I am stuck with a super small room for my layout, 8 foot by 9 foot and most of that is my workshop to fix and repair trains for a couple different shops. I have a small 55" by 33" layout, mostly a test track but I have put some basic scenery on it, a nice old wood kit feed mill and a small grainery. I am envision a start up shortline, overgrown right of way with weeds, rough track and slow speeds. Motive power will be an old Alco S2 that was purchased 2nd hand thru a broker, drug out of the far reaches of the deadlines of a locomotive dealer like Larry's Truck and Electric ect. Gotten running again but still beatup looking. The grainery can take 2 hoppers at a time and the feed mill needs inbounds to serve the local farm community. I have a 3rd siding that has no industry as of yet. I put a small spur off the grain lead to park the S2. Need to get the S2 to a pro painter for a proper run down look to it. I was considering a 6' by 8' shelf layout in a L shape with a 24" depth for a point to point, mostly likely modeling the MD&W prior to RC being put on all the S2's The budget is uber tight, much like a poor start up line would be. So the small layout will be the focus for now. Mike
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
Mike,
sounds like a great project and I am eager to see how it develops.
Actually, an L-shaped layout of the size you mentioned is not really a micro layout anymore. IIRC, the late Carl Arendt understood a micro layout not being bigger than 1´by 2´.
Sounds like a plan.
Your 3rd siding could be used as a team track, universal receiver. You could build a simple unloading platform or leave it for the folks to figure out how to get their stuff from the railcar to their truck.
The simplest unloading dock is a piece of wood or foam, cut to the right height, not quite as long as a freight car, with one end sloped so things can be rolled off, painted like concrete. I did a wooden one. A little more complicated, but I had fun doing it.
Have fun,
Richard
Sir MadogIIRC, the late Carl Arendt understood a micro layout not being bigger than 1´by 2´.
It's a very minor quibble, since this is all semantics anyway, but the Carl Arendt site defines a micro layout in this way: "Micro layouts are small model railroads, usually less than three or four square feet in area, that nonetheless have a clear purpose and excellent operating capability.”
It's not clear to me whether the Original Poster needs continuous running or not -- the post seems to mention both an oval and a narrow shelf layout. At the risk of boring folks who have seen it before, one can accomplish a lot in a small HO shelf layout, as this 5’ X 7’ HO switching layout demonstrates.
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
Cuyama, I do like that switching layout. I am horrible at designing actual layouts. point to point switching is fine. I used to take that little layout I have now to shows. But I have lost interest in doing that for now. Now if I could take that plan you put up and make it have the feel of the MD&W. I see a grain elevator in there, what are the other buildings that are labled? Also need help matching the light green color of the Minnesota Dakota and Western Alco S2's. Mike
emdmikeI see a grain elevator in there, what are the other buildings that are labled?
As noted on the referenced web page, MWD is GCLaser's model of the Sturtevant, Wisconsin, Milwaukee Road station. The other main structures are Walthers' ADM Grain Elevator (AGE), GCLaser's County Co-Op (CCO) American Model Builders' A.C. Brown Manufacturing (ACB) and Walthers' Merchants Row II (MR2). But you can certainly use whatever you like.If you have a bit more length, extending the “main” and “siding” toward the bottom of the drawing will offer more flexibility for switching. The original person it was designed for did not need to switch a lot of cars at one “session”.
I actualy have a 3rd option. untill last night, I forgot about my stash of logging stuff. Including a totaly reworked PFM B2 shay that has 8 wheel pickup and a Kato can motor. I have never been able to come up with a track plan to fit that space that incorperates a small mill and a line up into the trees on the mountain. Mike