but in 2016 our house flooded and we moved into a smaller home and there is no room for a layout. Before the flood, I was able to pick up the rolling stock, buildings etc but not the layout. Lost that and the track tacked down with switch and light switched. Attached is some photos of my first layout and also the one I lost that was in progress.
Are you wanting to stay with HO ?.........I'm assuming your current stuff is HO since that's where your post is. A modular layout is one option. Some other options I've seen are "under bed" layouts, shelf layouts that are above the furniture in a room, layouts that fit in a closet when not in use, and layouts that lift and lower on cables. If you want to change scales, T track would be a good option. The modules are small for storage and are designed to be set up on a folding table. https://www.ntrak.org/T-TRAK If there happens to be a T-track or NTRAK club in your area,it's even better since you can get together with others and make an even bigger layout.
Thanks for your feedback Dave. I want to stick to HO as I have a ton of cars, track, roadbed and about 10 locos. Never thought about an under the bed layout. I will look into that.
That's what I figured, but I included the link, Even if you stick with HO, the website may give you some ideas .........you said you had thought about modular but didn't know where to start. On under bed layouts, I've seen ones that just slide under, and I've seen some fancy ones where it's built like a trundle bed and slides in and out in a drawer. Good luck whichever way you go.
Try Googling something like "model railroad modular concepts". You can find a lot of ideas. It is a very popular option these days. You can buy kits to assemble module bases, so could eliminate that first step. I moved into an apartment a few years ago, and have gone that route in both N scale and HOn30.
There are tons of possibilities for a layout in a small space. I have built a switching layout based on an inland port in Oklahoma. I used a 11 by 12 bedroom and we operate it on a regular basis. My sessions are almost 3 hours long with a crew of 4. You can have quite a bit of fun on a shelf layout in even a smaller space than mine. Check out Red Dirt and Rails or Keith Jordan’s Patch Layout, you should be able to google them. You will see, you are only limited by your imagination. Go for it, you will be glad you did. From the pictures you have posted, you have a talent for making it look great. Dale
Thanks for the info dalebaker, I will check the sights out. Will post more pictures of the lost layout in progress - stay tuned.
My first layout replaced the upper bunk bed, and I was the one who trundled myself under it every night.
A couple of years back, at a small train show, towards the end of the show, I picked up these items. The building was $2, .50 each for the cars or 3 for $1 and the road bed was thrown in for free. So I spent $4 in total. Yes I am cheap.
Tried my hand at making ground cover yesterday. I used an old sponge that I had for washing my car. Cut it up, put some color in it, let it dry and ran it through a grinder. I could of used a blender but I did not have enough to fill the blender. I made two batches with slightly different colors and mixed them together. one a dark green and one a light green.
More pictures of the layout that was in progress. The inside rails was independent of the outside rail. I could run two trains at the same time. It was a 4x6 layout. The second picture is the car club building. The buildings had lights in them and I was just starting to put street lights.
Look up some layout ideas on YouTube that are from England. Seems they’re wizards at modeling in small spaces as their homes aren’t as big as the ones here. I watch some car restoration videos from there and I’m amazed at how much work gets done in such a small garage.
If you really have no space, I think n scale or z scale is the way to go. I am in a smaller house too and built a simple z scale layout that fits on bookshelf. Not yet 100% complete. The lights above made it look better. Example:
