Hey Guys and Gals,
I have a question for you, I'm planning on useing a trackplan for my new layout, but it is in HO scale I want to draw it up in Nscale, the plan should fit in a space about 18 ft X 18 ft, can anybody help.
Thanks Trainsrme1
If the HO plan is designed to fill in an 18x18 space, keeping it the same size won't require changing anything at all. It will give you nice broad sweeping curves in N-Scale.
If converting from a larger (Greater then 18square) plan, have a commercial print shop (find a local one, they're usually decent about helping out for "cheap") to a size that is 54.375% of what you are bringing them.
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Remember that tracks scale down, but operator's butts do not. Aisles have to be just as wide regardless of scale. Indeed if anything the smaller scale gives you the opportunity to have really comfortable aisles rather than the compromises needed to give a larger scale its due. Some years ago Andy Sperandeo created a formula for doing this, but I cannot recall what issue of MR contained that quick and handy formula.
Also remember that no law says you have to follow any plan completely.
The idea of building the exact same layout only in a smaller scale has its virtues. Years ago when Linn Westcott was editor of Model Railroader and N scale was brand new, he asked in an editorial which way N would go -- would people build the same cramped little layouts they always he, only smaller, or would they take advantage of the size and create really sweeping vistas and near-prototype curves? I think it is still an open question.
Another good idea is building portions of the layout to the larger size and connecting it with more economical parts. A simple trip to a Xerox type copier, make several copies, and then take a sissors to the plan and cut out the parts that would seem to work in N, while connecting the parts with a plan you draw yourself (or with parts taken from other plans) could be enjoyable planning fun.
Dave Nelson
GraniteRailroader If the HO plan is designed to fill in an 18x18 space, keeping it the same size won't require changing anything at all. It will give you nice broad sweeping curves in N-Scale. If converting from a larger (Greater then 18square) plan, have a commercial print shop (find a local one, they're usually decent about helping out for "cheap") to a size that is 54.375% of what you are bringing them.
This is sound advice. Back in the late '60s, when OOO was being changed to N scale, a friend of mine bought an N scale set with a nice little 0-6-0 switcher. I was in my 20s then, but I had trouble putting the loco and cars onto the track---had to use the (re)railer that came with the set. I had just changed back to HO from O scale (hadn't gotten rid of my HO anyway), but as N scale improved and more and more equipment, including steam locos, became available, I fantasized about it.
I liked the idea of 30-40-(50?)-car freights and 8-10 car passenger trains on sweeping curves where the RR was somewhat dwarfed by the scenery it passed through. Most people were looking at it from the other end of the binoculars: they were fitting HO track plans into 2x4' and so forth, which was okay if you didn't have room for something bigger, but I figured if the room was available why not use the HO track plan as-is and avoid filling the space with too much RR. Sounds like you have something similar in mind. If you have the 15x15' available, I say do it! The advantages I thought of at the time were not just the broader, more realistic curves and longer sidings, but yards could have a few more tracks, stations and industrial districts could have more revenue-producing structures---and if modeling steam, the engine facilities could have a more majestic spread regarding roundhouses and service structures. A lot of HO (and larger) layouts have limited room for the turntables and roundhouses, and I've always loved multi-stall roundhouses! N scale roundhouses are designed with more acute angles between stalls, allowing more realistic fan tracks off the turntables, which is somewhat curtailed, even in HO.
Another thing I highly recommend, since you'll probably have to use flex track for your curves anyway---or may prefer to save a few $$$$ this way---is to develop easements for entry and exit of your beautiful, sweeping curves. I'm sure other members of this forum can tell you how to develop fairly simple easements, then all you have to do is cut a template or two from some stiff sheeting such as thin plywood, hardboard, or even styrene or heavy cardboard. I occurs to me that with the extra room from using an HO track plan for N scale, it would be easier than trying to form easements in larger scales---and I'm sure others would agree with me that easements (and superelevation!) would ad TONS of realism to your railroad.