Layouts I almost Built

I have for a long time wanted to build a 3 rail O modular layout that can be taken to shows, retirement homes, fire stations, etc. Wouldn’t do it alone - would need a few collaborators with a shared vision. Not on the drawing board yet, but soon I hope.

Very cool 👍🏻

I’ve always liked the salt lake one

Gold Hill Central. One of my favorites. Malcolm Furlow and John Olson and others. Built at a train show on a 4x6 and was covered in a series of articles in MR. Circa 1984 or so.

the disney train run from 1960 thunder mountain layout
is what i am working on

the train layout i would love to build is the train route in red dead redemption 2

Thanks for sharing. Those present some cool ideas...and I'm still in the "ideas" phase (as I await to learn how much space I'll eventually have).

I REALLY like that second layout that was featured in 48 top notch track plans, the Laurel and Highland?

One of the first features that I noticed was the wye, which isn’t common and then I noticed all the track spurs, requiring A-LOT of switching, but also includes the ability to just run trains! What anEXCELLENT layout!

Always loved the Ed Blumenschine's, Tupper Lake and Faust Junction. I would call it the Frostbite Falls and Mount Flatten.

I built Linn Wescott's HO Railroad that grows in N scale years ago. It was harder than I thought it would be. Converting an HO 4x8 plan to N is not as simple as one would think.

When I was younger and always had one of Atlas' track plan books on hand, I started the "Unhinged & Horizontal." It was an out and back N scale layout on a door. I had it to the ppint of train "running", but because I didn't have much experience, the trackwork left a lot to be desired and I ended up taking it down.

Thanks for sharing at trains🎉❤

One layout that always impressed me was your old 5 x 10 HO layout. I have become a fan of staging yards. It gives the illusion of trains going somewhere. You can have trains passing through while having locals come in to service the various industries. It was impressive what you were able to do in a relatively small space.

Hi Steve, my favorite is layout 1. My next project is a scale G Indoor Layout. So, I think, it’s a good idea to realize Layout 1 for my Indoor Trains🤔🛤️🛠🤩👍

I have just recently been looking at how to model and represent a rural commuter train in rural Japan with the many terraced terrain features and homes beside the railway. Their automobile roads seem to be fairly narrow so one could have some nice winding roads crossing below or across the rail line, and they use short bridges as well that would look nice. This kind of came to while looking at what is available in T scale and noticed they make some of those nice 70's vintage commuter trains and after watching some videos on the rural Japanese trains this looks like it could be interesting to build and run as well. With it being common to have the trees and low foliage up close to their train line this might look really interesting to model as well.

I had converted the MRR Virginian project layout to N scale but on a 36x80 door and it gave a little more room to add in an additional switching opportunity or two.

I'm looking at doing my first, a 3x5 N scale layout. A northern CA town. With 2 industries, fall colors, a water feature, a mountain/tunnel, but finding a good Kato track plan has been a challenge so far.

I think the central main RR looks like a fun build, especially if you made all the buildings industries and replaced the road with a river or canal.

Want to put an O scale loop around the lower level of my house and run the theme train sets I've bought from Lionel over the years.

Just a thought for somebody looking to get into the hobby and doesn't want to spend a fortune all at once :) When I was a kid, teenager (13), I had the HO layout "HO RAILROAD THAT GROWS" by Linn Westcott, on a 4ft x 8ft plywood table. It was immediately up and running from the first stage. setting up other areas of interest and operation with each new section. It had a mining area and other switching opportunities as well. We moved before it was actually finished but as a teenager it was easier to build one layer/section at a time as the book instructed. I didn't have to spend a lot of money at one time, so it was much more affordable for myself with my meager allowance. If somebody is starting out that would probably be an excellent build as you do not have to do it all at once! Buying the pieces and expanding it as you could. In N scale it would be a very roomy layout on a 4ft x 8ft area. In N scale the 18-inch radius would allow for wider appearing curves and enhancing the ability to run larger locomotives. IT would also allow for easier grades to run on. And much more scenery as well. But of course, N Scale was not as reliable when I was younger, or I might have considered that.

As someone that has made so so many many layouts, it is funny to think that there are some you did not build.

I have a soft spot for the original gorre & daphetid, with some modifications for better staging etc

Hello, Do you have any thoughts on the Scenic Ridge layout? Any changes that you'd make? Thanks

Hi Steve, some good ideas for old layout plans.
There are 2 small layouts that have tempted me over the years and since we have a move coming up in a few months may get another chance.

1st is the BTR Railroad from MR mag in Sept 1980. HO scale, 5x9 feet with a loop and a lot of industrial spots. BTR stands for break the rules, in this case no yard or engine terminal. There is a really steep down grade into the center of the layout. It would be easy to eliminate the grade and leave out the track altogether. Leave the track in with out the grade and you have the potential for a great brick canyon scene.
In N scale I would use a front or back door at around 3x7 feet.

#2 is the Third Street Industrial District I think. It's HO, 2x10 feet. Needs to be stretched another 2 or 3 feet because it also has a steep down grade on it. That section dead ends under a bridge with an industry at the end of it. I have always thought it would make an interesting lead into a water front section on an L section. It is in one of the newer track plan books from the gang at MR mag.

I have tried to fit the Gumstump and Snowshoe as a pair of T-TRAK modules.

I think if you add hidden under the layout staging to some of these. It would increase run time , have a place to set up trains , and give the trains coming on the layout an off world feel. This is not hard to do with a bit of good planning.

I looked at building N versions Model Railroader’s Seaboard Central and Red Wing layouts. Our local hobby shop has a Salt Lake Route layout.

I'm working on a 2x4ft N scale project, and it really has me revisiting my overall plans for my permanent build project. That last layout is one that I'm using as some inspiration for my ideas, given that I'm now planning for N instead of HO ... I can fit more in my space, and use less of the room to do so, which might mean an interchange yard with an urban setting being added, that was part of early HO plans, but would have needed a 2 level setup or something to incorporate.
Cheers.

I had wanted to build the Beer Line because you could change it up if you got bored. However, I never got around to do that. Moves, Available Space, Life, etc. got in the way.

I like The Salt Lake Route plan a lot. Another I really like is Mike Danneman’s 5x7 D&RGW layout. Always wanted to do that one.

In one of those track planning guides is a track plan for an HO layout on a 4'x8', it has an oval around the edge and a figure 8 in the middle, and they were interconnected. I want to build that in N scale, on. 4'x8', and have large radius curves, longer turnouts, and way more detail.

The Granite Gorge and Northern

My favorite track plan is the Kitty Hawk Central, a project layout from the December 1981 & January 1982 issues of Model Railroader magazine. I've worked up a 2'x4' N-Scale version in AnyRail that I'm working on. However my version will move the location from the Outer Banks of North Carolina to the pulpwood area of north central Wisconsin. Eventually I would like to couple it with a 2'x4' version of a Rob Chant track plan called the Central Alberta Railway, with a couple of 1'x4' modules in between.

Before you start a layout. Find a model railroad club. Spend time on there layout.
It’s hard to know what you really want without seeing what else can be done.

Hey, I enjoyed this vid more than expected lol. I had a Lional set as a kid and being semi retired now I been looking into putting a large n scale setup in the mostly unused bonus room (space I have is 3ft by 20 ft). I have settled in Kato as I love the locomotive and running stock quality and ease of use of the track so I have started collecting and experimenting with track on the hardwood floor (I can and will build my own interconnecting three tables). On a recent motorcycle trip I have been inspired by those long well car container diesel trains through Texas to Arizona. Simple large DC single track loop setup, some but minimal elevation...long container train snaking through the desert with Route 66 style scenes on one side and larger switching yard/rolling stock selection yard on the other with the option isolate the switching yard and play with a smaller shunting loco there. Canyon like valley to cross in the middle. Learning as I go and mostly to keep me busy when the weather keeps me indoors 😅 Also future fun when the grandson is a bit older and visits.

I used to work for a contractor to CSX in Evansville, IN cleaning hoppers used for mineral fertilizers, I want to add the yard onto some other layout with a full loop.... I think it would be fun using my old workplace as my railyard lol

Good day, Stave. I like your show