Hoping for a nudge in the right direction (HO Scale)

[DivineRR]

After losing my dad a little over a year ago I've had the idea of doing a layout because he and I never got around to it. I suck at creative design. Give me a plan and I can execute. But my creative juices are stuck in a well that is nearly dry. lol

I'm not out to recreate any specific period - this is more a tribute to my dad and my grandfather. One was a huge fan of and collected Wisconsin Central. The other was a huge fan of and collected Milwaukee Road. My immediate thought was recreating something on one side of a layout that resembled the old Milwaukee Road yard with the other a scenic scene maybe trailing off into a city scape. What I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around is scaling down the yard enough to not make this layout monstrous. I mean to scale just the yard would end up being something like 30 feet across not to mention the length! As much as I'd love to build a giant layout, the reality is I will probably only be in this house 5 years or so before we sell and upgrade to something else. So I'd rather save my monster build even though I have the room for it until I'm in a house I can comfortably say I'll be there a long while.

Was hoping for ideas... maybe some pictures of similar projects centered around scaling down a giant yard that still resembled the original without being quite as large. Considering I the fact I will be moving in the future I would look to modify my base pieces and track so that I could "easily" take it down in pieces and move it if I chose to. Maybe I'm crazy and I should find a different project? I dont know but this is what has had my interest in my research over the last month or two. Every time I have looked at different avenues I always seem to end up back at this idea.

 

[Greg@mnrr]

Sorry about th lost of your Dad. Construction of a layout that will be easy to relocate in the future is a project in itself. Seldom is a scenic model railroad movable without extreme damage during the moving progress.

Perhaps find a design of a a yard that's approximately 2.5 x 10 feet that could be moved by several persons. The yard could at a later date be incorporated into a permanent layout once you have relocated. The yard would help you sharpen your track laying and construction skills.

Just a few suggestions.

Greg

 

[DivineRR]

I definitely realize moving is going to be a task in and of itself. Which is why I put easily in quotes! I definitely do not think I will be able to create any system that will make it truly modular... just trying to think ahead to make it as easy as possible. Definitely going to be a lot of damage to repair no matter what.

Part of me thinks I should just find another idea all together but I can't seem to find anything that trips my trigger. If I dropped the homage to my grandfather for now there is a 4x8 layout that we had started collecting the buildings for but never got around to building it. I had been seeking this layout as an option but I'll be dipped if I can remember the issue of MRR it was from (would guess the 2000-03 area) or the name of the line it was after. I've searched high and low and can't trip across it. I would definitely recognize it if I saw it. Had a bit of a mountain at one end with a tunnel and a bit of a cityscape towards the other with more or less a downtown with half a dozen buildings or so. Was a cool little layout for a 4x8. Was built directly on some extruded foam board.

 

[logandsawman]

Hi and Welcome,

I build a 4 x 8 on a piece of plywood and successfully moved it with 2 people several times, also sold it when I decided to upgrade to a larger layout. I used 5/8" plywood reinforced with a 1 x 4 framework and cross pieces. I built a large foam hill on it. However, now I am not a fan of foam and prefer other substances like hydrocal and fiber mesh.

Work done on buildings is never wasted, for they can easily be moved from layout to layout as long as they aren't stuck too tightly their position.

I like Wisconsin Central however found it much easier to get rolling stock for Milwaukee Road.

Do not discard the idea by Greg. This could be incorporated into a larger layout at some later date.

hope this helps, Dave

 

[DivineRR]

I'm definitely not discarding it... I did track down a picture of a layout that was more or less 2 4x8's in an L shape. One side was a yard and the other a loop and scenery. There was a divider with holes cut out to allow the train to pass through. Kind of like the idea because even if I dont reuse the loop - the yard would still be there to use. Also allows me to build the yard... then when complete work on the scenery/loop part of it.

 

[otiscnj]

In the past starting about 1985, I built a 12'x8' layout in 4'x4' sections. Smaller, I figured would be easier to move, in the future. I still have some of those modules at this point. A 64sq. foot layout is a decent sized layout. Much more, and it becomes much more work, to maintain it.

Keep us posted, and good luck!

 

[dave1905]

Design your layout in sections of a standard size as much as you can, I wouldn't go above 2x6 ft. When I moved mine, I would set two sections "face to face" and then screw a 16"x24" piece of 1/4" inch ply across the ends and covered the sides with chunks of old backdrop (1/8" hardboard). That made a unitized section that can easily be moved by handtruck and stacked 2 or 3 high of stood on end for storage or moving. The pairs of sections would easily fit through doors and go up stairs and around corners in a typical house.

A lot of it depends on whether the design is a "island' or around the walls type. Island gives you a smaller layout, but it is less dependent of the shape of the walls and placement of doors and windows. and around the room layout gives a generally bigger layout, but is highly dependent on the shape of the room and the placement of windows and doors.

Also don't be surprised it you can't use all the sections after you move. How much you can reuse depends on the size and shape of the layout compared with the size and shape of the new spaces. Even a change of a couple inches can be a killer. If the layout is designed to fit in a 12 ft wide room putting it into a 11' 9" room will require replacing a section or trimming out 3" someplace. If you are moving spare bedroom to spare bedroom, its even tougher because of all the variations in door, closet and window locations.

Smaller sections are easier to reconfigure, but have more joints and electrical connections, larger sections are harder to handle.

The more curves, track at an angle to the ends of the section, switches near the end of a section or grades that cross a section joint you have the harder it will be to reconfigure to a new space.

One last thing. The ability to recycle layout sections also depends on how good you build the sections and design the trackplan. It is entirely possible that over a few years, your interests may grow, evolve or change. You may recognize errors or deficiencies in the original plan and may not want to include them in a new layout or you might change eras or locales. Any of those things will cause all or part of a layout to not survive a move. I have been involved in several relocations (personal and club) and even though I had a sectionalized layout, the layout never survived in the previous design for the reasons above.