So, I’ve been out of the hobby for 10+ years and have recently gotten the bug again. My wife has given me permission to use at least part of a spare room we have for a small layout. The room is about 12’ 6" by 12’ 6" square. Right now my plan is to build a shelf layout about 3 feet deep along one wall.
This will basically be an experimental layout. Because of the small size my first instinct is to go with N scale so I can get more modeling space, but there are a number of reasons I think HO would be best: 1- I think I’d eventually like to fill the whole room with a layout, so I’d have the room for HO and I could reuse equipment if this first layout is also HO. 2- I like the higher realism and detail in HO. 3- I already have more HO equipment than I do N. So I’m thinking of building a 12.5’ long, HO scale shelf layout.
This layout will be more about the building than the operating. I’d like to include a little bit of everything to help enhance my overall modeling skills. So I’d like to do things like water, mountains, city scenes, switching, multiple industries, realistic scenery, etc. I’ve always enjoyed the scenery building and the weathering aspects of model railroading more than the operating, but I’d like to install DCC because any future larger layout would probably have it, and it will simplify the wiring, which I’ve never been good at (I’ve never used DCC before).
With this post I’m hoping you guys can point me to some track plans that might work for me and give me other tips on how to get back into the hobby after so many years. What DCC system should I look at, where are the current best places to buy products, who are the best manufacturers… anything you can think of.
I’ve looked up a local club and will probably be joining, but there are far more opinions here.
You are obviously not new the the Forums. Have you been active on the Trains section or ???
You allowable space is better than a lot of folks have, and you can get pretty creative with it. I’ve worked with 11x15 for almost 20 years, and I understand the situation.
Ok, some off the wall comments… I’ve worked in O, HO, and N. When I worked in N I was about 50, and even then it was too small for me to enjoy and work well with. I’m certainly not knocking N, but give that some consideration.
My last two layouts have been HO, and I’m happy with them. BUT, I came awful close to getting into On30 or HOn30 narrow gauge. With these, your scenery and structures are full size for the scale and easy to work with and acquire. But the rail equipment is smaller, curves are sharper, and you get get much more in a smaller space. I gave this a lot of thought, but my love of mainline RR won out. But, it is something to consider.
“Twer I were you”, I would first nail down my scale, type of RR, and then work on track plans (and benchwork plans) and then go from there to picking DCC and other specifics.
I haven’t been active on the forums since I left the hobby several years ago. At this point I’m 90% sure I’ll stick with HO, but it sure would be nice to have more space. I keep thinking about the size of the mainline runs I could have with N scale once I took over that whole room instead of being confined to a shelf. I should also consider that N scale tends to be cheaper.
My previous railroads were freelanced. I enjoyed coming up with back-stories for my lines, and setting them in areas that were important to me and coming up with my own paint schemes for locomotives. For this first experimental layout I’ll probably just stick with stock, pre-decorated, stuff but if/when I go to a room-sized layout I’ll probably go freelanced and decorate my own.
I know choosing the scale is going to be tortuous for me.
This is an N scale track plan that looks interesting to me. It’s just about the right size to straighten out and place on a 12 foot wall. It seems to have a little bit of everything, like I wanted.
You mention that you are thinking about a 3’ wide layout. Might want to rethink that a little. Most of the time it is suggested that a layout not be over 30". If you have very long arms or are going to have a low layout, you might be able to reach over the full 3’ . Do a little test, set a piece of cardboard or some such at the height you want your layout. Put some structures or at least things that would be as high as trees and buildings on it, then try to reach over them. If you are going to put mountains on the back, so that nothing that will need to be adjusted will be there, maybe, but you might still have a problem reaching over to paint the backdrop and do the rest of the scenic work on the back part.
Richard brings up a good point, as many have here and elsewhere, about reach. When I built my layout, I built it along 3 walls, and used 4x8, so, you guessed it, I cannot reach the back! Had I come across these forums back then, I would have done it different. Too late now, so I will end up constructing a simple folding ladder that can lean against the wall, which will allow me to finish scenery and back drop… Not ideal by any means, but…[:-^]