How many of you have built a layout without a town and if you have, why?
As I plan a layout, have been thinking how much simpler it would be to create it without a town, not to mention the money & time saved. Perhaps a road entering the layout to the main industry could suggest a town just out of view. Would appreciate hearing your thoughts & ideas on this.
Thanks! [C):-)] Rob
Are you on some sort of strict time schedule? I chose to model a town at the expense of having any industry to serve. I removed all but one siding in order to serve my purposes. I could see where someone would choose to forgo the town in order to have more space for rural or industrial scenes. Having a town fit better into the vision I had created for myself. What’s your vision?
I don’t remember there being any rules. Do what pleases you. I could have just had a larger industrial area and no town , but I kinda enjoy detailing the town site, All those people working in those factories have to have somewhere to go ! If your going strictly rural thats fine, lots to detail there as well.
I had to have a town/city on my layout. It was in my vision so I had to make it. There were three things I wanted on my layout to please myself
City
Desert
Mountains
The city brings life to the layout. People want to visit a city but no one usually ever says hey lets go out in the middle of nowhere for our vacation. Its boring
My first plan did not have a town or a city. Then I had a little space and a few nice models and so I added the town. Now I am planning on a city in another area of the train room. I like my little town, It reminds me of where I grew up.
One pic
I don’t have a town on my layout. There’s just a small yard, a couple of small buildings, no roads, and a lot track running through a lot of scenery. In order to keep cost down, I built most of my layout with items I had on hand from a previous layout attempt many years before - which didn’t include a lot of structures. I also wanted to maximize running space for longer trains, as well as model remote/rural regions, which is where trains spend most of their time traveling through anyway.
Whether or not you want to model a town is up to you. There is no rule that says you must have a town (or any buildings) on your layout.
My switching layout is of an industrial area and has no “town” planned.
I remember seeing a layout plan in one of MR’s publications a few years ago (I think it was Model Rail Planning) dealing with either the Tehachapi loop or Cajon Pass. Either way there were no towns on the plan. It was designed with Rail Fanning in mind. It just depends on what you want your layout to do. Do you want operations, or are you content to sit back and admire your trains rolling through some nice scenery? I prefer a balance of the two. I like to operate, but sometimes it just relaxing to turn the trains on and watch them run.
I didn’t include a town on my layout, but did put a main road scene to the front with sidings and mainline to the rear. Running the mainline to the rear of the scene adds depth.
I didn’t want to have to build a bunch of houses. I model in N scale and wanted to get as much operation as possible into the space available without crowding.
Here are some high shots to give you an idea of the space utilization.
There are 6 staging tracks and 2 mainline tracks behind and under the mountain ridge.
I can even railfan on the L.
I tend to look at things with an eye for logistics.
If there’s a semi parked at a loading dock, is there room to have backed into it without “Hand of God” parking procedures.
If there’s a large concrete slab, how about drainage. I used HO scale roof walks for storm drains and put in a drainage pond.
I think details like that make the scene believable.
A large station only but the town is background wall paper giving the impression you have to travel over the hill to reach the town.
Will change on the next layout to add some town scene.
As my n scale rural area developed over time there was a small town that grew up.
At first it was just a crossroads with a rail line. Then a depot, more development, more residences, a fire hall, school, etc.
Then trolley service was instituted.
I can see in the future (if the economy is sustainable) the small town may grow into a large town, then maybe a small city, etc.
[:)]
Nice!!!
I have a small portable 2x3 layout that is entirely “aboard” a Navy base. No town. The base trackage does connect to a spur from the mainline railroad that supposedly connects at a town, but neither the town nor the mainline of the trunk railroad are modeled.
The Navy base was actually the Navy equivalent of an industry, with a switching railroad located entirely on the property of the industry.
I once built a small 30" x 40" roundy-round display layout that represented a Santa Fe line somewhere out in southwestern desert country. Built it in 10 days for a display.
The small layouts I built to actually be “played with” always had two or four turnouts for spurs and at least a station.
I submitted a layout to MR’s layout planning contest with no town but FIVE LEVELS and none of them actually level, with a line fighting its way over the Continental Divide at 11,600 feet. The layout climbed an actual six feet in a bedroom sized space. No towns out there. Just lots of trees, until you go over the tree line. If you didn’t see the plan in MR, that’s because it was not selected.
There are plenty of places where tracks run for miles with nary a sign of habitation, and more than a few where there is a passing siding, a station building (once active, now boarded up) and a spur that runs behind a hill or into the woods. Maybe there was a town there once. Maybe the town is ‘virtual,’ in the operating pit or aisleway. Maybe it’s over in the next holler, with a road running parallel to that spur.
Layout real estate is a precious commodity. While residences, churches and public buildings may add flavor, they don’t generate traffic. As I build out, most of my ‘towns’ will consist of railroad and industrial structures.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
What earns my appreciation are industries that have room to actually drive a HO scale Semi into the place and back in the trailer without getting trapped. Then again, you wont believe what a semi can do when confronted with a very bad spot; perhaps dropping a trailer and backing in 90 degrees to the kingpin to make it work. I remember one mean yard jockey who dropped three trailers in a row, nose to tail with mine in the middle to pickup. He did that so that the three had doors against the building and each other for security.
The town is secondary.
Thanks to all who responded. I have really enjoyed hearing your thoughts on this and especially the links and seeing photos of some excellent work. Much appreciated!
I will likely start with just one main industry, along with farm lands at the edge of mountainous terrain and leave tracks at one end of the layout for potential additions (if time and funds permit that one day).
Have a great day all. [C):-)] Rob