Hello again! It's been awhile since my last post - I had to postpone my railroad dreams due to the joys of new home ownership. Things are finally starting to settle down and I can once again turn my attention to railroading. I've drawn up a sketch of the room: The room is an addition that is roughly 22.5' by 8.5'. The entrance is marked on the top left corner of he map - no doors, just a hallway. The top wall is against the "back" of the garage so there is a possibility of tunneling through the wall and taking advantage of the ~2-3 feet of space available on the other side. My Initial Givens and Druthers: 1) 1st layout since I was a boy so I don't want to get too complicated. Having said that, I would like to design something that can be added on to if I decided to get more advanced. 2) The layout needs to be a shelf layout and stick to roughly 18" along the walls. The brown lines in the plan indicate the approximate footprint that I need to adhere to. 3) Scale - This is where I'm really torn. In my previous posts I was dead-set on an N-scale layout since I wanted as much bang for my buck in terms of track. My early plans were a real "bowl of spaghetti" cramming as much track as possible into the given space. I've recently been reconsidering primarily because of two very good reasons - my boys. Quite simply - my boys LOVE trains. They are almost 6 and 3. I'm thinking that HO may offer a better viewing (and when they get older operating) experience for them. Looking at my space I think I could fit a decent sized HO layout along those walls. 4) Continuous running is a must (see above mentioned boys :act-up This means a removable bridge across the entrance which is doable. If I went N-Scale I could have a return loop somewhere along the bottom wall (basically a 3' bump sticking out) and another return loop partially in the garage on the top wall. 5) Era - steam to diesel transition for sure. I love F units and Geeps along with steam engines. Along the walls means I can comfortably get a decent radius for the curves in HO. I'm also very interested in DCC and sound. It looks like HO wins when it comes to sound and steam engine selection. 6) Operating - I would like some switching and a good-sized yard. Some passenger operations would be nice but I'm thinking more along the lines of a branchline. Haven't decided on a locale yet - it would either be ATSF/SP or PRR. I'd like to get some advice on what is possible in the space that I have especially with my boys in mind. I hope to start a project that we can all work on together for many years to come. Thank you in advance, - Mark
Hi Mark! Good to see the trains rolling again, at least in your mind. That's a great space for a layout, either HO or N, so really you need to decide which scale to go. Disclaimer: I am N-sane, though I grew up with HO & have designed HO layouts as well. I'd just caution you on basing your scale discision on your kids. You're kids will grow up faster than you can build a layout (or blink, for than matter). When I started getting back into the hobby three years ago, my daughter was almost seven and my son had just turned 3. My son liked trains (thomas blue track) and watching them go, but he knew not to touch. My daughter started getting into switching ops and could re-rail cars onto the C55 track. Over the last summer my daughter (9) & son (5) & I worked on a shelf switching project. Daughter installing replacement ties: Son CAing window "glass" on the cannery: Daughter painting window and door trim on same cannery: And while it might look as if I took every onerous, tedious task and dumped it on my kids, I like to call it "family bonding" I do a bit of the "prep work" and then we do bits and pieces together, trying to keep it fun. So choose a scale that fits YOUR needs & wants. If you want longer trains snaking through supersized scenery, then N. If there's a certain line or era you want to model and its in HO and not N, then go HO. If you want sound in steam engines, then go HO. If you want a greater scenery-to-track ratio, then N. Punching through the wall to have 4-6 staging tracks in the garage will be great: provides a turnback loop for N (HO will need the lift-out) as well as a place for trains to come from / go to off-layout. Just think about how dusty it is in the garage (if you use a table saw out there, for example) and if you need to make a lid / cover for it. So some food for though. In my mind I see the staging in the garage, an interchange yard on the upper wall leading to the branch that snakes its way to an industry in the middle of the bottom wall before having a spectacular broad mountain-side curve at the front of the return loop at the bottom left. But there's 20 kabillion designs you can work into your space. The more info you share in terms of industries and scenes you want to include the more we can help. Have fun!
Congrats on the house! I just moved too and claimed a space just a tad smaller than yours -8 x 13. I have post a few down from this one http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?137756-HO-1980-Nor-Cal-SP-Concept-in-8-x-13-area that I have a rough draft of the plan that can show you one of many possibilities of what can be done in a similar space. Be sure to read the link in there from Byron Henderson's site on using the garage for a layout space. Like you said a duck under or temp bridge could make continuous run very easy. There are many, many threads and books on designing a track plan. 2 to get you started and frame your thinking are from Byron's site too http://layoutvision.com/id51.html and http://layoutvision.com/id13.html. You will also find some good reads here too http://www.gatewaynmra.org/library.htm Steve
Forgot the kicker: my daughter (9) building a N-scale code 55 turnout with a soldering iron: Your 6 year-old might be a few years away from the soldering iron, but then probably so is part of your layout (these things take a lot more time that you "budget") (the model railroading, too ) Another idea is to start working on an 18" x 8' switching shelf that can be incorporated into the bigger layout (like in the middle of the bottom section) later down the line. This would give you an idea of the skills and scale without spending the time & money on big benchwork & track that later you say "gee, I should have gone with N". Stein has some great 2'x8' switching layouts that would adapt wonderfully to 18" x 8' (or 6') in N. Food for thought.
hi, reversing loops are quite possible in the space you have. Depends also on the required radii. With a 22" radius, probably a tad small for long coaches and autoracks you could draw this: Smile paul
