May 2024 marks the fourth anniversary of when I used a free day to being planning the model railway layout I hoped to build.  Inspired by the writings of Frank Ellison and Al Kalmbach from 1940's America, I set out on my great adventure:

 

But so far the great layout hasn't happened (yet).  I've written extensively, elsewhere and in earlier blog posts, about how plans and space around me have changed regularly, hopefully commenting informatively (I've learned a lot) and reasonably entertainingly (I've also had loads of fun), but with our planned house move now set for the end of June, it is time to look ahead.  As I won't have a dedicated layout space in the new house, I've taken a step back to consider some ideas where space takes second place to other aspects of our engaging hobby.

 

I've long had an interest in micro-layouts, and while they do share a lot in common with larger projects, I keep coming back to a photo on @MAP66's engaging Tyteford Halte micro-layout thread that really shows the difference well.  The third photo down in this post from 2023 is the one I'm referring to:

 

 

While the photo shows the space for a good-sized layout (which can be followed here), it is the passing reference to the micro-layout on a shelf over to the right that caught me eye - that's how different a micro-layout in the same scale can look.

 

While I may still dream of watching my German express coaches flashing past as they criss-cross the continent, am I 'brave' enough (for want of a better word), to focus my interests for the next however long on much smaller projects - in other words: will I enjoy them, and will I finish them?  I ought to, but my track record isn't great.  So I've had a look at some ideas:

 

Back in 2019, @Phil Parker ran a series of layout builds in BRM designed to fit on the shelves of an IKEA 'Billy bookcase' that were documented here on RMweb.  I was fascinated, and it just so happens that there is a piece of mdf in my outhouse cut to those precise dimensions: 76cm x 26cm (30" x 10").  Add a cassette to each end and there's room for this in H0e:

 

 

 

While a Fiddle Yard / Terminus might need even less space (just one off-stage cassette), my mind is telling me that a run-through could get me closer to a sense I'm "watching trains run", my choice when there is room for a continuous-run layout.

 

A 'full' micro-layout has a scenic space of 4 sq.ft.  The idea was pioneered by the late Carl Arendt in the US, who discovered just how many fascinating layouts could fit into such a small space.  To keep up to date, @Ian Holmes is the person to connect with, and there's a link to his online magazine devoted to micro-layouts in this thread here on RMweb.

 

If I scale my plan up to micro-layout size, there's room for this, the same H0e project in a bigger space:

 

 

 

As a branch line, the same arrangement in the same space but in Standard Gauge might look like this:

 

 

 

(Note: the shed kit is unfinished - it has no gutters or roof weathering).  Admittedly It's basic, but it doesn't look cramped to me, which is the key point, and something I'll return to at the end of this post.  There may not be room for a more mainline layout though - three coaches and a loco take up the whole 4':

 

 

 

Of course, what that shows is that choice of prototype is key.  As I've hopped around from one HO scale project idea to another, the space I might need has changed even when the scale hasn't.  Some photos from my recent archives:

 

1.  American HO v Continental H0:

 

 

 

2.  American HO v Continental H0e:

 

 

 

Note that the American 4-axle Geeps shown are not large locos by US standards (nor is the boxcar).   Much as I continue to be tempted by American HO bargains, it does look like my last shift, towards Continental models, has been the right move.  Whisper it quietly, but a few compact OO-scale items may even have started to appear again...

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What about structures - my favourite part of the hobby?  Many micro and shelf layouts don't have any full-size 3-D buildings on them - everything is in low relief.  Part of the problem with 3-D buildings is that I want to see space behind a full 3-D building as well as in front of it.  I took these photos to illustrate:

 

These have been set up as a 12" deep shelf layout, with the tape measure as the edge of the shelf - very cramped:

 

 

 

In another Forum I belong to, it's been suggested that a building with a larger footprint, like the wooden rail-served store kit, may work better than smaller buildings, as the visual relationship between the structure and the trains looks better.  It's a fair point when there's more space for a layout, but in the context of this discussion, using a pair of low-relief warehouses instead gives a far less cramped look to me, even after I halve the shelf width to just 6":

 

 

 

(The right hand  warehouse is under construction - I threw together the basic structure so I could try out these ideas).  Perhaps one reason I couldn't quite settle on a plan for an American switching layout when I was looking at ideas last year is that I was trying to fit full-sized buildings (like the grain elevator) into a space better suited to shelf-layout thinking?

 

It means the grain elevator (and possibly the store) may not make it onto the removal truck next month after all, even though they've not long been finished (but they were fun to build).  What about the Neustadt Station kit I've bought, that is over three feet long by itself?  Roof sections and platforms shown here for size:

 

 

 

For this one, maybe I need to revisit the idea of a large station diorama I started some years ago with American HO?  After all, as @Mikkel noted when I first showed this kit in a previous post, it could take me a year to make it, without a layout to go around it as well!

 

Is that what I really want?  Or perhaps my mainline ideas need to by approached as "modules" more than "dioramas," taking a longer view (just in case a spare room does become available at some point?).  That's a another idea for me to think about.

 

I make no claim of originality for any of the ideas in this post of course - what I'm sharing here is a process of translation, taking the trains and ideas I've been moving towards and re-imagining them for our new home.  It's unlikely I'll do much more modelling until after we've moved now, so this post will also serve as a placeholder, probably for the next few months.

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A couple of closing thoughts, starting by returning to the first idea I set up - the Billy bookcase-sized H0e wayside station.  Micro-layouts come in all shapes and sizes (just like every other type of layout).  Some focus on operation, perhaps making no attempt to mask the intense compression that has been needed.  I've designed such layouts myself in the past (eg: here).

 

But there's another approach, which takes a tiny space and nevertheless makes it look like it's something much bigger, keeping things simple - almost taking more time over what to leave out that what to add in.  A wonderful small layout that's recently appeared on the "Pilentum" YouTube channel is this model of a small slice of Ontario:

 

 

I've already watched the video several times.  It is a bit larger (scenic area 150cm x 45cm, which is just under 5' x 18"), and has been edited to show continuous running rather than a shuttle service, but I think it illustrates the concept wonderfully.

 

In a sense, it's returning to the Art of Model Railroading that first inspired me (and still does) but seeing it differently - as art.  I'm no artist, and never have been, but could I give it a go?  That's my next question.  Fortunately, help is at hand, and I'm delighted to say that I received copies of @James Hilton's books this past week, courtesy of Wild Swan and the Titfield Bookshop.  James has already pointed me in the right direction several times, in this blog and elsewhere, even though we've never met, so what better resource for me to explore as the adventure continues...?

 

 

Somehow I don't think I'm going to run out of ideas (there's another one in the header photo).  Until then, thanks for reading, Keith.