Recently I decided to abandon my original 6X3 table top B&M layout in favor for a more modular type, around the walls point to point layout. I just could not get past the roundy round layout. My work on the modules is two fold. To develop a module that is simple and quick to assemble yet still present itself well in a public setting and to build my small segment of the B&M. Last night I finished the first module and have attached the legs. The legs are 48" and combined with my risers and sub roadbed, my track hight is about 50.5" from the floor. I like this in N scale, gives a much better look for the N scale and I know such modular folks such as ModuTrak have adopted similar standards in hight. My questions are: For those with a layout of similar practice, what is your hight and why did you decide on this hight. Thanks in advance
Hi, The height of my around the wall layout is about 49 inches at the top of the base. The reason I picked that height Got two legs out of a 8 feet long boards I did not want to be bending over to work on it Easier to run the wiring Gives me a more natural (not birds eye view) of the scenes. Gives me a lot of space for storage under the layout. Gary
I went with 50". I'm building my layout to FreemoN standards and for me, the 50" is a very comfortable height. I'm 6 foot tall and I can view everything without bending over. I detail my engines and I like to be able to see the details. I can also reach cars for uncoupling without my shirt catching on anything.
Mine is 52, determined by wanting 48" clear under the benchwork for a duckunder, and two trackwork levels above that with 2" clearance between. I don't have any section of benchwork wider than 27" (to get through doors) and no visible area deeper than about 20".
I chose 54", as follows. 48" for each leg, attached to a 1x4 L Girder which comes up 1" past the legs (49"). Two girders per section of benchwork, held together with 1x2 joists (an additional 1.5" of height, now at 50.5"). Joists support 1x4 risers coming up 3" from the top of the joist (53.5"), and the subroadbed is 1/2" plywood (54"). I'm 5' 8", and this height is ideal for me to view my layout and work on it, EXCEPT that I need a step-stool to work on the back of any section more than 2' deep (e.g., a corner section, where there is 36" from the front to the back edge of the corner). My operators, who vary in height from a 5' 12-year-old to a 6' 3" adult also seem to like this height. And it also means that my duckunder is 53.5" off the ground, making it a fairly easy duckunder for most folks. John C.
Obviously many variables. Depending upon what is the railroad concept, room layout, single or double decked, sitting, standing, etc, etc.... If seeking a specific, truly the unanswerable question.
I have 135' of modular sections, mostly 8' long by 16" or 24" wide. I cut 8' 2x2s in half. So my layout height is 48" plus 1/2" plywood plus 1/2" homosote plus leveling bolts add 1" plus or minus 1/2". That makes the height 50" not counting track and roadbed. My previous layout was 54" in height. 2x2s were only available in 8' lengths so I had to scab pieces to the legs to get the height. The added 4" wasn't worth it and when vertically challenged folks came to operate, they needed a stool. This layout is larger and has somewhere around 64 legs. I wanted to make the most efficient use of material. I could get 10' 2x2s at the real lumberyard instead of the big box store a block from my house, but at a premium price. I'm happy with the height. I should also mention that the area I'm modeling is very flat so I don't have need of deep valleys or mountains.
Jim, My "deck" is 42.5 inches above the floor of the spare bedroom. This is to make it fit between a 3 drawer filing cabinet and shelves which were there already. Regards, Pete Davies
There is no magic universal height for a layout. It is different for each depending on height. The greatest portion, assuming you have grades, should be at just slightly below eye level, so you can see over the trains to scenery behind, but don't have to lower you head, just your eyes. Avoid at all costs the helicopter view. It destroys the illusion. Bill Pearce
Hi JIm, I built my home layout with the yard at 53", summit at 59", and a town at 55.5". I did this mainly for a better view of the locos and cars and it hides curves better as my plan is not linear. I did plan for most of the uncoupling duties to be closer to the front to help keep stray elbows and clothing from causing issues and it also allows me to operate from a stool if I desire. I do have a fold up step stool if there is a need along the back, but it is rare. Higher benchwork for easier under layout work is a bonus too and the storage under the layout is on wheels. I am 6'-3" and might not consider going any higher for switching areas, but for mainline tracks where uncoupling is minimized my eye level of 70"+/-may be considered for more impact. I think it leaves a more lasting impression on people because they seem closer to the trains rather than in a balloon or helicopter passing by. The interaction just seems more personal. Our freemo club uses 50" and is quite satisfying too. Modules are nice as you can set them on their sides for under table top work.
My layout is nominally 43" above the floor; this is because I recycled a module from a prior layout. That height is two high for me, at 5'8", to reach certain parts on the 4' by width section. The wall or shelve parts are 32" wide and sometimes I use a stool to reach back parts. My plan when I redo the layout is to have it low enough that I have a good view of trains while seated in my computer chair. I am also hoping that the entire layout is an island so I have access from all sides. It is very frustrating to have to get a stool to get to a derailed or stalled locomotive.
LOL @ the helicopter view. Dont forget a layout should actually be about 'chin level' and track set back enough from the edge so you can put your chin on the layout and your eyes will be close enough to the trains as they wizz by that they look 'full size' and blow your hair back from the powerful force of those gigaintic locomotives and miles of rolling stock.....roflmao !! I agree with ken...there are so many variables that it is an individual decision as far as height...unless of course you are building modules to some clubs 'kid hating' height requirement of over 4-5 foot Being disabled and having to sit more then stand...I use a mechanics stool to scoot down the aisle. That puts my layout at just about 36 inches...unless of course I'm standing/walking which puts me in a helicopter. BTW...I like the helicopter view...it doesnt destroy the view...it enhances it...as you actually see more scenery and track and everything just looks bigger and you get to see the vast expanse of your train empire...in the overall scheme of things. JMO...thnxs
My layout track level is set at 59 inches above the floor, perhaps higher than many others. I am around the walls, medium to "wide" shelf when I get it finished, building from the outside in. My height was set at least in part by three bedroom windows. I wanted to be able to open lower half of windows. Also, I already had heavy bookshelves around 3 sides of room, 3 1/2 and 4 feet high. Fifty years of Model Railroader, 45 years of Santa Fe Modeler and its successors, railroad history, industrial history, architectural history. Several of the layout sections are on TOP of bookshelves. The height also allows a moderate duckunder, under my "two-mile-long" causeway section. Not quite as good as a "tilt-your-head-a-bit" under but better than a "squat and crawl" under. Roll-awayable for moving big stuff into the room and/or closet, and when wife insists she be able to get into the room without ducking. Around the walls is background, and against two walls, staging- partly hidden and partly open. In front of staging (toward the inside of the room) will be the port switching railroad. Many of the first around-the-wall sections will have other sections build in front of them. Everything on back sections will need automatic electrically-operated turnouts. Meanwhile, storage in the room is also outside-in. The heavy bookcases against the wall are basically unmovable. In front of many of them are rollaround units for lighter stuff such as supplies, paints, and rolling stock. Eventually I hope to build the sections that go in the inner portion around the walls, with Santa Fe freight yard and passenger terminal. These will generally have manual or rod-actuated turnouts. The plan calls for point-to-point operations but has a "sneak" connection for continuous running.
It's partially a personal preference and what's in the room. When we designed our Bend Track modules we wanted them higher than the typical module height of 40" We ripped a strip of 8' plywood for the legs, cut it half to make them 48" then with the levelers added it brought it to a nominal height of 50" When I built the layout I incorporated the yard that we had built for the modules, so I built the layout to match. After all the under layout work was done, I picked up a bunch of metal 5 shelf, shelving units and broke them into two three shelf units [ I made a third shelf for the second half] and slide them under the layout for storage. It also made it easy to sit on a stool and get under the layout to wire things up!
My previous layouts (all N scale) had 48" legs and L girder construction which added about 4". My current layout started as box modules with 48" legs (+3/4" plywood) but I thought it looked too low and somewhat toy-like (I'm a little over 6'1") so I added 6" to the legs and am much happier with the view. A slight tilt of the head and I have a nice almost trackside view. It also made the duckunder easier (not easy!). (My age is creeping up on me and in a few years I will probably do a chair roll-under.) I agree with the rule of thumb (which I picked up from an S Scaler) that layouts should be chest high to the owner. The height also allowed my 3' high metal shelves to go under the layout against the wall and room for (2) L girder-like shelves for MicroTrain car boxes:
My layout is a double deck with the lower deck at 55 inches and the upper at 65 inches. I read a lot of opinions and experiences of others and have found this best for me at 6'2". It does maximize the duck under height at both doors as well as the one into the crawlspace that is rarely used. The other aspect was a desire of a controlling grade of 1.3% on my Nolix, which is actually an "ovalix" with 5 foot straights. I have lived with this for 2-3 years and have not found it to be a problem, primarily since it is basically me that runs the trains, etc. with the exception of occasional guests and grandkids. This height keeps the young ones from handling things and I have some stools for them to sit in the middle and watch with their eyes not with their hands as I always told our only child daughter. Additionally, they live 325 miles away and the others clear across the country so they are seldom here. The duck under height becomes mot important as the years go by.
Very timely topic for me today as I am tearing down one shelf layout that was at 54 inches and marking the walls in my new train room for larger, around the walls layout. A lot depends on what you want to do UNDER the layout. In the case of the layout I just removed, I had my desk, a file cabinet, my train cabinet with fax machine on top of it, and 4 ft Ntrak modules stored standing on end. The clearance under the layout was 52-1/2 inches. There was the 1/2 inch plywood, then 1 inch foam board above that to get to the lowest track level of 54 inches. The new layout room is also going to have to serve as my model building / electronics shop and under the layout shelf there will be work benches, paint booth, book cases, module storage, etc. I'm also putting cabinets almost all the way around the room above the layout. These are the kind of cabinets that go above a refrigerator so they are only 15 inches tall. There will be a small climb on the main line so track height will be between 55 and 58 inches. Another big factor is how tall the layout owner is and what makes for a comfortable reach to all parts of the layout. I'm 5 ft, 8 in and these layout heights have worked well for me, step stool needed for those cabinets above. I mentioned that I do Ntrak (40 inches) and another modular layout I am working with is 51 inches high. Also just because you are planning on a shelf layout does not mean you can't set up for continuous running. My old shelf layout was 16 inches wide but at the ends came out to 26 inches and that allowed for a return loop of reasonable radius in N scale. I would suggest using mock ups with cardboard, etc to find out what fits you best. Best of luck to you in your endeavor. Brad My blogs: http://www.palisadecanyonrr.blogspot.com/ http://www.tokyo-in-nscale.blogspot.com/ http://www.n-scale-dcc.blogspot.com/
I have to put my layout in a shelf in the living room and it´s 60 inch high. For me the high is ok but the children allways say it´s to high and they can´t see everything.
A couple of years ago, my son and I were at the end stages of designing a new modular standard in order to build a larger layout (section by section) than would fit in my presently available space, but could be set up at 3 shows per year. The last thing we determined was the nominal railhead to floor height, and we did that by setting up a 6' module, then raising it and lowering it, and playing with it when it at various heights. My son is 5'10" tall and I'm 6' even. Other guests who would operate the setup at shows range in height from 5' 2" to 6" 3". We took a couple of days running a short train back and forth, throwing turnouts, reaching to the rearmost track, getting under the module and working on wiring and came up with a very clear winner. 52" was the "ideal" nominal railhead to floor height for us and our modular layout standards. After that, I fashioned integral folding legs for each module so that I didn't have 40 or 50 separate legs to transport every time we moved the layout to shows and back. I made the front & rear braces out of 32" long lattice stock with holes on each end set at exactly 30" apart so that they could all be interchanged. I also installed "glides" on the ends of the legs that gave me 3" of total vertical movement to accommodate uneven floors. The legs "nest" on top of one another between the two L-girders that form the backbone of my modular design and the clamping hardware are eyebolts & washers instead of bolts & washers to allow just a big screwdriver or socket wrench extension to be used to tighten them up without worrying about finding the right sized socket. My standard module size is 3' deep at the module ends, and 6' long with a 10.5" setback on red line from the front fascia to the track centerline. No joiner tracks, and the front fascia is a flowing fascia that varies the depth from it to the skyboard from as much as 42" deep to 28" deep depending on scenery and track placement. I build LDE's that are very close to the prototype as far as scenery and trackplan is concerned and the centerpiece of the planned layout is Echo Utah in 1951. Total LDE length is 24' with 6 sub-LDE's making up the scene. Because of the orientation of the track at that point, I was not able to set up an efficient around the walls temporary layout, so mine is an island set up in the middle of my layout room. That will change as I progress onward, working on other LDE's and modules as the total 30' X 30' layout progresses. We are very happy with the 52" railhead to floor height, and since we have adopted that height, I've noticed several other progressive modular groups and individuals coming to the same conclusion with heights varying from 50" to 54" mostly. Here's a photo of our setup at the Evanston Roundhouse Festival last year with my son running trains: Whatever height you decide on, if you're going with a single-decked layout, I'd put it at a minimum of 50" or a maximum of 56", but for us, 52" was "just right". Cheerio! Bob Gilmore
