Some folks out there will "run" trains - that is - set up some track and run their trains as is with little or no scenery. In some circles this is known as "plywood pacific." These folks get joy simply from running the trains and have no desire to pursue the modeling aspect of the hobby. However is it the limitations of my mind or does this activity seem much more odd in the smaller scales? S and O seem to cater more to this crowd but I'm sure there are HO folks as well. But what about N scale?
My layout is currently a "work in progress" and I can't run trains. So sometimes, I'll pull out the Kato Unitrak, and set up a big oval on the floor and run trains. No scenery, no operations, just happy trains making happy circles on the floor. Then when I get tired of watching whatever train I'm running, I'll take it off and run something else. I can do this for hours on end.
Like Traindork, my layout is also a work in progress although I can run trains on it. I am building it in sections and don't install a section until it is almost complete including scenery. I have an unscenicked return loop that I move as each section is installed. I also keep another smaller shelf layout that has no scenery to do test running and experiment with things such as detection and automation. It's done with Unitrack and I change it around as the need arises. I have seen or know of many "layouts" with no scenery. Most often these are done with Unitrack and very often the modeler has no permanent space to have a layout but would like to run trains in their collection. The fact that this many be done more in N scale than the larger scales would also support the no space idea. Perhaps they belong to a club and want to test trains before taking them to the club layout. These types of track systems can be set up on a temporary basis and then taken down within a few minutes much the way some of did with our slot car tracks when we were kids.
I'm the layout in progress too, many parts of my layout have no scenery but all track is laid so I can get enjoyment 'running trains' band I have a few areas with scenery to help the affect in my mind-one day it will be complete...however I can't imagine a "plywood pacific" Interesting post. thank you
I have always run trains like this. Otherwise I would never use them at all. From floor, bad idea, to dining room table, to just bare plywood. Think of all the Christmas trains run like this and never used again Sent from my SM-G550T using Tapatalk
My doctor told me that certain kinds of activity lowers blood pressure and certain activity raises it. Activity that lowers blood pressure includes watching cats or tropical fish (but not together), reading or (in his words) "...just watching a toy train go around in a circle." So it is therapeutic.
Well, if you are experimenting with the electronics side of the hobby, a plywood pacific would be the preferred option.
Sometimes you just gotta watch trains go. Like others, I put Unitrack down on the floor whenever I can get away with it, in my case because so much of my collection is just too big for my current layout. Just putting some trains down wherever is also a good way to unhook if you find yourself getting frustrated with some other aspect of the hobby. It's hard to take yourself too seriously when your 'stations' are a pair of old sneakers and the TV remote.
....until a nagging stutter keeps happening at a certain spot that you can never resolve, or you get regular, unscheduled uncoupling or a nice shoestring derailment.
+1. ^^this. My layout currently consists of four loops of UniTrack, running around a 10" deep shelf layout around a spare bedroom / office / train room. I really like the double track concrete tie UniTrack with superelevated larger radius curves. So, the concrete ties limit me to the last thirty years or so, right?? The heck with that. I just ran the trains today and I have: Track 2: ATSF El Capitan pulled by warbonnet F3's. Track 3: CB&Q Silver Streak Zephyr pulled by E5. Track 4: Long freight, 100% boxcar red cars, pulled by UP FEF freight version. Just keeping track 1 clear for the Olympian Hiawatha! When the house is empty, I can crank up the four Kato soundboxes and have more train noises then most have ever heard. Did I mention that the loops all go through a long overhead Kato Japanese prototype passenger station? PFFFFTT to the prototype police. These are my toys and I'm going to enjoy them however I want. And yes, my cat did join me, but his interest level never fails to raise my BP back up ever so slightly.
Huh, I've never thought of my modeling "career" in those terms. I started at a plywood level in 1947, age 12, and s-l-o-w-l-y evolved to where I now have 90%-ish scenery in 2017, age 82. Of course in the interim there were one wife, two boys, eight moves, and a number of career changes, including USAF, all a great ride.
Model railroading is ALL about pleasing the self. Scale does not matter. What the rest of humanity thinks of your choices is meaningless. Do what makes you happy. You can always, at any time, change to a more in-depth aspect of this hobby. Meanwhile, relax and just have some fun!
I think your question is a valid one. Of course we all enjoy our trains differently and it may change from time to time. But it does bring up the nature of the fixed relationship between 1/160 proportion trains to 1/1 humans. You could posit that because you can see more train and surrounding real estate in N at a time that we might want to run them in a setting....as opposed to say O Scale where the train fills up more of the field of vision. I have noticed that when "operating" trains (car cards, waybills, timetables, etc.) your field of vision shrinks to a narrow strip of ROW that your train is on or about to enter no matter how grand or bare the scenery....for any scale. However, with O Scale and larger two man crews are necessary as you can't see the end of your train and passing hand signals is required! Charlie Vlk
I have a fairly complete N-scale layout built on a hollow-core door. It has a 4-track yard, 2-track engine facility, and a mainline with several industrial spurs. When I'm in an 'operating' mode I'll build a train in the yard with a switcher, put road engines on, then run the mainline and switch the industries. Then there are times when I'm in 'railfan' mode and I'll just run a train on the mainline while I'm doing other things in the railroad room. It just depends on my mood at the time. I also operated my HO-scale layouts the same way. Some of my HO layouts were complete, others were just plywood. In the end it all comes down enjoying your trains in whatever manner you like!
Takes a while to build a layout, even a small layout. From time to time, you hit a wall be it a technical challenge or simply motivation to work on it. But you've invested in locomotives, cars, and track. Simple enough to make an oval of some size on another surface be it a piece of plywood or pink/blue foam, connect wires to a power pack and pull out some of those locos and cars to assemble a train and let it roll round and round. That gets the motivation going again after about 500 circuits of the oval.
My THERR was a 'Plywood Prairie" for as long time. I had track laid and was running trains within a month of starting. The wife bought the WS "Town in a box" set and a few other buildings online. It has slowly progresses to something that resembles 'scenery'. BUT...I am just as happy running trains...even if they are still going thru areas that are still just plywood !
I love a completely scenicked layout and I have had two of them. It's just the doing it that seems tedious to me. Now trackwork and wiring and working on locos, I love. My current layout is a 4 X 8 with many buildings on it and some ballast but no real "scenery". Doug
