Hey all,
My wife and I have recently bought a house, and included in said house is a basement. It just so happens, my very loving wife said that I get half of that basement as a "man-cave", and I can do what I would like with it. I am quite new to MR, and therefore will be starting small, and there was a perfect table that came with the house for starting in the basement (it was fate).
Anyway, I am relatively stumped as to how to get a railroad up and running. I basically want a layout design element that will be able to be incoorporated into a larger layout as sections get "completed". I have looked at some of the 2x8's from the layout design contests, and like Fergus Falls, but would like to add a little more, since I have 33inches by 8 foot instead of 24 by 8 foot.
I am in HO, and will be running GP38-2 and mostly 50' freight and a rare 70' car, so larger radii are desired, but sometimes smaller happens. I would like to model a small agricultural town (again with the Fergus Falls) on this small space.
Are there any sites that may have additional plans for these kind of layouts, or any books that have these smaller sized layout designs in them that I can at least come up with ideas, and subsequently get a plan going?
Thanks
Russ
If you are a subscriber, there is a layout database on this site.
As for a 33 inch layout width, I would think hard before going that wide. 24 inches is a good reach length. Anything over that can get hard depending on the scenery that is on the layout and what you want to place on it.
Elmer.
The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.
(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.
And you might try Benchridge Benchworks for a way to build your layout in sections a little at a time.
http://www.benchridge.com/
Roger Hensley= ECI Railroad - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/eci/eci_new.html == Railroads of Madison County - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/ =
I would suggest getting your first design element built and keep your eyes open for the next design. By doing this you will learn what you like and do not like about the first design element and know what direction you want to take the second one.
Johnnny_reb Once a word is spoken it can not be unspoken!
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First things first.......stake out and permantly mark the man-cave boundarys! LOL
Seriously though, as the previous poster said, start with something and GROW from that.
petvet would like to model a small agricultural town (again with the Fergus Falls) on this small space. Are there any sites that may have additional plans for these kind of layouts, or any books that have these smaller sized layout designs in them that I can at least come up with ideas, and subsequently get a plan going?
would like to model a small agricultural town (again with the Fergus Falls) on this small space.
Hi Russ --
Nice that you like my design Fergus Falls from Spacemouse's 2x8 contest. I certainly would enjoy to see someone build a scene based on that plan some day and send me a photo or two of how it turns out.
Additional plans for fairly small layouts or scenes more intended for switching than for running? Sure.
Some forum threads where small shelf layouts have been discussed fairly recently, and which contains links to various shelf layouts:
General discussion smallish shelf layout (with many links): http://cs.trains.com/forums/1288241/ShowPost.aspx
GWR 20"x7 foot timesaver layout: http://cs.trains.com/forums/1487687/ShowPost.aspx
General discussion industrial scenes: http://cs.trains.com/forums/1502494/ShowPost.aspx
Links to realistic looking (mainly urban) layouts: http://cs.trains.com/forums/1523271/ShowPost.aspx
Design critique WaxonWaxoff's Climax NC: http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/134597.aspx?PageIndex=3
Design critique for my own "Warehouse District" layout: http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/t/133902.aspx?PageIndex=1
Hope some of these can help you find inspiration for your layout.
Smile, Stein
Thanks for the responses (sorry for my late response),
gandydancer, I have taken your advice and removed the 33" table. It found its way out to the garage as a work bench, and my wife told me to build what I would like.
I was going to go around the room with some benchwork and had a rudimentary plan in mind. Well, my wife came with me to pick up the material because we were heading elsewhere afterwards. While looking through the wood, she, having great confidence with my woodworking (read: 0%) said she would prefer a "doormino" layout so that we could add it quickly, easily, with minimal work and sawing (something about using saws, risking losing fingers, not being able to do surgery ...).
I now have 2 28"x80" doors that are on legs in the basement (if the wife who giveth the basement requests the doormino, she shalt have the doormino).
Problem is, rudimentary plan is gone. Now I need to redesign, I was wondering how many just go for the gusto with design and wing it (place a mainline and add spurs/sidings till you like it). Is this a bad idea with nothing on paper?
Thanks again for the advice given thus far.
petvetI now have 2 28"x80" doors that are on legs in the basement (if the wife who giveth the basement requests the doormino, she shalt have the doormino). Problem is, rudimentary plan is gone. Now I need to redesign, I was wondering how many just go for the gusto with design and wing it (place a mainline and add spurs/sidings till you like it). Is this a bad idea with nothing on paper?
Yes and no. You certainly can do it that way, and some people have gotten great results that way.
But as the LDSIG layout planning primer puts it in the chapter "why do layout planning?":
"A good analogy to a model railroad layout is a vacation. Where do you want to go? How do you want to get there? What do you want to do along the way? What are you going to do when you get there? How long should you stay? Can you afford it? Who will watch the kids? Do you take them along? Will the car make it? Will you? Some folks plan a vacation down to the Nth degree. Others grab a clean (optional) pair of jeans and a couple T-shirts and jump in the car. So it goes with layout planning. Do enough planning that you are comfortable. You may have to make decisions along the way. You may have a detour or a breakdown en route. Or you may change your mind and deviate from your plan"
"A good analogy to a model railroad layout is a vacation. Where do you want to go? How do you want to get there? What do you want to do along the way? What are you going to do when you get there? How long should you stay? Can you afford it? Who will watch the kids? Do you take them along? Will the car make it? Will you?
Some folks plan a vacation down to the Nth degree. Others grab a clean (optional) pair of jeans and a couple T-shirts and jump in the car.
So it goes with layout planning. Do enough planning that you are comfortable. You may have to make decisions along the way. You may have a detour or a breakdown en route. Or you may change your mind and deviate from your plan"
Maybe you ought to develop your givens (=absolute limitations and requirements) and druthers (=preferences) a little bit before you start laying tracks, so you know for yourself what scale trains, what area, what time period etc you are modelling, before you buy too many buildings, engines and RR cars that will look weird together, and so you have an idea about whether you want desserts, mountains, coastal, prairie etc type of landscapes.
You might want to have a quick look at the LDSIG primer sections on "why do you want to have a model railroad?","why do layout planning?", "introduction to types and styles of layouts", "introduction to themes, eras, roles, intent, geographical location etc" and a few others. Will take you maybe an hour to read it all - and it is time well spent, even if you decided to not spend any more time after that on planning any more and just go plop down your track and run trains.
Above all - have fun with your layout, and congratulations on getting your first pieces of benchwork!