Justy posted: six Atlas pikes i n3’ by 3’, and twelve O27 pikes in 3’ by 4’. All are illustrated with scenery.
Last week I was offered the challenge to make pikes in 40" by 42". Easy to do with O27, not bad with Atlas, okay with RealTrax, a bit tricky with O-31. I decided to go lower. 3’ by 3’ wilol be enough for a layout (as opposed to circle of track) for O27 and Atlas O. Not enough for RealkTrax or O31 for anything other than a monotonous loop. Though Atlas O has 27" curves, its smallest turnouts are 36" and that makes trackwork tricky. Trackwork with Atlas in a small space is like playing with Tinker Toys or Lincoln Logs and finiding the parts that fit.
3’ by 4’ isn’t so bad. You can use Atlas O, MTH RealTrax, O-31 and good, old O27 to make a decent mini-pike. When workign this small, though, you have to make a lot of concessions to the small space. You can get all four track types to work, but for more action in less space the choice is O27.
Note that you can use these pikes as portable displays, or as extensions to your pike, or as the starting point to new pikes. They are useful for illustrating what track can and cannot do.
Later this week I’ll be posting the 3’ by 4’s for Atlas o, RealTreax and O-31.