So I've followed almost every thread on this and other boards about layout design. Not only have I seen some great ideas, I've leared alot as well. So here's what I need: I'm trying to come up with a long mainline run N scale layout in a 3 1/2 x 9 ft space. I'm a big fan of the grain trains and wide open spaces and the problem I'm running into is that I can't get a "double around" mainline without using a tunnel---kind of out of place on the open plains. I know I'll be limited to a 20 car train at the most in this space and I'm thinking one large grain elevator and a few small ones with some other rural type industires. Any thoughts on clever ways to disguise the tracks wthout using a tunnel so I can get the long run and still keep the open "feel"?
How about: hide a crossing behind the grain elevator. Does that make sense? I'll think about it more and maybe sketch something for ya. Creative use a backdrops may be key here as well.
Also... Are you gonna view this layout from all sides, or are some sides against the wall? If the former, how do you feel about a backdrop down the middle (a very common approach to making a small layout feel bigger).
You may be able to hide the back half of a large loop behind low hills, buildings, trees, or view blocks. There are 2 tracks behind these view blocks. In the links below, the two hidden tracks behind the view block are for staging, but could just as easily be for 2 hidden mainline tracks. The second link shows the cars that were hidden in staging behind the view block. You can see the removed view block resting at the front of the shelf. It is made of ground foam and lichen attached with white glue to a profile board made of 1/4 inch thick foamboard. The height of the viewblock will depend on how tall you are, how close or far back the viewblock will be on the shelf, and how close the tracks will be to the viewboard. http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1069/DCP_2529.JPG http://www.trainboard.com/railimages/data/1069/DCP_2531.JPG There is one track behind the mock-up of the red store fronts, and the track just in front of the red store fronts disappears behind some buildings on the left and connects with the hidden track while several tracks at the front of the layout remain visible.
Here's a real simple way (see attachment) to get double around if one side is hidden against the wall. That's a backdrop with the grain elevators masking the ends of it. I think the point is, experiment with using those grain elevators to hide the ends of backdrop(s), and you might be able to hide that crossing, or double crossover, or whatever it is that you need/want to achieve your double around without big elevation differences. Another option to avoid a tunnel is to have one track cross under the other through a landcut, while the one on top is on a bridge. IOW, a location that looks somewhat like the other picture attached.
The hillside on the left hides a mainline track that runs along the wall, around the corner and passes in front of a 7-track hidden staging located in the distance on the right. If you look carefully between the two building mockups to where the tracks pass behind a few trees, you can just barely see the bridges that are more clearly shown in the second picture. This second pic is of the hidden main (on the Styrofoam) and the turnouts at the tail end of the staging tracks that bend around the corner to the right. In this last pic, the scenery in this corner was NOT designed to completely hide the track, just to obscure it a little bit as trains went around a curve to the next area of interest about a foot and a half to the left. However, it would be possible to make the trees a little denser or mount them on a ½ to ¾ inch high hill so a train passing behind them would not be visible to a casual observer. And you could put a dense treeline just 2 inches thick along the back of a layout to hide major lengths of a loop instead of 2 houses, like the trees beyond these tracks hide. But when you want to clean the track or perform other maintenance, all you need to do is lean forward to see the train or reach over the trees to gain access to the track.
In the pic below, the peninsula by my left arm has trees down the center that are on a 2 inch hill made of styrofoam (the green stuff, not the white stuff). Operators on one side cannot see the trains being worked on the other side. However they can see the operator standing on the other side of the +5 foot wide shelf. On a previous layout, I had a peninsula that had a backdrop down the center of a 4 foot wide shelf. It worked well...I couldn't see the trains OR the operator on the far side. On my present layout, I have a spot where the shelf is only 2 feet wide. I'll be using another central backdrop at that point because I think having a 1:1 giant standing so close over my 1:160 train as I work on my own side of the shelf would be distracting. On the other hand, with a much wider shelf on the peninsula in this picture, I felt comfortable just hiding the trains from view, but not the operators. Also, another reason I avoided a central backdrop on this particular peninsula, was that I didn't like the way the backdrop on the old layout ended so abruptly, even though I tried to disguise it with a tall smokestack. Ben: I like your way of using a grain elevator to hide stuff. A "prairie skyscraper" would work VERY well as either a backdrop or a central divider, and is definitely in line with Ron's prairie theme. Ron: If the grain elevator is used to hide track near the backdrop instead of to separate tracks on either side of a shelf, it will be important to make the building easy to remove and return it to its proper place. Be sure there are not too many fragile details on the building or near it, because they'd probably be quickly damaged the first time you attempt to clean the track or recover a derailed car.:sad:Been there, done that; and have the parts in my parts box to prove it.
Ron, I think the foliage view block method Dave outlines would work well, and it's the method I am using along with elevation changes. I'm modelling grainbelt and the agricultural-based layout plan I have used for inspiration isn't designed flat. There are gentle undulations causing several lowish cuts as well as drywash and river crossings on the prototype. A combination will of elevation and scenery will work for you as you would only need an inch or so elevation between front and (hidden) rear.
One other suggestion- have the tracks pass underneath a highway bridge which is next to, say, a backdrop or the aforementioned grain elevator complex. On a door-sized layout I designed for grins & giggles, I did just such a thing on one side to hide the fact that the tracks were headed into staging.
I would suggest a "Folded Dogbone" with a disguised tunnel. I'll try to post a picture of it tonight.
Don't forget layout height! The taller layout gives more "in scene" feeling. And you can't look at the other side. Wolfgang
There are plenty of ways to disguise a "tunnel" in open prairie. If you think about it, many cuts and highway overpasses are effectively tunnels (in the sense that if looked at from the side, the tracks and trains disappear, if even only for a hundred feet or so.) and you can use those scenic elements to give the impression of "not tunnel" when in fact one is required/desired.
Man!...I got home from work this afternoon and figured maybe a reply or two would be here. You guys ROCK. The low hill/tree method sounds pretty good and disguising a tunnel with an overpass or rock cut might be the way to go. The layout will only be viewed from the front, so I think if I get creative I can pull it off. I appreciate all the help and if anyone else has anything please fell free to post up. Thanks again for all the help!
Here are two samples of a "Folded Dog Bone" My biggest concern would be reaching across a 3' 6" area. The GandG is at 3'2" and it is quite the stretch.
There is another question. Yes, the folded-dogbone shape does give a long run, but it looks more suited to mountainous terrain. Having more curves goes against the look of plains. This is, of course, something that won't matter to all modellers. I don't know if it would matter to me, but that's because I probably wouldn't be modelling the plains.
