n scale modular build.

[kherman]

This is kinda complicated. I am doing a layout that my kids will enjoy. And I'm doing it with them. A boy and a girl.

For my daughter, I have a horse farm I want to do along with a princess castle. I think those could be treated like industries.

My son wants atleast one wood scene and a subway. He's more into passenger cars and steam engines than anything else. He also wants the engines to go up and down some hills. I am cosnidering a third mainline to deal with that request.

Of course, we need a yard.

I have a large room I plan on doing this in over time. Unused living room. And I want to do it modular so we can take it down when not in regular use. The room is large, like 18x11. I want to take up the center of the room and not go wall to wall. So I was thinking about doing a U shaped layout with a 3'x3' turnaround section at each end. Then make 2'x4', 2'x6' and 2'x6' sections for each scene. I'm thinking 2 mainlines. For now with 18" min radius on the inner and 20" on the outer. He really wants a big boy so I am trying to make the radiuses such that it will work.

I'm not sure if I would divide the scenery for northbound/southbound traffic with a divider (4'x2' scene with wood divider (skyline) and another 4'x2' scene on the other side of the divider). Or if they would be common to one scene.

I have to start doing the benchwork in 1-2 weeks to give as his birthday present at the end of the month.

Using a Digitrax Zephyr to start. Want to locate it near the yard. For x-mas Santa might bring my son a handheld, wired throttle to go with it.

Given the requests for "stuff" how big of a layout is needed? I was thinking that I should do a yard on a 2'x6' board. subway station on 2'x'4'. Farm on 2'x'4'. Princess castle/woods on 2'x'4. A few scattered train stations.

There is no era planned but I am thinking 1930s for scenery. But trains will be a mix from all eras.

Sorry if I said too much. I'll sketch something up later today for what I was thinking.

Any input that could be priovided is greatly appreciated.

UPDATE: I guess an I shaped layout makes more sense.

[kherman]

Thinking something liek this. Roughly 12' by 4'

[joed2323]

If you want to run all diff locos i would suggest the transition era. You can do alot with the space you have and running n-scale.
I have 2 younger kids and my layout will have some features they like and what dad likes.
Good idea getting them involved
It seems you did your homework, you made a good choice going dcc. I think dcc is the way to go especially with kids.

You may be better off with a u-style or doughnut style layout because you can easily divide different scenes.

You gave us good info, no reason to apologize.

Hopefully some of the n-scalers here can chime in with there thoughts

Good to have you aboard. Keep us updated with your progress please

[Burlington Bob]

I think you have a pretty good start on what you want, sounds like all you have to do is come up with a track plan. As said, the transition era (when steam and diesel ran side by side) makes a good time frame for running both. I suspect that the diesels will be anything from the earliest to the latest, though, and that's OK! One of the pluses that DCC offers is the ability to set a top speed for the locos, thereby eliminating the "race track" aspect that can sometimes happen with young children. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

[joed2323]

Originally Posted by Burlington Bob

One of the pluses that DCC offers is the ability to set a top speed for the locos, thereby eliminating the "race track" aspect that can sometimes happen with young children. Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.

Funny, my son likes to see how fast my sd70 will run while pressing the horn button constantly...

[kfh227]

I was going to go modular with 2x4 sections but now I think that I'll do a less standard modular seutp just so I can lay things out the way I would like.

After seeing someones 3 tier layout, my creative juices started flowing.

The goal is to have my kids do alot of the decorating so don't laugh when you see playmobile stuff in this ;-)