Hello gentleman I am in the process of building a coffee table layout. I have the table and most of the supplies. but I could use a little help with the track plan. maybe some of you guys would like to help me with the layout...here is the size 27x57, I would like a double track all around with one side crossing over the other maybe thru a mountain pass, bridge etc. I also have a¤trestle¤so I need a water area, lake or stream somewhere maybe some mountains along one side as a visual break and some sidings for industry. I dont know, I am open to some Ideas. your input would be most helpful. I have all the foam just waiting for the "right" layout and then I can fire up the foam cutter. so thanks in advance Jack B¤ P.S. I have done quite a search for coffee table Ideas and have gone to all the sites and threads. unless you know of one that is unknown I bet I have already seen it, I did like the one the folks made to raffel off for the hospital. I kinda liked its layout but need double track if possable, It did give me lots of ideas. JAck B again
Jack We allow the word "Atlas" to appear here at Trainboard. We also allow "E-Bay" to be spoken aloud. Now, to your question. 1. I would suggest no crossovers under mountains and such since you will have access issues once the layout is built and there is a derailment, major or minor. 2. River- anywhere you want, but remember, bridges go over dry gulches as well as raging waters. 3. Please scan or take a picture of even a crudely hand drawn sketch of what is in YOUR mind and upload here. You will receive comments. If you wish to see plans from others, Model Railroader has a site with access to millions (not quite that many, but a lot) of track plans. Take a look there first. 4. If you are thinking of 27x57 you might want to think about no mountain so you will have room for at least one industrial siding area which will give you room for a few buildings.
There is a small layouts design site on the web. I cannot seem to find a bookmark right now. Nor can I recall that site author's name.
In addition to what Fotheringill said, also consider what vertical clearances you have available to work with. If a "coffee table" layout will be located in an actual coffee table in a living room, that would imply that the space below the operating level of the tracks will be allocated to magazine storage or open space. This would limit your options for having some sort of depressed area which would represent a stream or a dry gulch for the bridge to go over. Also consider that if the layout will be in a depressed area surrounded by walls at the edge of the coffee table (perhaps with glass on top?), then with N scale you *need* to have rerailers in strategic locations so you can get your rolling stock on the track: most of us eyeball the wheels and track from the side when we put rolling stock on the track, but with walls at the edge you will not be able to do this. Since curved rerailers are difficult to find, you would need to plan your layout so there is space to put in those (5 inch long?) straight rerailers of sectional track (if using Atlas track). I don't know what rerailer options exist for those using Kato track, but you will want to take into account how to get a rerailing system in place no matter which track system you use.
I would recommend a simple track plan with no sidings or turnouts of any kind. Working industries means you need to be able to couple and uncouple, and turnouts are prime spots for derailments. No matter how carefully you design the table top, it's a royal pain to clear off and open the table to rerail something. Reliability is paramount with a coffee table layout. Also, keep in mind that coffee table layouts are much like NTrack in that they are designed for display over realism. Here's a possible track plan: Laid out roughly thus: I built this when I was in High School. The operating scheme is that this is a branch line of the PRR, passing through the small town of Wayside. The town has a small LCL freight depot, which is depicted on the layout. There is only one local at a time on the branch, so a passing siding around the depot is unnecessary. Likewise, all industries use the freight house, so industrial sidings are unnecessary. Not exciting railroading, but reliable operation. One lesson that I learned was to plan for a means to get to hidden tracks. I've had to rip up the mountains several times to get a wayward car that came derailed after someone bumped the table.
By the way, thank you! I've been meaning to haul out the controller and give the ol' coffee table layout a run. This thread was the final straw, and now my I1sa-lmost is happily hauling the Wayside local around the layout!
You made no mention of the motive power or era so I will throw out a couple of considerations for this small space. This would probably be best as a small branchline or independent feeding a class one road. Could be small steam like a 2-8-0 or a couple of 44 or 70 tonners, or maybe an RS-3. Most of those will handle the tight radius. Modeling an earlier era would let you use cars like the 40 ft. boxcar, 37 or 40 ft. gondolas and the short tank and flatcars that can fit better on a short siding. Some of the structures out there in the earlier eras would be smaller and take up less space and there are a number of kits like those available in wood that would not be much over two stories. I'm not going to suggest a trackplan as others have already posted some excellent sources and all the equipment I have suggested will run on 9 and 3/4 radius.
I agree if you are going to limit the access to the track the simpler the better. Check out Carl Arendt's Small Layout Notebook http://carendt.us/index.html I'd like to off another idea. What about a streetcar layout. You can put a lot of track in that space and the Bachmann Brill and PCC are very heavy and will not roll off the tracks easily as air filled freightcars. If you use Tomix Mini Fine Tracks and Wide Tram Tracks you can have both street running as well as country running without a lot of work. Here's a look at my 2x4 layout built inside an underbed storage container. The layout is on the lid, the bottom acts as a cover. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7sTIRe6sOo
I definively think this will give you several ideas: http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=17503 Or.. if you want download a big ( 9Mb) PDF and read it before sleep (same contents but in article form) : http://xoomer.alice.it/enzo_fortuna/Forum/A_coffee_table_N_scale_Layout.pdf Hope you enjoy it.
Hello to all THanks for all the¤replies.¤I will post some ideas that I have for¤starters¤have no era in mind but most of the engines & rolling stock are modern so it looks like that is what I will go with. as to the table its self the bottom shelf sits almost on the floor so lots of room to the table top. so I can use some small hills and maybe small tunnel. but I will need a place for a bridge & my trestle. I would also like a few spurs, and I really need to fit double track all around. Babbo Enzo's post for the 9mg file is the layout that I really like, that is the one they¤raffled¤¤off I believe so it is a good starting point.¤So¤soon I will post a few Ideas and some Pix of what I have done in the past and some of the buildings that I have gotten ready so far. thank you guys for the input Jack B.
