Ever since I began modeling I always ran into a problem: what’s the track plan? I am not that good at going beyond the basic oval. Here’s the idea to expand the table: I have a 2’x4’ tabletop oval, a 3’x4’ board, and a 1’x5’ board to connect it all (it can be cut to fit the length), all in a 4’x8’ area. I’m planning on havinng a yard/steam era roundhouse( turntable, water tower, etc) to deliver to the various industries, all in freelaced n scale transition era. The bad thing is I don’t know where to put anything. How do I do it?
Well, I am certainly not an expert - just a beginner - but I suggest you spend some time looking at plans others have made available. Not necessarily the ones you see with just some circles of track either - I mean, instead, the ones that someone has gone to the trouble of thinking about operation and scenery, etc.
I personally am very inspired by Iain Rice’s Small, Smart, and Practical book (might have small and smart transposed there) and I understand he has a medium layout book as well but I haven’t been able to lay hands on a copy yet. He’s a Brit but models U.S., at least in the plans I’ve seen, and he really takes the time to consider prototype, operation, scenery, and real-world space. I’ve also gotten a lot of inspiration from plans in MR magazine. The Nov. issue has a beautiful southern florida switcher on a shelf that makes me want to buy a plane ticket.
Here’s a link for Z & N scale layouts on the web. I’ve looked at most of these. Some are great and very inspiring as well: http://www.cwrr.com/nmra/Layout-ZN.html
Steam servicing facilities, especially with a round house, consume massive amounts of space. The 2x4 can probably written off just for that.
A yard will also consume a lot of space, however I think 4’ will be sufficient for a good one. Do you care if it is a stub end yard? Conceivably you could squeeze a six track yard on the 1x5 and still have room for two “mainlines”, but that would be solid track. How dense do you want this to be/look?
What sort of industries are being considered?
Are you saying these components cannot be configured into a 4x9, 4x10, or 5x8 area?
I take great exceptiom to this statement; just like old maid’s children and bachelor’s wives all of my trackplans are abolutely perfect * * * * * all six thousand four hundred and twenty-seven of them. It’s my screwdriver I can’t seem to get to work properly.
Perhaps, but you have a handsome Siberian so you must be trustworthy. [;)]
Anyway, I’d strongly suggest trainzrule look at some of the shelf / around-the-walls layouts others have mentioned. They can be designed to have continuous running, etc and are usually rather easy to reconfigure when the mood strikes you.
The spaghetti bowl or roundy-round has its place and can give a lot of satisfaction, but if you ever get tired of it, the whole thing probably goes to the trash.