Hello everyone. First-time poster here… Anybody know of any good layout plans for an HO scale 5x9 island-type table top layout. I want to have 22" and 24" inch curves (on the outer loops at least) so I can run the longer modern diesels. Thank you.
You might start by reading my beginner’s guide clickable from my signature. Take you about 5 minutes.
Welcome to the forum.
Are you sure you want to do a 5x9 island? I built a layout of that size as my first layout and I regret it. Instead of an island with an aisle on the outside it might be better to do a layout around the walls with a control pit in the middle. This would let you have longer runs and wider curves.
5 x 9 is a good size for an HO walkaround layout though.
I would build something with a scenic divider in the middle. Then you would essentially have two 2.5x9 scenes. You could run as a continous loop when you want to railfan and run as point to point beween two destinations when you want to “get serious”. A walk around throttle will give you the feeling of travelling to two different destinations as you walk with your train.
Thats what I did with my 3x5 n-scale which is a similar size when scaled to HO. One side is a town (or will be when I finish some more models) and one side is a more scenic area.
Mine is kinda simple because I was more interested in experimenting with techniques and having room for scenery, but it gives the idea of what I am talking about.
Chris
A 5x9 table top layout is a good candidate for an expanded 4x8. Find a 4x8 plan that you like. Expand by A) increasing the radii; 2) adding 6" to 1’ of straight to runs between corners; iii) adding a passing track to the main, an additional siding, or another track to the yard.
Hey Chris - What kind of Scenery are you using to divide the sections? Is it a large “scenery” type structure, like a mountain pass, or is it a backdrop? I’m doing a small 4X6 for my daughter with a small town and some roads, and I like the idea of splitting it up.
thanks for the idea
jbone
You may want to check this concept:
http://www.layoutdesignservice.com/lds/samples/betterbeginnerlayout.htm
Here’s my suggestion - a folded dogbone. All the curves are 24" except for the inner track on the right hand side. The plan allows continuous running, but doesn’t have that round and round feel. I envision the portion above the backdrop in the drawing to be mountains/hills, and the other side of the backdrop to be more like a town. Of course, you can add sidings and spurs to make operation a little more interesting.
Be careful to lay the track in the tunnels very well (you don’t want derailments in there). Just in case, it’s a good idea to cut an access hole inside the loops. If you have questions, please PM me, or post them here.
I extend to you a hearty welcome to the forum!!!
My first layout forty five years in the past was built on a 5X9 ping-pong table but I barely got it up and an oval of track nailed down before I opted to move into on-base housing - I was in the Air Force at the time - my next layout was a 4X8 in a garage at that location. I had used 22 inch radius curves on this 5X9 but when I tried laying 22 inch radius curves on the 4X8 the edge of the ties came precariously close to the platform edge and my model railroading experience nearly met a premature demise when a derailment almost sent my one piece of motive power onto the floor. I quickly converted to 18 inch curves.
You have made a good choice in your platform size in lieu of the fact that you want to use 22 and 24 inch radius curves.
You might consider getting your feet wet by confining yourself to a bare bones oval, perhaps double tracked. You will have some relatively large open areas for scenery and ample opportunity to lay down some industrial trackage serving some appropriate industries. You don’t see much of it now-a-days but in the olden days the hobby magazines had a lot of articles on dressing up ovals layed on table tops. There is an N Scale modeler monikered Dave Vollmer who posts here on the forum; Dave has a 36X80 layout built on a hollow core interior door. This size is, proportionally, just a mite larger than your 5X9. He frequently posts photographs of his layout and this will give you a demonstration of just what can be accomplished with a dressed-up oval.
You might also, as has been suggested, consider a folded dogbone; there is one hazard associated with this type trackplan on your size platform: to elevate your upper track over your lower track will require a grade approaching or exceeding 3% and that is going to cut down on the length of train that can be handled efficiently.
There is one other problem with a 5X9 and that deals with
R.T.,
You make good points all the way around. My layout is a folded loop to point (4 X 13 feet), but I used a 2-loop helix to get to the upper level (the helix is partly in a tunnel and partly on two concentric curved trestles - an engineering marvel even in HO scale).
You too make a very good point: using a twice around helix to achieve elevation is a good way to cut down on the grade; my 3% reference was for a simple up-and-over operation.
Good suggstions all around! And while I have to agree that a 5x9 island may not be the best use of space, sometimes there are other factors involved that make it more attractive.
Some time back I helped another modeler with a 5x9 HO plan and we came up with a couple of variations on the same basic premis. He wanted no grades on the layout so the trackwork would be easier for a beginner. He also wanted a scenic divider to fit two scenes into the layout. Larger curves were also a concern. Lastly, he wanted a modest yard. What we ended up with had all of that plus a connection to the outside world (a short interchange track) which could be a track for future expantion. They also had a RIP (stands for “Repair In Place”…it’s the short sidings next to the turntable…an yes, they still use turntables today with diesels) track to help add diversity to operations.
See if these might work, or maybe just give you some ideas…
(Click to enlarge)
Personally, I liked the first one with the switchback.
After a lot of thought, I decided to go with HO with 22" min radius. I am planning a 5x9 or 5x10.
I really like the designs that Phillip listed here. It lloks like these were done with
some form of track planning software. How can I tell what tracks to use? I don;t have anything
and need to go buy them. Suggestions?
Thanks
hi OP and Powhatten fan’
The plans by Pcarrell are drawn with RTS. And you can count the tracks. Every time an other piece of track is used you see a white dot.
In the lower two designs the outer track has a 22"radius, four pieces are needed for a 90 degree turn. The inner track uses only three pieces and has a 18" radius; you can see a lot of double dots here, witch means the designer used very short pieces of straights in between to create something that appears to be a 19.5 inch “radius”. The upper pike uses 24"and 22" radii and has some space left at the outside.
Along the main he used #4 switches, in the yard #6’s. A strange choice. A #4 switch is about 8 inch long a #6 will take almost a foot.
All pikes are lacking staging. After a while you get tired seeing the very same trains appearing every three seconds. To create some time and space to do a bit of switching it would be nice to have tracks were a train can be parked temporarily. So we are back into the footprint debate. Finding a way now, how to add staging , is easyer then doing it after the build.
http://www.layoutvision.com/id28.html
http://www.layoutvision.com/id47.html
All pikes are a bit track heavy imho; so I would leave the turntable out. The tracks coming from the TT are very short, so are the roundhouse tracks. And you can’t use the whole length of these tracks, due to clearence problems. The steamers or other engines using the TT will be restricted in length to 6 or maybe 7 inches. The engine escape track at the very end of the yard has the same “length”, a lot of other spurs too. (P
Back to original post…
Take a look at the "peanut shaped layout’ that ChrisNH put up vs. some of the others. Avoid the oval with sides parallel to the table edge.
With 24in radius curves you have room for a passing track or staging area (behind a backdrop). As was said above, any of the 4x8 plans can be enlarged to fit a 5x9 space. Also 2x4ft or 30x54in N-scale designs can be scaled up to 5x9 rather easily. In which case check out Mike’s Small Track Plans
I’d reconsider the min radius. 22" is pretty sharp in HO, some larger engines (like a BLI 2-10-4) and passenger cars (like Walthers cars) have a 24" min radius. Plus the larger the radius of the curves, the better everything is going to look and operate. Many HO modellers shoot for a 30" min radius if possible. You can’t quite do that in 60" (five feet) but you can get up around 26-7-8" radius. Kato Unitrack has track with roadbed that comes in 24" and 26-3/8" radius. I’d take a look at that, especially if you’re fairly new to tracklaying and such. BTW I’d try to stick with No.6 turnouts if possible.
I know it looks like a big min radius is going to cut down what you can squeeze into the space, but in the long run it’s going to look and work better, and open up opportunities to use larger equipment down the road.
Somebody made the suggestion of looking at 4x8 HO plans and scaling them up to allow for the larger space, I like that idea especially if you expand the min radius of the designs.
Stix, I set up an under tree oval with UniTrack (#240 curves which are 28in); the rug is 5x9; the Con-Cor Burlington Zephyr is rated for 22in curves
hi,
As you can see pretty well Doc has no space to do anything at the outside of the loop. Why do you think John Armstrong advised us to chose a radius that leaves 4 inches of space on both sides of the 180 degree turn? So when your layout is 5 feet wide your radius can be 26". When you want to add a station you will need a lot of length. My thinking is a layout should be at least 5 squares long and 2.5 squares wide. ( a square = radius + 4" in HO)
Question why is the 5 feet width of your layout that important to you?
Paul
hi all,
again a first posting almost two years old.
Paul