I have the first stage of my planned layout and i want to ask you guys if you can find any major problems with it.
Givens:
must fit easily into a 13x13 bedroom
must leave room for me to sleep (this is my bedroom)
Druthers:
N scale
simple to build and get running
relatively broad (for N scale) curves
many operational opportunities (i can take on different roles)
at least one bridge
a tunnel
expandable
Theme:
a small sized north eastern railroad that serves a medium sized town and a few mines. that way i can run long unit coal trains or short locals
Era and locale:
mid 1950’s in the north east(obviously) more specific, I don’t know
this layout is really inspired of summers with my dad in delaware and new york and David Popp’s layout. it is divided down the middle with a wooded ridge. it is on a 36x80 hcd. the minimum radius is 15". The track is all kato unitrack, i know how most people feel about sectional track but i want to try it for its ease of use, and the fact that you can try different configurations. the track that is at the very top is an interchange, the group of three tracks is a coal customer (i was thinking gas works, any other ideas?) the track to the left is another indrustry, what though, i haven’t decided on (im leaning towards a team track). the turnout on the bottom leads to a c
You have a good amount of space available and since you want to run some long trains, have you concidered an around the room shelf? It could easily be high enough to be above your bed and any other furniture you have in your room. If you want continuous running you could either have a lift/swing gate to get in and out of the room or, since you are in N you could probably put a reasonable size “blob” each side of the door to reverse your trains. The hcd is not lost, if you have a wall where you could put it you could make it the base for your main yard/town or whatever. Since it is a 36" door, I would suggest scenery, buildings, etc at the back, since 32" is about all that is recommended for reach. Try to reach over when you have it set at the height you decide on, then imagine houses, trees and other scenery between you and the tracks, makes quite a difference. You could also use the hcd as a penninsula if your room layout (not the train part) allows.
An around the room shelf is up out of the way and easy to construct. You could get a loop of track laid so that you could get trains running. Then you choose a section to work on, adding sidings, scenery, buildings, roads and the like as you have time and resources.
I have considered it but the way my room is arranged makes it very difficult. I also want to be able to take it with me when i move out of my parents house (im still a minor)
Remember that a shelf layout can also be a modular layout, thus easy to move. However, a hcd can be moved easily and made a part of a larger layout later.
I like the design where your tracks to not run parallel to the edges of the layout, however, it seems a bit close to the edge at the top. Any idea how far that would actually be from the edge. I have a place where the track comes “too close” to the edge, but am planning a clear facia, extending above the track to keep the train from taking a trip to floor level.
Would it be possible to have a removeable staging by extending the track at the top right? That would then become one place that this part of your layout could be expanded when you get to a larger space.
It appears that you plan to tunnel through your divider at both ends. For variation you could shorten the divder at one end and either pass into a thick stand of trees or between two buildings. Also, passing under a highway bridge is often used.
that staging idea could work give me a bit to mess with anyrail. im not planning on using an actual divider, the line is just there for reference, the two sides would be seperated by a wooded ridge. Though i may have a tunnel on the right turnback curve. Oh, by the way the top track is almost exactly 1 inch from the edge.
*Edit: I just had an idea, would it be possible to glue and screw 1x3’s to the edge of the door to make it a bit larger? that would solve my edge issues without shrinking the radius, a better place to add any framing for legs, etc. although i would probably have to brace it somehow, maybe with 1x2’s or something like that glued to the bottom of the door and extending out 3" on each side, then the 1x3’s could be glued and screwed to the edge of the door and top of the joists.
*2nd edit: here is my proposed staging yard/industrial district. the rest of the plan remains the same so i removed it to put in more track. So, any flaws with this area?
For legs on hcd, many seem to use the inexpensive fold up type legs. I think they glue a strip of 1x3 or 1x4 where the attachment points are. They are quick, easy to lold up, won’t get lost during the move.
i have looked and i think it is an awesome layout but with (in my eyes, maybe not everyones) a few flaws, the main one is the fact that you can see and operate the whole layout from one point. that is one of my main druthers (oops i just realized i forgot to include it in my first post), to be able to have at least 2 scenes where you cant see one from the other(like the carolina central). ill show you the layout that i based my track plan on, it is plan #3 in the 6 railroads you can model mini booklet that came with one of MR’s special issues or something it is called the naugatuck valley in N by David Popp.
in my mind the town of seymour would be replaced with a smallish coal mine
update: i have decided to do away with the unitrack, it is just way too limiting and unyielding to fit what i want into an acceptable space. I think im going to go with peco code 55 though i might want to go wigh c 80 for the insulfog turnouts. How do you wire an electrofrog turnout? I have also decided to change up my plan a bit, i will post an image of it when im done.
I don’t get you. David Popp’s layout has two scenic dividers, the first is a low wooded hill, just like on your plan. He has three scenes, all pretty well apart. The road overpass with the buildings is doing the other job. And his pike has a flaw?
BTW why do you have all drawings twice?
Coalmines never were smallish; and lots of people worked there. So coal-mining areas were rather urban. Seymour can be developed into a mining town.
But you have a interesting design problem. With both sides of the table accessible your layout can’t be placed along the wall. Maybe you can show us a drawing of your room and explain how your pike fits in your bedroom, and where you envision the future staging/switching area.
To separate the scenes you will have to build your layout high; not very attractive in a bedroom. Have you considered a shelf (switching) layout along one or two walls?
David gives even an other lesson: by letting his spurs cross each other in the small industrial zone, both spurs have some length.
You won’t be likely to move out for another 4 or 5 years, if you are about 13-14 years old now. The odds of you wanting to bring along a door size layout made at age 13 to a college dorm is so small that it is not worth considering. If you stay in the hobby, you will most likely be making new layouts all your life. Consider this layout a learning layout, instead of planning to bring it with you to the retirement home
Draw your entire room. Then look at how your layout will co-exist with other uses of the room, and how much floor space you will need to use for a given amount of layout area.
An example - say your layout is 3x8 feet. That is 24 square feet of layout.
Now, if you can put that into a corner, and you don’t need to walk around it, the layout itself takes up 24 square feet of floor space. In addition you need to keep a clear aisle of 2 feet wide along the front of the layout. So your layout needs 40 (24 + 16) square feet of your room floor space. About 24% (one quarter, more or less) of your floor space.
Now, if you put a center viewblock down the middle of your layout to create two scenes, you need to be able to walk around it to the back side to see what is going on on that side, and work that side.
So you need 2 foot wide aisles along both long ends and one short end, for a floor space need of 7 x10 feet (70 square feet, almost half your room area), and the layout needs to be placed in such a way that it will jut a minimum of 8 feet into the room from one of the wall - in effect creating a fairly big peninsula into your room.
It may be worth it to get your two scenes. But it may also be a major pain. Draw the entire room, mark out the
I have to disagree with this. There were a lot of very small very rural mines around these parts.
This is the Argentine mine on the B&LE Hilliards branch in spring 1945. That string of hoppers is only a third of all the ones on that spur (the cropped image was over 4000 pixels across if I tried to include all the hoppers. War production, I guess). If I’m interpreting the older imagery right, this is the same spot in the current day. It was one of several (at least a dozen if I remember right) scattered in that general area.
with the flaw i was talking about the junita (i think i spelled it wrong) Divid Vollmer’s layout. as for the double pictures i dont know why they did that, maybe im using the wrong code from photobucket to post. i am drawing a scale drawing of my room ill post it later today.
I agree, if you want to seperate your scenes you need more than a rolling hill. I cut a groove in a 2x4 and glued it to my base. It holds the 1/8" masonite upright with no problems. Depending on how high the table is, it makes it so I can or cannot see someone on the other side, but it always hides the other scene. I did not glue the masonite in, so the divider is removeable if I want to moe the layout to another location. Just paint it blue with a little white blended near the bottom, maybe a cloud or two. You can paint hills and trees on the divider or put backdrop buildings close to it if you want.
any more info needed? all furniture is moveable, by the way. ill post a picture of how the layout will fit soon. any more layout ideas now that you can see the room?
about the mine here is my idea: it is a very small startup operation. it is not very prodductive, but is just enough to make a profit (because it is so small costs are small). it would produce about 5 cars a day. no this mine wouldnt have anything to do with the long coal drags (those would run from staging to staging). its loads and empties would be handled by the local freight when it switches the town. then the coal cars would be distributed to the coal consuming industries and staging. does this seem possible? i know its not realistic but it seems to work for me.
Some quick doodling, exploring your available space. This is probably way too big for your room (it takes up a lot of floor space - almost 70 square feet of dedicated floor space), it might be bigger than you can afford (in terms of money and time), and I have not drawn in access to staging, industries, stations etc - it is just an exploration of one of the many possible ways to fit a layout into the lower left hand corner of your room.
It is also an illustration of how liberating it can be to not start with the benchwork shape, and in particular - to not start with a rectangular table for your layout. Benchwork can be made in almost any shape, either standing on legs on the floor or being attached to wall shelves (or some of each).
I started by making two 15" radius (30" diameter) circles, and just moved them around the room to find possible locations for turnback curves that would give a long main run, while being mindful that minimum distance between the circles and other objects should be minimum 24", but preferably 36" or more, and that aisles whenever possible should be multi-use (ie be used to access stuff on both sides of the aisle).
Narrow access aisles that run between a wall and a layout, and thus only can be used to squeeze in along the side of the layout to get at stuff on the layout often seems mostly “wasted” to me. But you do what you have to do with what you have and any design is an exercise in compromises between what you want and what you can get.
Anyways - here is the first sketch. As I said - probably too big and domineering for your room, your parents may not give their blessing for such a big layout, and it may be too much work and too high cost for a thirteen year old.
both of those plans are excellent in my opinion, however stein you’re right that layout is way too big. part of the reason i chose a HCD is that they are pretty cheap(less than $30), and i dont have to mess with lumber and power tools for benchwork until ive had a little practice on the legs. Paulus, what is the grade up to the mine? also could you tell me the curve radius of the sharpest curves and where are they? on my layout i want to keep my minimum radius to 12 inches. what is the group of 3 tracks that appears to be a yard and how would it be used? some sort of interchange yard? thanks anyways for responding and drawing up some awesome plans.
*off topic: Stein, im actually closer to 15 than 13 now(birthday’s just over a month away). i have a lot of freedom so my mom doesnt care all that much as long as i can afford it without too much help from her(<$500 if that)
