You will very quickly grow to hate setting up and taking down. You would be much better off to build a micro layout that could sit on a shelf when not in use.
I also have to caution you again about making your layout a foot wider: sections of my layout are 5 wide, and I have access from both sides, but I still need a topside creeper to reach the center. I'm 6'1" tall, and my layout is 48" high.
The fact that this layout will be in your bedroom does not have to be an insurmountable problem: check out the quote from Henry Ford in my signature block. Or Walt Disney, who said, "If you can dream it, you can do it.".... or Robert Goddard, who said, "It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow." NEVER EVER EVER use C, A, and N together if you intend to put an 'T at the end!
People who sell furniture for college dorm rooms have some brilliant ideas for how to cram a lot of stuff into a small space by using what would otherwise be dead space in the vertical dimension. Give it some thought, and see how creative you can be.
Connecticut Valley Railroad A Branch of the New York, New Haven, and Hartford
"If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." -- Henry Ford
CSX17 okay sound's good to me where can i get these book shelves or cabinet's taht are this tall at for a cheap price. im likeing the idea of not beign restricted to smal radius turn's and beign able to run what i want to run equipment wise and have a decetn room for switching and scenery thank's for the help and any ideas on where i can said bookshelved and cabinet's thanks zach.
okay sound's good to me where can i get these book shelves or cabinet's taht are this tall at for a cheap price. im likeing the idea of not beign restricted to smal radius turn's and beign able to run what i want to run equipment wise and have a decetn room for switching and scenery thank's for the help and any ideas on where i can said bookshelved and cabinet's thanks zach.
Shelves and cabinets-- shelves especially-- can be had fairly cheaply, especially if you have patience and are willing to wait for a good sale. But even if you need something right away, they aren't all that expensive, and don't forget they're not just going to hold up your layout, they're shelves or cabinets that can hold your other stuff too! :-)
Awhile back Home Depot had some cheap shelves going for about $15 bucks each. 'Course you had to put 'em together yourself, but that wasn't tool difficult. We bought four of them and despite their super-cheap price, we still have them today. The ones we bought would be too tall for a layout, but when we bought 'em, the store had some 4-footers for sale also that would have been about perfect.
I know other stores often have sales on shelves and cabinets-- K-Mart, Target, Lowes-- probably other stores as well. Sometimes you can get the cheap or free from people who are moving, redecorating, yard sales, or even on the side of the road on occasion. I have a beautiful cabinet I picked up one day that someone was tossing out. Tall with double glass doors and pretty well made. The glass was busted out of one of the doors but that's an easy fix. And don't forget dressers can be used too-- or even, in a pinch, getting some 2x4's or 2x2's and making some-- wait for it-- *legs* !!!
John
okay thank's for that info on the shelves im thinking of jsut doing a l shaped shelf switching layout 8 feet long by 2 feet wide on one and 6 feet long and 2feet wide on the other one and just do that i like switchign more than roundy round the roundy round was so my little sister who love's watchign them go around the oval could jsut watch em go by ill keep hte easy trakcn ad jsut get a cheap 4 axle loco for when she coems over and ill set that up for her to play with and build the switchgn layout to my likeign but will still need to be able to ruse big six axle locos as switcher's it's waht i like and what i want. can i acheaive this in the space i said in this post thank's zach.
CSX17 okay thank's for that info on the shelves im thinking of jsut doing a l shaped shelf switching layout 8 feet long by 2 feet wide on one and 6 feet long and 2feet wide on the other one and just do that i like switchign more than roundy round the roundy round was so my little sister who love's watchign them go around the oval could jsut watch em go by ill keep hte easy trakcn ad jsut get a cheap 4 axle loco for when she coems over and ill set that up for her to play with and build the switchgn layout to my likeign but will still need to be able to ruse big six axle locos as switcher's it's waht i like and what i want. can i acheaive this in the space i said in this post thank's zach.
That sounds like a reasonable solution. I hope it works out well for you. When you get further along, why don't you post some more (and some pictures) so we can see how you're coming along?
i will post more when i get really going on it would like some help on track plan's for this layout any one wanan draw me up a plan if i give out my idea's. thank's zach.
CSX17 i will post more when i get really going on it would like some help on track plan's for this layout any one wanan draw me up a plan if i give out my idea's.
i will post more when i get really going on it would like some help on track plan's for this layout any one wanan draw me up a plan if i give out my idea's.
I would suggest drawing up an initial plan yourself, and posting it, along with an explanation of what you are trying to do.
Show the entire room - walls, doors, windows, what other things the layout will have to coexist with.
Then you are pretty likely to get suggestions and comments from several people.
Smile, Stein
thank's for thatsuggestion but i don't know how to draw up track plan's let alone post them that is why i was asking for someone to draw me up one im thinking of jsut winging it and going and buying a bunch of turnout's maybe 8 of them and a bunch of flex some rail joiner's and some rail joiner's some cork and just seeing what i come up with and a pair of xuron rail nipper's as well would this be a decent way to do it i just wanna run some train's again i need to get a locomotive though first so was jsut gonna try and sue what i have right now i have four of the extrack turnout's and a bunch of straight and curves all the curves are sadly though 18 inche radius was thinking abotu grabbing a pack or two of 22 inch to make my whatever curves to work out for whatever engine i decide on getting and plus that would help me make my flex track curves wouldn't it thnk's zach.
hi Zach,
wait a minute before running to a store. if i understand your previous postings well you want to have 3 layouts. One for you little sister, where a train can run around and around, one for yourself on which you are able to run modern long trains and at last a switching L-type layout.
You do not have much stuff and you are going to invest a lot of money, eight switches, track etc won't come cheap. You are going to buy engines and cars, IMHO you should really start to think. Try to find someone you can talk to and who can help you as well. Go to the LHS only after you are very sure what you want.
Anyway you have to learn a lot, and drawing a plan and posting it is definitely not the most difficult part.
Only when people on here have a drawing of your room, and do know all your wishes you will receive worthwhile plans.
Keep smiling
Paul
Paulus Jas hi Zach, wait a minute before running to a store. if i understand your previous postings well you want to have 3 layouts. One for you little sister, where a train can run around and around, one for yourself on which you are able to run modern long trains and at last a switching L-type layout. You do not have much stuff and you are going to invest a lot of money, eight switches, track etc won't come cheap. You are going to buy engines and cars, IMHO you should really start to think. Try to find someone you can talk to and who can help you as well. Go to the LHS only after you are very sure what you want. Anyway you have to learn a lot, and drawing a plan and posting it is definitely not the most difficult part. Only when people on here have a drawing of your room, and do know all your wishes you will receive worthwhile plans. Keep smiling Paul
I understand what Paul is trying to tell you but I have a different opinion on it-- I'd say DO go out and get yourself some switches and track, just don't go overboard on it yet. With the flex track you won't need curve pieces since the flex track can curve to whatever shape you need it. Go with cheaper flex track to begin with-- Atlas code 100 is probably your cheapest bet, unless the track you already have is say, code 83, in which case buy Atlas code 83 instead. (Just make sure you don't accidentally buy *brass* track as it's more work to keep clean!)
Lay down some flex track and some switches. Google something like "model railroad switching layout" or "model railroad track plan" and you're bound to come up with some ideas and plans that other people have drawn up. Paul (Paulus Jas) SteinJr, Cuyama (Byron Henderson) and others have all put out many simple switching track plans-- a lot of them you'll find on this site if you search using their names and "track plan".
The *sooner* you get something down and running the sooner you'll start to feel like you've accomplished something-- PLUS you can run the trains while you plan what comes next. THEN sit down and start thinking about what you really want in a layout, etc.-- Just like Paul suggests. If you're going to build a layout on a board, it isn't going to be that hard to tack the track down (although most folks would suggest latex caulk instead) and pull it up again later if (when) you change your mind.
Just know and accept up front that you're going to "eat up" some track and a little money here and there trying things out and seeing what works for you. If you're careful you can reuse nearly all the track you purchase and of course all of the trains and such. I think it's a lot easier to start figuring out what you want and what you don't once you've had a chance to try some stuff firsthand yourself. At this point, I wouldn't even worry about putting down "cork" or other roadbed until you do have some better ideas of what you want.
I strongly suggest getting in there and playing some-- try stuff out-- see what you like, what you don't, and get some experience using the track and other materials-- get some skills going-- and THEN work on making a plan and building something more purposeful. My feeling is that if you spend too much time thinking and planning you risk losing interest and missing out on a lot of fun. So if you *start* with the fun part, then you can add the other stuff as you get your feet wet and want to try more.
My of course-- you're welcome to take anybody's advice you like, or even nobody's!!!
(However, just for the record, what Paul said *is* good advice)
thank you john yeah that was kidn of the plan to buy a few switches and some flex the atlas code 100 stuff jsut makes it easier i have a old engien id like ot run and would jsut rather use the bigger rail to avoid any headaches with it i am going to cut my 4x8 table in half to make my shealves question would basically makign a box and bolting it to the wall with a leg at the frotn side at both end's be strong enought ot suport my layout woudl save me soem cash so i could put more into the track and engiens's and stuff thanks' zach.
well guy's been doing some thinking on stuff gonan scrap the ho shelf switcher and all and roll with the 4x8 but am decideign to switch scales going down one size to N scale. my question now is i have found a layout i like the scenic and relaxed form atlas my question is what can i expand the radius to on my layout table being a 4x8 compared to the 3x6 the plan call's for. thanks zach.
CSX17 well guy's been doing some thinking on stuff gonan scrap the ho shelf switcher and all and roll with the 4x8 but am decideign to switch scales going down one size to N scale. my question now is i have found a layout i like the scenic and relaxed form atlas my question is what can i expand the radius to on my layout table being a 4x8 compared to the 3x6 the plan call's for. thanks zach.
If I understand your writing, yes, you can expand the radius by the same ratio as the length and width - 25% in your case. Multiply the plan radius by 1.25, and you will be in the ball park. Be aware that turnouts and parallel track spacing do not scale by the same ratio. Vertical and horizontal clearances remain the same, although I would move the track at least 25% further from the edge than the published Atlas plan.
Perhaps the easiest path forward is to redraw the plan in the bigger space using Atlas RTS (free download), and adjust the plan to suit.
my thoughts, your choices
Fred W
Hi Zach,
In case you didn't see it, check out this post in the General Discussion forum from this morning: Bet This Will Make You Cringe. It is an interesting example of a way to make a nice layout from inexpensive materials-- in this case expanded foam-- and a real, live demonstration of its durability. I know in your situation that you can't use shelf brackets or "be drilling into the walls", but as we've discussed, there are certainly other ways to solve that problem. So, since the perfect example just magically appeared, I wanted to point it out to you so you could see how other people have solved the issues you face.