Well, we’re probally going to do or layout in N, and i was wondering how much space we need to plan for. Will a 4’x8’ work for a good main line Switching Yard and Ground???
N Scale is a very usable size. I reccomend especially in N that you use a shelf layout style. In the room you plan to use, you basically run a shelf along the wall, and use it for your layout. This is very good for N Scale where depth isn’t as important (You get twice as much depth for N scale on a 12 in shelf than you do in HO-very helpful)
One golden rule of MRR I have learned is that whatever you plan for it is not enough!
Read the why do people hate the 4 x 8 thread.
A 4 x 8 layout takes up 10 x 12 feet min. if you only allow 2 feet access around it. You can get a much better design that can have a yard with a 10 x 12 U or O shaped layout and everything will be much more accessible.
N_trains-
In working on figuring out how to plan what you want, you really need to put John Armstrong’s book ‘Track Planning for Realistic Operations’ first on your Christmas list. He can really help you figure out what fits in what space, and help guide you through figuring out what you want. It takes some patience, but I think the end result will be worth it.
All you have. There is never enough space.
Can i use that as my signature? or would you be mad?
for N scale thats like 4 4x8 layouts in HO…
plenty of room.
but any layout is better with better planning than to just throw on a 4x8.
Check out some plans before settling on a design, even look at 4x8 plans for N, read about them and make a studied decision.
Is that too much? or two little? How much room do you need around it for acess.
The problem with 5x8 is the long reach to the center. 4x8 is bad enough. 4x10 is an easier reach than 5x8. You need enough room around it to work, get a chair or ladder in. I need at least 2 feet to reach very far. Yes, you can use the quote. I just made it up and it has no real value, yet. You can send me commissions when you sell it to the NBA.
Thats the big problem with building deep. It is extremely hard to reach into the center, something I find even with a 4x8. With a 5x8, you could put a lift out section in the middle, but these just become a nuisance.
I would recommend that you build a shelf layout along the wall. There great for N scale and you can place yards at either end of the layout so that it isn’t a constant around in circles all the time. Have a few industries to place along the route so that switching jobs can be made daily. This is what I recommend for N scale
James
I built a 3x7 N layout with a treeline scenic divider running down the length so the two sides are separate scenes. My mainline runs through a courthouse-square east Texas town and disappears around to the other side of the layout.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/kennethanthony/aad.jpg
However, my mainline is not visible from the “other side”. It is a hidden layover 3-track staging yard. A branchline cuts off at the town and runs to a lumber mill on the other side, on a very shallow scene, about 8 inches deep except for the long sawmill sheds at the back of the scene that hide the staging yard.
http://www.railimages.com/albums/kennethanthony/acj.jpg
I wish I had done two things differently. I used “train set” 9 3/4" minimum radius curves on my mainline, and probably a few kinks too, and it has never run as well as I would like, especially for trains over 8 cars long. It would have been better had I used 11" minimum radius or 12" for the mainline, even on this medium-small table layout, even at the cost of space for my branchline facilities. Maybe I could have made the layout 6" wider and gone to 3 1/2’ wide.
Secondly, I started with 2 parallel double-ended tracks (same as a passing siding) for my staging yard. Not enough. I couldn’t fit in another double-ended staging track so I settled for a stub-end track. Better than none. With I had a little more staging.
One good use for a 4x8 sheet of plywood or homosote in N scale would be a 3x8 foot layout with a one foot wide piece of plywood left to build a shelf coming off the layout table for a branch terminal, a major industry, or a yard.
LOL, thank’s. If you here them saing it remind me![(-D]
our problem with the shelf idea is that the room it will be in won’t have room for a spacous layout in leingth, plus that wall hase too many windows.
i am building a 4x8 with a 36x80 extension to make it a backwards L. when you build be sure you have a raduis that can handle the locos and cars you want to run
This is going to sound rediculous until you see the light but 10,000 sq. feet would make a nice short line. Unfortunately my wife only wants a 1500-1800 sq. foot house. She woudln’t accept the idea of a pyramid.
Could someone expand on the shelf sugustion, my dad doesn’t get it
Additional levels could be added. Good excuse for a really BIG helix or two.
No matter how much room you start with, there will ALWAYS come a time when more would be nice. Always
3 things you can do with a 4’x8’ piece of plywood to make a more interesting layout in N
cut a 1’x8’ piece off and attach it down the middle of the remaining 3’x8’ piece , so when you look at it from the end it looks like an upside down T . then you have two 1.5’x8’ areas with the cut off piece blocking your view from one to the other . cut holes through the vertical piece so you can run track from one to the other in a loop and you have your town on one side and your yard on the other
cut a 1’x’8’ piece off and attach it in an L shape and you can have a big loop of track on the 3’ wide part and a big yard running the length of the 1’x’8’ piece
cut it into 4 1’x’8’ pieces and attach them in a square shape , that’s the around the walls , 1’ wide shelf , and make a really really big loop to run trains around . you can put in a whole lot of scenery in N scale , have a huge yard , a major city , and a couple of large industrial switching areas .