If you only had room for a 4 X 8 foot HO layout and about a thousand dollars to spend on it, how would you design it ?. Keep in mind that trains of all eras will be ran on it at one time or another so please don’t design it for one particular time period. Have fun…
Tracklayer
I would spend the first 60-80 dollars on books which would allow me to ask a more informative question. Your question indicates more of a toy train bent than that of a modeller. This is my honest response and is not meant to offend.
maybe look at the woodland scenics kits, like the riverpass kit.
I know that plywood comes in 4x8 sheets, but if you can find room for5x8, it makes it alot easier to have 22 inch radius. Iguess if I had a thousand $$ to spend it would probably cost me 1500 if you know what I mean. LOL I also think woodland scenics is the place to start, but not the only place. With a little thought on your structures you can model different eras without much change.
with $1000 and a 4x8 i would… um… run trains!
on a serious note though, I would use either books, or some of the (freely) available track planning software to find/create a layout to my liking - and that provides the option of expansion at a later date.
I would then probably ask members of the forums to take a look, and point out something that I could have/should have done (with regard to the design) to make a more interesting and/or more reliable layout.
I would then get myself said sheet of plywood, roadbed, track, wire, soldering iron, solder, and whatever else I would need to get started with the building phase. I would also get a DCC system (probably the Digitrax one… that one looks best for me - personal preference), a loco kit, some rolling stock, structures, and whatever else i need for the kits…
after that, build my layout, build my kits, and start operations on the .
most importantly i would HAVE FUN! [8D]
Make it a 2x16 and have a shelf switching layout [8D]
I’m sorry, I’m not biting. I’d be very happy to present my ideas for a 4x8 layout plan for a specific region and era. But I design around a theme. The track plan, the operational plan, the scenery, the structures, the locomotives, and the rolling stock should all tie together to promote the theme of the layout. The same scenery and structures will not be very convincing for a different region and era.
To me, if you do not have a theme for a model railroad then you might as well just put up display tracks for your trains. That is not to say your theme cannot change. But to carry off the change convincingly requires a lot of extra $$ for not only extra sets of trains, but separate sets of structures, vehicles, and little people. Nor am I saying not to run a totally out of theme train just for the fun of it. But, since you mentioned a fairly tight budget figure, it seems to me an easy way to help stay within budget is to buy only locomotives, rolling stock, structures, little people, etc that support your theme. Sell what doesn’t fit to improve and buy what will.
I was once foolish enough to believe that I could set my layout back 100 years, and let it advance one year for every real year that passed. I know the owner of the Utah Belt does it, but he spends a lot of time and money keeping current - time and money I don’t have. And he only changes time - not place, region, purpose, or other thematic elements.
Last thought, and I’m done preaching. This is my preference. If you have only a small space (4x8 and smaller in HO), you need to think small. As in short line
Since I don’t have a layout myself, I’ll just tell you what I would do with $1K and a 4x8 HO setup - I’d keep the scenery simple and get a double-loop with an inside yard. I’d spend the money on the trains themselves, figuring if I enjoy the trains I’ll slowly add scenery and realism, but initially I’d want to have trains running (one freight, one passenger) and maybe a switch engine in the yard with a few extra freight cars.
The guy who admits he’d spend $1500 is right, either build a $900 set and give yourself $100 in contingency money or plan on sending just over $1000, maybe $1100-1200 to get what you had in mind for your $1K.
Will kids be running this, just you, etc?
I would make sure to cram as much switching as possible. Granted, might have to sacrafice scenery or even might push the"cramped" look a bit. But the more swtiching you have, more fun you can have with it…
Well, that’s me anyways.
I’d re-think the scale - 4 x 8 makes a nice N-scale layout.
Yes you did mean to offend sovirginian, but are pretending not to… The fact is I have several hundred dollars worth of model railroading and layout design books, but thought the subject would be fun for new and/or younger members to ponder to see what they might come up with. Sorry that you were offended by my “simple” posting.
Tracklayer
Folded dogbone, upper and lower level. Nice long mainline runs, an apparant two track main, and you can fit it into 45 inches wide, with a lower level spur or two, two or three spurs inside the graded area, and another spur or two on top.
That three extra inches out to 48 is a good place for an interchange, two eight foot tracks to nowhere for expansion and staging.
Then when space allows, a drop leaf or two on either end, and even later on, additional 4x8 modules. around the room shelving, whatever you like.
Here’s where my thinking is at right now, staging for 12 trains, a yard, an interchange, a major industry, three towns, and three independant mainline loops, allowing both detailed operations, and up to 6 trains doing roundy-round at once, in 5 by 14 feet, expanded easily from the original 4x8…
For the spaghetti bowl haters, this is what you actually see with the terrain in place…
Be aware, if you decide to take this approach and cover up this many turnouts, your trackwork, locos and rolling stock have to be perfect, and you have to leave access. It also requires 15 inch curves on the spurs, though the mains are all 18 and 22 inch.
This is where it started:
…and this is where it stands right now:
I would use a twice around layout with two passing sidings, small yard, small turntable, and water front scene. I would add an interchange track, freight house, team track, and as many industries as I could fit in.
Enjoy
Paul
For somebody starting out, I would use the KISS principle. Keep It Simple and Stupid. Don’t jump into a complex plan that you have no hope of finishing. Start out with something simple like a double oval with an inside yard. You can always add more later. Use the remaining money on the trains, again, starting out simple. Several short wheelbase locos like F7’s or GP30’s pulling strings of 7 to 10 40’ or 50’ cars. This can always be expanded later.
Hi “tracklayer,” I’d suggest an “outside-the-box” approach, similar to what “trainman2244” suggested. I’d divide the 4x8 plywood (or whatever other material you might wish) into two 2x8 pieces, and build an L-shaped, 24"-deep, 8 x 10-foot shelf layout along two walls of a room. That’s a convenient shape for an HO switching railroad, the type of layout that offers the best chance of getting some realistic scenes and operation in this size and scale combination. It also makes for a more open, user-friendly layout room. See page 15 in my “Introduction to Track Planning,” pubblished as a supplement with “Model Railroad Planning 2006.” Good luck with your layout, Andy
This sentence has to be changed or it is just a trackplan and not a layout. Your operational goals and planned equipment have to be involved in the planning, in my opinion. With only 4x8 to work with you are going to have to be really selective in what ‘makes the grade’, so I don’t think generic works at all. There is a ‘generic’ plan in the most recent (just out) MR in N-scale, but the space is larger, and it is N-scale, which allows for a few more generic industries and some mainline. I’m still not sure it qualifies as a layout so much as a trackplan, but I haven’t finished looking at it yet.
If you want to shift eras all the way to today, it’ll be very, very hard to fit modern railraoding in HO in 4x8. Your trains will be very short (maybe 5-7 60+ foot cars at best before you’re chasing the FRED) and your six-axle diesels will be grinding against the rails in those tight curves. So, I suggest:
Stay in HO but model prior to the 1970s.
Do a shortline so that you can go post 1970 with small diesel power.
Go N scale.
I got sick of the limitations in HO given the space I had, which is exactly why in 2001 I ditched my HO 4x8 and went N (option 3). Now, in 3X7 I have much more railroad than I did in HO in 4x8.
In N scale, you can do any era on a 4x8 and still have gentle enough curves and turnouts. Plus, you can have 12+ car trains without looking silly.
Just a suggestion.
Why do you assume a beginner won’t complete a complex track plan?
From what I can tell, most layouts never get finished regardless of complexity.
I had a simple layout as a kid, but my dad laid the track and wired it up, so this one is really the first I’ve built. It’s coming along great. I just planted 300 pines since my last post.
Another 300 trees, about two more square feet of scenery, and all that’s left then is buildings and water. Monday marks one year since we started.
I think finishing a layout is a concious decision you make, and much less a question of your track plan…
This layout would work for me minis the third inter curve…In fact IF I had the space I would build this layout.[:D]
http://www.gatewaynmra.org/layouts/gcrr2.jpg
Guys,Do recall switching layouts isn’t everybody’s cup of tea…I will be the first to admit switching layouts can become boring even when properly design…I speak from years of experience since 98% of my layouts has been switching layouts.