Just wondering is any forum members are 4x8 or less and not planning on getting bigger? Anyone here doing micro layouts? My main layout is 4x5 a modified morgan valley from the Atlas website. I’m also doing a sceniked timesaver and am planning an inglenook. Anyone else into this?
Bruce
I’m just now getting into a larger layout than a 4x8. I’ll tell you that when I was detailing it, it seemed huge.
I think you will find that a 4 x 8 is more average than small. There are a lot of layouts, particularly N-scale, that are smaller.
My layout is a 4 x 8 and I’m staying busy enough learning how to detail it. I would eventually like to go larger but it will more than likely be an around-the-wall layout for easier access.
Tom
I have had a 4 by 8 that was torn down to support my 15 by 5. I am getting a new 4 by 8 to add on to my layout, and am building small diarama’s instead of one huge layout.
-beegle55
I’ve been toying with buying one of those 2’x4’ or 3’x4’ pre-built N layouts that some guy sells in the back of MR mag. Just to have a little indoor layout for when the weathers bad.
I’m doing a 4x8’ N scale layout…it’s on hold right now since I’m waiting for more track to arrive.
Yes Bruce, I have a couple of smaller layouts, a dogbone and an out and back I’m working on.
Yup, got a 4x8! It will get bigger in a couple of years when I move to my permanent retirement house.[8D]
Would you consider an alternative? I was stymied between my available space/resources and my love of big curves/turnouts/ prototypical operation. My solution is participation in Free-mo. Modular railroading with a focus on prototypical point to point (note: not roundy-round the racetrack) or point to loop operations, mostly single track mainline with some passing sidings and industrial spurs and big yards. That way I can concentrate on putting my best efforts into a module, or several, and still enjoy the fellowship of the meets several times a year. Worth thinking about? jc5729
My layout is 5x12, but I still consider that small. I read somewhere, I think in this month’s MR, that the “average” layout is over 200 square feet. That seems like a lot to me, but I don’t have access to their data.
I was intrigued by the Free-Mo setup at the last train show I attended. It was basically one guy, with two modules, only one of which was complete. He apologized for its appearance, but I actually thought it was a good idea to let people see what things looked like while they were still in the middle of construction. I’ve still got a year or two of significant work on my layout before I get to the tinkering and rebuilding stage, but after that I’ve thought about putting together a Free-Mo myself.
This does bring up one advantage of small layouts, though. It’s actually possible to “complete” one. As a scenery enthusiast, I’d rather have a small, well-scenicked layout that a vast empire of plywood and foam that never gets close to what it could be.
I am spacially challenged. So I, therefore, am working on a 3x5 HO layout. I may push an issue to get a fold-down or removable 1x3 perpandicular module on one side.It will either be a simple fiddle/staging yard or, I may make it into the yard for the layout, meaning it will mostly be attached and used rather than usually detached and occassionally used. I will also work on a small N as well. That size keeps changing.
It is free-lanced and I shall pack as much as I can into it. I would love a 4x8, but don’t have the room. I do not want what I have’nt got.
Hope you find yours rewarding as well.
(*quote in song by Sinead O’Connor)
Mine’s a 3’ x 6’8" hollow-core door N scale layout. Mine is so small and portable I can take it to shows. Here’s me with my layout at the Neuse River Valley MRR Club Show last November:
Judging by a very recent thread, about 90% of us have “small” layouts, and don’t seem to get much shrift in our hosts magazine [;)] But, I digress…
Seriously, I am grateful for those of you who perforce stick with the great 4X8. It seems that it falls to you to come up with innovative ways to model things, to fit them in, and to make the best use of space, generally. Since I am hopeless in the imagination and creativity department, I knew not to set myself up for disappointment with a 4X8 as my first layout. I have not gone bigger this time around, but I know that I had better keep an eye on this discussion…there will come a time when I am in “the home” and may be ecstatic with a whole 4X8 layout.
Well, I guess that makes me WAY below “average” at 32 sq. ft with my 4 x 8. And I don’t expect to be joining the MRRing “Mensa” club anytime soon either. Oh, well. I’ll get by somehow…
Tom
Yep, that’s Dave alright. I’d know him any where… (Just kidding folks)
Seriously. My N scale layout is 3 1/2 X 6 1/2 because that’s all the room I could come up with right now. However, I hope to add a few more feet to it the not too distant future. I still have a blast with it just as it is.
Tracklayer
I’m doing a 13x4 dogbone. It’s all the room I could negotiate for right now. Keeps me busy and I’m having fun. That’s all that matters, right?
My current project is a module measuring 72" by 18". It surprises me how much area that seems to be to landscape, scenic and detail!
Cheers,
Mark.
My layout is currently at 5 X7. It once was a 4x6 (built in 1980), but was extended 3 years ago to handle 24 radius track. Once I “finish” detailing my existing layout, I am thinking of purchasing some prebuilt module stands and extend my train table into a L shape.
Right now I’m in danger of frying what few functioning brain cells I have trying to come up with a 4x5.5 max N scale Unitrack layout that has 15" minimum radius. Every time I come up with something I think I like, after a few days the “Ewwwww” factor creeps in.[%-)]
My home layout is an HO scale oval with two sidings in a 3.5’ x 6’ space. I’ve had it since 1997. The scenery features a small prairie town with one grain elevator. The layout is analog (DC power pack connected directly to the track).