2x4 layout brainstorming- FREE LOCO contest OK, I have a 24" by 48" layout board with nothing glued, nothing attached. It's masonite/similar with framing underneath. I also have a large box of Code 80 rail, straights and turns and switches! I would LOVE some ideas, to build a simple layout just for the heck of it. What would you guys do with what I've got? Wild west? Hills and dales? Rural passenger loop? I feel uninspired by the 2x4 trackplans I have seen online.... I'll be running NP/GN stuff, and mostly old steam. EDIT: I decided to do a contest!! Everyone who submits an original idea or suggestion in this thread, will be entered. At the end, I'll draw a random name. Prize is an Atlas GP-7, either in NP or Undecorated!
My usual reply: Can be scaled to any dimensions and expanded. Includes switching and yard. Can remove the outer main line and can make it a full loop for continuous running. Could make it mountains and lumbar or coal or rural or ?
i love that first one. i have something similiar but without the bridge as i wanted to keep my layout flat.
Much inspiration can be found on the wonderful Micro/Small Layouts for Model Railroads by the late Carl Arendt. - Jeff
I don't have the track plan on this computer, but I was having a difficult time fits and starts working up what I wanted for a room size layout, so I went with a 2x4 as well. I'm doing John Olson's Jerome and Southwestern in N scale. The original layout was in HO scale, so I just shrunk it down by half and a bit. Nice flow on it and so far a lot more fun than I thought something that small would be. I think the trick for something this small is to keep it simple and not clog it with a ton of switches. By their nature they are problematic from time to time...fussy...and the last thing you want is to have your layout shut down because of a switch going rogue on you. I went with Peco snap switches and atlas flex...bullet proof stuff and saved my code 55 for my big layout. This one will be fun to build and fun to operate, a big departure from the larger layouts I've done in the past. Cheers Joe MTL
Larry has the right idea. I really like Mike's designs for small layout tons of ideas that you might add your own touch to.
Given the time and resouces and not being distracted by the GandG I'd build the "East Glasstop" with as a coffee table in a heartbeat. If I recall it is from a MR article back in the 70s? or is it more recent?
I like the plan. Be aware there are turnouts in tunnels. You may want to adjust the scenery to avoid that.
You just got some full-length passenger cars from me as I remember- so I'm guessing you like passenger trains. And your NP/GN mention suggests Pacific Northwest. I would try to use 11 radius curves rather than the absolutely minimum 9 3/4" for your mainline, although that limits you almost to one loop of track. Here is a layout shorter but wider than yours-- 30 inches wide by 40 inches long, which I built in 10 days. It is plaster hard shell scenery (built in 1975) with kitty-litter rock debris. Mine is a very generic Santa Fe southwest, but imagine the same layout with a few less rocks, some grassy and vegetation cover and --oh maybe a hundred or so pine trees would do for this small a layout. Add a mountain goat on the top of a hill. This was done as a simple display-- twice-around show loop with NO turnouts or spurs. For a 24 inch wide layout, I think you could not do a twice-around loop, even with 9 3/4 radius. These days, especially for a small portable layout, I would use layered foam insulation rather than plaster hard shell. I would build up with at least one 2inch layer or 2 or 3 inch thicknesses of foam under your track to allow scenery to drop below track level, as it does in the Santa Fe picture above. Scenery dropping a couple of inches below track for a bridge, or a track along a precipice, and also rising 3 or 4 inches above track level...and you have a good suggestion of mountainous scenery. I think you want to minimize turnouts on mainline route. One turnout on the "back" couple lead into one or two long staging spurs, so you can keep more than one train at a time on the layout, even if you can only run one. Don't be afraid of backing into or out of single-ended spur. On the "front" of the layout, one turnout off the mainline splitting to two spurs, one behind a depot as freight station and team track, and a second for some industry-- maybe lumber or logging related. I repeat, go for a simple oval with 11 inch radius curves, even if that puts track near the front and back edge. This is a 2x4 VERY generic Colorado layout I built ca 1969. One depot spur and one spur which I intended for a mine- but never built the mine. I think there was too much hidden track and the "mountains" were too vertical. But at least it wasn't the average flat plywood train set. Another idea for 2x4- divided down the middle into 2 scenes, each 1 foot deep. Only 4 switches, 2 on each side. Train actually runs someplace-- It is a short line between a port scene and a farm town with a trunkline interchange. I am big on little layouts with simple plans and generous use of the small space. This is one built in a few weeks on commission by a train club as a fund-raising project. Only 2 spurs, old second-hand structures...but selected to make a scene. Rolling foam insulation board scenery. This was 4x8 in HO, but you could something similar within 2x4 in N.
Here's a thought: Sectional track and standard turnouts limits much, but at least here you have two distinct places, runarounds, an interchange, industries to work both sides, etc. The carspots ("1") assume the older 36'-40' cars. At least maybe it'll give you some ideas about how to use a two-side backdrop / scenic divide (which doesn't have to be straight across), as well as the opportunities the space inside the buildings, under the mountains, etc. can increase operations. I strongly recommend using curved turnouts and flex track. The curved turnouts will allow for longer runaround sections, and the flex more flexibility on the curves. A lot of smaller steam will run fine on 9" curves or less. Depends on your equipment. Just a thought: these small "just for the heck of it" layouts have a way of becoming very "big" in terms of detail, time, $, etc. I'd think about specific goals before just thowing down track (unless that's your goal! )
Thanks! What's the use of going into student loan debt if that graduate degree in lit doesn't pay off somehow? Also thought of another option with "loads in / empties out": Yes, it involves a piece of flextrax, and an very tight radius curve, but that tightness is HIDDEN between Great Grimy and Bunghole, and not intended for locos at all: just the cars. Just another way to increase operational interest on little layout.
This is the best one. It allows you to have the greatest possible radius. Also the most scenery, and no turnouts to fiddle with.
I spent the last week trying to find a good 2x4 n scale track plan for a new SD&AE laytout, and the answer is this: 2x4 in N scale doesn't work too well. I tried a 2-1/4 by 5 foot layout space for trackplanning and it's amazing how much extra stuff you can put on it with broader curves and more breathing room!
