Hello and help!

[toomuchfun]

Hello!

I am a returning model railroader and I want to get started on my layout right away.

My plan is for 1950's - 1960's MOPAC, and KATY from St. Louis to Clinton MO and St. Louis to Columbia, MO, in HO scale.

The kicker is right now I have access to only a 13' x 9' room...

Is this even possible? How should I proceed?

Thanks

toomuchfun

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Consider an around the wall layout with a lift out or hinged bridge at the room entry. Also, you may have enough runout to do a two level layout with a 1.5% grade. That would give you almost 80' of running room.

 

[bwells]

Yup, I agree with D&J, around the wall. That is a good sized room with a lot of area to model but with say a 28 inch radius in all 4 corners is going to eat up a lot of real estate and hard to reach all the way back. Another thought would be a dogbone layout with access around all sides. Lots of possibilities. Keep us posted on how you are leaning.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

Instead of having a deep reach in the corners, you might consider building the corners out as I did in my basement layout.
It's a bit of work to do but it makes it so much worth it when building the layout.