With thanks to the kind members who have made me feel welcome here I promised to most mt latest (of very many) plans for my first model railway in about 50 years. I have an 8 x 5 space in the house I've just moved into so thought a forage into N gauge might be a plan. If I can get it to work Ill post the latest plan here. It was done using flexi track in SCARM and I'm not that good at it so there are a few wobbly looking bits.

OK a few Caveats. My love of railways stems from my love of steam locos especially the products of Messrs Churchward, Collet, and Bullied. I dont really know a great deal about prototypical operations apart from on the main lines it would be normal to drive on the left so to speak. Also got no clue about rolling stock apart from GWR coaches should be chocolate and cream and SR coaches should be green. And GWR freight trains should have a toad guards van.

Anyway having proved myself a complete Phillistine here goes

I gather from your posts that you haven't built a layout before and that your knowledge of the prototype is thin.

My advice is to slow down.  Build something small at first like a small station/goods yard.  This will give you a chance to gain experience with all the aspects of layout building while permitting you to get something running fairly quickly.

My layout is 0 gauge but just for something to think about, here is the track plan:


Even so, I have been building this since 2017 and there is still a ton of work left to do.

John

Hi John

A nice looking plan and I'm sure good advice.

Its not that I have no experience at all of building a layout just not in the last 45 odd years or without the help of my Dad lol. Or in N gauge.

I do have reasonable carpentry, electrical, and soldering skills and have built and flown model aircraft for a lot of my life so hopefully some of the skills learned there will cross over.

As I said nothing is set in stone yet I'm just enjoying the thinking and planning stages.

Many thanks for your input :)

Couple of general things I can think of Nick.

Firstly make sure your tightest curves are a minimum of 2nd radius (about 10")  as apart from small 0-6-0 locos and 4 wheeled wagons, most rolling stock won’t like anything smaller.

Also, think about train lengths and how long platforms will need to be. My coaches are around 5 1/2” long and my diesel locos are about the same, so a three coach train with loco is going to be about 22-24” (560mm-610mm) allowing for the couplings.

I found a good way to get the curves right in SCARM is to initially use set-track curves as you start drawing the track plan and once you've got the straight sections drawn each side of the curve, delete the set-track curve and replace it with a piece of flexitrack.

There are some SCARM plans  here if you haven't already seen them, that might give a bit of inspiration, or generally search around on the web, but you really need to decide what you want to model.

Do you want to just watch trains go round, or do shunting, or both. Do you want a goods yard or industrial area, or perhaps a dockside, do you want a terminus or through station, is it mainly a built up area or countryside.

This is where John, quite rightly, is advsing slow down and build something small first, but it's up to you, it's your railway.

Don't know if any of this helps.



Ed





 

Hi Ed and thanks  - everyhtig helps it honestly does. The more I learn before attacking any wood etc the better chance of success.

I did calculate that on a layout of these dimensions it shouldn't be necessary go even down to 4th radius curves. I did draw it out by hand but then did it in SCARM so I could post it online. The curves actually look much worse in the SCARM version than the hand drawn one.

The station area is pretty much stolen from a published OO plan and is approximately half the size so hopefully correct for N.

Many thanks for your input - lots to think about :)

Does your plan represent the 8'x5' room size Nick, or the baseboard plan? Where is the entrance door and duck under?

As we get even older, duck unders tend to become harder to live with, so lift up sections are often favoured and if you should be considering this route, location can be critical.

Have you calculated the incline ratios? One usually needs more track length than imagined.

Enjoy the essential and enjoyable planning stages and I look forward to see how your layout develops.

Do you intend to use DCC or DC?

Bill

Something I feel very strongly about is access for wiring.  Make sure to plan how you can wire the layout.  Trying to do it on your back or under the layout is a recipe for insanity, not to mention agony.  If you are uncomfortable doing a job mistakes will get made.

Probably make the layout modular so that boards can either be removed or perhaps lift up.

John

Longchap said

Does your plan represent the 8'x5' room size Nick, or the baseboard plan? Where is the entrance door and duck under?

As we get even older, duck unders tend to become harder to live with, so lift up sections are often favoured and if you should be considering this route, location can be critical.

Have you calculated the incline ratios? One usually needs more track length than imagined.

Enjoy the essential and enjoyable planning stages and I look forward to see how your layout develops.

Do you intend to use DCC or DC?

Bill

From “Post #288,857”, 25th October 2023, 2:30 PM

Hi Bill

The room is an L shape and 8 x 5 takes up one of the arms on the L. The door is to the side and will allow me a small area for a workbench too. The centre access area is purely there in case of disaster as it would obviously be too far to reach across. So hopefully if I get the trackwork right I wont have to duck under it too often. Regarding the inclines I think I can to it in no worse than 50:1 so in round figures 4ft for every inch climb or descent. I'll probably buy a couple of locos that are DCC ready and do some of the testing stage with DC but I do intend to go with DCC eventually.

Thank you for your reply and thoughts

Nick

Brossard said

Something I feel very strongly about is access for wiring.  Make sure to plan how you can wire the layout.  Trying to do it on your back or under the layout is a recipe for insanity, not to mention agony.  If you are uncomfortable doing a job mistakes will get made.

Probably make the layout modular so that boards can either be removed or perhaps lift up.

John

From “Post #288,860”, 25th October 2023, 4:23 PM

Hi John

If I do go with this there will be 4 boards 2 off 5 x 2 at each end, a 4 x 2 at the front and a 4 x 1 at the back. I could possibly even reduce it down to 4'9" so I could hinge it to simplify the wiring process. Nothing decided yet but so good to have the thoughts of those who know to help with the desision making process