Comments on: Mistakes For A Very Small Layout

By: Chris Manvell

Chris Manvell — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 22:44:08 +0000

Thanks for your comments John. My point was more that I overdid the complexity both in the trackwork and the environment. However, as a really small layout,a fellow exhibitor built a Scale layout which in N scale would be about 2’6″ square. It is less than a foot across and consists of just two loops. There is a lot of detail and it was very popular with the public. You can see a few photos at the foot of http://trains.manvell.org.uk/exhibitions/20091107-Elgin/index.htm . The cover is to keep off the dust.

By: Ken G

Ken G — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 22:17:55 +0000

After reading the latest newsletter and the article about John’s small layout that had too many trees etc I thought you might be interested in my T Gauge layout.

I work as a volunteer at the Workshops Rail museum and last weekend we held the Queensland Model Railway Show at the museum. After last year’s show I made a promise to myself that I would build a layout for this year’s show. It wasn’t what I had originally intended but I built a T Gauge layout inside a briefcase and called it “Briefleigh”. John’s tale was a reminder of my thinking when I built the layout. I deliberately used trees and bushes sparingly with a few buildings to indicate the village. I put in one larger building which is a model of enough of the museum for viewers at the show to recognise it as such. It generated an enormous amount of interest and comment at the show and was also on ABC TV news.

By: John Mc Cabe

John Mc Cabe — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 16:13:05 +0000

Chris, 2×6 is real big for a Z-Scale layout, and even big enough for you to switch to N-Scale. But in N, the 2-foot width is only wide enough for 9-3/4″ curves, OK for 2-axle diesels but too tight for 3-axles. 11″ curves, which let you run 3-axle engines, would bring the track right to the edge of the layout table or whatever. What you would do to avoid this is add an inch or so to the edges with anything – wood, plastic, etc. Then you can run two trains – 11″ curves on the outside loop and 9-3’4″ on the inside loop.

By: Chris Manvell

Chris Manvell — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 08:03:11 +0000

I went for a small initial layout as my first. I used a plan I developed many years ago and went for building an exhibition layout. The layout is Z scale and 6ft by 2ft (181cm x 61cm). It is packed with trackwork although much of it is for show and little used. I agree with John that simplicity is best and my next layout will be much simpler and, probably N scale though that will mean very tight curves to get it to fit in the car.

If you are interested, you can see my ‘small’ layout at http://tiny.cc/breitenfurt/ . There are also photos of a lot of interesting layouts by going to my exhibitions pages. Some are very small but in larger scales.