Hi all, While I have toyed with numerous layout ideas in the past I am now living in an apartment during the week due to a new job and have space to build a layout while I am away from my family during the week. I have space for a layout 2' x 13'-4" along one wall (2 HCD panels on shelf brackets). I had planned on doing an Maine 2 footer type On30 layout but would like thoughts on what sort of N scale layout you all think would fit this space. I am not looking for track plans or anything like that. I am merely asking to see if folks think this space would do nicely since I really have a hard time visualizing N scale stuff. I would like a continuous run since I think I can get it in N scale in that width provided I hide the tight radius end turns. I do not want a dedicated swithing layout, but enough switching to keep me happy for an evening. Give me your thoughts. I am not much of a track planner but given enough food for thought I can probably work out a good plan. I have looked at Iain Rice's Shelf layout book and there are several plans that are nice that I could shrink down in length if I need to. I just want opinions on what would look good in that space. Thanks for your time and any comments are appreciated. John
John... Short answer...24 wide is right at the limit for track radius ( 11 inches). But will work fine. Longer answer...depends on what equipment you are gonna run. Steam or diesels? Freight or passenger? Longer rolling stock may do better with truck mounted couplers. But...yes 24 wide will work. You can make a nice switching area in 13 feet too. Best part...it will work...trains will run...and you will be smilimg. Have fun. .
George pretty much covered it. One thing you might consider is flaring the depths at the ends out some to give larger radius for the turn around. Even just 6 inches will improve operation. And you can bevel the corners of the flare 45 degrees to clear out sharp edges and so the ends of the layout remain at 2'
While 2 feet will work as pointed out above, do you have the room to move out to a 36 HCD? That gives you 16 inch radius on the ends and will support a lot more variety of locomotives and rolling stock. Also, the trains will look a lot better on the 16 inch than the 11 inch radius curves and the additional scenic depth will also look a lot better. If you have seen NTrak and the 2 foot width, it can be nicely sceniced, but tuning alomost any train in the 11 inch radius could give problems. For example, some units like the Atlas SD50/SD60 will bog down in that sharp a curve. So will the longer Kato 6 axle locomotives to a much less extent. As was said, I think you really need to look at the locomotive roster and the desired rolling stock before you finalize on the size of the HCD. It is better to figure that out now, than get nearly done and disappointed later.
I highly recommend either putting some sort of barrier between the outside of the track and the edge of the layout or keeping all track(especially near turnouts) 2" away from the edge of the layout. Ya never know when a car or loco is going to get bumped(or derail) and flip over. With 11" radius, I would make the layout no smaller than 26" across. 2' only leaves an inch on each side of a 180 degree turn.
A good idea, however when space is tight you can simply raise the edge of the layout to create a lip which will prevent cars from tumbling over at all. That will allow you to place road bed right up against the edge of the layout, as long as you leave enough room for horizontal clearance from overhanging equipment.
My New Haven layout is 2ft x 10ft. My Atlas SD50 has no problems with the broadest curve, nor does the Bachmann 4-8-2 and 2-8-0. Since I have older cars (50ft-ers are the largest) and 4 axle diesels, the trains look quite well. The heavyweights however look a little ridiculous, but one of the curves is covered by a hill and that helps a lot. It is a compromis between a layout with restrictions or no layout at all.
Thanks all for the comments so far. I have not spent much time on in the last week so I have not replied to anything yet. I have changed up a bit what I was considering due to your comments. I am going to make the benchwork L shaped, with one dimension 11'-0" and the short dimension 7'-0". Per everyone thoughts I do have room to move from 24" HCD panels to 36" HCD panels. I agree that the wider radius available will look much better. With all the rain we have had here these last couple days (Ida remnants) I have no contractors working and all my paperwork is caught up so I think I will take the rest of the afternoon and get some layout planning done. I can build pretty well but cannot track plan to save my life so I think I may take a published plan and tweak it to fit the space. I just need to find a plan that offers continuous run and offers operating potential. Maybe I can find a plan at MRR that works for the space and tweak it. I do not want to be a "copy cat" modeler but using elements from other layouts is the best way I know to get something that works for me. A layout like David Popp's would do nicely but only single sided and maybe focus on a single town location with a good bit of industry to support. Something that would have the occasional passenger run plus through freights, a SMALL yard, and engine facilities. Over lunch I will peruse some stuff and see what strikes my fancy. John
A thought about the layout plan Hi John, I would suggest another source to look at is the Linn Wescott 100 track plans book. It has lots of interesting ideas and some hints on how to adapt the plan you like to the benchwork you have. Also there is a Track Planning book from John Armstrong that has a lot of good information as well. With both of these books, you can conquer anything, just about. Personally, I took the layout I liked, #47 Cerro and Azul, and built it using the HO benchwork size of 5 feet by 12 feet and increased it to 20 feet by 6 feet to add the ability for continuous running of trains. I got the plan from Wescott and the adaptation from Armstrong. While that layout is now with my brother and nephew in Phoenix after I moved to California, I have a lot of fond memories of switching, yard working and watching the passenger trains roll by. So it is not as challenging as you may think, and it is a lot easier by starting with something you like. Now that you have your benchwork established, have fun with the layout design, because that is what this hobby is all about. As a side comment, with the 36 inch HCD, I would be tempted to use the new super elevated curves from Kato on the ends of the layout. That outer curve on the ends would look pretty sweet going around the curve. OK, back now with a more serious suggestion. You may need to decide on the type of track you are going to use and take that into consideration. IE turnout types, crossing angles, etc. In most cases flex track will work out just fine, but since Kato track is all sectional, you have to be very careful with the geometry or things may not line up correctly. This does not make it bad, just part of the equation when dealing with Kato. There are similar issues with flex geometry too. Again, have fun!
I did a small figure 8 layout using Atlas True Track. It's only 62"X30". The curves are 11" radius. Ive ran a Kato 4-8-4 on it ...No prob.
