Incorporate HO and N gauges into one 14 x 33 layout

[Anonymous]

My son-in-law and I are building a new basement layout. We are trying to incorporate both HO and N gauge into the layout without too much of a distraction between the two. Any ideas?[8D]

[dknelson]

The usual suggestion is to put the smaller scale trains in the background to create forced perspective but I really doubt this is successful and in any event it puts the guy who likes the smaller scale in the position of a second class citizen.

I have not done this but am toying with an idea that you might consider. My layout is HO. It replicates a portion of the Chicago & North Western double track passenger main between Chicago and Milwaukee. At the "north" (Milwaukee) end I do not yet know if I will have a hidden staging yard or a turning loop but in either event it will not really model Milwaukee at all. Yet this the first thing visitors will see when they come in the basement and I do not think looking at hidden staging is a good first impression.
It doesn't say "Milwaukee" or "C&NW" it doesn't say ANYthing. Bad.

I have toyed with the idea of covering the north end with an upper level that would model a signature Milwaukee scene in N. In my dreams the downtown C&NW depot would be a possibility but I have a lot of projects that would come before that elaborate and beautiful depot.
One possibility is the "belt line" near Mitchell Yard where the C&NW and the Milwaukee Road shared switching duties at grain elevators. Reasons to consider N scale for this. First it would not interchange with the rest of the layout so there is no reason it has to be the same scale. Also, the track work is rather complex,. the elevators are huge (yet simple PVC pipe would replicate it), there are nice N scale SW type switchers out there in both Milwaukee Rd and CNW paint (plus bay window cabooses). In my era it was a mix of covered hoppers and 40 ft boxcars serving the grain elevators, plus other interchanged freight including depressed center flat cars and other neat stuff.

Another alternative is a mid-layout industry (Bucyrus Erie in South Milwaukee WI) that had its own very large industrial railroad. I could do a better approximation of this huge facility in N. I think the human eyeball and brain are flexible enough to accept the idea of an HO main serving an N scale industry so long as you minimize the situations where the equipment is side by side.
Because the line I model saw mostly passenger trains plus a local freight and a very few through freights and turns in a day, there are going to be times when the operators have relatively litle to do (the east end staging person will be busy all the time) . Thus these N scale ideas would keep some operators busy, which is another advantage.

I throw this idea out for your consideration. I know a lot of people recoil from the idea of mixing scales on one layout but I think it can be made to work.
Dave Nelson

[vsmith]

You can also choose to model N track as narrow gauge. N track is often used for HOn30 for HO scale trains running on 30" narrow guage trains. That way there is no scale descrepency.

[DSchmitt]

With some clever planning you could design the layout so that two scales do not appear in the same scene. Somewhere Ihave a track planning book that has a layout that incorporates borh HO and O. From any viewpoint, only one scale is visible.

[Anonymous]

All thoughts are sincerely appreciated. I have considered using two scenes, perhaps somewhere in the middle, that gives a depth perception and flows gently into the other. Another option might be to "elevate" the N layout and try to create depth. At worst, I could totally separate the two gauges, but then I would lose square footage. Any other ideas would be appreciated also.

[GDRMCo]

QUOTE: Originally posted by vsmith

You can also choose to model N track as narrow gauge. N track is often used for HOn30 for HO scale trains running on 30" narrow guage trains. That way there is no scale descrepency.

Over here in oz n scale track is used for the cane railways/tramways because it is closer to 2' than other track so we use 12mm or 12.5mm track to represent the lerger narrow gauge systems like the Queensland Rail

[cuyama]

The classic design of this type was the John Armstrong layout combining On3 and HO in one basement. This featured D&RGW and UP and was in "18 Tailor-made Model Railroad Track Plans" (Kalmbach 1983).

John's advice was to arrange things so that at any point an observer could only see the tracks of one or the other. The space efficiency comes from overlapping hidden trackage (like turnbacks or staging) so that the footprint is reduced.

Regards,

Byron

QUOTE: Originally posted by hammondandmia



My son-in-law and I are building a new basement layout. We are trying to incorporate both HO and N gauge into the layout without too much of a distraction between the two. Any ideas?[8D]

[DSchmitt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cuyama

The classic design of this type was the John Armstrong layout combining On3 and HO in one basement. This featured D&RGW and UP and was in "18 Tailor-made Model Railroad Track Plans" (Kalmbach 1983).

John's advice was to arrange things so that at any point an observer could only see the tracks of one or the other. The space efficiency comes from overlapping hidden trackage (like turnbacks or staging) so that the footprint is reduced.

Regards,

Byron

Thats the one I remember.