Where do you get your inspiration from ?

[david_denham]

I have never built a layout before and only recently been interested in hornby

i have built a 8x4 base ,I have a collection of 1950s 60/s locks and rolling stock but really don't know what to put down , so I am hoping you can help on ideas for layout what to squeeze in my limited space. It's al DC so nothing flash lol max height can only be 55 mm because the base has to be folded up against the wall limits of a small house

[RB51]

Hi David, you may find that you cannot reach to the back of a layout of that size that is hinged on a wall. Unless of course you have an access hole in the middle. You can bet your bottom dollar that something will de-rail at the back! Never anywhere near you.

 

Have a look at free track plans for ideas. Just Google that. (for some reason I can't make that a clickable link - Mac playing up).

 

R-

[walkingthedog]

I just decided what I wanted, two loops, turntable, goods yard, small station..........etc., and sketched a layout on a piece of paper and started building it.

 

You will need some sort of access hole in the middle as Roger said. It can be filled in with a removable section, a village or factory area etc. 

[david_denham]

Roger you are so right and as I am streamlined like a zepplin  had though of of the size of hole required lol 

WTD. That is a good idea thank you 

[2e0dtoeric]

Bear in mind that the hole in the middle doesn't have to BE in the middle!

It can be offset towards the back of the board, leaving just enough room for (say) two running tracks to pass behind you to allow a complete crcuit - say 15 cm?

That way you have a larger 'scenic' area to work with to the sides and front. Assuming, like most of us, you don't have eyes in the back of your head, you cannot see what is going on behind you anyway, and you won't make a very good window for any spectators - so the 'decoration' there can be skimped.

[2e0dtoeric]

For inspiration - what do you want the layout to do?

Do you want a tail-chaser with a station and a couple of sidings, or do you want a yard of some description, with a link to a line that comes from and goes to 'somewhere' off the board? (but in reality it goes behind you and goes round again).

As suggested, track-plan books are ok, but avoid the 1st and 2nd radius curves, and gradients - like the plague.

OR - go onto Google Earth, zoom in, find yourself a railway line, and play 'follow it' to see if it goes into an interesting location. (Mind you don't get distracted, and start looking at other things!)

Having found a nice target, sketch it roughly on a piece of paper, so you can trim off extraneous bits, and make it fit your board, because real yards are huge sprawly places. You don't have the room to make a scale model of Euston or Waterloo stations!

'

Once you have a sketch you like, try building it on your board. Don't fasten anything down, at this stage. Don't drill holes, just have wires trailing under the tracks, if needed (yes it will be a bit bumpy!) and see if your track plan really wrks the way you want it to.

If it doesn't, you have lost nothing, and you can take it - or part of it - to bits, and try something else.

Once you are happy with it, THEN you can re-build it properly.

[96RAF]

Or use one of the track planning softwares, which will allow you to move any such access hole around the board as well as play around with the rails, then you can usually view the end result in 3D (At least you can using SCARM).

 

You can also use Sketchup or Sketchup Make to draw up the actual baseboard construction and again view it in 3D from all angles.

 

SCARM and Sketchup/Sketchup Make are both f.o.c. downloads and easy to learn.

[david_denham]

Thank you for your replays as always much appreciated 

[Buz]

 Hi david_denham

There are plenty of good track planning books around

Avoid anything that is specific to only one manufacturer, those ones are quite reasonably for selling product rather than building a propper model railway.

Any plan with iether 14 5/8" radius curves British standard R1 or 15" radius USA std R1 as the ruling radius should be avoided like the plague.

Those two will give such a heavy restiction on what you can run its not funny many things and often it's not on product packaging just will not run on it they can't get round the curves.

You should be OK using second and third radius most things will get round that you may even if you are lucky squeeze in R4.

I would seriously try and get 200 to 250mm space for fixed scenery built into your board structure this can be acomplished in the design and way it is fixed to the wall the board will also have to be a bit better constructed than a free standing one.

No cheap rubish matertials or fittings and fixings or short cuts on this one the reliabilaty and safety of the layout will depend on it if it is hinged off a wall.

You will not be able to build anything like Liverpool St Station but you can still fit a satisfying and rewarding layout into 8x4.

Mine is only 4'6"x4'6" so I know a railway can be built on 8x4

Remember the stupid question is the one that should have been asked and was not.

Do ask away there is a good chance some one here can point you in the right direction.

Analogue DC simple and easy yes but later when you know a bit more it might just surprise you at what can be done with it.

I am know to be very anti DCC, but I really do suggest you have a good look at it and make up your own mind about it.

You should really set up your prefered control system from the word go it will save a lot of later costs and reworking of things

regards John

[PJ_model_trains]

Hi david_denham

 

A lot of good advice above, SCARM is excellent software and is FREE. It can be a really good help when designing from scratch and you can put your layout board sizes in using metric or imperial measurements.

 

I had a layout 7' by 4'6'' over the top of a divan bed. Many have seen the images I had done a lot of work to it. I was able to get round the layout so reaching was not an issue, although very important to consider at the outset.

 

My problem was that a layout over a divan bed is fine until visitors arrive! I then have to reply on my wife and a friend to lift the layout until they have gone back home. Due to my wifes conditions I am not sure how much longer she can lift and saw her face before Christmas this last time it is all to much for her. So, the whole layout has been scrapped! 

 

You mention you are hinging your layout to the wall, excellent idea and one which I now have to adopt but, access to the 4' distance is impossible and due to my disability totally impossible to consider let alone do. Many have mentioned an access hole in the middle or there abouts, this is a good idea, if you can get to or get in the whole (and turn round). So again impossible for me. So I had to come up with a layout that was hinged to the wall that I could access and after numerous sketches and several layouts using SCARM software I have come up with a solution. I am not saying this is right just sharing what I have done as anotther idea.

 

I want to run trains, so a typical left to right was not enough for me. I wanted to also have stations and sidings and areas not just running trains but also fiddling. So this is what I am currently building, I say I in the royal sence as I cannot lift or do things like that so have to pay someone to do the wall plate to hinge the layout to and the layout fixing. 

 

First the wall plate, this will come out from the wall 4.5". The reason for this size is that I will have upstands around the layout and they will be 4" high. The wall plate will be bolted to the wall but as a safety measure will have legs beneath it to save any twisting when the layout is raised.

 

I am making the layout in four pieces. Looking at the wall the layout will be hinged to. To my left is a 4' x 4' square, this will have two main loops but will also have a branch making three for part of the area. All points will be within reaching distance and all track farthest from the control area will be flexi track. Minimum joints and no points.

 

To my right will be a 5' x 2' 8" board, short length hinged, coming 5' out into the room. This section will have (hopefully) 8 sidings with lots of turn outs from track to track.

 

Then there is the middle section. This is roughly 2'4" wide by 1' 4" into the room. The loops to the left cross this section and link to the sidings on the right. With turn-outs again for trains to move from one track to another.

 

As you can see from the above I can access almost all areas, certain all areas where there are points.

 

Additionally the will be a fourth board. This will be 2' 4" by 1' 8". This board will fit in the middle bringing the centre section out to 3'. This board will have approx. 4 sidings and they come from a curved turn out immediately to my left. This is the only connection for track to this board and the board ir 'removeable'. Access for me is paramount.

 

Finallly stability of the layout has to be considered as it includes, 4x4 to my left, 5x2'8" to my right and the middle section which is smaller therefore creating a weak area when lifting. I get round this with a long length of copper pipe, 3' out from the wall, pipe clips fitted to both sides of the 4' section and both sides of the 5' section.

 

Once completed I will have a layout my wife doesn't need to lift, I may be able to motorise lifting. I have a layout with access to almost all areas and the areas I would need someone to help are just long lengths of flexi track so it would have to be something silly to have an issue there. But I also have a layout with numerous stations and sidings for passenger trains and goods, extra goods siding in the middle that can be removed if I need to. I have a layout that is not round and round but also not just left and right. 

 

The left hand 4x4 section will have two reverse loops fitted but additionally I have allowed to add a turntable in part of the centre space in this loop.

 

As mentioned earlier the above is shared as a different idea, to suit my disablity. What is so good about our hobby is it is so flexible, we all enjoy the same things but all in different ways. No two layouts will be the same. 

 

What ever you decide enjoy your hobby. 

😀