Building an 11' x 16'6" around the room "U" shaped layout with a peninsula. What is minimum aisle width at peninsula end suggested for home layout with possibility of 3-4 operators. Current plans have 24". Rest of layout has 36" aisles. Thank you. Brad
Brad, If it is a short distance and there is not a town or other operating area along the aisle, the 24" aisle will probably be okay. If your operators have a lot of movement around the layout, you might want to consider trying to make your aisles wider. I had one aisle that was 32" because I was constrained by some walls and the layout I wanted, it wasn't wide enough. I have moved to a new room without the walls and was able to widen the aisle to 48". The effort to widen the aisle was well worth the effort to do the work. I feel 48" aisles are the minimum for operating layouts. If you have any handicapped friends, you might not want to go below 36" for the smallest aisle. Just my opinion, your mileage may vary. Glenn
The more you can squeeze out for aisle space, the happier you will be. Not just for running trains, but for construction and maintenance. If there is any way to get at least 30 inches, or more, perhaps check the possibility. If 24 inches is all, you can live with it. But there'll be some cramped operating sessions at times.
The minimum 24" aisle width should only be considered for bottlenecks, otherwise stick to 30" or greater. This allows for elbow and breathing room for operating and working. The benefit of an around the wall layout is ease of access for building, operating and viewing the railroad, so why defeat the purpose with a narrow aisle. Jerry
Once you get down to the minimums most people agree to, every additional inch should be gained if and when possible. It is amazing what one or two additional inches in aisle width will do for you if you just bite it and decide you want them...period. The logic and physics work precisely as they do for the minimum curvature on our scale layouts. If you insist on working on the minimums all the time, your probability of error increases exponentially. None of us can lay perfect curves, so there WILL be a spot that gives your scale locomotives or longer rolling stock grief. Nothing spoils the crowning of the opus more than that one niggling spot where you cut it so tightly because you felt the risk was worth it, and find you regret the decision and must now live with it for the life of the opus. I always encourage people to try for 20" when the stated minimums call for 18" curves because that extra radius covers a multitude of sins, yours and theirs. Similarly, where 24" aisles might be okay, try hard to stretch them wider. Better to find yourself forgetting the early challenges than remembering perpetually all the risks you took and lost.
As a rule of thumb, I always try to keep isles the same width or larger than what the door to the room is which is usually 30". I tried 24" in the past but it is way to cramped.
