How large/small is your layout?

[Anonymous]

Mine is only 9x9 (feet) which is bad cos i want lots of action, and not the loop the loop i am restricted too....

what about you?

[Hawks05]

will be 4x8 feet. i'm looking to start the construction of the bench next weekend.

[Anonymous]

Hmm...let's see i have a 17' x 5' area (actually it's 20x7, but figured a few feet on the sides) to play with now, and the acela needs 4.5' diameter minimum for turning, so guess that'll be the new bench for it.

[ShaunCN]

I have a 4x8 area to work with. I have been runnuing this layout for 10 months.
it is so much fun than having no room at all

ShaunCN

[CP5415]

9X12 here (actual), with two 9' long staging yards(in planning stage), depending on how convincing I am to the MRS.

Gordon

[Anonymous]

A simple 4x7 layout... but I plan to incorporate it into a much bigger layout

[Jacktal]

A frustrating 3X4...even in N scale,there's not much you can do if you want continuous running and a little switching.Not much room for scenery either.However I satisfy myself with this one for the moment as it allows me to practice my skills at building and to run very short trains.

I'm presently preparing the room for my planned 6X8 which will be four times as wide,a fair size layout considering I may have to dismantle it for moving some day.Modular construction is my only option.

[Anonymous]

you 're right Shauncn.
better little space than nothing.I am going also to plan a layout for my come back in this hobby but i don't hane so much space (6x6) but i will try to plan something funny .
about this if anybody has an idee for a santa fe junction that can be representated on this space please let me know.
rhenin

[IRONROOSTER]

I have 11x18' and I'm running S scale. In the past I have had 4x8 and 6x6 in HO scale. They're all fun, but you always want more space. The 4x8 guys dream of 8x10, the 8x10 guys dream of 10x20 and so forth. The trick is not getting so big that it becomes monster to build and maintain.
Enjoy
Paul

[BRAKIE]

My new layout is a 30"x 11'6" yard layout..Not much but beats nothing.

[Anonymous]

My layout is an 12 X 17 N scale layout. It's J - shaped, and the long end backs to a wall. I have just traded for an 8 foot module, though, on which I plan to put an intermodal yard. So, really, my layout could technically be called 20 X 17!

[JeremyB]

I agree with IRONROOSTER You always want a big layout but that means more to maintain and more headaches Im happy with my 4X8, I have other hobbies that i like to enjoy.

Jeremy

[rambo1]

My layout is about 9x12 and in the furnace room. A little tight for HO. The boss won,t me take over the rec room.Ah one day rambo1.........

[Anonymous]

My HO layout is in a 10'X12' room and runs around the perimeter with no loops or a duckunder. By using switchbacks (a mountanious setting), I have laid 150' of track and 20 turnouts and am about 80% finished. I find that this is all I care to operate and maintain.

Bill

[JoeKoh]

At my parents house I had an 8' x 16' layout(ho scale)now its a 4X8 layout but one day we'll find a bigger house to expand.
stay safe
Joe and Matt

[Nieuweboer]

I have a 12'6" x 13' spare room available and built a HO layout along the walls 2' deep and a peninsula with a yard jutting into the room. This is not a large layout and each time a get my monthly copy of MR I get a bout of jealousy seeing these marvelous gigantic detailed layouts, but after a while I have my fun operating my own smaller kingdom.

[Anonymous]

Not yet completed, my layout is 5' x12' HO. Being creative I've managed to get 158 feet of track on the layout and is setup on 4 levels. The steepest grade ended up 5% going into the east-to-west return loop and all other grades are 2-3%. I have it divided into 2 tracks which run parallel on the large curves at each end. The inside track, I call the freight line, includes the return loops which are underground. The return loops turnouts are controlled automatically by infrared electronic circuits. The outside track, I call the passenger line, has 22" curves except the inside passing siding which is 20.5", a little tight but it works. Due to the cost of DCC I will be using a conventional 2 cab control panel and toggle switches with LEDs. The LEDs, green and yellow, indicate which cab has control of the block.

You can view my layout plan by clicking on this link http://members.cox.net/dbhuff/dsrr/images/66NorthernLayout.jpg

[Anonymous]

My layout is 10 X 18' in HO. It is around the walls with a duckunder. I hope in the noto too distant future to move to a larger garage with a smaller house attached and build my dream layout.

Howard

[mecovey]

54' by 30' - The B&O is the parent road and an interchange is modeled roughly based on M&K Junction in West Virginia. It runs from side by side hidden staging that represent Parkersburg, WV on one end and Cumberland, MD on the other. From the Junction, the Pennsylvania Midland has branch lines running both east and west. There are live interchanges with the N&W and the Shenandoah and Tidewater on the east branch. Each branch is between 2 and 3 scale miles long. The East branch goes to New Island, WV and is home to New Island Coal Co. This tipple loads coal into 32 foot 2 bay hoppers with the loads hauled back to the junction. The coal is handed off to the B&O as either "Tidewater coal" (eastbound) or "Lake coal" (westbound). The west branch is complete only as far as the benchwork but will run to an as yet unnamed town of approx. 30,000 and will be the locaiton of the power plant. The power plant is where all that coal we load at New Island and at another on-line tipple goes that isn't handed off to the B&O.

Scenery is about 40% complete and is mostly rocks and trees - 1,000s of 'em. I seem to work on it in spurts. Sometimes I'm in the basement 8 -10 hours a day for several days and then I might not go down for a month. I have done most of the work myself but would enjoy the company of other modelers who would like to work on a railroad.

My goal is realistic operation and the building part is necessary to support that goal...otherwise I think I would rename it the Plywood Pacific get on with the operation.

[rambo1]

Sometimes it is not how big our layouts are but scenery and detail mean alot . It is at night after a hard day at work that we can sit down and run trains in our own little kindom that counts. rambo1......

[Anonymous]

A 9 by 13 foot layout, a present double decked but eventually triple decked (lowest one not installed will be for staging), in N scale. In smaller spaces N scale is a better scale to get that "empire" you want. In a 9 by 9 room, you could have a multi-decked N scale layout that would give you that empire. Remember a 9 by 9 foot N scale layout is really like a 17 by 17 foot HO layout.

[Jetrock]

6 feet by 18 inches. Eventually I hope to add two 1x4 foot sections and one 6x3 foot sections (to make an O-shaped layout with me in the middle) for a total size of about 6x7.5 feet (the width of my garage.) If I can free up some more space I may add more on either side--my garage is roughly 8x16 feet so there isn't much room for expansion and still fit all my gear inside...

[Anonymous]

I'm currently working on a new 4X12 layout in our living room. My old layout was 4X8 and just wasn't what I wanted, so I dismantled it and started over. I'm hoping to get the lower loop and main lines operational by Christmas. As of right now, the benchwork isn't finished yet.

Mrs. Mac

[Anonymous]

Jetrock,

I too use the garage as my playroom. My 5' x 12' sets on two 4' x 4' x 40"h storage cabinets with access doors on 2 sides. The 4' space between the two I have put drawer slides, purchased from my local DIY store. One roll-out shelf for the control panel, one which is a mini workbench, and one for loco/roling stock storage. Overhead I built storage cabinets with resessed lighting. This way I can still fit my gear in the garage and run the MR between that which is stored under the layout and that which is stored overhead.

BTW I got 1/3 of the 2 car garage and the wife's car gets the other 2/3.

[jpmorrison]

my layuot is 24x24 with a 9x16 add on talk about a headache i dont know when i will
be done.sometimes i wish it would be smaller

[vsmith]

My layout is 8 1/2 feet wide by 20 feet long, but its 1/2" scale so its sort of a large scale - micro layout. If it were HO the track plan would probably equal 2 feet by 5 feet or there abouts.

[eastcoast]

12.6 x 13 around the room shelf. I have to compete for space in my house and all the area underneath is storage for everybody else in my house. I am happy just to have a layout at this point. But I made many a sacrifice to get where I am today.

[Anonymous]

Right now my layout is aproxamatly 6X14 Feet. It is still underconstruction. This will be the start of a much larger layout that if my ambitions are ever fufilled could make Northlands look like tinkertoy. Also may layout will be much more intersting than northlands because it will actually be operated rather than an endless sereis of loops with trains running aimlessly.

I also have am planning a 2X8 foot module that represents a rail rebuild facility based very loosly off of the Livingston Rebuild Center in Livingston Montana, (On Montana Rail Link Trackage) When that is made and incorporated into my layout, it will then be a 6 X 22 feet T shaped layout.

[Jetrock]

QUOTE: Originally posted by dhuff


BTW I got 1/3 of the 2 car garage and the wife's car gets the other 2/3.

My garage is more like a 2/3 of a car garage--just under 8 feet wide and around 16 feet long. It doesn't even fit my car inside when it's empty. I'm using various methods to continue to use layout footprint as storage space--the layout itself is set at 48", with a bookshelf underneath. I'm installing a shelf at 6' high with a 4" valance, which will have lighting installed underneath and provide about 20" for backdrop. The ceiling is about 7' high but at least I'll have that extra foot of space for storage.

[vsmith]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Jetrock

QUOTE: Originally posted by dhuff


BTW I got 1/3 of the 2 car garage and the wife's car gets the other 2/3.

My garage is more like a 2/3 of a car garage--just under 8 feet wide and around 16 feet long. It doesn't even fit my car inside when it's empty. I'm using various methods to continue to use layout footprint as storage space--the layout itself is set at 48", with a bookshelf underneath. I'm installing a shelf at 6' high with a 4" valance, which will have lighting installed underneath and provide about 20" for backdrop. The ceiling is about 7' high but at least I'll have that extra foot of space for storage.

It looks like we're all in the same boat on this subject.

I am also in the garage, got the rear of the garage space and under a 7' high storage loft to boot! and I had to fight to get that! As I stated in my first post my layout is 1/2" scale G gauge, so the layout has to be carefully wedged into place, but I guess thats part of the challenge.