Planning N scale layout with river ending in bay/harbor


M

Matthewd5

Member
Ok so I've got my N scale layout coming together and I have one nagging issue, on my 4x8 setup just a bit to the left of center I have a river planned to wind down from the very top to the bottom

I'm hung up on what width to use for the river before it gets to the much larger harbor

I have plans for 2 car bridges and probably 3 train/water crossings

My primary industry will be lobster boats and fishing with a commercial dock/waterfront

I live in Maine so it's kind of a no brainer

Matthew
 
Are all of these 4-5 bridges going to be 'signature' items that define your layout? Or could you possibly be satisfied with half that number? The reason I ask is because I'm not sure how you would fit so many bridges on a 4x8 (even in N scale), unless you plan to (a) have the same right-of-way go thru the same scene twice, or (b) have a large number of tracks in a small area.

And how would your body of 'water' be oriented - would it run crosswise or lengthwise? A rough sketch of what you're hoping to do would be very helpful here.

Whatever you decide on, be sure to keep your tracks in easy-to-reach places (in case of derailments etc.) - you don't want your shirt sleeve snagging that fragile model of a bascule bridge or other tall structure.

Anyhow, I wish you the best of luck - I'm a harbor lover myself!:)
 
CSX_road_slug said:
Are all of these 4-5 bridges going to be 'signature' items that define your layout? Or could you possibly be satisfied with half that number? The reason I ask is because I'm not sure how you would fit so many bridges on a 4x8 (even in N scale), unless you plan to (a) have the same right-of-way go thru the same scene twice, or (b) have a large number of tracks in a small area.

And how would your body of 'water' be oriented - would it run crosswise or lengthwise? A rough sketch of what you're hoping to do would be very helpful here.

Whatever you decide on, be sure to keep your tracks in easy-to-reach places (in case of derailments etc.) - you don't want your shirt sleeve snagging that fragile model of a bascule bridge or other tall structure.

Anyhow, I wish you the best of luck - I'm a harbor lover myself!:)
Click to expand...

The layout is 8 ft wide with river running from top to bottom with harbor at bottom

I definitely need two rail bridges for a return loop, I could drop the second car bridge

The harbor/bay will be at the bottom of the layout a little bit off center, not sure how big that will be

With one inch foam seems like I'll need a lot of the water effect filler stuff!

Still not sure how big to make river but if it was only 2" wide that's 2"x48"x3/4"

I guess I could layer the bottom of the water feature with light colored sand?

Looking to use unreal details magic water

Trying to look at as many layouts with water features as I can...

Matthew
 
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Not sure how you'd fit it all in on a 4 x 8, but they say there's a prototype for nearly everything, and here's one for all those bridges.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=tacom...124&hnear=Tacoma,+Pierce,+Washington&t=h&z=16

3 Railroad bridges. BNSF, Tacoma Rail (Ex Milwaukee) and UP.
3 Road bridges, two freeways and a main highway.
That's all within less than a mile of river.

There are, of course, a lot of places with quite a few road bridges close together. Finding 3 railroad bridges nearly side by side is less common.

Scroll to the top and you'll find two more road crossings. Years ago, there was another railroad bridge as well, the Milwaukee had one.

Oh, and it's a Port too.
 
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