I'm curious how many HO Scale layouts are modular layouts inside a basement? For example, I'm thinking about a layout like the Kirkland and Dekalb from Model Railroader.
Point of clarification.
Do you actually mean "modular" where the sections are modules that have a standard end configuarion with the main tracks in a standard location on all modules and standard electrical connections, such as N-Trak or Freemo standards?
Or.....
Do you mean sectional where the layout benchwork can be broken down into smaller pieces to be moved or relocated, and there is no standard for where the tracks cross the section boudaries?
I've had several sectional layouts and never had a modular layout (other than having a couple N-Trak modules).
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
I would suggest that a better approach would have elements that could be relatively easily removed and set back up elsewhere. For example yards, and towns.
It is very ublikely that a future home would have a room exactly the same size as the one you have now. So unless you have a layout that you walk around the outside, it will not fit the next room.
Good morning
My little brother is an extreme model railroader enthusiast. Not a basement, but his rather large apartment, he knows very well that he may have to move some day.
Also a master carpenter, he started his modular layout with a couple 2 1/2' x 5' module sections (slip dowled together) and kept adding to it. As of now, his only open rooms are the kitchen, bedroom and bath.
Other than his layout, the common areas are a TV on the wall and paths.
My little brother may be a little nuts, but takes his model railroading very seriously.
TF
So your little brother is the real "track fiddler?"
I'm not a subscriber, so I can't comment on the plan you mentioned other than to say from the track plan database, with that double-track main and the clear 90-degree curve pieces to connect it to staging, it looks like it may be a Free-mo standard that could be lifted out:
https://www.trains.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/mrr-h0710_aplan.pdf
I doubt there are large numbers of modelers who have designed their layouts to do this, though I've always thought it was a neat idea being able to share in a club while also using the layout at home, and folks have found some inventive ways to do so. One of my favorite 'micro-layouts' from the late Carl Arendt's site was a compact switching layout by Charles Hansen, which met Free-mo standards by having a double main pass through on the upper level, while the separate lower level was where all the switching action occurred-- which would allow for it to function as its own stand-alone layout when not at a meet:
Bob Thomas's 'Crawford and Cherokee' comes to mind, as well-- a multi-sectional layout that can be set up in multiple ways to provide variety.
As far as building sectionally, or not permanently affixed, those of us who rent our living spaces and/or move around always have to keep that in consideration when we build layouts, lest we keep losing our work every few years or so. My current layout won't connect to anything else as it's not designed with the standards in mind, but it has survived 1k-mile moves at least four times now.
Phil
DonRicardo So your little brother is the real "track fiddler?"
Yes, but he's "Track Riddler"
Could learn some things from my little brother and have. He comes home from construction, cooks dinner, cracks a beer and model railroads until he goes to bed.
He gets up early in the morning, grabs a coffee, model railroads until he goes to work.
Weekends, he prefers to spend his time model railroading though.
I guess my goals are too complex and my expectations to high. I tried for years to design a layout that would easily moved and easily reconfigured if necessary.
I moved before I came up with anything I was happy with.....
So I gave up on the idea. The new layout will be build in sections, just because of its size. But I suspect it will never be moved.......
Sheldon
My benchwork is built in sections that can easily be disassembled, but I wouldn't call the layout either modular or sectional. If I ever move, big chunks (like Wind River Canyon) would have to be demolished, but I could reuse the benchwork it's built upon.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
I was very influenced by a series of articles David Barrow wrote for MR in the mid 1990s and have a "sectional" layout where repetitive 2x 4 foot dominos make up the layout (with a few exceptions for special situations but even those have 2' wide ends to match the genuine dominos. It is not "modular" because you can't just remove one and insert another, the track locations are not fixed or centered identically.
One reason the Barrow approach had appeal for me is that at the time I was driving a sedan that had little room for hauling lumber home, but the local big box home improvement store did have plywood "handi-panels" of 2x4 ft size, ditto sheets of homasote 2x4 ft, and I found a supply of 1x4" pine that came in 6' lengths that I could fit in that car. So some externally imposed limitations made the segmental approach right for me. I think it is fair to say that while it was also useful and flexible for planning to be able to build layout segments even before finalizing a track plan (and track planning was also aided because I was thinking in terms of repetitive 2x4 ft dominos on a large sheet of paper that had 1" grids marked on it), and I could move them around the basement like big chess pieces to try out different formulations and directions, the "segmental/domino" approach does involve using more lumber (and more legs) and more screws than other forms of benchwork. With today's lumber prices I'm not sure what I'd do if I was starting from scratch.
Dave Nelson
I have been all over the place on this subject.
When I had to abandon the Dream House Layout in 1992, I swore that all future layouts would be moveable. I did not want to lose all that work ever again.
When I began the third version of the SGRR, it was made up of seven foot long modules. Only two were ever operational, and a third was under construction.
-Photograph by Kevin Parson
Then I switched to HO scale, and the N Scale modules were destroyed.
The new HO layout was a two foot by eight foot switching layout. Not really modular, but a single moveable piece.
Layout five was not moveable, and neither will number six be.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
In my situatio, the room isn't a dedicated room, but it shares our workout room and sewing area. so while my 8x9' layout fits, a larger, modular type layout could also fit with disassembly while not in run mode.
I've also thought about a layout that you could setup in the two car garage, but also take it apart when not in use.
or is this just two much work? My desired theme is something like an HO scale version of theState Line route. Modern, midwestern US, single track mainline.
I tried this one time, using some old bifold closet doors, but never finished it.
Outsailing86 In my situatio, the room isn't a dedicated room, but it shares our workout room and sewing area. so while my 8x9' layout fits, a larger, modular type layout could also fit with disassembly while not in run mode. I've also thought about a layout that you could setup in the two car garage, but also take it apart when not in use. or is this just two much work? My desired theme is something like an HO scale version of theState Line route. Modern, midwestern US, single track mainline.
It would be too much work for me.......
I'm building completely modular. the benchwork won't be portable. The benchwork is nothing more than a dumb table
Since I'm modeling a large downtown, each city block slides out of a storage crate. Buildings, street lights, trees and sidewalks are all attached to rigid, waterproofed MDF. Just one electrical contact hangs from the bottom.
Tracks are also modular which are an elevated viaduct that varies between 4 and then 6 tracks at a train station. Switch machines, wiring, bridge lighting and signals...everything is buried within and they attach together with a 3D printed locking mechanism with DC barrel connections.
It's taken years to get this planned because of changing my mind on the layout. But I hope to post a thread on it this winter.
The only thing standard I have is a 12' X 4' demonstration layout to test ideas. Building something permanant is impossible for me. I've seen threads here where people are destroying their layouts because they need to move.
Outsailing86In my situatio, the room isn't a dedicated room, but it shares our workout room and sewing area. so while my 8x9' layout fits, a larger, modular type layout could also fit with disassembly while not in run mode. I've also thought about a layout that you could setup in the two car garage, but also take it apart when not in use. or is this just two much work? My desired theme is something like an HO scale version of theState Line route. Modern, midwestern US, single track mainline.
My experience with modular has been a great deal of thought and some (a lot?) of expense goes into making modular setup and take down just as quick and reliable as possible. The modular setups at shows show it can be done, but it does boost the cost and construction time of the layout. Some questions to ask yourself before going down this road:
On my home layout, I use the double slot shelf standards to mount my sections on the wall. I have a separate leg set to allow them to be used at a modular setup. Length is 39" for the primary sections to allow 2 of them to occupy 6'6" of wall space. I accept the need for accuracy in alignment (use pins and sockets) because I will have 4-5 tracks crossing the boundary.
Fred W
....modeling foggy coastal Oregon in HO and HOn3, where it's always 1900....