I am looking for guidelines from the seasoned modelers. What would you say is your optimum width for aisles in your layout and what is your minimum?
A lot depends on the number and girth of your operators. If it’s a dead end aisle, you can get away with a narrower space. If it’s an aisle in which people will be working and others need to regularly pass by, then you will need more breathing room.
I’ve been to layouts with two foot aisles and layouts with five foot aisles. You work with what you have. Sometimes you have to cheat a bit on the aisle width to gain the optimum benchwork width. Simply put, if you are planning on having more than yourself run the layout, be as generous as you can with the aisles without compromising too much on the track plan.
Mark.
Take your belt off, stretch it out, and use that as your measurement.
ROAR
For one and only one person, 24 in lower threshold, 30-36 is better. For two or more people 36 is good, 48+ is better. I have a 36’ standard width and its ok for multiple adult males operating. There are two 24 in choke points on either side of a turnback loop on a peninsula and they are tight.
Be sure to consider how much stuff is mounted on the fascia (throttles, car card boxes, switch controls, shelves for soda cans, etc) as they eat up some aisle space. I flush mounted all my controls to maximize aisle space. Also take into account if you have multiple levels or hidden track. Somebody bending over to peek into a hidden staging yard takes more space than somebody just standing there.
If your aisles are going to be tight, its especially important to stagger work locations. If you have 30" or less aisles and two yard leads right across from each other, the two operators will be rubbing rumps all night long.
Trains ride on the tracks
My tool trolley rides in the isles.
You also want room for lights and a tripod for photography.
ROAR
My layout is in a room with a hipped roof over hit, so the ceiling changes angle just four feet above the floor. To make the best use of the space, I placed the operating surface of the entire layout at about 24". That seems ridiculously low, but I quite like it, especially for the sake of grandsons’ viewing. Anyway, maximizing my track plan meant that the narrowest point of my aisle is 19", but that is roughly at my knees or mid-thigh. Big difference beween what your knees need to move through and your arms carrying something with the layout near elbow height or higher. I would not go less than 24" for the waist and shoulders unless it just couldn’t be helped.
Crandell
Thanks for the input. I am a lone wolf trying to cram as much as I can into an 11x14 room. I think I will try to survive with a 24" aisle by the peninsula.
A suggestion. Just set a couple of pieces of plywood, foam, 2x4’s or whatever you have handy on some sawhorses at the height you are planning your layout. Walk between them, turn around, bend over, reach over the layout and see how different widths suit you. If you have an area that you just pass through, it can be narrower than an area where you will be operating a yard or such. In front of your control panel, if you are DC might want to be a bit wider too.
Good luck,
Richard
Allow for expanding Male bellies. Don’t laugh. Our club found that out but took maybe twenty five years.
Rich
Lion,
Some people I have seen,lately that if they used that as their measurement,there would be no room for the layout…[(-D] [(-D]
Cheers,
Frank
Any possibility of needing wheelchair access. 30" will accommodate most wheelchairs, but should be limited to very short distances at choke points. To turn most wheelchairs 36" is OK, but wider is definitely better. Scooters and motor chairs would need more room…
Ad at least six inches to the widest aisle you think will be necessary. [:)]
I try to get 36" and can go down to 21" for short stretches. One thing I have found is that higher layouts (58") tend to feel closed in with less than 36".
My current layout has 34" aisles except for 2 24" short stretches. This seems to work well with my 50" high layout.
Enjoy
Paul
My layout, designed for operation by a lone wolf who isn’t exactly svelte (more like a wine cask [(-D]) has minimum 21 inch clearance, normal 24 inches plus clearance, and at least 32 inch clearance anywhere more than one person might ever have reason to be. The 21 inch clearance is at a point where the return curve of my wider peninsula took a nibble out of an aisleway needed only for construction, not operation.
Note that I said clearance. That means open space, not fascia to fascia. Where many plans fail is, they allow X inches between fascia lines, then add card boxes, cup holders and little shelves for miniature interlocking levers. Each such addition shrinks the clearance, to the point that you have to move carefully to get through. So, plan ahead. Either leave extra room or recess those things into the fascia. (I personally prefer the latter - looks neater.)
The biggest driving force, to me, would be the number and size of the operators expected. A one man band can skate around with 24 inch clearance. Running the same layout with a full crew might be crowded with 42 inch aisles. Luckily, there’s only one of me.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I use 36" wide aisles wherever possible on my layout. In one spot, it narrows down to 24" but that works for me. I am 6’ tall and weigh 190 pounds, so I lack the beer belly that interferes with such a narrow width.
Rich
Well there is only one LION, one operator (not counting the LPPs that actually drive the trains), but since the layout is built in a monastery, we have visitors galore. It is not unusual to have 12 or more visitors running around trying to take pictures and all talking at once. Interesting that they never catch on that I am not controlling the trains as I stand at the interlocking tower.
ROAR
You might consult St. John (Armstrong)'s Track Planning for Realistic Operation, though much of his advice has been offered here. In addition, I think it was St. Paul (Dolkos) who recently argued for restricting beverages to the lounge area and dealing with paperwork in a way that eliminates a lot of the “fascia fillout” mentioned by some commenters. Because I expect to have guest operators of tender years, I’m trying to allow room to move my little nephew stool around from scene to scene. And since I want them to be able to pull knobs and throw toggles and so on, I’ve been reading with interest the posts on recessed fascia controls; on my former layout, the Bullfrog knobs protruding from the fascia proved to be real shirt-snaggers with just me moving around, let alone any helpers.
This is why I’m in N Scale – HO Scale belts are twice as large!
30" min., I was a space planner in real life!
This space is 17inches wide. I can pass through it easily as I have a recumbent bike at the train room door. I must do a very sweaty half hour on the bike before I can play with my trains. It opens to a wider area where I run the trains from, it serves as a passage only.
The space on the right accesses our guest rooms. The wife suggested it was not wide enough. My reply was “it is 30 inches, the same width as the doors, if they can’t get down the isle the can’t get through the door”.[:-,]
