A while back, I seem to remember seeing a thread all about 24" x 48 " N-Scale layouts. Does anyone else remember this thread or have a link to it? I'm pretty sure it was on TrainBoard. I also remember another thread for hollow core door layouts and I can't seem to find that one either. Any help would be appreciated. Regards, John
I have a 24 x 36" N layout I can take to shows. Tight. I can run roundy-round to let kids run, but it loses something by going to minimum. I think a lot can be gained with a few inches so one is not limited to width of a minimum curves at each with nothing wider. Here is a TWENTY-EIGHT inch wide layout I designed... Can be operated with small power back tethered to end that is bottom on plan. I envision running one train at a time, through train alternating with local switcher freight. Dead end spur alongside double tracks for passing/runaround "suggests" a small yard. This is one I suggested for someone else. I have 2 or 3 variations on 28 x 48" plan. Here is a 24" x 48" N layout I HAVE built, for a girlfriend's two kids.
24 x 48 "generically-Colorado" layout I built in 1970. 24x48 "generic-Southwestern" layout built in a few weeks in 1975 for a friend who commissioned it for Christmas.
I tried but failed to fit this into 24x48"; it ended up 32x48. The track plan is based on John Allen's Gorre and Daphetid. - Jeff
My layout was about 30 x 48, am working on 12" length extension to add a couple more industries; CEO,CFO,VP and GM ( grandson ) has this to say of expansion, "COOL" so, there you go
Back in the heyday of HO there were quite a few books of track plans for 4'x8' layouts which should translate very well for a 2'x4' N.
I had one, just to run an Atlas geep that I couldn't pass up and a few cars. Just an oval with a couple of spurs and a passing siding with a divider down the middle. Never got around to scenery and only had one building. You can google images and come up with dozens of examples but you're somewhat limited unless you want a spaghetti bowl plan. I have a copy of Small RRs You Can Build but it might be out of print. You might want to look at Ttrak modules as an alternative if you're space limited. Might do one or two just for the heck of it.
This is the exact size N scale layout I'm looking to create, because the price of Unitrack is a mite high for my college going wallet. Sent from my SM-G900P using Tapatalk
I also have a layout a bit smaller than the title question. However I do not call it the "Lighter than Air Railroad" because it is so small, but because it is a on-base switching railroad for a US Navy blimp base (Naval Air Station/ Lighter than Air).
Andy Jackson asked, "With no siding how can spur on left side be worked?" Notice that the interchange track that runs off the base to the front edge of the layout can be picked up by a base switcher operating counterclockwise on the oval continuous line. I think of that not as a "mainline" but as a switching circulation line. That switcher can pull the cars left at the base gate and does not need to make a runaround move to switch the spur for the Naval stores warehouse (low relief) and helium tank on left side of layout. It is a trailing point move for a switcher pulling cars counterclockwise. The spur for the open storage area and end-loading ramp on the inside left end of the loop, and the spur for the fuel dump on inside right end need to be switched by loco pulling cars clockwise. That requires a runaround. How to do that with no runaround track or passing siding? Simply leave cars on loop track and run switcher all the way around the loop to get to the other end of the cars. Not a typical way to make a runaround. But there are some in-plant industrial track layouts that create circulation loops allowing movements like this.
Here is a plan for a 28" x 48" N layout with a loads out-empties in pair of industries, coal mine and power plant.
Kenneth, That Grainball Junction / Port of Corpus Christi Layout you posted is amazing. Do you have any more pictures of it by chance? ~ Michael
This layout had a whole article on it in the mid-80's in Model Railroader - I think those are the pics from the article "Norton Brothers Connecting RR" . I built this exact same layout in 1986 or so when I was between "big" layouts. I remember operating this and going from town to port to town again with all of the switching and being amazed that almost 3 hours went by - been hooked on switching layouts ever since. Just searched thru my photos...no pics of it unfortunately. Peter
Peter, Thank you! Having access to MRR Digital Archives has once again come in handy. It's in the September 1981 Issue. Very, very cool. ~ Michael
Michael/"Spooked" asked about more pics of "Norton Brothers Connecting Railroad." A few years ago I found a bunch of slides I took that Model Railroader did not use, and scanned them. Thje North brothers are scattered wide, all working as tennis pros in different parts of the country, and I don't know about layout. But I've got pictures. French ocean-going trawler used as token ship at port public elevator. Impression of one end of lift bridge used to disguise hole through background. The prototype vertical list bridge was removed about 8 years ago. Long siding at front of Grainball Jct town scene considered an interchange with trunkline "Grand Funk Trunk. City Hall has clock tower from Journal Bldg kit, base of city hall is portion of Heljan Danish railway station. Railroad overpass used to hide hole in background at far end of Grainball Junction scene. Cotton rows across front of layout scene.
Thanks for all the great pics and info guys. I just recently moved to a new house with space at a minimum. I am wanting to start a new project with my nephew that will be portable so that we can take it to train shows from time to time. It looks like a 24" x 48" layout is doable and still have some functional features other than a basic oval of track.
Most people think that the length of the space is most important. I've found that on a small layout adding an extra 2-6" in width for N scale is really worthwhile, double that for HO. It allows for more spurs outside of the oval where space is less limited on length, especially if you do something like a yard on a wide curve.
I have a 30" x 48" N scale layout with double track mainline that loosely mimics the December 1994 issue of MR's project layout, the Soo Line's Red Wing Subdivision.
