My "land department" has acquired more space in the finished part of the basement so my former straight (shelf) space now can expand to a 16x12 space. I always have been fascinated by "O" shaped shelf plans that one operates from the center, and would like to build a pike that way in HO. I prefer urban settings, with some switching, rather than rural plans, but I don't want a spaghetti bowl plan. I would be modeling the late 1950's with small diesels and (mostly) 40' stock. I do hope to have a waterfront too and to use the Walthers rail barge as an "interchange" to move cars off and on the layout. Do you have a plan you would like to show me, or can you point me to a plan you know of that you like for that type of space? Many thanks for your help.
I have a roundy-round O-shaped plan with an urban waterfront theme I am building. It is N scale to around the walls of a 9 x 11' space. You can't just build this plan in HO, but it may give you some ideas. Here is a long drawn-out discussion of the "Island Seaport" plan. Island Seaport- Plan “D” Coming Together - TrainBoard.com
there's Scott Perry's famous "Heart of Georgia" (HOG) layout: which could be a groovy starting / finishing point. There's lots of prototype info available too.
From a fan of the HOG concept There are also variations of a theme using the basic HOG layout, including HO, N, and On30 plans. Basically, the original HOG plan uses the same 4x8 sheet of plywood and stretches it out to an 8x8 footprint with the operators inside the layout. In your case, you could expand the HOG plan to fit your given area. May I also recommend Iain Rice's "Shelf Layouts for Model Railroads" from Kalmbach Publishing as an aid to planning & construction. Just throwing out suggestions........let us know what you come up with, and have fun planning.
