Layout size for you O guys

[zwbob]

Mine is in the basement. Its 28 1/2 feet long and 9 feet wide at one end and 15 feet wide at the other end.

[Ole Timer]

 jaabat   ..... up where ? man I have'nt seen any for 10 years or more here !

[Ole Timer]

 And always remember .. if ya can't go out ... go up ! A jigsaw and some imagination and build a 2 or 3 level layout . Just what I'm starting now . Seems everybody builds only one level anymore ! GEEEEZ

That's what trestles do nicely ... half up ... other half for back down simply or fabricate with your plywood and jigsaw .

[Jumijo]

  . . . Anyone remember the wood and cable guard rails ?  . . .

 

Remember them?! Heck, they're everywhere up here!

 

Jim 

[Ole Timer]

 Like I mentioned in another forum ... it's not the size of your layout ... it's the details . Take your time .. research on the web . You don't have to have it all at once . Fabricate items and do it your way . One hint ... always leave at least 1 or more dead head tracks so you can expand later with ease . That way you can throw another sheet of plywood down and make her larger and hook right up to the one you have with ease ! Put bumpers at the end of them and they look great . Am making realistic wood telephone poles and the old wooden guard rails with cable now . Anyone remember the wood and cable guard rails ? Anyone have plans for a steel water tower .... 1800 wooden ones were out in later steam era but that's all I can find .

[Deputy]

My plan is 8X16 with 072 on outer tracks and 054-042 on inner tracks. Track is MTH RealTrax.

Dep

 

[Anonymous]

My grandson and I just got into the hobby a few months ago and have 4'x16' so far..I am sure it will get bigger very soon..I'm thinking about adding 2' to one side making it 6' wide and maby adding another 4'x8' L on one end..All O-27 track..

[Hogjaw]

Briane,

Appreciate your recent comments.

Was beginning to think I was out of my league in trying to set up a layout  especially after seeing all of the pics on net and in train mags of the massive expensive layouts that others are fortunate to enjoy. 

Presently, I have only a 40" x 60" track, Lionel O steam, 5 cars, and two grandsons who get to enjoy this with me from time to time.  I'm running this on the floor.  Being 60, you have to be especially careful in judging your steps to avoid stepping on the tracks/cars!!

Don't get me wrong, like a child, I do want more. 

But, I think we'll miss out on a lot if we fail to do as you have said "Just work with the space you have and have fun".  

Thanks.

Hogjaw 

[johnandjulie13]

6' x 9' with hopes of future expansion.

John O

[laz 57]

Had a 5X 24 foot L shaped one for 6  year and took it down now have a 8X16 with  a toe of about 6X6 on it.

laz57

[Anonymous]

Mine is 12' x 23'  and is in a large  "bonus room" over the garage. Next one will be about 16" x 24"  when this house sells and we build again.

Model Trains is the one thing where size does not matter...just enjoy the space you have.

Tim

[Anonymous]

Well, I put together my first layout (on the floor). I'm going to use this one for the Christmas tree. It's a little under 4x8 but it looks great. I can't wait to get the tree up but I'm told I'm going to have to wait :) Still working on getting my "train room" together.

[Ole Timer]

Of course you guys are going to put a hole in the wall between both rooms and run a tunnel ? Wisha .... Wisha ! I'm not joking .

[4kitties]

I have a 14x22 around-the-wall layout with O72 and O81 loops, in a 14x25 room.  I feel so blessed to have a space this large.  When we added a master suite on to our home, in the overall scheme of things it cost very little extra to dig a full basement rather than a crawl space, and my wife graciously let me have the room.  If not for the trains, it would make a killer home theatre - and maybe it will, for the next owners.  But we don't plan to leave in the foreseeable future.

Joel

[c50truck]

If, as it seems, the majority of us are running O gauge on small layouts, why is CTT wasting time on the "Layout challange of the week". I feel if I were in charge of PR at CTT I would want readership. And to get that is to get everyone excited about our product.

So why don’t they have a weekly pictorial of the most fun with O in the smallest space. Based on what I’ve read here, that would get the juices flowing, and in a positive light.

FYI, I have 58 square ft only to run on, but I enjoy every inch.

Rod L.

 

[anjdevil2]

After being on the "outside" for many years, I am making a return to the hobby. (Gee, Dad, why can't I have those 027's???)

I've started with a 4X8X1/2  plywood with 4X8 foam isulation, covered with LifeLike grass layed out on an inexpensive pool table.  I tried to make it portable enough to lift off, so that the kids could play pool.

Having said that, the layout was banished to the garage for Halloween, and consiquently has been on top of my racecar since.  For Christmas, we are building another 4X8 set up with the foam out (as snow) and setting up the tree with my wife's buildings.

After Christmas, I'm making room in the garage and making an "L" shaped layout, with storage underneath and still have room for the racer.  I may make the long part of the "L" removable, so that the entry & exit will be easier.

 

[DCmontana]

Just in the nick of time!  In another 3 and a half weeks I will be taking my 5 X 12 layout to school for the train's Christmas visit.  The grade school kids love it and have great time watching the trains run.  The high school kids pretend to not be interested, but they drift in and out when they can.  Several of them stay after school the days it is here and ask a lot of questions.  Now, I am moving into a new house soon and I don't want to take it down and move it to the new house, put it back together at the new house, take it down and move it to school and back again.  Looks like I will just have to take it down in the old house, move it to school, and back to the new house.  And I am going to have a room in the basement all to myself "AND" twice the space for the train.

"Don't do it Dick, it will cost too much!"

"Expand, expand!  New yards!  A river!  Bridges!"

"It will cost too much!  You can't!"

Sound of a conscience being silenced.  And then, "Honey, I have to go to the lumberyard, I need a couple of sheets of plywood and homasote, by!"  Sound of the pickup leaving the drive way.  Oh, he knew is wife wasn't at home when he called to her!  "Heh, Heh, Heh!"

 

[thor]

This has been a year long battle for us, I've tried the floor, the most area but takes too long to set up and take down so we only get about an hour of action unless the house is empty for a day.

I've been over the whole house from top to bottom to try and locate an area that wouldnt inconvenience anyone and yet would allow for a fixed setup.  I thought of making our queen size bed revolve horizontally and putting it on the underside, I floated the idea of a shelving run around the living room but the trouble is its a small overcrowded house and every spare inch is filled with someones stuff or doorways, which its riddled with and those doors are always in action so the shelving idea wouldnt fly.

I tried an 8x4 sheet kept flat up against a wall but its pretty heavy and awkward to manouver, I tried a combination of card tables and the kitchen or living room table but those folding tables can't stand much weight and are too flimsy anyway.

Finally, I located a potential site, an alcove that was a fireplace, I'm going to fit shelves in it for storing Asherahs toys and put two hollow core doors 30" x 80" hinged to work in two planes so that they open and close like normal doors and also can be locked together and swing down to make a 60" x 80" baseboard plus the 21" x 54" shelf they'll be attached to.  We can only do this with the track attached, no scenery or transformers but its still a huge improvement.

I think the other secret is to think in 3D, to make storable units that allow for inclines and an upper level too, which can quickly be placed onto the baseboard.

However even this solution isn't the greatest because it takes up the middle of the living room so we can't leave it down for longer than a play session but beggars can't be choosers! 

[Pennvalley]

8 X 14 - flatlander using five 2 x 8 modules so far. Two main loops 42 & 54 with a two track yard. Will have a trolley/rdc inner loop later on.

[Anonymous]

6x10 layout with 31" and 42" loops with a few stub sidings.

http://home.comcast.net/~graz6/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html

Mike

[Dave Farquhar]

I read somewhere that MTH did market research and found the majority of O gauge layouts are 8x8 or smaller. It's not the impression you get from the magazines or even the forums, but apparently a lot of people have quietly built small layouts in whatever space they have available.

My first layout was a 4x5, roughly. I built it literally out of scraps I had in the basement. I'm building an 8x8 now. It's mostly O42 and O34 curves, with a few O54s sprinkled in.

[fifedog]

Hey Will, don't forget you can throw some O-42 curves in there, and they will look right at home on a 4 x 8.  My current layout is 9 x 6 L-shaped, and the cookie-cutter bench work is 4 feet wide. I also encorporate some O-72 curvature to stretch the run.

[Joe Hohmann]

My small layout is only 5x8, with 2 loops of FasTrack (O36 and O48) with a siding. I run semi-scale for the most part. I installed TMCC a few weeks ago for one main reason...so I could always see my 100+ hand-painted figures inside of the passenger cars under constant and optimal lighting conditions. Since I'm very into "scenics", even this small layout still has me busy after 2 years.

For the "bigger stuff", I joined a modular group last summer...the Delaware Valley Hi-Railers. Joe

[darianj]

My layout is 10x6 with all FasTrack on it. It's 1 main line around the perimeter, a little action and some building on the inside of it, and a small yard with 2 lines on the side. I would like for it to be bigger but for now that what I have.

[jefelectric]

Man!  Now I can't wait to get started.  Thank you all for sharing and for the pointers.  Now I just need to be directed toward a glossary for layout terms :) Like dogback etc.  Man I'm pumped! 

Here you go.

http://www.trains.com/trc/glossary/default.aspx?&list=1

[Anonymous]

Man!  Now I can't wait to get started.  Thank you all for sharing and for the pointers.  Now I just need to be directed toward a glossary for layout terms :) Like dogback etc.  Man I'm pumped! 

[Birds]

My layout is in a finished basement that has a guest room in it.  The train table is roughly 6' x 12' (four hollow core doors right now).  My layout is about 6 x 9 and runs on Lionel O-31 tubular track.  I have a little room left to expand the layout.

Chris

[palallin]

My layout is about 6' x 17', a folded dogbone with its ends stacked almost on top of one another.  Inside the upper loop is a siding, and spur, and the lower loop of another dogbone, this one not folded, of On30 track which rises high above the middle bend of the lower dogbone.  The On30 will have a spur, a mine complex, and a small servicing facility.  A station sits between the O and the On30 on the level they share.

[Roger Bielen]

willy, a layout I'm currently working on for someone is in a 12' X 16' spare bedroom.  The benchwork is around the walls, with a diagonal at the door corner with a liftout bridge.  The layout is approx. 2' wide from the wall, maybe 3' at the widest point.  He used Fastrack and has 2 main lines with a couple of sidings.  My previous layout was L-shaped about 9' & 7' on the long sides with 9' being 5' wide and on the base side 4'.  It provided many fun hours until I had the space for my current 15' X 26' layout.