Layouts and layout building

Hello Everybody!

 I hope I do not upset anyone by asking this question.  If I do, I am truely sorry!  Here goes

1st of all, I am using HO Scale.  I do not have any track or anything bought, so any type of track.  My workspace needs to be no bigger than two 4x8 sheets of plywood.

 I am looking for some type of track plan that would help me incorporate an amusement park.  I would love to add some of the carnival rides and the roller coaster that are available for HO Scale.  I will be using HO Scale and I would also like to have at least 2 different trains able to run at the same time.  I am looking to build this on 2 4x8 sheets of plywood as I do not have as much space as I would like to have.  Also, would love to incorporate some bridges if possible.

 I know that this is not a typical setup.  My Grandfather had a very simple setup and he was the one that got me interested in the HO Scale train hobby.  I now have my own house with an area I can set up a train board and I can't wait to get started.  I want to tie my love of roller coasters, trains, and bridges all together into one place.  I do not have enough confidence in myself to establish my own track plan yet.  This will be my very 1st train set that I have built. 

 If I am totally off my rocker here, please feel free to make any suggestions for layouts that would work good on one or two 4x8 pieces of plywood.

 Thanks for all the help in advance!

Nic

 

 Here are a couple of 4x8 layouts

First, welcome to the forums, I think you will find a lot of very useful information here.  I'm not much on layout design myself, but there are plenty of good people here that are.  In order to get a better idea of what you have available, here are a few questions that will help some of them give you a better answer.

Are you talking a 4x16 rectangle or an L or T shape with your two 4x8's?  Remember a reach of over 30" is getting dangerous for the scenery.

Can you do a shelf rather than the two tables?

Can you have the two tables seperated with a shelf along a wall between them so it could be set up as point to point?

I see no reason why you can't incorperate your three loves on one layout and I'm sure there are some good suggestions out there just waiting for you.

Don't be afraid to try something, remember if you don't like it you can do it over, seems like even the "great" people in this hobby often redo parts of or whole layouts  You will have learned skills and will constantly be able to build on them.

Good luck,

There is a wonderful track plan database on the MR website home page. I think you have to register to use it, but it has virtually all of the track plans ever published in Model Railroader over the years. I seem to remember that several years back, Model Railroader did a project railroad that linked two layouts on 2 4X8 plywood sheets together. You might look that one up. The amusement park idea requires nothing more than enough space for the various rides. I've seen several layouts with amusement parks over the years. There's a traveling HO module club locally that does a really nice job in about 30 inches of space.

Abbie

http://www.atlasrr.com/Code100web/index.htm

Here's some to think about. What size room do you have to work with?

Here's some circus stuff for ya.
http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?quick=circus&quicksrch_butt.x=20&quicksrch_butt.y=0

http://www.ihc-hobby.com/cgi-bin/bsc.cgi?sn=79D75E223081006074X883SM7100T0

 

 

Thank you all for the responses.  I am actually looking to do either 2 seperate 4x8 sheets connected with a shelf (not sure if it's the right terminology) or 2 4x8 sheets to create one large 8x8 table.  Thank you for the suggestions and I am open to any ideas that I should be thinking about.  I am looking to start building within a month.  The drywall is getting taped tomorrow in the room!

Thanks
Nic

Mike,

I like the 2nd layout that you posted.  Would I just bring this picture to a hobby shop to get the track that I would need or do you have what I would call a track shopping list for it?

 Thanks
Nic

     i wouldn't recommend one big 8'x8' you might have a hard time getting to and working on the center of the layout.

I never really thougth about that - not being able to work on the center.  I may make a cutout in the center to stand up in if I have to do that layout or maybe arrange the plywood some other way.  Would anyone recommend a "L" shape with the plywood or do it as two seperate layouts that connect somehow?

Thanks!

    it basically just depends on your room size and what your visualizing your layout to be or look like. i like to look at alot of track plans and pull ideas from them to create my own.also take how you want to operate your trains into account as well.

 Generally a better way of doing a layout plan is to start with these two things:

 1) Describe your vision for the model railroad - when you close your eyes and try to imagine what you would like to end up with.

 Flatlands ? Mountains ? Tracks running down inner city backyards ?

 Olden times ? 30 years ago ? Today ?

 Passenger trains or freight trains ?

 Do you want to be able to sit back and see the trains run past, or do you want to drop off and pick up freight cars from industries ?

 And so on and so forth.

 2) An overview of how much space you have available in the room where you want the model railroad (make a drawing of the room, showing stuff that you have to have free access to)

 Then you can start worrying about how to accomplish your vision - how many plywood plates you need, how to cut them and join them and how to support them.

 You say that "my workspace needs to be no bigger than two 4x8 sheets of plywood". What do you mean by that ?

 That you are allowed to use 32 square feet of a bigger room ? How big ? What dimensions ?

 Or that the room size actually is 8x8 feet ?

 A 4x8 sheet of railroad takes up more space than 4x8 feet. You can reach max 30" (2 1/2 feet) in from the edge to fix a problem (like a car derailing). So you need access to at least three sides of the 4x8 layout.

 If you are anything like normal sized, you should allow yourself a two foot aisle on at least three sides of the table - making it take up 8x10 feet. You can trim a _little_ off that by allowing yourself only 20" aisles instead of 24" aisles.

 In general, you get more RR track length (and action) for your bucks by cutting big 4x8 plates into narrower strips - maybe a foot, 18" or two feet wide, and building "shelves" around the walls. By placing the shelves high enough that other stuff (cupboards, a TV set, books shelves etc) can go under the layout, you can construct a bigger layout without preventing the use of the room for other purposes.

 A great book for planning purposes is John Armstrong's "Track Planning for Realistic Operations". A good book for building a support system ("benchwork") for your layout is Linn Westcott's "Model Railroad Benchwork".

 Good luck with your planning!

 Grin,
 Stein

 

I would suggest that you take the drawing to your LHS  --  epecially if you want to expand (the size) to perhaps 4' x 16'. My original 4' x 8' layout was built using #4 turnouts and 18" radius curves, along with just one Model Power "Double Slip". 

Note that both of these layouts give you the ability to run two trains, independently  --  provided that the wiring is done correctly!