Need N OR HO 4x8 Layout plans fast!!

[crusher44x]

Hi, Im new to model railroading, and want a 4x8 N or HO scale layout, and need it fast!! I have looked, but cant find one... I would prefer to have an N scale one. Me and my dad are going to build it, and we have both agreed that we want a bridge, turntable, and a tunnel in the layout. Any help is appreciated!!!

[dehusman]

Have you tried looking at the directory of plans on the MR section of this website?

Dave H.

[crusher44x]

Where is that? (Im new to the site too   )

[conagher]

There are hundreds of layouts available for review in numerous books found at your local hobby shop and also online via Google.

[Midnight Railroader]

Hi, Im new to model railroading, and want a 4x8 N or HO scale layout, and need it fast!!

Why the hurry?

[pcarrell]

This fast enough?

Seriously, you can find lots of plans for N scale in that size that will work.  HO scale is going to be more trouble because of the things you've said you want included.  They take up space, and space is at a premium on a 4x8, especially in larger scales.

Honestly, a 4x8 is not the best use of space.  Check this out: http://home.earthlink.net/~mrsvc/id28.html

My advice?  Study a little bit first.  Read a few things, like Spacemouse's beginners guide (http://www.chipengelmann.com/trains/Beginner/BeginnersGuide01.html).  Get some more solid ideas.  Your chances of creating a fulfilling and successful layout will improve dramatically. 

[crusher44x]

I have been studying  alot of things! My local train store, Trains By Johnson, has taught me and my dad all the basics. Pcarrel, I was looking at that design on another forum, and thats the design I was going to build, but I didn't know the demintions. I'll print it out and go to Trains by Johnson to see if Mr. Johnson recomends it. Thanks!!

[Scarpia]

I just made this one about 10 minutes ago.

hope it helps (HO Scale)

 

[pcarrell]

Pcarrel, I was looking at that design on another forum, and thats the design I was going to build, but I didn't know the demintions. I'll print it out and go to Trains by Johnson to see if Mr. Johnson recomends it. Thanks!!

That's my own design.  I did it a few years ago as a test track, but I never ended up building it.  Then a little while back Chip (Spacemouse here on the forum) had a 4x8 contest and so I entered it and did pretty well.  It's a 4x8 N scale layout that uses 15"r curves as a minimum with #5 turnouts mostly (especially the yard and such) and a few #7's where they'll fit.  It's done with Atlas code 55 track.  Personally, I'd build it using flex track to the same dimentions for smoothness and economy.  If you'd like to build it then go ahead.  I'd like to see how it comes out.  You could change the scenery to make it just about anywhere if you wanted.  Here it is before scenery: http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Track%20Plans/4X8NSCALEOLDWEST-1.jpg

I have a few other 4x8's I've desighned if you're really set on that size.

N scale

N scale

N scale

Variations on the above plan (with hidden staging added!): http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Track%20Plans/4x8Nscale-3_edited.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Track%20Plans/4x8Nscale-4.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Track%20Plans/4x8Nscale-5.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Track%20Plans/4x8Nscale-6.jpg

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j319/pcarrell/Track%20Plans/4x8Nscale-7.jpg

HO scale

HO scale

HO scale

Like I've said already though, you may find that a different size works better for you.  At least think about it.

[crusher44x]

Thanks everyone!! We are going with the Old West layout. When we are done I'll post some pics....(It will be a loooooong time from now..) We will probly change the scenery quite a bit, so when its done it probly wont be "Old Western."

Also, I went to Trains by Johnson, and Mr. Johnson said it was a do-able plan, and said that it was a very creative layout. Thanks again!!

[pcarrell]

No problem!

[stebbycentral]

Fast?  You and your dad have to spend that government stimulus check before mom finds out it has arrived, eh? 

Actually, I would recommend that you look at the entries in the aforementioned 4 X 8 layout contest. 

http://www.chipengelmann.com/Trains/Layouts.html

That way you get the distilled genius of just about everyone who regularly posts on this forum.

 

[pcarrell]

I was looking for that and I couldn't seem to find it......THANKS!

[Packers#1]

I've drawn a few. They're not the best, but they're okay. Since this computer I'm using won't copy and paste, for some reason, just go to www.packers1.tk, go to the sEC album, go to optional plans, and they might be in final plans. Those are the albulm names.

[Autobus Prime]

Hi, Im new to model railroading, and want a 4x8 N or HO scale layout, and need it fast!! I have looked, but cant find one... I would prefer to have an N scale one. Me and my dad are going to build it, and we have both agreed that we want a bridge, turntable, and a tunnel in the layout. Any help is appreciated!!!

c44x:

This is my HO 4x8. It has essentially none of the three things you mention, although a tunnel is on the short list, but it's a lot of fun to run.



In my case, the 4x8 is a very efficient use of space, as all my access aisles are also accessing other equipment. :)

[sfcouple]

This fast enough?

PC

That's a nice layout, I've saved it for future reference.

Wayne 

[wjstix]

In HO you might look at the "World's Greatest Hobby" layout packs offered by Atlas, Bachmann and Kato. All come with the track and plans to build a 4x8 beginner's layout, including a DVD hosted by TV's Michael Gross. I'd go with the Kato one since I like their track, but any of them will work.

[pcarrell]

PC

That's a nice layout, I've saved it for future reference.

Wayne 

Thank You!

[majortom]

The current issue of MR has three track plans, 2 HO and 1 N, made from a 4x8, but not the traditional rectangle.

 

majortom

[loathar]

http://www.atlasrr.com/Code100web/index.htm

 

[Midnight Railroader]

The current issue of MR has three track plans, 2 HO and 1 N, made from a 4x8, but not the traditional rectangle.

 

majortom

Sacrelidge!

Everyone knows one must always use the 4x8 sheet of plywood in its unadulterated form as a table.

[Packers#1]

Philip, you're really testing my willpower to stick with getting rid of the 4x8 I've got and uilding a new w/ a 6x6 doughnut plan.

[pcarrell]

Philip, you're really testing my willpower to stick with getting rid of the 4x8 I've got and uilding a new w/ a 6x6 doughnut plan.

Oh, but you can have so much more fun with a 6x6!

[Autobus Prime]

Philip, you're really testing my willpower to stick with getting rid of the 4x8 I've got and uilding a new w/ a 6x6 doughnut plan.

Oh, but you can have so much more fun with a 6x6!

pc:

Myself, I wouldn't want a 6x6 in HO. Not enough room for straight track. But in N, that size is not so bad, I think. You could fit lots of RR in 12x12 HO. The other thing with 6 x 6 is that the pit would seem a little crowded.

The thing with 4x8s is basically a religious war, I think. You have your simple believers who accept it as given. You have your iconoclasts who argue against it on theological grounds, and of course you need apologists who defend it on theological grounds. Oddly enough, I don't see hollow-core door N layouts included in the 4x8 debate very often.

What really amuses me about the debate is that the same attribute is referenced by both sides.
The 4x8 developed for construction, and so the size was available. For modeling purposes it was indeed arbitrary, but it needs no cutting, and a table can be produced with simple tools and minimal labor. So some see that need for no custom work as a great convenience, and from their viewpoint it is. And others see the lack of design involved as anathema, since designs should be custom-fitted to requirements, and indeed from their viewpoint it's a crime against design.

As I see it, where hobbies are concerned, there is a space-time-funds-politics continuum, and while the 4x8 loses a little in the space dimension, it gains quite a bit in the others. Probably the best support I can offer is that it continues to be popular. Now, in reaction to popularity, there are various things we can say. We can say "Eh, stupid peasants", or we can try and see things as the stupid peasants see them. In my work designing tooling, I find that the "stupid peasants" often know more than the books do, or at least provide some balance.

As for the 8x10 wall-hugger being generally superior to the 4x8, I dunno. I'd tend to agree on 10x12 vs. 6x10, maybe, and definitely on 12x14 vs. 8 x 12, but the fact is that when you sit down and try to design a plan, an 8x10 shelf layout is quite small for HO. If you want tracks that diverge from the main, a 4 x 8 gives you more depth to play with, and the roughly 4 x 6 operating pit you get if the shelves are reasonably deep for scenic purposes isn't all that big. And in that space there really isn't room for reasonable aisles and turnback curves, so you're faced with a duckunder or a drop section. But for some people in some situations this really could be a lot better: a narrow shelf layout in a really small bedroom comes to mind.

[pcarrell]

pc:

Myself, I wouldn't want a 6x6 in HO. Not enough room for straight track. But in N, that size is not so bad, I think. You could fit lots of RR in 12x12 HO. The other thing with 6 x 6 is that the pit would seem a little crowded.

In HO scale a 6x6 could be done well, but it would have to be carefully planned to work.

In N scale you could technically do a solid table, though the reach in the middle would be a stretch (same with HO for that matter).  The big advantage with N scale on a 6x6 is that most of the benchwork could be quite narrow, allowing for a larger operating pit.  You see, N scale buildings are smaller and therefore take up less of the tabletop space.  Also, by focusing on an older era (shorter trains and cars) or a modern shortline and keeping towns and switching ares smaller, you could get increased open country running in this modest area.  Of course, the other way to go that could work equally well (for both scales actually) is to do a totally urban city scene on the whole layout (or maybe a larger port scene).

As to the 4x8 argument, it truely is not the best use of space in many cases.  That being said, as you pointed out, it has many merits.

[stebbycentral]

The thing with 4x8s is basically a religious war, I think. You have your simple believers who accept it as given. You have your iconoclasts who argue against it on theological grounds, and of course you need apologists who defend it on theological grounds. Oddly enough, I don't see hollow-core door N layouts included in the 4x8 debate very often.

Most probably because you can't cut the door up into pieces, so what you see is what you get.  Failing a really intense discussion of what size of hollow core door to use, there's not much left to talk about.

[sundayniagara]

How about an N Scale 4X8 diorama, with hidden staging?  This way you won't see trains going loop-de-loop and you can have lots of action with a yard & roundhouse, etc.  I'm not big into layout design, but this is something I've always wanted to see.

[pcarrell]

One of the plans I put on the last page included hidden staging.

[sundayniagara]

One of the plans I put on the last page included hidden staging.

Very nice, but I was thinking of a continuous loop, with hidden staging and all the action out front.

[pcarrell]

This one has the loop out front with staging on the branch being hidden.  I threw a link to this on the last page, but I don't know if it was working.