Thanks everyone for the replies and ideas. I think now you have given me ideas to work with on small layouts and I may even have two or three with different themes. Maybe the 3X7 will be my "main" layout with my plasticville items and with some of my extra track, I could make another under the bed layout with whatever I decide in the future. Thanks Guys
Bruce
I have two permanent layouts. One is 6 ½ x 9 ½ and the other is 4 x 6. My smallest layout is 34” x 41”.
I would like to have bigger to have more room for accessories, but the advantage of small is easy to maintain, and your building results come fairly quick. One of the layouts, the test track is on a bed that rolls under the “big” layout.
The smallest is an All Aboard from 1965.
Jim
Search of the forum reveals "Thor CNJ" is a micro layout god of sorts...
http://www.thortrains.net/marx/micromtho1.html
See his site at link above.
Roland
Bruce,
I had a Toy Train layout when I was a kid - 4' x 8'. It's 027, so you can get a little more than 031. I recently set it up the same way for my grandson, and he has a lot of fun with it. I'm making it a little bigger (8 x 6) and going more to the HighRail (I hope). Maybe down the road it'll get even bigger if I can find the room and money to do it.
Enjoy what you have and if things get boring you can add on a little at a time. I look at some of the layouts on this site and they blow me away. Some make layouts like ours look pretty simple in comparision, but I bet none of them went up overnight.
Charlie
It is always difficult to see the large layouts and not yearn to have one. My permanent layout is 6'x8'. I also have a small loop of track (est 3'x5') that I bring out and throw on the floor when my grandkids come over. That floor layout is the most fun to operate. The permanent layout has TMCC, DCS, and Legacy. The floor layout is conventional only and runs mostly postwar.
My permanent layout is in a bedroom that my children used to occupy before they moved out. It is very comfortable in there to run trains. It has been turned into a den-like room with trains covering the walls with the layout in the middle. There is a futon for running the trains and naps. I think a key to enjoying your trains is to have your layout in a comfortable location and keeping the room neat.
Good luck with your layout.
Earl
Hi Bruce,
I have had large and small layouts over the years. While added space and tracks add to a layout, it is you being happy with what you have that counts. Both my son and I agree that the permanent layout we had 2 layouts ago was the best we had. It ran nice and offered a lot. That layout was 8x12. We more than doubled the size of the layout before packing things away, and with double the size we were not happy the way the layout ran. It didn't flow. Right now we have a 5x8 for Christmas. It looks good, and I can run 2 trains. It was built for a holiday village and has no accessories. We will take it down in about a month. Someimes the best layout is the one in my head, and i just enjoy the trains.
Best of the New Year to you..
I have a 3X7 O31 guage layout on hollowcore door in my basement. Its a toy train style layout. Recently I thought of making it bigger but due to money and most importantly space I've decided to keep what I have and run what I have. Does anyone out there have small layouts like this and are not considering expanding them? Do they get boring after awhile? Are Bigger layouts the only or best way to enjoy the O guage hobby? I'd like to hear other peoples opinions please. Thanks in advance.
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