried running them on 7".

 

Funny, but that's not an easy thing to do--none of the switches match the 7" curves, so you have to play games with different radii to make it work...

 

Thanks again for all the replies. The Tomix Fine Track layout is nice but after some research, it looks like the complete tracks would cost more than Kato Unitrack. Also, I need to keep it simple as this is my first layout and I do not want to get into something that I can't handle.

Here is an updated layout using Kato Unitrack. The spur that enters/leaves the layout is a big question as it would extend the layout to 17" which is more than my work area. I have to use blue tape or something to mark the track on the box lid to see if it will fit. But I do like the extra track where I could leave some of the cars.



I have also decided to change the parallel track from the first layout so I can position the train station between the oval track and the station track. This way, the airstrip or military base would separate the station and depot.

 

Quote Originally Posted by drabina I was thinking of something similar but with planes if I can fit an airstrip in the middle of the layout.

I think the inside of a very small layout... in fact of almost ANY layout short of "barn size", would be too small to model an airstrip for any fixed wing plane larger than the smallest Piper Cub. However, an airstrip OUTSIDE the layout's loop of track on a small background could be convincing. How to get the planes on the layout where they could be modeled and appreciated?
Well at the Corpus Christi Naval Air Station in the 1960s (viewable on Google Earth/ Historical Imagery), the supply railroad entered the base and curved to avoid the runways, ran through the supply area and reached a row of hangers BY CROSSING A TAXIWAY that connected the runways to the hangers. A main Station road also crossed the taxiway, and the crossing was protected by warning signals very similar to those seen at railroad crossings. Apparently they were actuated from the control tower when a plane was crossing the road and the railroad tracks. "Airplanes have right-of-way."

So to have a way to model planes on a small NAS railroad layout, one could model a hanger or two in the middle of the layout, and associated taxiways (yes, they would take up most of the middle), and a taxiway crossing the railroad toward a runway somewhere on a background or otherwise suggested just off-layout. A taxiway crossing a rail line should not be like a street crossing that goes up and over the tracks. The level of the entire taxiway would be level with rail tops. Hangers would have to be small by military standards... 100 feet by 100 feet by 30 foot inside clearance, ten foot on top of that for roof trusses. In N scale, that hanger would be 8 1/2 inches square by 3 inches tall. With care, engineering, ingenuity, you should be able to make something maybe not perfectly accurate but convincing.