We're moving next week, and unfortunately the house may not have enough room for my present layout. The funny thing is that the house is actually bigger, but the way the space is laid out, I don't think that I can make it fit where it won't be in the way.
So, I've been tinkering with very small layout plans for the past week. The one that sticks in my mind the most was created by Mike Fischer. Click on his name to view the track plans. The one I'm talking about is the first one in his list. This plan is similar to the Rock Ridge layout published in MR recently.
I've come up with the track plan below. It's a continous loop with a branch line that runs up to the top of a mesa or hill/mountain. The general idea is that there is a mine at the top of the branch, and trains of ore cars are brought down to the interchange track located by the small town. The spur that runs off to the top of the plan (on the right) would run to a hidden staging area located on a narrow shelf behind the couch.
The whole layout is 50" wide by 26" deep. The picture below shows it within a 50"x24" area, but I added on some more space for a safety margin. If I left out the track to staging, I could probably cram it all into a 2'x4' area.
I'm trying to come up with ideas, though, to make it a little more interesting. Given the very small size, there's not a whole lot that can be squeezed in; but I thought it might be nice to have some interchangable sections. For example, maybe the town could be lifted out and exchanged with an ore smelting facility. Or perhaps the mine could be exchanged with some other industry.
I created a scale model of the layout using card stock. From my previous experience and from what I can see on the model, the clearances seem to work. On the diagram below, the green areas are the lowest elevation, dark brown is the incline (approx. 2.8%), and the light brown area is the top of the plateau (3" above the green area).
Any ideas? Input? Suggestions?
Also, anybody got any N-scale track plans that would fit about a 2'x4' area?
Thanks!
-Rory
So, I've been tinkering with very small layout plans for the past week. The one that sticks in my mind the most was created by Mike Fischer. Click on his name to view the track plans. The one I'm talking about is the first one in his list. This plan is similar to the Rock Ridge layout published in MR recently.
I've come up with the track plan below. It's a continous loop with a branch line that runs up to the top of a mesa or hill/mountain. The general idea is that there is a mine at the top of the branch, and trains of ore cars are brought down to the interchange track located by the small town. The spur that runs off to the top of the plan (on the right) would run to a hidden staging area located on a narrow shelf behind the couch.
The whole layout is 50" wide by 26" deep. The picture below shows it within a 50"x24" area, but I added on some more space for a safety margin. If I left out the track to staging, I could probably cram it all into a 2'x4' area.
I'm trying to come up with ideas, though, to make it a little more interesting. Given the very small size, there's not a whole lot that can be squeezed in; but I thought it might be nice to have some interchangable sections. For example, maybe the town could be lifted out and exchanged with an ore smelting facility. Or perhaps the mine could be exchanged with some other industry.
I created a scale model of the layout using card stock. From my previous experience and from what I can see on the model, the clearances seem to work. On the diagram below, the green areas are the lowest elevation, dark brown is the incline (approx. 2.8%), and the light brown area is the top of the plateau (3" above the green area).
Any ideas? Input? Suggestions?
Also, anybody got any N-scale track plans that would fit about a 2'x4' area?
Thanks!
-Rory
. Better still, just put your own design into the space.
