Future Plans Hit a Snag!

Del Monte

New Member
As I stated in previous posts, my future plans to build a new layout based on a Atlas Track Plan, has run into a snag. After disassembling my old layout this past weekend, I did some serious measuring and found out my dream 6' x 13' dream layout ain't gonna fit into the whole finished basement plan of things. Not wanting to go smaller on the track plan, I'm wondering if there is a way to convert my track plan to, dare I say, N scale? To be honest I already have a 30" x 60" layout now, with around 90+ pieces of rolling stock and eleven engines and my pride and joy a Concor Pacific type Loco., but the thought of shrinking this HO layout plan to N sounded pretty cool. Can this be done? How do I do it? I don't know to much about converting scale inches to another scale. I would appreciate any help. Thanks.


Del
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
HO IS 1/87 WHEREAS N SCALE IS 1/160. So n scale is almost but not quite 1/2 the size of ho. You can divide the full size ho plan in half to get the size for n scale. The exception is if their are any aisle in the plan. Since people are full size and don't get smaller when they go to a smaller scale a 36 inch wide aisle needs to stay 36 inches wide regardless of scale. Another thing to consider is if you don't need to make your layout 1/2 the size of the full sized ho layout, you can expand the n scale layout by using a larger radius or longer straights to fill a larger space.
 

Del Monte

New Member
Sorry......interurban..you lost me...? Russ thanks for the help. I'm still looking at my situation here for space. If I can't find the footage I need I'll be shrinking my plans. Hopefully not. :thumb:


Del
 

Pitchwife

Dreamer
I ran into almost the same thing. Although I wasn't working from a published layout, I had everything planned and then did some final remeasuring and lo and behold my room had shrunk by 2'. :cry: :cry: What I would suggest is carefully measure all of your dimensions and get a scale drawing down on paper or on a CAD type program like Atlas' Right Track. Determine the points of the original layout are most important to you, and then do a little nip and tuck to fit it into the available space. Personally I start with the available space and then see how much I can cram into it. :D :D :D :D
If you do switch from HO to N you might be able to expand on the original plan. The main thing to remember is to stay flexable and don't give up. :thumb: :thumb:
 

interurban

Active Member
Del Monte said:
Sorry......interurban..you lost me...? Russ thanks for the help. I'm still looking at my situation here for space. If I can't find the footage I need I'll be shrinking my plans. Hopefully not. :thumb:


Del
Hi The idea was for you to send a privet message to the mentioned guys, as they are good at scaleing a L/O down and would have helped.
But you have all the help you need now :thumb:
 
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