Myself and a group are others where I work are building a small 4’x8’ simple layout for the residents where I work. We desire to keep it simple but need to add some visual interest to the layout. We need a few houses, some industry type buildings, and we would like to add a modern style power plant. Are there any decently priced kits available to build these? Are plans available to scratch build any of these? The layout is in HO scale
Try looking up John Allen’s original Gorre & Daphetid for a track plan. Walthers has some nice industrial kits.
Get Walther’s cataloque. Use it as a wish book. It will help you decide on buildings. It will help you decide on level of difficulty.
Get one of the layout books for 4x8. There are several and all have more good track plans than you need.
You really need one person who is familiar with the hobby. Maybe a hobby shop or someone from your town. Most guys with a layout are willing to do some free consulting. Without a good consultant it is hard to keep people interested through all the mistakes that go with the learning curve.
Just curious, what type of “residents” are you working with?
i agree walthers makes some really good buildings ,model power makes good houses and street lights.
Yeah. We dealing with Nursing home people? Or a kindergarden? Or a Veterans Hospital? Residents… hmm… are they functional enough to enjoy trains or are you using them as a excuse to run trains at work? LOL.
What strikes me is your post that lists alot of precisely what “We” need: this, that something else and more … who is this “WE?” usually it is individuals posting here. Are we dealing with a insitution or some other corperation?
You already have a list of wants. 4x8 is a very defined space. You are going to fill it with some of those wants. Maybe not all of the wants will fit in that space.
with such a small space depending on scale, it will dictate what you can do with the trains, either a figure 8 or a loop or something else.
How are you going to repair or upkeep/staff the layout? Nothing is sadder than a project built only to be picked apart and thrown away after 6 months due to neglect or abuse. It takes a budget even for a small 4x8.
Sorry for questions but GENERALLY we like to assist with specific planning questions, not plan a layout from a blank peice of paper for you.
There are MANY books catering to simple layouts. The hobby on the internet is groaning with websites dedicated to just small layouts.
Good luck and sorry for the many questions… sometimes curiosity is struck.
I should have stated up front that this was for a retirement facility. Most of the residents here are still very active. Our activities dept. has plenty for the ladise to do but nothing for the men where I work. This small layout is to show them what can be done in a short amount of time and hopefully peak the mens interest in a larger layout. There are four of us working on it and we just put together a simple loop with two sidings, one of which wraps about half way around inside
HO will be just fine. I was in a Model RR club that had lots of old-timers, and they never complained about things being too small. One tip: place clear acrylic above the layout edges (2 ft high by 4 ft wide) to protect the work from passers-by and visitors. You should have no trouble finding kits and material.
AWESOME!
Great idea. You might just run into some residents that can show YOU a thing or two about layout building. I worked in a nursing home when I was younger. They had a lot of stuff for the ladies, but not much for the guys. Good luck!
Don’t forget the grand kids that come to visit.
You might want to limit the speed of those engines on DCC because those kids are going to wanna go fast. I know I did when I was younger, all I knew was stop and full bore.
Anyone know where I can download photos and videos of some actual operational layouts? I would like to use them in the presentation that we are going to give.