Double-Sided Layout?

[wabash2800]

Obviously this would only apply to a small layout like a 4x8 or shelf layout, but has anyone ever seen a double-sided layout?

When I say double sided, I mean track and scenery with structures on both sides and the modeler rotates the layout on an axis 180 degrees on the sice he/she wants to run. Of course, rolling stock could not be on the layout at the time it is rotated! Both sides could be completely different scenes for varity. Perhaps this would be useful in a museum setting?

[jeffrey-wimberly]

In all my 50 years I've only seen one such layout, HO on one side, N on the other.

[Anonymous]

You could call MR´s last project layout, the N scale Salt Lake Route, a double-sided layout, having two different scenes on either side. In fact, each layout with a scenic divider going along all the way of the layout is a double-sided one

[steinjr]

 Are you trying to say "flip upside down" or "turn rear side forwards"  or some such thing ?

 Not immediately sure what the advantage of this would be, compared with e.g. just having two small layouts - e.g. stored on shelves above each other. Then, if you wanted to change the display, you just run a simple elevator up or down - leaving rolling stock etc on the shelf as you move the layouts up and down.

 Smile,
 Stein

 

[Flashwave]

steinjr

 Are you trying to say "flip upside down" or "turn rear side forwards"  or some such thing ?

 Not immediately sure what the advantage of this would be, compared with e.g. just having two small layouts - e.g. stored on shelves above each other. Then, if you wanted to change the display, you just run a simple elevator up or down - leaving rolling stock etc on the shelf as you move the layouts up and down.

 Smile,
 Stein

 

Height Clearence is where it beats out an elevator.

HO onone side and N on the other si an interesting concept. I like that actually. A dual-modlar could be kinda neat as well.

[galaxy]

I think he means flips upside down or goes topsy-turvy on a rotating horizontal axis.

Like some gambling or gaming tables that rotate and flip up to a different board game. set into a counter or table...

[stebbycentral]

I played with the concept of such a layout once upon a time, but have never built it. 

In my conception, one side of the layout would be N-scale, and the other would be a larger scale.  HO might work, but a bigger scale would be more visually effective.  The two layouts would be stacked back  to back, with the smaller scale layout on the top level.  The scenic divider between would be a mountain scene.  From the N-scale side you would see nothing of the other layout.  But from the other side you would get glimpses of the N-scale trains running through the mountain passes in the background.

It's an extension of the concept of forced perspective, which is usually currently limited to placing a few smaller-scale structures in the back of a layout to simulate depth.  Only this involves operating trains as well.

[cudaken]

 I seen a article some where about a two side layout. But I was not interest with having a good sizes spaces to work with.

                  Ken

 

[CNJ831]

wabash2800

Obviously this would only apply to a small layout like a 4x8 or shelf layout, but has anyone ever seen a double-sided layout?

When I say double sided, I mean track and scenery with structures on both sides and the modeler rotates the layout on an axis 180 degrees on the sice he/she wants to run. Of course, rolling stock could not be on the layout at the time it is rotated! Both sides could be completely different scenes for varity. Perhaps this would be useful in a museum setting?

Well...perhaps not a full layout, but in a way akin to this concept, I do recall an article along this line long, long ago (perhaps in the 50's?) in MR, possibly penned by John Allen. Therein, it was proposed that significant sections of the layout's scenery could be pivoted and flipped through 180 degrees to allow for two completely different eras, or operating scenarios to be presented. Sample scenes were illustrated, but I don't recall if a completed layout of this design was exhibited in the article, or not. 

I also have some vague recollection of a "suspended" garage layout that was built along the lines of the "fully rotating" concept having appeared in MR at a later date. I think that one's reported major fault was that it never could be made to be fully stabile and continuously level enough to operate very well.

CNJ831

[rrinker]

 I recall a somewhat newer artcile than the 50's talking about that concept - late 70's or early 80's perhaps. We'll be able to find it when the index comes back. The article I'm thinking about promoted the idea of making the rotating pieces triangular and having 3 scenes on each one. There may have been an actual example, not just artists illustrations.

                               --Randy

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

It seems to me that what the OP was talking about was a layout that could be flipped over to reveal another complete layout on what had been the underside, not two layouts on one side separated by a divider and mounted on a revolving axis. The biggest problem I see with a flip-over layout is one that's not insurmountable. That's the mechanism to lock it in place as the front and back edges are unsupported. This could be achieved by having it in a static frame where the main support is where the rotating points are fastened to the center of the layouts left and right edges. Once the layout has been flipped over to reveal the new layout on what had been the underside several braces along the front and back of the frame could be mounted so they could be rotated to become supports to hold the layout in a locked position. This is something that even an unskilled carpenter could do. While this concept would be impractical on a layout such as my own it would work very well on something like a 4x8 or 5x10.

[zstripe]

Hi All,

I don't Post much,but I read them always. The idea of a two sided layout sounds interesting.BUT.

one question comes to mind.How would you wire that ??????

GOOD LUCK.          FRANK

[jeffrey-wimberly]

zstripe

one question comes to mind.How would you wire that ??????

It could consist of two sheets of plywood or foam as you prefer with 2x4's between them to create a space in between them. This space would contain the wiring and said wiring would come out to the control panels at the axis points.

Clear as mud?

[zstripe]

In responce to the clear as MUD I did know how it had to be wired before I wrote the Post.

However!! It would have to be so called Bullet proof. I would hate to have to repair a faulty switch 

machine or whatever once the two were joined.

HA HA.

THANKS FOR THE REPLY.                         FRANK

[CNJ831]

jeffrey-wimberly

zstripe:

one question comes to mind.How would you wire that ??????

 

It could consist of two sheets of plywood or foam as you prefer with 2x4's between them to create a space in between them. This space would contain the wiring and said wiring would come out to the control panels at the axis points.

Clear as mud?

The likely insurmountable problems facing the hobbyist in this instance would tend to be:

1) Access to the wiring, turnout mechanisms, etc. for maintenance, or repair, once the layout is completed, and

2) Eliminating the flexure resulting from only highly localized, two-point, support of the layout. While an absolutely rigid and flexure-free platform might well be accomplished successfully by a commercial firm, in the hands of an average hobbyist the situation I think it would be quite an engineering feat.

CNJ831 

 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

zstripe

I would hate to have to repair a faulty switch 

machine or whatever once the two were joined.

So would I as it would mean taking the structure apart to access the offending switch machine. On a layout of this type surface mount switch machines would make such a replacement much easier. All my track is Bachmann EZ-Track which means the switch machines are built into the track itself. It can be a royal pain to replace a turnout which is why 90% of mine are now manual.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

CNJ831

 

jeffrey-wimberly:

 

 

zstripe:

one question comes to mind.How would you wire that ??????

 

 

It could consist of two sheets of plywood or foam as you prefer with 2x4's between them to create a space in between them. This space would contain the wiring and said wiring would come out to the control panels at the axis points.

Clear as mud?

 

 

The likely insurmountable problems facing the hobbyist in this instance would tend to be:

1) Access to the wiring, turnout mechanisms, etc. for maintenance, or repair, once the layout is completed, and

2) Eliminating the flexure resulting from only highly localized, two-point, support of the layout. While an absolutely rigid and flexure-free platform might well be accomplished successfully by a commercial firm, in the hands of an average hobbyist the situation I think it would be quite an engineering feat.

CNJ831 

 

I covered how that could be accomplished earlier:

It seems to me that what the OP was talking about was a layout that could be flipped over to reveal another complete layout on what had been the underside, not two layouts on one side separated by a divider and mounted on a revolving axis. The biggest problem I see with a flip-over layout is one that's not insurmountable. That's the mechanism to lock it in place as the front and back edges are unsupported. This could be achieved by having it in a static frame where the main support is where the rotating points are fastened to the center of the layouts left and right edges. Once the layout has been flipped over to reveal the new layout on what had been the underside several braces along the front and back of the frame could be mounted so they could be rotated to become supports to hold the layout in a locked position. This is something that even an unskilled carpenter could do. While this concept would be impractical on a layout such as my own it would work very well on something like a 4x8 or 5x10.

[zstripe]

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!!! JEFFREY... have a great day..    FRANK

[rayw46]

This is something I toyed with at one time because it could be flipped up to save space in storage.  I never tried it however but others have.  It would look something like this but with a layout on both sides.  Sorry, I can't credit this photo.

I think this idea of a two sided layout, flip over or whatever, comes from the realization that what we want in a layout far excedes our space.

Ray

[R. T. POTEET]

 

wabash2800, I am in the process of designing my next layout which space considerations is going to require  to be portable. What I am planning is three 54" X 54" platforms suspended in roll-out-of-the-way A-Frames. It will be built in N-Scale and these platforms will really only display on one side; however thinking about it there would be some rather complicated construction features addressing wiring and maintenance but it would be possible to design a double-sided platform that could be suspended to display, say, HO-Scale on one side and N-Scale on the other. I suppose in this same vein it would be possible to design an island type layout which rotated on a spit such as is used in barbacuing.