Archive for the 'Micro' Category

Layouts with a maximum dimension of no more than 3 feet

"Apple Valley Light Railway (extended)" by Ian Holmes

Posted on June 26th, 2002
Click to enlarge
© Ian Holmes

This plan was devised for the first layout design competition on the small layout design forum on Yahoo! for a layout in 3′ x 1′. This is a slightly larger version, proving that you can benefit from adding a couple of inches to any plan!

The main feature of the plan is the hidden rotating turntable. This can be lined up with all exit roads and rotated through 360 degrees. This removes the need for any complicated pointwork for sidings and run round loop. In addition by having interchangeable cassettes on the traintable you remove the need for a fiddle yard too.

The traintable will take a 12″ (305mm) cassette that is long enough for a loco and 3 skip wagons in the chosen scale of Gn15.

Gn15 is LGB scale 1:22.5 using 00/H0 track and mechanisms to represent a 15″ prototype, though this plan would work in any narrow gauge combination.

Ian spent his early railway modelling years pouring over the plans of Roy Link in Railway Modeller. Years of living in small bedrooms in houses, student dorms, bedsits and flats ingrained the practice of small layout design in him.

Ian now lives in America and has a large basement, but still only designs small layouts.

"Apple Valley Light Railway" by Ian Holmes

Posted on June 26th, 2002
Click to enlarge
© Ian Holmes

This plan was devised for the first layout design competition on the small layout design forum on Yahoo! for a layout in 3′ x 1′.

The main feature of the plan is the hidden rotating turntable. This can be lined up with all exit roads and rotated through 360 degrees. This removes the need for any complicated pointwork for sidings and run round loop. In addition by having interchangeable cassettes on the traintable you remove the need for a fiddle yard too.

The traintable will take a 12″ (305mm) cassette that is long enough for a loco and 3 skip wagons in the chosen scale of Gn15.

Gn15 is LGB scale 1:22.5 using 00/H0 track and mechanisms to represent a 15″ prototype, though this plan would work in any narrow gauge combination.

Ian spent his early railway modelling years pouring over the plans of Roy Link in Railway Modeller. Years of living in small bedrooms in houses, student dorms, bedsits and flats ingrained the practice of small layout design in him.

Ian now lives in America and has a large basement, but still only designs small layouts.

"Knotter Yard"

Posted on March 10th, 2002
Click to enlarge
Knotter Yard © Emrys Hopkins

This was designed for the Small Layout Design mailing list’s Christmas 2001 competition. The challenge was to build an HO scale layout less than 30 inches long and up to 16 inches deep.

You’re limited to short wheelbase locomotives and rolling stock, but you can’t claim you’ve not got space for a layout any longer!

The layout is based around a double slip and a three-way point, both from Peco. Add a few inches of track off each end and a few low relief buildings and you have a switching puzzle which can keep you occupied for a quick half hour’s shunting.

Carl Arendt put together a version of this plan as a narrow gauge Gn15 layout and published details of how he got on on his website - (now moved here) - take a look around his site anyway as it’s full of inspirational ideas.

Read the rest of this entry »

"College Street"

Posted on March 10th, 2002
Click to enlarge
College Street © Emrys Hopkins

The plan was designed for one of the challenges laid down on the Small Layout Design mailling list - to design a layout suitable for a student to build while in college. The challenge required that the trackwork would be basic and inexpensive (so there’s just the one turnout) and the maximum dimensions would be 36 inches by 10 inches.

There’s a sector plate beneath the shops long enough to hold a short switching loco and a box car and operation would largely consist of switching cars between one of the factory spurs and the front siding. The doors to the factory should open, effectively doubling the length of the two sidings.

Click to enlarge
3D view of the sidings
Click to enlarge
Overall 3D view

"Lil’ Stump Junction" by Michael Denny

Posted on January 21st, 2002
Click to enlarge
Lil’ Stump Junction © Michael Denny

A clever plan by Michael Denny uses a dummy track at a lower level to give the layout a third dimension. With a trestle to build as well, this layout could keep you off the streets for a while.