Hello fellow modelers.
I am constructing a new layout and wonder how far apart (feet) should I place my towns? Say a town is 10 miles apart from another in real life, how far should I space them on my layout?
I know you can calculate the distance using a conversion table but it seems a little unrealistic for even a large layout like mine (24x32). What do you guys do?
Thanks, Paulie [?]
I’m never so sure that there is a magic formula for this–On my layout–N scale–I ended up placing about approximately 15"-24" between them—my reasoning is to show the ‘isolation’ between towns—a few are mere elevator/gas station thingees anyhooo–I’ve even added a few view blocks between the scenes to further isolate them
Depends on your setting too. If you’re modelling a forest area, thenyou can drop a thick forest and go 6-10 inches. It;s close from helicopter view, but you have a natural, inclusive viewblock at ground level. Works with mountains too. If you’re seeting up shop in the middle of freaking nowhere, Oklahoma, then multiples of feet may be needed, say two-2.5. Unless another viewblock is used, then all bets are off
On my N scale BN branch there will be a minimum 8’ between towns or sidings. I don’t want the locomotives in one town while the caboose is still in the last. Think about your train length, too. Eric
Depends on which part of Oklahoma you’re talking about. The Eastern half is full of rolling hills. The Western half, well, that is a different story. But, I agree. If you are modeling the flat prairie lands, then the view blocks may be a little aqward.
The suggestions so far are pretty good. Train length will be important.
Don’t forget, a HO scale mile is 60.6 feet long.
A N scale mile is 33 feet long.
With model railroading, you have to suspend disbelief a lot of times. We compress quite a few miles in a model railroad.
Rich
Part of this is driven by your choice of prototype - even if you only follow same at considerable distance.
If you are going to be operating trains of X length, the single track between stations should be, at the minimum, a little more than X distance between siding switch points. 2X distance is better.
If you will be operating alone, running the one train a day that serves that branch, sufficient distance to separate the towns visually will be plenty.
You can increase the distance between towns by doing tricks with trackwork. As things are shaping up now, it appears that my coal-hauling branch runs out and circles the bush outside that corner of the garage to gain height between stations. It actually runs through a 1 1/4 turn helix buried under the hill in that corner.
If you have enough space to use ‘smiles’ and a fast clock, you could actually build your towns the appropriate distance apart and operate by the prototype’s timetable. (Smile: scale mile/clock reduction ratio. If your scale clock runs an hour in six real minutes, your ‘smileposts’ will only be a tad over six feet apart in HO. In 1:80 scale with a 1/5 fast clock, my 12.5 meter scale kilometers shrink to 2.5 meters.)
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Good idea to put towns at least 1 1/2 train lengths apart. Further if you can.
About 20-30 seconds run time apart.
I subscribe to the concept that you don’t want your caboose in one town while switching the next. My layout, in early stages of construction, has 5 towns with passing sidings in the 7-8’ range separated from each other with about 12’ of mainline track. With just a little squeezing, I could have added a 6th town but decided against it. The layout is HO, modeling the early 1900’s (i.e. short cars, short trains).
For me, this was the right balance between switching, mainline running and scenery. Others would come up with a different formula depending on their priorities.
I recall seeing a layout in MR sometime back which had a double track mainline “superimposed” over a branchline switching route. The two interchanged at several points. Clever idea, closely spaced towns to provide lots of car spotting while the long trains logged the mileage.
Jim
Let’s see, my layout is three decks, 29ft by 33 ft. It represents “freakin” Oklahoma (my home state) on the Santa Fe and includes a fairly large area on the top deck representing Oklahoma City and points north to staging, drops to the middle deck and includes all the towns on the line that ran from Guthrie to Enid, and then drops to bottom deck to include stations west of Enid to Kiowa KS and also includes Waynoka (staging). The towns between Guthrie and Enid are small rural towns with a grain elevator and not much else, and I don’t use any view blocks other than scenery. I run long grain trains and none of them have the caboose in one burg while the diesels are in the next burg. I really don’t have any problems keeping the towns apart, and in fact, they are located so that no two of them are on the same peninsula.
It can be done if you have the space. You didn’t say what gauge you are working in, I assume HO.
Bob
I model a stretch of the ex-B&M Northern Division between West Canaan, NH, and Lebanon, NH. It’s about 10 miles in reality…My entire layout is about 1 scale mile. I have everything from a major mountain pass (about a fifth of the whole layout) to curves in the layout shape and backdrop, to a small hill with a road bridge.
Sure, I have trains with the ends in two different towns, but that’s the way it is in rural New England, and besides, the operator follows the head end, not the tail. I’ve never noticed it as I’m usually too busy operating.
It all depends on where you’re modeling, and your specific layout space.
My mainline(HO) is 88’ from staging switch to staging switch. There are 2 towns and a junction in between - about 25’ between siding switches. The two siding have at least 8’ of train length(closer to 10’). The staging tracks vary from 8’ to 13’ long. A typical train(50’s era) is 2 engines/12 freight cars/caboose - about 8’ long. This gives me about 3 train lengths between the sidings. At ‘scale’ speed, it can take 3 minutes to get to the next town. With a 6:1 fast clock, this works out to about 18-20 ‘scale’ minutes to get to the next town.
If you do not have space for long mainlines, make sure you use ‘view blocks’ like trees or a tunnel to break up your layout into ‘scenes’. It may not get rid of the ‘caboose still in the last town’ when your train arrives at the next town, but at least you will be focused on the scene you are in. It’s amazing how just having a ‘curve’ between two scenes can make a difference!
Jim Bernier
Sorry, I meant that as (Middle of freaking No where)<Name of town, Okalahoma <State in located. Nothing against OK, nver been. But it does have a rap.