Taking a stab at a N-scale layout


SpaceMouse

Fun Lover
This is a first draft of a layout. The biggest problem I have is that I just can't picture the size--I mean those N thingies are itty bitty. The dimensions of the layout is 3 x 7--and I'm not married to that size. The main purpose of this layout is for rail-fanning while I figure out what I'm going to do with my basement.

The layout is modern Buffalo & Pittsburgh coal country. But the B&P hauls lumber and does locals.

I picture the bottom half of the layout as a hillside coal operation. The top half is industrial/rural switching. I have a couple factories, a freight dock and a junkyard. I don't have to use them. There is no backdrop down the middle, but the hillside will prevent seeing the one side seeing the other.

The top two tracks are kinda sorta visible staging. I would not be opposed to dropping down a level for off table staging.

I'll take any and all suggestions.

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Okay, here's another stab at it. I've completely re-envisioned what I want from the layout and it has grown to 4 x 8. It is no longer a B&P layout. It is now present day NS with Conrail leasing with Conrail switchers. I left the mine in, but now it is abandoned. This is more what I conceive of as "my style" in terms of operations.

The problem is now it is more of a longer-term project and too expensive to be a temporary gig. Also, it won't fit anywhere when I start with the basement gig.

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Chip, I think you can do some good local switching there as well as fannin'. If this is a "temp" layout, I wouldn't go to the trouble of dropping the staging tracks to a different level. Make it operational sooner, so you can devote more time to your True Love - old west railroading.
 
Chip, I think you can do some good local switching there as well as fannin'. If this is a "temp" layout, I wouldn't go to the trouble of dropping the staging tracks to a different level. Make it operational sooner, so you can devote more time to your True Love - old west railroading.

I'm starting to get that idea.

I am kinda thinking out loud. I figured as long as I was going to go bigger and more expensive than I could afford, I'd see what would happen if I put it where I had planned to put my saw mill.

The ten tracks on the lower right are visible staging, but you have to go off the layout through the wall and back in to get to them. The five tracks neared the wall are a level higher than the ones to the immediate right of them. The top ones higher loop and then to the two tracks along the top of the drawing and they can go in either direction.

The lower tracks go to the lower loop then to the tracks that head immediately to the yard. I just realized I could simplify the staging exchange quite a bit.

I forgot to add my passing track along the top.

It is still NS and Conrail current time. This has become a several year project and doesn't make sense since I already have 20 or so craftsman structures in HO as well as all my rolling stock.

I keep getting ideas and then shotting them down myself.

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Thanks to everyone that has gotten me this far.

It's come full circle. The larger layout was just too big. It would have cost more than doing something big in my old west theme. I've returned to the smaller size 3 x 7, because of cost and because I don't know if I'll be able to model these itty bitty things. If I can, it opens up a whole new world for the basement design.

This layout is mostly about the classification yard and railfanning through the mountains. I'd like to have more car spotting, but there is enough movement in spotting trains. I'd also like to work an Amtrak station in, but the one in Johnstown is underground with a platform that pops up between the eastbound and westbound mainline tracks. I'll probably do that.

I think it works. I can tighten it up by cutting down the turnouts. I'm still having some trouble visualizing size, especially the buildings and streets and stuff. I may just leave that area till last or spot the buildings and figure out how to get the trains in later.

Without further adeu...

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Hello Chip:
I read this thread again and found the plan I added, could be something to consider. It is from a N scale fan from Germany who lives near a harbour...
actualy the whole layout is made in a( large) coffeetable ( squares are 1'X 1')

Jos
 
Hello Chip:
I read this thread again and found the plan I added, could be something to consider. It is from a N scale fan from Germany who lives near a harbour...
actualy the whole layout is made in a( large) coffeetable ( squares are 1'X 1')

Jos

Gee Jos,

I hope you didn't go to a lot of trouble. I have not abandonded my idea for an N-scale pike, but I decided to build the larger version of the Train City and Rock Ridge first. On the N-scale layout I wanted modern Norfolk Southern bcause that is what my son and I see when we go railfanning.

The layout is I envisioned was a combination of big scenery, an interchange yard, and switching in urban canyons. The buildings I pictured would be 5 story industries and inner city hotel/apartments. The double crossover up top leads to staging.

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