I could run 60-70 car trains on the Portsmouth Branch, but soon found that 35-40 cars created a train long enough to impress most everyone, even myself, without operating problems. A 40 car train is about 12 feet long, and my longest straight was about 16 feet--it filled the straight nicely--it just looked, well, long. I've been at shows with 100-car trains plying the 36" high NTrak modules. They were certainly long, but not convincing running along a big rectangle. All of my industries were only the "trackside front," with much More presumably existing on the other side of the backdrop. Even my ports were suggestive, with just a few long switching tracks at the forefront suggesting much more activity off the layout. Once I stopped trying to squeeze all my "got-to-haves" and "desireables" in, I had a much better railroad. I just kept eliminating track and adding scenery until the scenery was convincing for a railroad. This is the type of stark simplicity I was looking for: There was originally a steel plant there, with lots of track. It's better as a farm.
I got bitten so many times that I finally decided to do something about it. That was to design a sectional/modular layout that would fit at a show, and sections of it would fit in my trainroom. I can switch out which portions of it I am working on, or set up part of it just because I've missed those sections for a while. Ultimately, it will fit a 30'X30' space, or thereabouts, which is the largest allowable layout allowed at the Hostler's Model Train Festival at the Ogden Union Station, and it will be capable of being bigger at the other two shows I attend in Evanston Wyoming, and Salt Lake City. Right now, the modules/sections I am not working on are stored in my garage, and some modules which don't fit into the trainroom get worked on in the foyer (Yup...I'm single). I went with large and simple...at least until I get to modeling Riverdale/Ogden with three roundhouses and engine facilities (UP, SP and D&RGW) along with a major passenger terminal, LCL freight building, giant stockyard and meat-packing plant, major PFE icing station...y'know...complicated. I do prototype scenes and attempt to keep the LDE's between 12 and 24 feet long. Some scenic, run-through LDE's are only 6', but most are long. Maximum train length is 9' 7.5" and all my U.P. center passing sidings are at least that long. Don't know if I'll complete the whole shebang before I go blind or start shaking so much I can't do precise work anymore, but so far the eyes are pretty good and no shakes...I figure I've got another 20 years if I continue to work, ski and ride my mountain bike five times a week. Oh...the bug doesn't bite any more. I get to run a BIG layout three times a year, what with a few others model railroad buddies buckling up to my layout makes for a really nice sized portable layout...then I bring it home, set it up and work on what I need to work on until the next show. It's a good regimen for me. Cheers! Bob Gilmore
I've always had to compromise due to space constraints. I've moved alot so it seems I'm always starting over. Now I have nearly 2000 square feet to play with. First thing I figured out is that I don't have the time or the money to fill the space. Maintenance would be a headache on something that large. Since moving to Pueblo three years ago I've had the pleasure of operating on Bob Foltz's HO Santa Fe layout. What struck me about Bob's layout is that you have the feeling of going somewhere. There is a lot of distance between towns. He told me that his sidings average about 16 feet (HO remember) and the distance between towns is 2 to 3 times that long. So that's what I'm trying to do in N. The mainline has a yard about 16' long (Stockton). North,around 24 feet of mainline then Lodi, 22 feet and Galt then staging A branch wanders to Ione. South 24 feet of mainline leads to Lathrope and then staging. The Tidewater Southern also leaves Stockton and heads south to Escalon, the CCT heads north to Lodi. There is also the Port of Stockton and the ST&E doing local switching in Stockton. The space this occupies is 18' by 36'. Plenty for one person to work on. There are only two other N scalers around and they're working on their own layouts. There really aren't any massive industries in this area so I don't have to worry about that. Lots of packing houses, though.
"Nope, not enough space" came up so often I started doing modular railroading more intentionally. I can build those scenes I really want in modular form, throw them into show layouts with other people, and not worry about how I don't have the ideal layout room.
I still don't have the space for an "around the room, multi-level" layout. So I have had to do a decent amount of compression on mine thus far. I regret the lack of a yard on my current layout, but am otherwise happy. I want to keep the theme of NEPA woodlands with some small towns mixed in, so I do catch myself before I go crowding things up with a grandiose plan. It could be worse, I could be running HO.
I have been bit by both ends of the spectrum. First it was a round the walls in a 10x10 room which was too small. Now it is a situation where I will have too much space.....
I am continuing to downsize my expectations and currently have a decent plan that looks like a big capital letter G tipped over to the right. I just worked out my harbor area to accommodate the larger vessels and the fishing fleet and managed it mostly in a 2 X 4.5 foot small peninsula with a short section along the bottom loop of the main. The smaller structure kits have been my key to getting in what I wanted without undue crowding. The top of the harbor area has a cut down Kibri lighthouse with one of the two houses removed serving as the USCG station. Using the small wood pier from the Bounty Seafood kit gives me the dock for the 2 patrol boats. The other house becomes the N.U.M.A. building with the red vessel just above it the rescue tug Wile E. A long dock has the research vessel Cussler tied up to it and a small warehouse, also N.U.M..A. The last structure on the right is the Public Pier kit from TomyTec with the boathouse and the ramp section now another N.U.M.A. structure and the bldg. behind the ramp will be a seaplane hanger to be possibly made from some modified Laser Kit wood barns. The left side has the pier section from the TomyTec Bounty Seafood forming the docking for the bigger fishing vessels and then the Bounty Seafood bldg. The next structure is the Micro Trains Cannery and since it has a pier on at least two sides more fishing vessel docking. The last two bldgs. are Waterfront Willie's and Wicked Wanda's. The small section below off the main portion of the layout will have the lumber carrier Nogero (think Oregon here) and a section of the Walton and Son's lumber storage. The vessel will end up being moved more to the right to allow for a barge at the small wood grain elevator and two grain bins. Waterfront Willie's and Wicked Wanda's might get nudged up closer to the cannery to allow for a small marine fueling facility to be included. It will be barge served not rail served. In all about 50 to 60% of my railroad served structures will be here with the rest divided between the branch line and Lyle yard. The two outside tracks serve NUMA and the cannery with the center track being car storage and team track for a single RS-1 or a 70 tonner. The area at the top by the lighthouse could retain the curve track extension of the cannery spur, or could end up as more harbor area, or another small structure. About all of these structures are 3 X 5 inch footprint with some smaller. The green line at the bottom is the mainline and the orange line is the upper level branch line. All turnouts are Peco short radius on the harbor area and the one track crossing is a 45 deg. The area below the harbor has a dramatic rise in elevation which is common for the areas around Lyle and westward on the SP&S and the road punches through a lot of those rises that are right at the river's edge by use of short tunnels. Thus I am able to have my branch line areas on top of those rises with use of a open shelf style.
John, your port plans look great! I've drawn up many-a-plan like you have here only to find that I drew something incorrectly or unrealistically, like a curve out of a turnout. I'm sure you got it right, but those curves out of the turnouts leading into the port look pretty tight and the track radius looks like it may already be maxed-out at 9.75". If it was me trying to do it, I would eventually realize that I actually can't get there from here when I started laying out the track and would once again say; "nope, not enough space!" However, it would be a slow and painful realization that would go something like this.....I drew the curve out of the turnout to tight....OK, move the turnout back.....whoops, can't because the turnout would end up in a tunnel or would set it up so the port tracks would cross at a degree that nobody produces....OK, got to lose one of the tracks into the port.....don't want to do that.....consider hand laying the crossing.....don't want to tackle that....stall and ponder for several weeks.....give up.
Curvature is based on 8.5 to 9.75 which my small stuff can take with no issues. Most of the harbor area has 9.75 with some places dropping to 8.5 or 9. And the small stuff ranges from Class A Climaxes to 44 and 70 tonners plus some SW units. Boxcars and reefers are mostly 40 footers. And the original yard area had those turnouts and curves, plus turnouts almost right out of a tunnel. It called real life railroading in a tight space. The harbor is loosely based on the Astoria waterfront which had some tight turnouts also, while the rest is centered around Lyle. And Lyle had a slightly curved yard which started right after popping out of a tunnel and terminated right prior to crossing a bridge. I did a lot of testing recently dealing with minimum radius and I have a small fleet of motive power that can handle this. This is also an older era railroad where there wasn't much in the away of 6 axle stuff. The minimum mainline curvature is not under 11 inches and the home of 2-8-0s and 2-8-2s and Alco FA and RS-3s.
There are three things needed for model railroading. Time, money and room. You can have all the time and room the world has to offer but if you are penniless then. . .Well actually if you are penniless then your lack of model railroading opportunities is the least of your concerns. On the other hand if you have lots of money, live in a converted airship hanger but work 90 hours a week then your model railroad probably consists of a bunch of designs on your laptop’s flash drive. On the Gripping Hand you could have lots of money, work part time but live in a phone booth, or worse a N.Y. City efficiency apartment and you might not even have room for a lap top. True there are ways to circumnavigate one or more of those obstacles but it usually becomes a sliding scale sort of thing.
