Archive for the 'Medium' Category

Layouts that will fit into a 10 foot square room.

"Big Foot Lumber" by Stuart Edmundson

Posted on April 17th, 2002

Stuart Edmundson first posted this plan to the On30 Conspiracy group at Yahoo!, but has kindly agreed to its publication at LayoutDesigns.com as well. “On30″ models are O scale models running on HO gauge track, representing 30″ gauge prototypes. The beauty of plans in this scale, however, are that they can usually be used for standard gauge HO layouts (albeit with smaller scenery).

Big Foot Lumber started life as a shelf layout - shown at the bottom of the plan as ‘Existing Module’ - and this portion is an interesting switching layout for either a narrow gauge or small standard gauge operation.

The key to building this layout is to ensure that you can access the hidden sidings at the top left of the plan, just in case of a problem arising. One option would be for a single track to descend after entering the tunnel and swing around to a fiddle yard area under the sawmill, but this would be dependent on space and the maximum gradients your trains can comfortably handle.

Click to enlarge
© Stuart Edmundson

Filed in Narrow Gauge / Medium / Point-to-point / Light Industry / Port / Suburban / Mountains

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"Norfolk & Adair"

Posted on March 10th, 2002
Click to enlarge
Norfolk & Adair © Emrys Hopkins

Two layouts in one here - on one side of the central viewblock is the town of Norfolk with a few small industries, minimal engine servicing area and a passenger depot. On the other side is Adair Junction, where a logging line joins the branch line. Adair Junction is heavily influenced by the famous Gumstump and Snowshoe layout, but I’m not aware of any particular influence over Norfolk.

Click to enlarge
Norfolk station

The unusual aspect of this plan is that it’s designed to stick out from the corner of a room. The two staging areas go against the walls and - thanks to the double slip - trains can be brought out of one “yard”, run around the layout as many times as you like and then sent away to the other staging area.

Click to enlarge
Adair Junction

Filed in Standard Gauge / Medium / Point-to-point / Continuous / Light Industry / Suburban / Rural

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"Caledonia Junction"

Posted on March 10th, 2002

Apologies for the poor quality of the plan - I’ll re-post it when I get around to drawing up a better version.

Click to enlarge
Caledonia Junction © Emrys Hopkins

This plan was been inspired by the gift of a ‘00′ gauge train set to go with my 009 rolling stock. I felt that I would be struggling to build a station at which the Caledonian would have stopped, but I could put together a fictitious station through which the train may have been diverted due to engineering works …. I know it’s a bit thin - can you think of a better justification?

Anyway, the layout is simple an oval with hidden storage tracks, a looped though station with a couple of goods sidings and headshunts and a narrow gauge feeder line bringing down passengers and goods to the standard gauge. Minimum radii are 18″ on the standard gauge and 11″ for the narrow gauge line (surprisingly generous for me!).

Possible improvements: The next version of the plan will have a straighter standard gauge station. I’ll probably drop the narrow gauge line nearest the standard gauge station so that the NG station faces “north” rather than facing the standard gauge station building. Overall, though, I’m fairly happy with the plan.

Filed in Dual Gauge / Medium / Point-to-point / Continuous / Rural

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"Norfolk (Clue County)"

Posted on March 10th, 2002
Click to enlarge
Norfolk, terminus of the Norfolk and Adair RR © Emrys Hopkins

After choosing to model in HO scale with an American theme - specifically a logging line in the late 1920’s - I started putting some ideas together for the layout. The space I had available was 9′6″ by 6′6″ and it just so happens that this plan fits that space perfectly!

There are my usual double slips and a three way point to allow me to cram in as much trackwork as possible in a very small area, but the part of this plan that I am happiest with is the helix connecting both the logging branch and the short line to the one fiddle yard.

Filed in Standard Gauge / Medium / Point-to-point / Light Industry / Suburban

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