How would you do this?

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
21

Steve mentioned a dog bone shaped layout. Mine is actually going to be a large U shape. I’ll post more on the parameters later.

22

Here are the minimum parameters I have to work with if each loop is 36" diameter:

  1. Shelf style no more than 36" off of floor. At 36" from floor I still have a 32" reach over distance.

  2. Shelf is attached to 2 outside walls in basement. One is hte north wall, the other is the east wall. As I face the north wall the east wall is to my right.

Dimensions:

  1. Starting along east wall facing north, go 4’ to north wall.

  2. Turn left to face west, go 27’ along north wall to the west.

  3. Turn left to face south, go 4’ to the south.

  4. Turn left to face east, go 4’ to the east.

  5. Turn left to face north, go 18" to the north.

  6. Turn right to face east, go 19’ to the east.

  7. Turn right to face south, go 18" to the south.

  8. Turn left to face east, go 4’ to the east wall and stop, you’re back at the starting point.

Even at a 4’ x 4’ section on each end I will still be able to reach over to within the middle of the loop and to the track if a consist derails. The loops will not be a perfect circle so I will be able to cut the 4’ x 4’ sections down to smooth out the lines so there are not squared off corners, thus making it smaller in size. I will be able to reach from the section along the 18" span and from the “ends” of the 4’ span. What I need to reach will not be beyond my ability to reach it. It will just depend on where I will have to stand along the layout to reach it.

23

I would suggest you will not be happy with an N scale layout of that size 36" off the floor. 36" is the height of the top of a dining room table. Even seated, you are going to have a helicopter view at all times, instead of (to most of us) a more realistic viewing angle. And seated operations is not going to be all that great with parts of the layout at least 10ft away (and in N scale).

Again, mock things up. Locate some track on boxes or a table at 36" high. Then locate some track on boxes or a shelf at 50" high. See which you like better.

As you point out, the problem with a high layout is the reach for construction and maintenance. At 50" high, chances are your max comfortable reach will be between 24" and 30". In your situation, you can move the 4x4 blobs away from the wall to gain access on 3 sides. And/or you can put up with using ladders and stools when working on or maintaining the layout.

Personally, I can’t stand low layouts any more. I built a few because of the kids using 3 rail O - and that was bad enough.

my thoughts, your choices

Fred W

24

Part of the reason I was thinking of 36" high from floor is also for shelf storage above the layout for loco’s and cars. At 40" or higher I can build storage under the layout and not have a problem acessing it without bending down too low.

I did build a mock up last night to measure reach distance only. It did not include track, trains, etc. I’ll build another tonight t

25

Small point, Fred: I believe you will find that almost all dining room tables are about 30" high. Bar-like counters are 36-42" high and require stools for seating. Computer desks these days are about 28-30" high.

Dante