Newman Atkinson says:

Hi Sue, Glad you are going for some model railroading You might think a 4X8 layout is what works but in most cases as you get into it more there is not much room to expand. and as you purchase better cars and engines you will find the tight turns are not liked by the better engines and long cars. That is why at one time you would find train sets that the couplers were mounted to the wheel trucks to keep the couplers aligned with the track.
Actually I have gone with a kind of shelf modular layout that follows the walls of the garage bay which gives you a lot more room for the shallower curves. Of coarse I am a lot farther along with the layout now. So any of the videos that end on the shrinehillrailroad you will see some of what I have been doing. I was talking about a modular shelf type layout around the outer walls of the room and there is a video that shows a three track gate I built (Not an overnight project) that I go in and out everyday about 20 times. The video is about a counterweight that I did to get the gate to self close to a point that the gate will be held up by a guide plate till it is closed completely. That Gate took 2 months to build. I am now building the main level above this and where it goes through the walk through gate the main level will have a vertical swing up three track gate which will be a double track bridge and a single track bridge going over a river. The whole bridge and river will swing up. So check out the lower level gate on the video at this time.
I used to have a double circle on a 4 X 4 ft that was under the Christmas Tree. I later took it and built a styrofoam tree stump in the middle now with bugs and critters all over it and a station stop. This layout ended up an I SPY layout where the kids would look for things all around the tree stump. This was inspired by reading Garden Railroad Magazine and me going “I wish I could afford these big trains” “I’d have to sell all my HO to buy just a few G scale”. Then I thought I’d just make a model of a garden rail road with my HO and that is what I did. It has been to over 50 shows since I built it and everyone was giving me stuff to put on it to include a Famous Movie Star ET a Puppet. Someone then gave me a doll’s umbrella to make his Phone home. At shows I tell people that: What do you do with the trains around your Christmas Tree and don’t know what else to do with it. You cut the tree down Ha. I use a Grill rolling base without the grill stiffened up with plywood and roll it to the back of the van and slide it out on it. 45 minutes later it is up and going, skirted and everything. Things can happen when you let your imagination go. You will find the Tree Stump Railroad at the Martinsville train Show in Martinsville Indiana on April 2nd if you are in the area. If you are an NMRA Member you will find me at the National Convention of the National Model Railroad Association trying to learn even more in Indy in July. July 30th I will have it at Train Day at the Museum a Train Show at the Terre Haute Indiana Childrens Museum. There you will see a lot of small layouts like many of us have and they will be throughout the whole three floors of the Museum. So there you go Go to a few train shows and get inspired. from Newman