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I'm in a bit of a quandary

Hello all, I've just moved and have manage to negotiate 'layout rights' to 8' x

6' -ish of a spare room, but I don't know what to do with it! My interests in trains are many and varied from 19thC. LCDR to modern UK via Irish, Japanese and US, plus the MR,GCR (esp. Woodhead), LNWR and various other companies! I grew up in a land of Tubes and EMU's (3rd rail & overhead) and I'm considering something in that area but I know that I'll always be thinking 'what if?' My skills are very much at the beginner level, I haven't even attempted a metal kit yet although card and plastic hold no fears! One idea is a simple four-track oval with a scenic front and a FY at the rear, with no station to show where or when it's set, so that I could run just about anything but there's little scope for operation there I feel. Does anyone have any ideas how I may be able to resolve this conundrum?

Del

-- 'Life - loathe it or ignore it, you can't like it' If you want to e-mail, you'll have to remove YOURCLOTHES

Reply to
Del The Obscure
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Random thought; two layouts overlapping each other ? It would require two full circular (oval) layouts over the entire room. Arranged so that there is one side of each oval which is scenic/operational. The other half is fiddle yard for that layout. Each oval is arranged so that its fiddle yard is either under or behind the scenic/operational bit of the other layout.

Your fiddle yards could be extensive, or they could just be through running lines with no actual storage, depending how your designs progress.

- Nigel

Reply to
NC

In article , Del The Obscure writes

The world is not quite your oyster, but you have a choice of mollusc, especially as you don't mention a preferred scale.

If you like long main-line trains, N is going to be a candidate. On the other hand 8x6 is not impossible for an industrial or harbour G-scale layout.

That has possibilities in OO and N.

How about a high level double track, widening to four storage tracks at one side, (that could be done as a simple stage 1) with a single track branch line winding along the lower level. That could give you shunting etc. and if the high level is modern, the branch could be a preserved line, running *anything*. They would not necessarily connect.

Make some nice flat baseboards round the room and have fun with the Kato click together track for a while, building different layouts?

Reply to
Chris Brown

Along the lines of a two-level layout, here is one that I have been thinking about for a long time but never had the opportunity to try. Your room might work well for it.

The idea is a two-level layout, the lower level being a city waterfront district with lots of dense buildings, tight curves, restrictive shunting. The service to this waterfront area would be by car float (or ferry). The upper level would incorporate fiddle yard (Brit style) or staging yard (Yankee style) and also a continuous running loop just 'cuz I like to watch trains run some times. The trick: the car float sails *vertically* between levels. This would have to be built using cabinet drawer slide hardware or maybe an old photographic enlarger or some such.

Advantages: the lower level can have U-shaped benchwork, leaving a gap at the door. The upper level can be high enough that the duck under is not too severe. Waterfront goods service is by its nature compact with tight curves, so it fits well in a small space. No nasty grades connecting the two levels (well, except for the part we fudge with the car float :-) Disadvantages: it might become tedious having to load/unload that car float all the time.

The now defunct San Francisco Belt Railroad would be the perfect prototype for such a layout. I don't know much about ferry service on your side of the pond, but I imagine there are prototypes to be found. I've seen articles now and again about vertical "sector plates" so the vertically sliding benchwork is doable.

-dave

Reply to
Dave Curtis

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