I live in a rather small apartment, and space is at a premium. I am contemplating building a small (two track) N-Scale “shelf” type layout around my entire apartment about 18" from the ceiling.
The apartment is made up mostly of concrete firewalls, which makes drilling and mounting a pain in the butt. That said, once the layout is secured, I don’t think it would go any where.
Does any one/has anyone done this, and can they offer me some tips, it’s one of my first layouts, so anything anyone can provide would be very helpful.
I am in the same situation as you and did some planning of similar thing before I squeesed out some premium space for my now 8X5 N scale layout currently under construction.
I bought some ready made pine shelvings from K-Mart on special at half price and all you have to do is use a good masonry impact drill to drill the holes and then used those plastic bits you stick in the hole that comes with the shelvings and you can set it up in no time. Then go to Home Depot or similar and get one of those lift out table and you can turn your train around on that (tight curves though) and you got yourself a continuous shelf layout. You don’t have to go right to the ceiling, if you keep the depth of the shelves around the optimum 12-14 inches, you can keep it at eye level without taking up too much space.
I didn’t end up doing the shelves and the fold out table for the trains but I did use them for my 1/500 die-cast plane airport above my TV. Works out great!
Iceman has some good suggestions. I wouldn’t even think of having HO that high up on a shelf, let alone N. A shelf that high and nowhere near eye level would be hard to operate w/o a step stool or small ladder. How tall are you? Maybe they are at your eye level.
If you read the guy’s webpage, he once worked menial jobs for a major aerospace company and got terminated for applying for the CEO job, among other things. They accused him of being nuts.
If you live in an an apartment, make a modular layout that can be easily put away when not in use.
I recently visited a HO layout mounted that high. The owner was happy with it, but it is definately not for everyone. He used ladders to work on it and to get a good view of the trains.
He has some nice scenery, but I couldn’t see much from my wheelchair.
What does the owner of the building think of drilling holes in the concrete walls?
The holes aren’t the issue. I have a 3 x 6 layout right now, and I’m getting a little tired of watching trains chase their tails if you get what I mean.
So I’d just like to set something up that makes the trains seem like they’re going somewhere. There wouldn’t be much scenery, and not a lot of switching. Probably just two tracks.
Are you sure the holes won’t be an issue with your landlord? Removing fastener inserts from masonry and patching the walls aren’t as simple as doing the same in plaster or gypsum wallboard. Better check it with the owner first.
I have an O scale train running around the room near the ceiling. What a waste of time and money…because unless something is right at the edge of the shelf, track details, houses and scenery are either difficult or impossible to see. I can’t imagine how microscopic N would seem.
Perhaps you should consider a layout that can be stored under a bed, against the wall or lowered from the ceiling. Hundreds of apartment dwellers have documented their layouts in various publications and on The Net over the years. Maybe you should do some more research before building anything up that high. I don’t think you’ll be happy if you do.
I think 18" from a 8.5’+ ceiling would be too “high”. Perhaps if you could find an area of your place that allows something like 4’+ from the floor, maybe 6 inch shelfs, have an area where you could have two loops at either end (as it appears you want constant running) so maybe 2’ square at each end, perhaps only along 2 walls, etc.
Without an example of where doors, etc are in your place it would be difficult, and if you’re trying to put this “above” doors, etc very little of your train would be visible unless standing several feet back. If you were to sit I’d bet you may not be able to see any of it. What’s the room look like, where are the doors, windows, objects to avoid, etc
This evening, I took some photos of O, HO & N scale locos on my ceiling “shelf” layout to illustrate how everything looks from the center of a 12x12 room, which is where a visitor might typically stand to see the layout. The O scale looks OK. The HO is a bit of a stretch and the N scale is almost lost to the viewer.
Unfortunately, I tried for over an hour to post the photos here but finally gave up because I do not want to use my Rail Images site as the http: photo source.
So…here’s a suggestion. Take one of your N scale locos and place it on top of a door jamb. Walk to the middle of the room and take a look. Remember now, your loco is right at the edge of the jamb so it can be seen. In reality, you’ll need a buffer area to keep stuff from falling onto the floor if there’s a derailment. However, doing this will compromise any trackside, building and background detail. If nothing else, it will give you an idea of what’s involved trying to put an N scale loco on the track—you’ll have to use a chair or ladder. The same applies to laying track, ballast, etc. Up & down all the time wore me out building the darned layout. I never finished it because I built a table layout instead.
If you’d like to see the photos for comparison, send me an email and I’ll get them to you ASAP.
