I am very much enjoying the small layouts in the March 2016 issue of MR, particularly Robert Pethoud's switching layout.
i like the way that he gets all the turnouts on the center module, but 15" seems extravagantly wide to me . I'll probably mock it up to see if I can get the same trackplan into 12".
Having the turnouts on the center module offers a lot of flexibility in designing the extensions.
His detailed descriptions of the operations are useful, especially for those who are skeptical about a small layout keeping them busy.
Like John Flann, he gets a lot of operation from a small space at the cost of the scheme being somewhat diagrammatic. It isn't a surprise that he is a math teacher!
i have an Excel spreadsheet that determines which spots get setouts with a random number generator and a rounding function.
Once I see which spots get cars, I pretty much follow Donovan Furin's practice: the next appropriate car out of staging/storage gets delivered to that spot.
I like the feeling of having less control over the work to be done by the crew, protypically I assume?
I was pleased to see some 4 by 8 layout stories. Let's be real, 4 by 8 is all the layout many people can squeeze into their homes. Showing what can be done with a 4 by 8 is the way to attract new people to the hobby. Which we need. I noticed most of the people at the Springfield train show were old retired guys, like me. Very few kids or working age folk.
Speaking of operating, I need to find or write a program to generate switch lists for the peddler freight, so the crew (me) has a list that says "spot car ABC 1234 on siding so and so", and "spot car XYZ 789 on siding such and such" where the specified cars might be anywhere in the train. To make it work I would key in the car reporting marks for all the cars in the train and the program would use random numbers to assign cars to sidings.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Small layouts are great!
I am currently building a Swiss narrow gauge line themed layout which just measures 3 by 5 ft. It´s just a simple oval and a spur leading to a cement silo (my prototype railroad does haul a lot of cement), not more! While the track plab isn´t thrilling at all, the setting is:
Right now, I have installed the facia and continue shaping the scenery, using pink foam. Installation of the curved backdrop will be challenging, but I hope to have that covered by next week.
It´s not only a compact layout, it is a compact project which I will be able to finish in a time span guaranteeing me not to lose my interest in it. I just can´t picture myself starting a layout which will take decades to complete!
I also like "operating" this little layout. It´s DC only, but I have invested some money into a good throttle, offering me momentum simulation and a quite realistic brake feature. With that I can run a loco just like a real one!
I am glad MR is taking up the challenge of presenting smaller, more doable layouts to the average modeler!
I too love small railroads. While my current layout is a shelf switcher, other than a bit along one wall, it's 80% just 2x8. I'm also not adverse to the classic 4x8 as so many are. Yes, it is unrealistic. Yes, the curves are tight and the sidings too short. But for many people it fits in a small room or basement and provides continuous running which is really more important to a lot of people that TT&TO ops. And it's in a buildable size given the many things pulling on people's time -- they just don't have 20 or more hours a week to devote to building a railroad.
I'd say keep up the small and spare room size layouts and operating them.
jim
I just picked up the issue yesterday and can't wait to dig into the small layouts. My fiancee and I are closing on our first house in a month and a half, and I've already been informed the trains are either being boxed up or going somewhere small. I'm hoping I can find inspiration to build something that won't take up a lot of space, but give me somewhere to go to take my mind off of grad school and teaching when it gets too stressful. I tried a 4x8 when I was in high school, but never got to far with everything. I just glanced at the layouts, and theres a few track plans that caught my eye. A huge, whole room layout is way out of the question for me right now, but something small might be more feasible and easier to justify.
I am in agreement on "small can be better", or at least, what most will have to settle for in the real world of today. Even 4X8 is large in many homes.
I have built some larger layouts in my time, but always fulminated over the relative wasted space, added expense and tedium of working on and maintaining the central areas of my larger layouts. I though I was ahead of the game when I built rectangular layouts with the interior cut-out and open for the operator. Then I realized this was, in effect, an around-the-room concept in minature.
Of late I have come to realize the power and good sense in the shelf style layout. It is the culmination of the best of everything in model railroading. It is easy to build and maintain. It can pack most of the best in MR'ing that many of us seek into a really workable area. If the area is well planned, a shelf layout will not necessairly interfere with the normal use of the room in a home for other purposes.
I am not downing the classic large layout or empire builders out there. I am just saying that with the combination of modern folks limited time, limited space and often limited budgets, a shelf layout, regardless of length or width, is a real, viable solution for many. As already noted by others, A successful adventure into a small layout by a first time MR might just be the thing to "set the hook" in creating a lifelong model railroader.
Richard
If I can't fix it, I can fix it so it can't be fixed