I am expanding my layout in a 14 x 14 shed(actually 13’5" interior walls with a 5 x 10 peninsula (old layout). I want to have around the room shelves coming off both sides of one end. I am thinking 16" shelves would allow me adequate aisle space of about 3’ all around. Is 16" adequate for two through tracks, scenery, structures, sidings, etc.?
That depends on what kind of structures you’re putting on there really. You could get away with the shelves being 8-10" or so (could probably do it in 4 with single-track mainline), though there’s no real room for much more than scenery once you’re getting that narrow.
On my 500mm wide shelf I have a double-track station with narrow platforms, the (small rural-Japan style) station building, freight shed with siding, a few building flats and some horizontally-compressed vertical scenery. It’s a tight fit.
(Underneath that scene I have a single track staging terminal for EMU between two main tracks. The next layer down has a yard lead between two main tracks. Access to the mid-layer can be had by removing the station, freight shed and down platform, which are built on a lift-out.)
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Map it out on graph paper, complete with proper frog angles and tangent/curves. Think it through, and then look for the appealing and practical width that will accomodate all you have for each unit of area and still allow you to reach and to move about. It really is as simple as that.
You could even have shelves with varying depths if it makes sense and doesn’t make it look unappealing to you.
When I imagine a shelf layout, particularly one that goes around the entire room, I imagine it being at almost chin level and no more than about 12" deep. Obviously, a yard of any description would have to be somewhat deeper, say 18", more if there is a set of A/D tracks or a passing/through main.
Crandell
The LION has many 16" wide with a four track main line, and even 12" wide tables with two track main lines. But then, as a subway layout, there need not be all that much scenery. The link to my website is below, you can take a look at the pictures of what I built, and then see if that is enough space for what you want to build.
ROAR
Eagle,
For my Miami warehousing layout, I started with single hollow core 18" bi-fold doors, but found out that I couldn’t achieve the deepth I needed in 18" wide sections. I ended building up the width of the doors by 4" to get my working surface area of 22 inches. My low relief buildings against the back wall are only four to five inches deep in some areas.
I would try to layout some mockup structures including track, roads…etc within the 16" width that you may be using, to see if it appears tight.
Larry
Yep.
This scene is only 10" deep. This photo actually shows the entire width of the shelf at the grade crossing.
For structures, parallel roads and spurs you’ll probably want a bit more space, although you can do a lot with shallow-relief background structures.
I’d say a range between 1 to 2 1/2 feet is good for shelf width. 3 feet is really pushing it for being able to easily work on the rear of the scene for construction and maintenance.
“I’d say a range between 1 to 2 1/2 feet is good for shelf width. 3 feet is really pushing it for being able to easily work on the rear of the scene for construction and maintenance.”
I think 3 feet is more than pushing it. With a couple of exceptions, 30 inch reach to add some scenery construction and not much maintenance afterwards, I dont have to reach more than 24 inches anywhere on my layout, including every peice of track.
That your asking the question makes me wonder if you’ve got your layout section planned out for the 16". That is you may not know what size structures you’re considering. I would recommend just at least scratch out an overall plan and what approx sizes for buildings, etc you may want for the new real estate. You may find that 10" is fine for a section and that you need 24" for another. Of course if you accomodate that difference it would look zig zag unless it’s 24". But, having a swing up section wouldn’t be too bad either. FYI, 3’ aisles is more than enough in my opinion unless you have a lot of operators. If it’s just you and one or two more then 2 1/2 would be fine to me. I have one section around an island that has one aisle at about 18" for a couple of feet.
Richard
Mine is 100% shelf circling the room and 2 foot width is just about right for HOn3. Spliting a 4X8 sheet makes 16 feet of table top. I only need (4) 4X8 sheets of homosote to do the entire layout. Yes, I still like homosote.
Richard
I’m using John Sterling 16" wide shelving components. A nice thing about it is they have uprights you can attach to the wall that are around 70" high, so you can put in one layer of shelves for the layout, and one above it to use for lighting with a valance, and have a shelf below the layout for storage…or do a two-deck layout.
I’ve redone the backdrop and lighting since doing this, but here’s a short (poor quality) video of my layout from about a year ago…
Thanks for all your replies. I did do some preplanning for the track but have not drawn in the scenery and structures, roads, etc. Tentatively I will plan on 16" with possible widening for some sections depending on the town and scenery. I want to keep the wider aisles as many posters have regretted not having wider aisles after they built.
Mine are 30 inches deep. More would be too difficult to reach the back. Before you decide, layout the curves in the corners. I use 30 inch radius curves and they take up more space than you might expect. The subway deck is 24 inches. The setback gives it a more underground feel, even though it is right near the front face.
What ever you feel you can reach comfortably is the depth you want. Most of mine is 3 feet.
Of equal concern should be aisle width. Wide bodies need wider aisles. Alternately two skinny guys can do significant damge in a 36" wide aisle
One nice thing about the John Sterling shelf sections (I use 16" by 36") is that if you have the supports every 18" you really don’t need to do any bracing under the shelfs, they’re quite sturdy. I do attach a section of 1" x 3" wood (pre-cut gardening stakes from the local gardening / home supply store) to the top of the bracket. Where the shelfs join, I make sure the supports are at the joint so the shelf sections straddle the 1 x 3. A couple of woodscrews connecting the shelf to the 1x3 are all you need to hold everything in place.