Please help this New guy with a layout


N

NikoTank

New Member
Forgive me everyone, I am completely new at this. Brief background, my grandfather retired from the railroad and also did HO trains as a hobby. He passed away when I was young so I didn't get to the age to be old enough to learn the nuts and bolts. I did however love his set up and being able to run the trains. Recently I have come into possesion of a few of his trains and buildings which has inspired me to build my own little HO town. The space I have to work with is 2.5ft wide and can be anywhere from 4 to 6.5ft long. I know this may be a small area, but it's all that I can realistically have to set this up. I was hoping there were some possible layouts for this sort of space using HO scale. I was thinking of going with a basic oval, or a dog-bone shape, but I'm not sure the 2.5ft width is even feasible.

If anyone can help provide some advice or even a layout for this space, it would be greatly appreciated and help usher in a new HO railroader.:D
 
It sounds like a small switching layout is your best bet. The beauty of a switching layout is that at some future date when you have more space, it can be incorporated into a larger layout.

Best of luck.
 
Thanks, however that's what I was afraid of. When I said I was new to this, I mean really green behind the ears new. I'm not sure if down the road I would be able to expand, unless I win the lottery. So if I'm understanding you right, the radius in on a 2.5ft wide shelf would be too tight for an HO set-up?
 
NikoTank said:
Thanks, however that's what I was afraid of. When I said I was new to this, I mean really green behind the ears new. I'm not sure if down the road I would be able to expand, unless I win the lottery. So if I'm understanding you right, the radius in on a 2.5ft wide shelf would be too tight for an HO set-up?
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's pretty much the story. The minimum reasonable radius you can use is about 18", although some people have gotten away with 15 running small engines/cars. If you add a couple inches to allow for the width of the track, your 18" radius track becomes a 40" circle. Then, I suspect you'd tire pretty quickly of watching trains go round and round in a small circle.
 
Don't feel to bad as I'm limited in space myself however I'm doing a "L" shape switching style layout. With the space you have you can also do a switching layout and still have room to put some buildings and scenery down. Granted you can't run a long train but you can still have hours of fun building and running a switching railroad. Keep us posted and good luck to ya and feel free to ask questions and be sure to post pics if you can.
 
You could take a look here - this is now an archive - RMweb has been upgraded - but there may well be something usefull in here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=24472

You could also look at this http://www.the-gauge.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=2965&hilit=fluesheet based on an N-scale design from Mikes
http://www.cke1st.com/m_train2.htm I re-drew it for HO scale here
http://f1.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/IL0BTiF2-xevMm9X5DlHbgXS99UlSHslCpjI0o3X0ja1qW8QFp8C4Exeg4rYwpp3L05hD_1TH1NeAtmTFPUh/Shortliner%27s%20Folder/Nessst.jpg and it fits into 78" x 12" if you have the room. Hope they help
 
Agree with DDad. 2.5 feet in depth implies something like 14-inch radius curves for a turnback loop of track. Too tight in HO IMO.

However, you could do a decent HO shelf switcher in that space. I'm currently working with 18 inches by about 7 feet for a contemporary switching layout and I'm happy with that. I might add a removable extension for staging if I can convince The Boss that it won't hose up the family room.
 
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I would start off with two 2'x3' modules. Even if you don't follow standards for track placement, wiring, etc. At least you will have a small switcher layout that you can expand in the future.

The nice thing about modules is that with 4 of them, you could have a decent 4'x6' layout (if you plan ahead when you build the first two), that you could set up and take down as needed.

Have fun with it and take your time.
Doug
 
Maybe if you can post some pics of the trains that you came in possession of then
someone could tell you more about what radius of curve is required.

(That's just an excuse to get you to post pics because we just love looking at trains.)
​
 
NikoTank said:
Forgive me everyone, I am completely new at this. Brief background, my grandfather retired from the railroad and also did HO trains as a hobby. He passed away when I was young so I didn't get to the age to be old enough to learn the nuts and bolts. I did however love his set up and being able to run the trains. Recently I have come into possesion of a few of his trains and buildings which has inspired me to build my own little HO town. The space I have to work with is 2.5ft wide and can be anywhere from 4 to 6.5ft long. I know this may be a small area, but it's all that I can realistically have to set this up. I was hoping there were some possible layouts for this sort of space using HO scale. I was thinking of going with a basic oval, or a dog-bone shape, but I'm not sure the 2.5ft width is even feasible.

If anyone can help provide some advice or even a layout for this space, it would be greatly appreciated and help usher in a new HO railroader.:D
Click to expand...

I would go with 6.5 foot long and maybe 20-24" deep, and make a small scene which also can be used as a standalone switching layout.

In that kind of space you could e.g. do a variant of Chuck Yungkurth's classic "Gum Stump and Snowshoe" layout (a whole page of Gumstump layouts here: http://carendt.us/scrapbook/page38a/index.html)

But a lot of different things can be done in 6.5 feet x 24" - depending on *what* you want to model.

Which depends on what your trains, cars and buildings are. What are they?

Smile,
Stein
 
How much vertical space do you have? I have seen folks work nice layouts by using different levels, 2-4 levels with small rises/grades between levels can really add a lot of space, you still have the problem of the turning radius with only 2.5 feet to work with, that is only 30" which gives a very small radius >15" to work with, N scale may be better to use than HO although you probably already have the HO stuff on hand. Maybe selling the HO stuff (ebay) and using the money to buy N scale could work
 
If you're willing to go with a trolley, the Bachmann HO Spectrum DCC Birney can take a four-inch radius. I'm building a trolley layout that is 2' x 4' that uses that car. I suspect it can take even tighter curves but I couldn't get track to bend lower than that.

You can also check my online article:

[FONT=&quot]Micro-Layouts for Model Railroading

Which has information and links to layouts under four square feet. It discusses, for example, pizza box layouts, but that's only if you like to watch trains go round and round.

Aurelio

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Online Videos of Great N Scale Track Plans
N-Scale Track Plans to Inspire Your Own Layout Designs

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