hey guy’s zman here got a question. i will be buildign a shelf layout with a central operating pit. what is the minum width my shelves can be for track scenery ect ect ect. thanks’ zman.
The very minimum a shelf can be for a model railroad is one track width plus about one-half inch behind it. For scenery you can use a printed backdrop glued to the wall or some vertical backdrop board.
In actuality, it depends on what you are modeling and the scale (HO, N, or even Z). If you want backdrop buildings, you need to plan for them. Most of them need about two inches of depth for HO. Then you have your tracks. Track centers should be two inches at the minimum, also for HO.
You should be able to get three or four tracks on a 12 inch wide board and have some room for a backdrop building.
I have a shelf layout under construction. It really boils down to what you want to model and how much space that is going to take. Also, what radius curves you want and how much room that is going to take. I didnt do enough thinking about these issues when I started building benchwork and I would’ve made my shelfwork alot deeper if I were to do it over( I might). If your working in HO, 1 foot of shelf is 87’ in the real world, not much realestate really. You could use cardboard cutouts to layout buildings, track, ect. to see how much room you need for what your modeling. Good luck and have fun.
Careful with how minimum the minimum shelf width is. True, it can be little more than the width of the ties, enough to fit within the NMRA clearance gauge in most cases.
But what happens if you have a derailment? It’s a long way to the floor and a sudden stop. While I have considerable track near the layout edge, I usually have been able to design the scenery that I can squeeze in so that it’s likely a minor derailment will be contained on the layout. This can be a slight upward slopping from the track to the fascia, trees or buildings, or plexiglass when things are really tight and there is no other choice.
It’s also the case that having lots of track parallel to the fascia tends to make the scene look smaller, visually, so is another reason to minimize the minimum layout width.
As a narrowgauger, I tend to be narrow-minded [8D] but still advise to use caution when using narrow layout elements.
Good points so far. It needs to be a compound decision, one with factors such as utility, looks, and operational needs. You could have nice thin shelves with narrow corners, but be limited thereby to a curve radius in the corner that has you returning or selling that nice long diesel or set of Pullman Heavyweight cars.
I would suggest, if imagery competitions or post of images to a gallery or to weekend photo threads are not of any particular interest, something between 4-6 inches is a practical minimum, depending on the need for a siding or spur. Once you get to corners, though, you will need more depth in them so that you can draw a nice centerline for a reasonable, functional, curve radius…with inboard catchment surface for an “oops”.
Also, if you want a structure or two in real full scale, and not just the low profile ones that sit tight up against a backdrop, now we’re talking about a depth nearer to 7" for a tiny cabin or loading dock, and up to 24" for a large industry heavily compressed.
If you have a defined space, clear its floor and mark out your track plan on the clean floor/rug using 3/4" masking tape, cheap stuff so you don’t mind using a fair bit of it. Remember turnout angles and which turnouts you are going to use by which manufacturer because they are fixed in attitude and lengths. You can only curve to parallel for a siding or run-around once past a certain point on commercial turnouts unless you are willing to hand-trim them using a rail nipper. Anyway, once you see how the tape looks with your whole trackage depicted, you will have a better idea of your width for the shelves…particularly if you set your structures, trees, etc, in place around the tape.
Crandell
Actualy the absolute minimum is a 1/8" steel girder running under the center of the track. But I think the question is what is the PRACTICAL minimum shelf- in which case I would say about 3x the width of the track. It’s a crude estimation, but 3x gives you enough space for track and track side scenery such as signals and signs without looking like the track has no purpose and is just hanging out in space. But at the end of the day, it’s all about what you feel is “right” for your particular application- for me in HO I would go about 12" width as a minimum so I could have at least a suggestion of scenery and some measure of safety in a derailment. It’s like asking how long is a peice of string- it’s only as long as it needs to be.
Hmmm.
I wonder if the question should be phrased differently.
While it is true that MINIMUM shelf width is track width plus 1/4-1/2 inch either side, and the depth of which he would want to put in some scenery, flat or three dimensional, I wonder if the real question is " how wide a depth can I go on the shelf for track and scenery, etc, etc.?"
IF that is the real case, then the answer would be how ever deep he can comfortably reach the farthest depth of the shelf at arm’s length, IF that is the case, then an 18" to 2 foot depth is about as comfortable reach as can be had and still ahve nice track and trackside scenery.
I agree with galaxy: too often we start with minimums - minimum radius, minimum space between tracks, etc., etc. What is the maximum width you have available? If you’re thinking of a shelf layout, it’s unlikely that it will be too deep to reach things, but how much room do you have with which to work? How broad do you want the curves to be? You can get a 36" radius at the corner of a room, where the shelf is on adjoining walls, even if the shelf is only 6" deep - simply start the curve sooner. Even if your proposed shelf layout is in a narrow hallway, how much of that space can the railroad have?
The scene below, while a little bit wide at 21" to be a true “shelf”, is the maximum width that I had available. It left me with a similar “shelf”, 22" deep, on the opposite side of the aisle and a 3’ wide aisle. I then simply filled the space which I had available.
Think big, or at least biggest possible within your particular constraints. [swg]
Wayne
the total space will be around a 8 foot wide by around 10 to 12 feet long space. the reason i asked.is becasue im a pretty big ole boy 330 pound’s and just trying to figuere out how to make the layout to where i can confortable move around to work on the layout so i can use a 6 ince wide shelf at the end’s for curves’ cause the broader the better for what i like to operate modern long 6 axle desiel loco’s and long car’s. one of the short side’s will be on a wall and so will one of the long side’s and i was thining of useing hte shelf bracket’s form home depot and some plywood and then foam on top that as my base and then reuse what else i ahve already standing right now and bam be done with benchwork will this work. what i have already built is a 4x8 table thank’s yall zman.
Well, I designed my layout when I was younger and thought I’d left plenty of aisle space. Now that I’m older and pudgier…[:(]
Keep in mind however much we weigh, people are usually wider in the middle and narrower on top and below the hips. You should consider layout height here, too, as a shelf that is higher can usually be wider than one that is lower. This can yield very different results for a single level layout or provide some interesting possibilities for a double-decker.
ight thank’s guess ill jsut have to buil it and if not enough ill make it bigger lol i actually have plans’ of trying tom ake the layout as a whole longer lol 16 feet long but this being a second layout with the first useing bachmane ez track yeah i am affraid of biting off more than i can chew on this project thank’s guy’s.