Is you home layout mostly built and operated by yourself or did you build it and use it primarily for group operations? My layout will most likely be only me at the controls 95% of the time. It could support 2 or possibly 3 But it was always just intended for me and will likely only see another operator once in a blue moon.
Hi,
I’ve had layouts since I was 11 or so, from Lionel in the mid '50s, to HO, N, and back to HO. Any of those layouts could have supported a second operator, but none were ever put to the task. My current and previous one fill an 11x15 room, with two levels. Two operators would have plenty to do.
That said, I’m a lone wolf, have no MR friends in the area, and frankly am not looking for any. I am blessed however, to have a couple of really good email MR friends, and of course this Forum which has been a godsend.
I’m also a Lone Wolf with no local MR friends. I started my current and final layout in the late 80s before DCC so by design its a one man operation. My layout is an L shape 10’ x 14’ built on casters in the garage. My thing is to roll it out on the driveway on a Saturday morning to watch the neighbor kids (and their Dads) come over and get excited about model railroading.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
I’m beginning to realize that agi
My home layout is 20 x 30 and is for me to operate. I have friends over once iin a while but it is mainly aone man show. My grandkids operate once in a while, funny its the girls who are more interested in it than the boys. 7 year old boys are more into swords than trains. My oldest ( a girl ) loves to work on the layout, and even has good Ideas on scenery.
LION has a one-LION layout.
You come in, turn on the power and the trains run.
10 trains run, one LION operates the layout.
Trans stop and start from stations across 14 miles of tracks.
LION sits in tower at 242nd Street. Watches trains run. When train approaches 242nd Street LION must alighn the plant so him can enter last station on line.
LION moves other turnouts, lets train in 242 street loose on the railroad.
Then him waits for the next train to return home.
To throttles, no reversing switches, just a START button, a STOP button, and the Interlocking Machine.
ROAR
I don’t even know anyone who is into trains except for the good folks on the forum so I guess I’ll be the only one running trains.
I operate a 16 x 23 switching layout which runs around three walls in my basement. While it’s capable of accomodating a minimum of three operators, I operate it as a lone wolf.
There are folks who wouldn´t call my 3 by 5ft. Swiss NG layout a layout! It´s only a loop and a siding, with the operation restricted to let a train circle happily along. Strictly a one-man-show! The layout is intended to be a stage for my “collection” of Swiss NG trains, so it is actually a operating diorama.
It´s all I can do, given my space, financial and health limitations, but it´s fun to work on, as much as it is just to watch a train merrily roll along!
I’m currently building my layout. It will have a simple oval with a siding. The layout will ran by me.
I designed some medium sized layouts to be operated by 2-3 people. If I get friends who are into trains when I build it in the far future.
I built my first layout in junior high and a couple of my friends would sometimes come over and play with it with me. We never had a real operating session back then. It was more like just do whatever we felt like doing. I use the Altas two cab system with a third power pack for the yard, so three people can operate at once.
My second rendition of it was for me and my son. The third version was after he grew up and it was all me. A couple of my friends come by once in a while but they live pretty far away so it is a rare occasion to operate with others. I prefer to operate it alone because I find when others come over I’m too busy being the dispatcher and yardmaster to have any fun running the trains.
I guess I am a lone wolf but my layout is named after the mythical town of Lone Wolf, named for the only real wolf in California who seems to have gotten lost and wondered over the border from Oregon. The town of Lone Wolf is located on mythical Wolf Mountain. And of course there is Wolf Creek which flows into Lone Wolf Lake. The idea for the name came from Lone Pine Canyon Road which goes from Cajon Pass to Wrightwood California. I used to work at Mountain High Ski Area and drove on this road frequently. The wolf part came from substituting Big Bear Lake and Bear Mountain Ski Area with Wolf instead of Bear.
I must admit that when I login to the Model Railroader forums, I go mainly to the “General Discussion” and “Prototype Information” topics and rarely the others. But your “One man layout” caught my eye.
My layout is 8’x16’ and I built it in the 3rd bay of my 3-car garage. I work full time and I “completed” it in 15 years in my spare time. I belong to the NMRA and have an active division where I live. I built the layout on my own but relied on advice from my NMRA friends. The layout is controlled by DCC with 3 throttles. On occasion I have friends over.
Mel - I did not know your layout was on casters. Rolling it out in your driveway sounds like fun!
CGW - I think it’s great that the girls are interested in your layout. I have no idea what the figures are, but I feel that we need more women in the hobby.
Mine is a one man show as well. As built, it could keep three occupied, but I have know idea who the other two would be.
CGW-I have two daughters. The oldest couldn’t care less about the trains. My youngest (10) loves to come help me work on the layout and run an occasional train. Hopefully it sticks.
Mel-Wheeling your layout outside for the neighbors to see is one of the coolest ideas I’ve heard in a long time. Good for you for doing that! It has to be a neat experience for all involved.
I,too, am a lone operater. Small town with only two known modellers and no near model rr friends. Really enjoy all of you on this forum. Thanks.
Thanks for the good words guys.
If I had it to do over the only change would be track design. I would come up with a way to run more than one train at a time. I would most likely still be a Lone Wolf. I tried the club thing when we first moved to Bakersfield in 1987 and that didn’t go well. Friendly people, just not my thing.
Way back in the early 1970s we had 7 rug-rats that encompassed every square inch of our 2500 Square foot home, no room for trains. I tried to get our four boys interested in model railroading without any success, and that was before the high tech stuff out there now.
My dream was my layout in the garage built movable (at that time our two car garage was a bedroom for four boys). Because I was into working on projects and having lots of tools, space was a premium. Making my layout with tool storage under my layout was going to be in my future.
It didn’t happen until all the rug-rats had left the nest. My current and final lay
My layout is a one man operation. I must walk around the layout following the train. 99% of the switches are manual so I throw the switches as I move around.
One man operation for me, too. While train friends are welcome to visit, and we often sit in, or wander around in the layout room, it’s usually for conversation or for the visitor taking photos, often of their locomotives on the layout.
Many times, they’re here to pick-up stuff that I’ve repaired or painted for them, and it’s their first look at their upgraded “baby”.
While the conversations are often train-related, nothing is off-limits 'cause we’re long-time friends.
My kids weren’t interested in trains, and although the grandkids have had a little more interest, I don’t see it lasting a long time. Right now, it’s also the girls here who are most interested, and all have been able to run trains from about the age of two, although most seem to prefer to just watch.
Wayne
16 by 24 one man set up that has two cabs for the rare times the youngest boy comes to visit then it can support two opperaters, the second level is anologe automated (crude by todays standards ) that runs on its own.
Lone wolfing hasn’t worked out as smoothly as I thought it would.
I spent a week just trying to find extruded board foam.
I have a test track, Just flex track and some turn outs and several loops.
I had a couple kids try it out but they didnt seem interested enought to return.
Nobody seems interested in model trains in my family.
WAY to many females in my family, but that say they will ‘decorate.’
They want to use live plants, Even an herb garden.
Does basil come in 1:87scale?
So I have been drawing up plans to combine trains and slot cars.
I was going to make a few modules that were independant.
Any old mining town with the 4-4-0.
A shelf moduel featureing the B&O
that connects to the AC&Y.
And the large mountianous loops of the Union Pacific running 4-6-6-4’s.
Lone Pine Canyon road. (not to be confused with lonepine ca.)
l guess ‘LONE WOLF’ got inspiration driving thisd road. Its looking good after the big burn. shut down the Cajon Pass.
Now there is a youtube video to watch…the day the pass was opened…i think there was a train every few minutes.
I guess I’m not convinced this is an either/or proposition. I built my layout with operation for just myself in mind, but also with an eye toward operating with others. The local NMRA division was reorganized a few years later and that expanded the pool of potential operators.
I purposely added the Cascade Extension to facilitate operation with others by adding a more diverse mix of industries served.
Still, being it’s narrowgauge, the laid back pace of operations is something that anyone from one person up to half a dozen or so can enjoy. I often run a train all by myself between sessions, but there’s nothing like the quickened pace of working the traffic among others also trying to get their work done that makes the group experience especially rewarding.
Lots of “Lone Wolves” out there and i’m one of them. I building my 21’ x 8’ HO layout and it will be a one person operation but could allow 2 more. I only have 2 MR friends, one is 45 minutes north and the other 45 minutes south.