I am thinking of making a 12x8ft layout but have the hole thing one huge yard. I am going to be working with HO scale. I am thinking of starting with one big yard and then adding on as i go. Just add small sence’s as I go. which will mostly be sences in the hill and other places along the rount. If I were to do this It would be a big flat board that is 12ftx8ft with a LARGE STEAM SERVICE AREA and roundhouse. Then have the rest be one large yard. With endless rolling stock. I am think of modeling the UP Baily yard in North Platte during 1948. With dominatly have big boys and challengers. Also have a few smaller yard goats. I am thinking of doing this because I dont have enought space to have a full curcit layout that will be able to run or look good on running big boys and challengers. This way I will also be able to work on my weathering skills and have the layout be more of a art that just running trains around and around. Also I will be able to have one hell of a collection of rolling stock.
I know someone is going to ask this questions so im just going to answer it know. “How are you going to reach derailed loco’s and rolling stock in the middle of the layout?” I have a long reach also I am in the prosses of making a padded rolling stock picker-upper. So I dont need any holes are things in the middle of my layout.
Do you think this is a crazy idea? Is it practical?
Let me in on some pros and cons on what you think of it.
Reaching the middle of a 8’x12’ table will be the least of your worries. You will have to build it strong enough to walk on, because getting up onto the table is going to be the only way you will be able to lay the roadbed, track and then install scenery. Do you want to be walking or crawling around on your freshly installed yard tracks in order to ballast and scenic the area?
But a layout that just focuses on an engine service facility sounds like it could be a good idea.
The current issue of MR has a layout story about a guy who did just that.
Maybe 8’x12’ is the problem. Work to get a design that fits your space but allows access to the whole layout during constrution and operation. Even with a padded claw to pick up rolling stock, I’m getting scary images of a Big Boy drooping dangerously as it slowly slips from your padded grip …
Challenger, please don’t take this the wrong way because I mean this to be constructive. You have come up with a number of themes for what I am guessing is your first layout. A steel mill, the Omaha stock yards, perhaps something else that I have missed. Now a large yard. I admire your enthusiasm and it does remind me of my early days in the hobby when I wanted to include every idea I heard in my first layout. While this is a natural tendency for many modelers, at some point, you have to settle on something to base your layout on. Ask yourself what it is that really appeals to you about railroading in general and model railroading specifically. What era is most appealing to you. What is it you want to do on your layout. Will you enjoy shuttling cars back and forth on a switching layout or do you want to run full length trains. You need to answer these and other questions before you finally settle on what you want to model. Take this from someone who has been down that road and tried to put too much into each of his first two layouts. At some point you will come to realize that you can’t put everything on to a single layout. We are all limited to some degree by time, space, and budget which forces us to make choices. Think carefully about what it is you really want before you make your choices.
You’ll probably be moving out in 2-6 years depending if you go to college. You may want to settle on something small that you can reasonably “finish” in that time frame.