Thinking of building a shelf switching layout. Size ideas?

[E-L man tom]

Colorado Ray

My favorite ISL has always been John Pryke's Union Freight Railroad presented in the September 2000 through December 2000 MR.  I think he really captured the feel of an urban industrial district. 

Ray

 

Since you're talking about favorites for small layouts, mine appeared in the May, 2001 issue of MR. It was Johnathan Jones' Atlantic and Western RR, which was a 2' X 10' stand-alone layout, which was a carefully crafted operating urban layout by the young architect.

To the OP, as I presently have a shelf-type small switching layout, I'm always looking for ideas, and, as previously stated on this thread, Lance Mindheim has some excellent ideas. His "less is more" concept is one which I would have subscribed to had I known about his track plans earlier.

 

 

[TexasSPfan]

I'm not sure if I missed a reference in this thread, but I would suggest checking out any/all of Lance Mindheim's work (www.shelflayouts.com and www.lancemindheim.com). His blog posts are very informative, and I think for what the OP is looking for (an opportunity to just do some switching with minimal investment of time/money/scenery), there are many different ideas on either site that would work well. Basically...hollow core door, only a minimum of turnouts, and prototypical operating speeds and principles will result in a layout that lends itself well to quick "after dinner" operations. Also be sure to check out Lance's latest layout, the Los Angeles Junction.