Building a $500 Layout

[steinjr]

A question may be what Justin means when he says "portable layout". Does he mean a layout which can be moved to a new home, or a layout which is easy to bring along e.g. to a MR club meeting or to a public presentation, or a layout which can be stowed away when not used and easily be set up when he wants to run trains?

Smile,
Stein

[Mike Kieran]

I didn't see any posting regarding it being portable for exhibitions. It could probably fit whole in the back of a minivan or a large SUV. I designed mine to originally fit into the back seat of a Chevrolet Cavalier 2 door which was 42 inches wide. I purposely designed it this way so that I could take it to train shows and such.

How do I keep the rolling stock on the track plan from being labeled?

[steinjr]

I didn't see any posting regarding it being portable for exhibitions.

First post. Justin wanted a "small, portable layout". Before making it bigger, it might be worthwhile to inquire what Justin means by small and portable.

How do I keep the rolling stock on the track plan from being labeled?

XtrkCad ? Menu Options | Popup Display Options - uncheck "Label Enable" for cars.

Smile,
Stein

[Mike Kieran]

Thanks for the tip Stein.

I meant that he didn't say portable for exhibitions. It will fit on the average rectangular table top, so it's reasonably sized to transport around. I just got the impression that he is keeping it as 1 piece.

[Justinmiller171]

Stein, I meant I wanted to be able to move the layout fairly easily if I ever needed to, for example if I were going to move out or just move it to a different room.

Mike, I am thinking about making the layout a 4x6, it would be easier for a beginner to build, as it requires less benchwork construction than a 40"x56" (Less cuts).

I am currently thinking about what kind of track I should go with, should I go with regular snap-track or track with a molded on road-bed. I was thinking the kind with molded roadbed would be easier for a beginner, Atlas true-track would be good since the builder could choose to remove the track from the roadbed if they want.

I also started a thread at the Model Railroad Hobbyist forum: http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/8568

[Mike Kieran]

True Track isn't bad if you're still not used to ballasting. My only caveats with it is that a shortline/branchline wouldn't have such well ballasted track with heavy rail. The way that I'll justify it on my layout is that the line formerly served a ship yard. You can decide what heavy industry your line once served. The other reason that I'm not crazy about true track is it doesn't look very realistic. A bit of weathering can make it work, however, so that problem is solved. True Track also has only 1 1/2 and 2 inch filler pieces. The track assortment is minimal. You could use True Track for the turnouts and snap track for the rest of the track.

The True Track does come with 22 inch radius curved turnouts (not on the menu for XTrackCad). If you weather the roadbed, it may work. I am curious to see how it goes if you do.

I'm going with straight Code 83 track only because I alredy have it.

If you feel more comfortable with True Track, by all means go with it. You can always add details later.

[Justinmiller171]

Here are some pictures of the layout I made using SCARM:

Front


Back

[Steamtrains]

Justin...I like how you can render your layout with SCARM...I have downloaded the software but have found it to be almost impossible to use. Any tricks up your sleeve..??

I'm starting work on the peninsula for my layout and would like to get a "preview" of how it'll look, and what modifications I might need to make before I let the sawdust fly, and then have to go back and re-do something that didn't quite work out...

Any ideas would be most welcome...

[Justinmiller171]

I am almost done with benchwork, I simply cut 8 inches of the top of a 4x4 and put it on the right side, making it 40" x 56".

Unfortunately college is starting soon, so progress will be slow for a few months.

I will try and take some pictures of the benchwork soon.

[Mike Kieran]

This is an example of using buildings as a backdrop.

http://www.gatewaynmra.org/layouts/gc08/gcrr8b.jpg