05-20-2011, 01:53 PM
faraway Wrote:jonte Wrote:....Hope this makes things a little clearer....
Thank you very much. You do not plan the obvious. That will be very interesting.
Due more to ignorance than design, Reinhard
The anomaly of the main road following the diverging track was an idea picked up from an article in an old Model Railroader mag I picked up on the topic of 'oddities'.
It also provides an opportunity for the stock to 'deviate' it's route on what is essentially a typical, long thin shelf layout. As I want to create that 'between the buildings' feel, it will prevent the observer looking down a long corridor and seeing the whole layout at once; in essence, the alleyways will be in a dogs -leg formation. Although it's not exactly a micro, there's still not a lot you can do to create interest in a relatively short rectangular space such as this.
Finally, not a lot going on operationally, but I want to avoid the layout feeling ovrcrowded. I'm also conscious of the golden rule advocated by a number of UK modellers: (3 : 1)
i.e. the layout should be at least three train lengths in total viewing length. I want to run with a loco and two cars, possibly three, for that shortline feel, which is just about right.
Your right, this isn't a typical US outline plan; definitely the mark of the space-starved Englishman about it
Best wishes,
Jonte