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" NOT CRAMPING A STYLE"

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  • Member since
    December 2005
  • From: west of Portland Oreg.( the city of Roses
  • 599 posts
" NOT CRAMPING A STYLE"
Posted by TrainsRMe1 on Tuesday, March 10, 2020 1:11 PM

Hi all,                                                                                                                           I have a question, I have a 10 X 20 space for a Nscale track plan, the plan that I'm looking at is 13ft 6in X 19ft 6in, would it be possible to alter the plan some by narrowing the shelves or taking off 3ft off one end,  the plan I speak of is the Santa Fe railroad Southern Division, it appeared in the August 2009 issue of Model Railroader, Thank You for helping                                                                                             and Happy Modelrailroading!!!

  • Member since
    December 2001
  • From: Northern CA Bay Area
  • 4,387 posts
Posted by cuyama on Tuesday, March 10, 2020 1:52 PM

It was actually in the October 2009 issue of Model Railroader.

Subscribers can see it here in the track plan database:
https://mrr.trains.com/how-to/track-plan-database/2009/08/santa-fe-ry-southern-district

Reducing the width by that much (more than 25%) is going to require more than narrowing the shelves – you would probably need to remove one leg of the peninsula.

In my humble opinion, you'd be better off designing from scratch to meet your specific interests and needs (as has been suggested before in the numerous threads you’ve started about various published layouts). There’s nothing magical about a published plan that doesn’t fit in your space and might not match your interests. In any case, you’d be better off looking for plans that are smaller than your space – it’s always easier to expand from a given plan rather than reduce.

Good luck with your layout.

Byron

  • Member since
    February 2002
  • From: Reading, PA
  • 30,002 posts
Posted by rrinker on Tuesday, March 10, 2020 5:39 PM

You could fit it by getting rid of the backwards J peninsula and just having a simple straight peninsula, but you would greatly cut down the industries. ANd if you got rid of the bottom yard, that would shorten the long dimension enough

 But that greatly alters the functionality of the layout.

 You have a decent amount of space, especially for N scale. There are many ways to fit a track plan into the space given - one place you can find a lot of general ideas is in the book we ALL mention over and over - Track Planning for Realistic Operation by John Armstrong. The problem with published track plans, even if they are the exact size of your space and don;t need shrinking, is that the unavoidables like doors are often in different places.

 A good use for the track plan database is to look at plans similar in size to your space, and look at how certain elements fit - combine similar elements to make up your personalized track plan. Smaller than your space, where they used curves up to your required radius, will have good ideas, and even plans for much larger spaces - very few people have a huge completely open space for that 70x48 layout, often the space is divided into several smaller areas so one of those may be the size of your area and you cna get some ideas.

                                         --Randy 


Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's

 

Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.

  • Member since
    February 2001
  • From: Wyoming, where men are men, and sheep are nervous!
  • 3,392 posts
Posted by Pruitt on Tuesday, March 10, 2020 7:57 PM

Great. I tried to take a look at the plan being discussed, but for some reason I can't access the database. Even though I'm logged into Trains.com and have an active Model Railroader subscription, the database page doesn't think so. When I try to log in there, it rejects my credentials. Anybody else seeing this problem?

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: Maryland
  • 12,897 posts
Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Tuesday, March 10, 2020 8:41 PM

Pruitt

Great. I tried to take a look at the plan being discussed, but for some reason I can't access the database. Even though I'm logged into Trains.com and have an active Model Railroader subscription, the database page doesn't think so. When I try to log in there, it rejects my credentials. Anybody else seeing this problem?

 

Log out, and log back in. That hasworked for me in the past.

If not, you need to call customer serivce......

Sheldon

    

  • Member since
    January 2009
  • From: Maryland
  • 12,897 posts
Posted by ATLANTIC CENTRAL on Tuesday, March 10, 2020 8:43 PM

I'm with Byron, use whatever plan you like as a guide or inspiration, but design your own plan to fit the space.

Sheldon

    

  • Member since
    December 2005
  • From: west of Portland Oreg.( the city of Roses
  • 599 posts
Posted by TrainsRMe1 on Saturday, March 14, 2020 10:49 PM

Thanks Guys                                                                                                              Your right I have posted before on this subject, I should check my past post, LOL!!  I will take your segestions and get started, first I'm havingwe moved into our new home almost a year ago, and after getting settle in it's FINALLY time to build the layout, I will keep you posted!!!!!!

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