cnrail wrote:I have a 12 x 12 room in the basement for a layout and am undecided on a 4 x 8 or an around the walls layout. I have seen a few decent layouts in this size of room. Just not sure if I will be content watching cat chase it's tail on a small 4 x 8. No offense to the 4 x 8ers out there! What do you think? Pros or cons to going bigger Kirk
Hi Kirk,
I've got a nice 4 x 8, but I'm tearing it apart and going with an 11 x 10 around the room. I will have 3 times the railroad. What does that tell you? On the other hand if you are new to the hobby, it might pay you to learn on a smaller layout.
BTW: You'll only have a tail-chaser if you design it that way. With either layout, planning is key. If you have not done so read my "beginner's guide to layout design" in my signature below. It'll take you about 5 minutes.
Chip
Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.
givens and druthers
continuous running and some switching capabilities. incorporating coal mine operations. transition period and 40 foot stock for the most part. 20 to 22 inch mainline radius curves.
thanks for any help.
Kirk
Kirk,
You didn't say what scale you're working with, 20 and 22 inch minimum radius for HO scale is a bit tight.
I agree with Spacemouse. You'll get a lot more railroad with an around-the-walls arrangement. I don't have that option, so I've got a 5x12 foot table in HO. It's packed with action, but the trains are always chasing their tails.
If possible, think about some sort of "bridge" to provide a continuous loop past the doorway. This can be a duckunder, liftoff, drawbridge or swing-out.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Spacemouse makes two good points.
Yes I agree that eventually the around the walls type would make the best use of the room.
But new to the hobby, I don't know just what you're looking for in a layout. Believe me very, very few of us had any idea in the beginning. All I knew is I love trains and want to run them on a layout.
There's so much to consider and the options are endless to suit individual needs. Some are happy w/ a small table layout, a small shelf or switching layout. Others dream of that huge pike filling the entire basement or room.
The things that come to mind are:
What era/ time period to model, Do you want a point to point layout w/ no provision for loops for continuous running, a fully operational railroad that can handle multiple operators.
The maximium size, to fill the 12x12 room with 1 or even 2 levels making provisions in your plan for a helix etc.
If you are at the stage where you can't really answer any of these questions, the smaller layout such as the 4x8 may be a good start. You can always add a section or a shelf type yard. By doing this and getting furture into the hobby, your needs and desires will grow to what you really want to build as that dream layout.
This way you can hone your skills in benchwork, tracklaying, scenery, wiring and controls.
Make all your mistakes on the first small layout then you can design a layout to fit your needs and the room.
Very few have jumped in with both feet and built their room filling pike without having any regrets that there were so many : I should have, or if I knew then. Matters such as overall design, track plan, layout room prep, lighting, electrical requirement, the list goes on.
Modeling B&O- Chessie Bob K. www.ssmrc.org
When you go through each step of designing your layout, no matter what part of the process, no matter what design element you are working on, your second step, right after doodling it in, is to use some device to measure the real distance you will have to reach in order to make things work properly, and in order to peform maintenance. Check everywhere.
If there is one thing that throws cold water on your little kingdom, it is the practical inability to get to the area(s) where your attention is needed. Extended reaches, maybe the eighth time, maybe the fifty-first time, will result in an unintended consequence that causes you grief.
This is a warning that has generalize well from all other leisurely pursuits. My other interest is Astronomy. Early in my fact-finding and tip-hunting in that hobby, a seasoned amateur cautioned the heavy-breathing and wide-eyed neophyte that what he can't carry easily will not get used much. But every amateur learns that the best views, the deepest reaches into the night sky, are obtained with what are called 'light buckets", large scopes with big mirrors. Trouble is, large mirrors are made of dense glass/ceramic, and they weigh a metric ton when you are alone and wanting to horse it back into your small station wagon at zero dark thirty in the middle of a farmer's field....without damaging it!
I don't know what you took from those first three paragraphs, but if you understand, it would be better to use the walls, and if desired for continuous running, make it a folded dog-bone. We all hope to create some magical layout that defies the odds of creativity, but the fact is that so many brilliant and logical people have pondered this question that the basic formats have been found.
Just beware how far you will ask your body to reach and still keep from causing more problems than you had wanted to fix.
Sorry forgot to mention scale is HO. 20 inch being the absolute min. radius, would like to have 24 in case of running passenger cars. They look so toy like not to mention need the added real estate to operate nicely. How large a radius do you think I can get away with in the alotted space? The doorway is in a corner of the room and will open from the outside. Appreciate all the help and advice. Let me know if you need more info. Tks
You may be able to go around the wall with a center blob to devide the area if you like. If you want continoues running there will be a couple of substantial blobs for the loops but you can hide these so they are less obveous. You could have the main part for continoues running and stagging in a larger blob and have a branchline along the rest of the room.
There are many options for you. Break it down as mentioned above. Come up with a few key features you would like. Stuff like specific track arangements for a station stop or small town. Understand that you won't likely be able to fit everything in. Think ahead, how will you operate it, alone or with others, stationary or walk around cabs, staging for added interest. It is likely you will have two main points of switching interest and the rest mainline. If you are modeling older and smaller steam you may be able to get more in. The longer the trains the longer the sidings will have to be and the longer your staging also.
John