Help ! need help with layout design ! Help !

[Anonymous]

Ok let me explain my delima. I am 12 years old and am in the planning stages of a new layout. my bedroom is 10x14 ft and that space already has to accomadate a shelf,desk and bed. I currently have 4x8 benchwork my dad built for me to set my trains up on, but I don't know if this is the best way to use this space. I model in HO scale and I would like to either model a branch or mainline of the Rock Island in Western Oklahoma. I like branchline modeling but if possible I would like to model a mainline. I am currently planning on freelancing but modeling a prototype would be nice. my abbilities and budget are pretty low right now and I cant do complex benchwork. My dad is always busy ( he is a proffeser and is also studying for a Phd. ) and my mom knowes nothing about it so I am pretty much on my own. access must also be good. any help would be appriciated. Thanks !!!

Alex in the sooner state[:)][:D][8D][:p][;)][:o)][8)][^][?]

[jpmorrison]

i would only do a 4x8 layout if you can get to all the side because of the reach you
might have to climb on top of the layout

[Anonymous]

When I was young, I had a 4x8 layout in the garage, and my dad built a rope-and-pulley rigging so that the whole thing could be drawn up to the ceiling. Do you think you can find the help you need to do something like this? Then you could lower it over your bed for use.

The trouble with 4x8 is that it is too deep to reach all the way across, and so you have to have an aisle on each side. A shelf-type layout runs around the walls, concentrating the "wasted" space of access aisles in the center. It might be possible to weave a shelf layout around your space, tucking it behind or over furniture as needed (i.e. maybe it's just a 6" wide single-track mainline behind the bed, then widens out to a town scene elsewhere), but this would require complex benchwork, as you say.

Another option, one I would encourage, is to go modular. Find a local club that has their own module standards, and just build one to match theirs. They may even build the benchwork for you. Then, you can operate long trains when the club gets together, and focus on smaller projects in the "off" time. You might want to create 180-degree turns on adjoining modules, which could be left as bare plywood, so that you can set it up on your own. Using a 2'x4' module size, you could carve that 4x8 into four modules, two straight and two with curves, and you would just focus on one at a time, with the others in storage. Thus, you only have a small 2x4 to place in the room.

[Jetrock]

If you want to make the best use of the space, cut the 4x8 sheet in half lengthwise, giving you an L-shaped layout along two sides of the room--you can easily fit bookshelves or other furniture under it, or use three appropriately-sized bookshelves for support. It would mean that you wouldn't have a "loop" to just make the trains go round and round, but you would have a very realistic setting for a nice long straight run with a gentle curve at one end. With an L-shaped arrangement you could have small yards at either end to break down trains and shuttle them to local industries--not as easy as just letting the trains run around, but lots more interesting to operate.

You could also have some sort of industry in the corner of the L, providing a scenic focus.in the middle of the layout.

So far as I know, western Oklahoma is pretty flat so you could get away with simple benchwork--just make it flat and add a few rolling hills in the background. If I'm incorrect about this let me know.

A small layout doesn't need much rolling stock, just pick up pieces as you find them in your price range and before long you'll have quite a collection.

[Anonymous]

My Solution: Beg for a 7x11' area in the basement or another unused area. :)

[Jacktal]

I understand your problem....but most problems have solutions.I suggest that you first give good thoughts to what you want and how you could accomodate it,which I believe you've done already.

I'm guessing...maybe you have a grandpa,an uncle or cousin or whoever who would be happy to help you getting started.Sometimes it's only a matter of asking.There are a lot of grandpas out there that would be thrilled to be helpful.

[Hawks05]

if my grandpa wasn't 91 and partially if not totally blind and could here good i know he'd love to help me. i might ask my cousin for some scrap lumber and such from different job sites, he's a construction worker. my friend said if i want to bring my cousin over to see his layout i could. i know my cousin would like to see it. even though i don't think he likes model railroading i know he'd like to see this layout. i could maybe get him hooked that way into helping me. if not i know my dad wouldn't mind helping build some benchwork for me as the last wood project i did 2 years ago for a class is sitting in pieces in one or our garages. it was a guitar stand.

anyways i to am in the process of planning something out. that will change when i can finally start making the benchwork and laying track. i need to get rail joiners tomorrow then i'll probably start hopefully building something next weekend. i need to get money to as there is a show coming up the 22nd and i need to go to that and get some more stuff.

so far i think i'm going to go with a flat bench but have a short tunnel in it or just leave it so i can put some more industries on the layout.

[Anonymous]

I have a 4X9 ft layout in an enclosed porch which is 9X11. If you are careful laying the track in the back there is no worry about reaching the back, although derailments still do happen. My layout has two levels which I'm still struggling to scenic but I left a space on the layout that has simple scenicking so I can rest a foot or hand on it to reach the back. The space underneath has a mattress and a t.v. with all the video games hooked to it so the space underneath is still usable.

Start simple, if you can find a way add a foot to the layout it does make a difference. Just start with the space you have availible and decide what you want and what you could live without. It's hard to get branch and main line action in a small space but it is possible. Look through some of the past MR Planning magazines, the 1999 issue has lots of good plans for 5X9 layouts if you have the space for it and can find it. I hope this helps.

Jeremy

Go Packers

[Anonymous]

Train Boy,

Jacktal wrote

QUOTE:
There are a lot of grandpas out there that would be thrilled to be helpful.

Contact me via e-mail - it is in my profile - and I would love to help you design your bedroom RR layout.

Grampa of 4 with lots of spare time.