Howdy! I used to play with LGB as a kid, but now that I'm a proud homeowner I'd like to set up a really nice realistic layout. To get the max amount of running space I'd like to change gears and go way way way down to N scale. Kato's got some cool stuff in that size. I figure you can fit a lot in a 4 X 8 or whatever the popular layout size is. Anyway, you can probably guess from the name - I'm a big Amtrak fan. I was thinking a layout where there'd be some kind of servicing facility or big station, and then a route out to an Amshack station in the boonies? Of course Amtrak has to use freight rails, so I should probably have something for Norfolk Southern to do. Model Railroader is always going on about operations. And I don't know if this needs to go elsewhere, but I was wondering about kitbashing. Since the P42DC is getting up there in years, how could I smack together a hypothetical P44AC? I'm thinking the story goes that Amtrak takes a Genesis body and shoves ES44AC guts into it to meet new emissions standards and power requirements.
Not sure if this is of any interest, but here's a plan I did about a year ago for someone else who was a big passenger train fan. It's heavy on the important stuff--large coach yard, diesel servicing facility, and a whopping big passenger terminal. Designed to fit a 4 x 10 foot space--not a "popular" size, but it's what the modeler requested. He wasn't interested in ops, just a layout where he could showcase his passenger equipment in action.
I could probably hit 12' or 14' if I could skinny it up a bit, bolt it to the walls in a big L. I could do a staging area and just set that up as if it's a big station, have one of those little EMD/Amtrak switchers running around banging trains together to be hauled out to the next stop. Run some Norfolk Southern intermodal and mixed freights to some industry with a switching yard for those times when I wanna be Mr. Operations. I picked N 'cause I figured it's so small you could fit a huge track space into a small physical space. How does somebody go about building a story for your railroad model so it all makes sense?
Not as "huge" a track space as you might think... remember, the real world is still really, really big... an N scale mile is 33 feet long. So while you can certainly fit much more into the same space as any larger scale, a layout is still a microscopic slice of 1:1 life. Making the above plan "skinnier" is possible, but not by much. When your focus is passenger trains, you need to allow room for the very largest curves you can possibly make; otherwise, the rolling stock will look quite toy-like on sharp curves--even the ones in the plan I posted are on the tight side. That's one of the limitations of Kato Unitrack...
To give you an idea about scaling, to fit a "proper" n-scale passenger station that can service a 10car train requires about 8 linear feet. I did a two-track station for the Silicon Valley FreeMoN group, which is 12 feet long, with the actual station platforms about 8 1/2 feet. For a running layout as you desire, Dave's plan is a good one; the trains may stick out from the station, but it will give the feel of passenger service. What I found, when planning out and constructing the JACALAR is to plan most of the scenery in 2 to 3 foot sections, with as smooth a transition zone as you can manage. Works great for photos, and when running, you just either watch one zone, or watch a portion of the train as it transitions between zones,
I was planning on a single P42DC pulling maybe three or four cars max to keep it from overwhelming the layout. Amtrak has done stuff like that in the past and I figure if you can compress scenery, you can compress a train too. Freight though, if I was going to have Norfolk Southern kicking around for the occasional switching fun, would probably be in the 8-12 car length area with at most a pair of locos lashed up. I wanna try this DCC stuff.
