Scene breaks

[Anonymous]

Like many people, I have partially built and torn down several layout attempts over the years after finding the plan I did on paper didn't work too well in reality. I finally read a book on layout planning so I think I may actually have curves in my plan that will fit into my space and not derail everything that runs over them. Since I want to fit a lot into my relatively small 8' x 16' space, I want to do a double deck layout with a "no-lix" which will essentially take the trains from one level to the other with a constant slight grade.

My question relates to scenes. I was thinking that in order to get a good variety of scenes in the layout (city, industrial,suburban,rural), each scene could be somewhat small, with the trains leaving a scene via tunnel, ducking behind buildings, going into a stand of trees, and other such disappearing acts. The scenes would be divided by some type of barrier and the scene on one side of the barrier would be different than the scene on the other side. Has anyone ever tried this or seen anything like this? Any suggestions on the best type of barrier to use? Thanks for any help.

[ereimer]

your idea about using scenery to divide the layout into scenes has been discussed and used many times over the years . i don't have any specific examples , but you could try the 'index of magazines' link at the top of this page . not sure exactly what you'd search for though . you might have to go to a library and look through a few years worth of magazines (not a bad way to spend an afternoon or three [:)] )

i'm a bit concerned about your nolix plan though , a 16' x 8' room has 48' of linear run around the walls , that's 576" . at a constant 2% grade you get 11.52" of height . that's not bad , but it doesn't take into account level areas for yards , industries , stations , etc.

it's quite possible that i'm missing something here , and i'd be glad to hear about it from someone who has actually built this type of layout , as i have only 14' x 8' myself and would love to be able to get an extra lap around the room (assuming i can convince myself that my carpentry skills are up to building such a structure!)

edit: i was thinking and i realized that since the track doesn't run right along the walls , and uses curves rather than sharp 90 degree bends , the actual running length will be something less than 576" , giving less height gained [:(]

[pcarrell]

Your idea sounds like an adaptation of what a bunch of "N Track" modules look like when they are all set up. This might make a good place to start.

It kind of reminds me of the shadow box idea also. This is where the trains come from hidden staging to run across the "stage" of modeled scenery, and then run back into staging on the other side. Your idea would be more like running from one "stage" to the next.

I'm not sure how much help this will be, but when I'm looking for some inspiration or something different I often start here;

http://www.urbaneagle.com/pers/bookmarks/bookmarks030711.html

There's tons of stuff there so have fun sifting through it. [8D]