I want to model bnsf route from Seattle to Portland. It’s around 173 miles How many feet would that be for n scale?
5709
A little under 6000. You may want to compress some.
As you can see, you’re going to need a good sized gymnasium or warehouse and a well thought out track plan to even come close.
I’d pick a few favorite scenes and model them.
One trick, when modeling a specific prototype, is to compress the length and the time between stations by a ratio compatable with a “scale time” clock. In your case, if you use a ten minute “scale hour” your 6000 foot mainline will be shortened to 1000 feet.
With careful design on a multi-level N scale layout, 1000 linear feet can be twisted and looped into a 2-car garage or similar space, though not without considerable compromise.
In my case, I’ve chosen to model only two of the two dozen stations on the line I model, and just about 10 scale kilometers of the route. Everything else is represented by hidden staging and bypass tracks, necessary since that route supported an immense level of traffic (over 100 trains in a 24 hour period.) Using a 12 minute hour and a 2.5 meter ‘smile’ (Frank Ellison’s term for a scale mile) I only have to model about 25 meters of visible route. Working with a single sceniced level in a two-car garage, that leaves enough space to do justice to my mountain-climbing connecting line, with a little left over to suggest the two narrow gauge feeders I model.
Chuck [modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - in 1:80 (twice-N) scale]