First I would like to say hello to everybody and I am new to the hobby. I collect ho scale locomotives, diesel and steam, whatever I like, no specific brand or railroad. I collect HO but I want to build an n scale layout with the following. I want to do a N scale layout about 3x5; I know I want a yard and 2 running trains. I want my trains on 2 separate lines and NO, I don’t want to go DCC at all. I want to use those little boxed to do all my switching. What I’m asking is for sort of a diagram I guess on how to do this. I just want a cool layout, not a prototype area or a certain yard, I just love the look and it will hold all the cars and locos. I have a photo of the type of yard I would like. Actually it’s the engine houses but I want everything kind of built around this image. Can I get some help on this please? What I am going to run on it is everything from large diesels to steam Big Boys and I will be using Bachmann EZ for the main layout and flextrack for the yard.
Hello, and welcome. You appear to have a defective URL. Please copy the URL to a text box here and then press the space bar…it should become active when you post. Failing that, you can enter edit and simply place square brackets on each end of the URL and add img inside the first bracket pair and /img inside the last bracket pair. When you post it should work.
I suggest you take a few minutes to organize your thoughts, and then repost your question(s) in a way that is easier to read and understand.
The image link you are trying to post to show some roundhouse & turntable is like this, when you remove all that junk from the google search you used to find the image:
http://www.gcmrrc.org/images/N_Scale/RoundHouse1.jpg
Smile,
Stein
As far as getting my thoughts together, Im not really familiar with all the RR and model RR terms so I think I did the best I can. I nee a sample plan on how to do the type of layout I described. I know nothing about diagrams and things like that so Im sorry if I appear extremely ignorant… Also, thanks for the help with the link.
If I’m understanding you correctly, you want a double track layout with 2 trains running at the same time with DC controls. If so, lay your track, but you must isolate them from each other. In other words, anywhere one track is to connect to another, you must use insulated rail joiners to prevent a short between tracks. There are manufactures that made a dual control powerpack , I think it was MRC, and you can find them on ebay from time to time pretty cheap. The yard area would have to be a part of one of the main tracks or another controller would be needed
Ok, now Im on the right track. Thank you. Can anybody else help?
The roundhouse & turntable image you like seems to be from a fairly large (32 foot by 52 foot) N scale modular layout that members of the Galveston County Model Railroad Club have built.
Here is a link to a presentation of their N scale modular main layout: http://www.gcmrrc.org/Nscale.asp
Here is a link to a bigger image that shows how the roundhouse and turntable fit into their layout: http://www.gcmrrc.org/images/N_Scale/NscaleRH4.jpg
Here is a link that shows both their yard (tracks closest to the camera) and their roundhouse (in the background): http://www.gcmrrc.org/images/N_Scale/NScale2.jpg.
For size comparison - four of those small freight cars (40 foot boxcars) connected end to end is about a foot long in N scale (a 40 foot car in real life is 40x12 = 480 inches long in real life. In N scale, each car is 480"/160 = 3 inches long. 4 cars of those 3 inch cars connected together thus should take about a foot of layout space).
According to Wikipedia, a Big Boy steam locomotive was 132 feet in real life - or put in another way - each Big Boy also takes up almost a foot of length on an N scale layout as well.
For a 3x5 foot layout, it might be a good idea to drop the idea of running the biggest locomotives you can find, with the attendant large turntables and large roundhouse [:)]
To give you an idea of what will fit on a 3x5 foot la