Model Railroad Planning magazine

[mdvle]

The 2020 edition is out now.

 

Highlights:

• Enhancing Diesel Shop Operations - author's Columbia & Western Railway, based on the CPR lines in BC around Nelson - talks about changing how he operates the diesel shop based on conversations with a former employee of the shops
• Commuter Attraction - talks about the C&NW commuter operations around Crystal Lake, Ill. in the 1940s and 50s.  Includes a 1950 layout design in HO taking 10'x15' as well as a 1960s layout design in N for 10'x15'.
• Layout in the Family Room - sharing the layout space with the rest of the family - includes a Port of Los Angeles L shaped layout taking 13' x 19' in HO, built using Ikea's Ivar shelving parts.
• The Espee in the UK - SP layout by British modeller Brian Moore, a 15'x25' HO layout of the SP Guadalupe Sub in 1954.  It is a multi-level layout and the article only includes one level with a pointer to the Model Railroader online track database for the rest (unfortunate).
• A Busy Eastern Virginia Junction - N scale layout in 10'x20' based around Dosewell and CSX.
• All the Layout's a Stage - a UK modelling influenced layout based on New Haven's Berkshire Line in 14'x26' in HO, double deck.
• A Model Railroad in a Highway Trailer - A Welsh LNWR based layout, a short article about a UK modeller who put his layout in a refrigerated truck/lorry trailer measuring 8'x8'x44'.  Layout is apparently 6'x28' in 7mm with additional fiddle yard, but no layout plan provided.
• Building a Layout More Efficiently - how to build a large layout quickly, no layout plan.
• Big Steam is Back in the Appalachians - O scale layout based on N&W, 1953 23'x26' layout
• A Single Location Layout - by Iain Rice - a garage sized layout in 20'x20' in N based on a single location (instead of multiple locations joined by track).
• Coping with Urban Canyons - designing a layout to allow access for cleaning, lining turnouts, and uncoupling when it an urban based layout with tall structures. No layout plan, layout (HO Scale Montreal Terminals) was also featured in Great Model Railroads 2019
• Through the Basement and Around It - D&RGW dual gauge layout, HO scale in 41'x61', multi-deck.

 

Don't know if deliberate decision of focus, or based on available content, but disappointed with the emphasis on large layouts.  Certainly stuff of interest (like using Ikea for looks - also seen on Marty McGuirk's new Central Vermont layout on his blog), but seems to reinforce the mistaken viewpoint you need a large space that wasn't done in past years.

Edited February 1, 2020 by mdvle
spelling

[dave1905]

Have never understood the problem with large layouts.  Any large layout is a collection of smaller scenes or areas.  I am building a 24x24 layout but it could easily be broken into 3 or 4 one foot by 8-12 foot switching layouts, plus a half dozen Inglenook style switching layouts.

 

If you think about it, if there is a 6 page article on a small layout you have ideas for ONE small switching area.  If you have 6 page article on my layout you would have ideas on six or seven smaller switching areas.

[298]

Is it because the traditional US basement empire will replicate miles of track at different locations with trains going between industries, but a UK modeller with the same amount of space will model one location with trains running out of and back to the fiddle yard? The same can be said of the concept for an exhibition layout, no matter what the size they are they're usually based on watching trains at one location.

 

What is the easiest means to get hold of MRP and GMR in the UK...? I have a few back issues missing too...

[stivesnick]

2 hours ago, 298 said:

Is it because the traditional US basement empire will replicate miles of track at different locations with trains going between industries, but a UK modeller with the same amount of space will model one location with trains running out of and back to the fiddle yard? The same can be said of the concept for an exhibition layout, no matter what the size they are they're usually based on watching trains at one location.

 

What is the easiest means to get hold of MRP and GMR in the UK...? I have a few back issues missing too...

 

The current editions tend to end up in larger branches of WH Smith but often a few months after publication.

 

Nick

[mdvle]

3 hours ago, dave1905 said:

Have never understood the problem with large layouts.

 

Even though I am unlikely to ever have the space for a large layout, I don't have a problem with them on their own.

 

My comment was more about the lack of variety, an apparent confirmation of the (correct or not) bias towards the basement empire that MR is accused of.

 

3 hours ago, dave1905 said:

Any large layout is a collection of smaller scenes or areas.  I am building a 24x24 layout but it could easily be broken into 3 or 4 one foot by 8-12 foot switching layouts, plus a half dozen Inglenook style switching layouts.

 

I know that, you know that, and likely many on here know that (and it won't be me, but maybe that is an idea for an article for a future edition).  But many who pick and browse MRP at a magazine stand or library don't know that and thus it portrays an incorrect view of this hobby.

 

And a 12 foot switching layout is still going to be a huge layout for a lot of people, particularly that growing number of people even in North America that are now living in smaller homes often in high-rise condos.

 

3 hours ago, dave1905 said:

If you think about it, if there is a 6 page article on a small layout you have ideas for ONE small switching area.  If you have 6 page article on my layout you would have ideas on six or seven smaller switching areas.

 

Perhaps.  Certainly the track plan (if included) would give ideas, but would the article itself?  Articles on the larger layout somewhat by necessity don't really cover the individual scenes in the larger layout.

[D9020 Nimbus]

There have been quite a number of compact layouts in past issues of MRP but none this year. The magazine itself does cover smaller layouts too—even many years ago: the "Timesaver" being an example. Though MRP reflects perhaps the preferences of its editor—who has a large basement empire.

 

MRP can be obtained digitally via Zinio.

[F-UnitMad]

On 01/02/2020 at 14:51, dave1905 said:

Have never understood the problem with large layouts. ....

I don't think there is a "problem" with large layouts, as such, not even from space-starved UK modellers who follow US outline, although articles about actually operating a Basement Empire, with multiple crews and a dispatcher etc lose me completely, and sound more like a lot of hard work than a relaxing time!! But I've never been involved in such things and am still really unfamiliar with how it all works, so what do I know?

 

I think the issue, if there is one, is that there can be a perception that the Basement Empire is the only way to go; that anything less is a waste of time and will not be satisfying to own or operate. From the Blog of Lance Mindheim from a few years ago, you can see how pervasive this perception is on the left of The Pond, and how he struggled to get across to modellers that the multi-track, multi-level Basement Empire is not the be-all-&-end-all of model railroading.

 

If UK modellers did routinely have access to the same sort of space & funds that our Basement Empire-owning US brethren have, I do think we would still see the differences in approach, as we are more used to modelling a "Place" rather than a "Route", as Pete Waterman's layout shows, for example - or even Sir Rod Stewart's, come to that, which is US outline.

 

[number6]

Thank you for the suggestion to look up Lance Mindheim - very interesting. 

 

There have have been many interesting layouts in past editions of this magazine. And many tips and tricks regardless of the size of layout. 

 

I have a feeling that some US modellers deal with their space be it large or small better than UK modellers do. 

 

Even of it is a large layout the transitions between scenes is often dealt with very well. The UK equivalent is the exit to the fiddle yard which (sorry chaps) nearly everyone is terrible at - me included. 

 

Tunnels that aren’t dark or are just 2 inches long on a big layout - Two well known and admired chaps: P Waterman esq and T Wright esq are both guilty of this on what are huge layouts! All those clear views of the unsceniced fiddle yards - obvious curves under bridges and down tunnels etc. 

 

It’s understandable we want maximum space for the scenery and not want to ‘waste‘ it on the transition - a longer tunnel or overbridge etc. but it’s not something you see on US layouts so much. They devise tricks - sceniced storage yards - or use their sharper curves to advantage. 

 

We meanwhile have to do the suspension of disbelief in our head while viewing a UK layout rather than be gently tricked into disbelief on a US one that the line turns through 90 degrees. 

 

Having said all this I am a big fan of layouts set in flat country where the line just ends in a mousehole in the plywood sky.

 

Just some comparisons... will see if I can find a copy somewhere. 

 

[dave1905]

Quote

although articles about actually operating a Basement Empire, with multiple crews and a dispatcher etc lose me completely, and sound more like a lot of hard work than a relaxing time!! But I've never been involved in such things and am still really unfamiliar with how it all works, so what do I know?

 

Larger is more work, but then its not "work" its a hobby.  If I spend 20 years building a single 24x24 layout, how is that different than somebody spending 20 years building a series of 5 or 6 smaller layouts?  We are both spending 20 years building layouts.

 

The difference is that on a larger layout it becomes more of a team sport.  The different trains interact with each other, either by meeting and passing or by making connections with the cars, the through freights have to get cars to the yards so the yard can switch them up for the locals who spot them, the locals pull the cars form industries and take them back to the yards and the yard builds the outbound through freights and then the through freights take the cars someplace else.  Its the difference between building a shed by yourself and a group building a barn.  You can play catch by bouncing a ball off a wall, but to play baseball or cricket, you need teams and a bigger space.

 

Not that a bigger layout is "better", but it offers opportunities to simulate things a smaller layout can't.  There are many steps in moving a freight car, a smaller layout can model three or four of those steps, a larger layout can model more steps, another layer of what happens next.

[F-UnitMad]

4 hours ago, dave1905 said:

If I spend 20 years building a single 24x24 layout, how is that different than somebody spending 20 years building a series of 5 or 6 smaller layouts?  We are both spending 20 years building layouts.

I meant "hard work" in relation to complicated operating sessions, not layout construction. I would find running to a timetable equally laborious on a large UK layout, but thats just me.

 

I think a better 'sports' analogy for model railways would be football ('soccer'). Cricket & baseball do need big teams to play the game properly  "all or nothing". But football can be enjoyed by much smaller teams than standard 11-a-side, and even solo practise can be much more than just kicking a ball against a wall. There are many facets to the skill of the game; so too with model railways. 

[fezza]

It's worth remembering that exhibitions play a much smaller role in the American Model railroading scene so there is less incentive to build small portable layouts. In urban areas groups of friends  operating each other's home layouts is a much more popular social activity than in the UK so there is an element of friendly competition which tends towards size and operational complexity. It's no bad thing really. 

 

If anyone actually sees MRP in Smiths could they let us know? No sign of it in my patch yet... 

Edited February 4, 2020 by fezza

[z4driver]

Just goes to show that one man's meat....etc.

 

A real inspiration for me was Bruce Chubb's book 'How to Operate Your Model Railroad' which I found in a library here in the UK about 20 years ago. Being a typical UK modeller with the usual lack of space, inspiration has been what it remained until, after a very long gap of doing no modelling at all, recently.

 

Firstly, I found Lance Mindheim's books which made me realise that I could do some of it in a limited space and, secondly, joining a operating group which has a modular layout which is set up 4 times a year in a large hall.

 

I don't find it hard work, just really satisfying and very social for what can normally be a solitary hobby.

 

Cheers Lee

[jollysmart]

2 hours ago, F-UnitMad said:

I meant "hard work" in relation to complicated operating sessions, not layout construction. I would find running to a timetable equally laborious on a large UK layout, but thats just me.

 

I think a better 'sports' analogy for model railways would be football ('soccer'). Cricket & baseball do need big teams to play the game properly  "all or nothing". But football can be enjoyed by much smaller teams than standard 11-a-side, and even solo practise can be much more than just kicking a ball against a wall. There are many facets to the skill of the game; so too with model railways. 

 

From reading about the large basement layouts in the States they seem to be very operation orientated which is why they run between several places often at differing levels but the common theme seems to be that they have regular group operating sessions and the layouts are constructed for this purpose.

[fezza]

Yes I am a big fan of Lance's work. He has a similar approach to design as Iain Rice, although with less focus on finescale standards making his plans more achievable for Joe Averages like me. 

[jollysmart]

4 minutes ago, fezza said:

Yes I am a big fan of Lance's work. He has a similar approach to design as Iain Rice, although with less focus on finescale standards making his plans more achievable for Joe Averages like me. 

 

 

I think Lance is about theatre as he seeks to display the railway in amongst the scenery, often a small part of it and sets the scene on that basis. I really like his work and his approach is quite suitable for UK homes with its relatively compact, by American standards, size.

[dave1905]

Very few people operate a "timetable' or "train orders" strictly, there are actually only a small group that know how to use them.  Most are verbal instructions ("mother may I") and a much looser operation.

 

A lot of the people who like the smaller switching layouts are really into the "following the switchman around" type of operation where you wait until the switchman opens the gate to get into the industry then you wait until the switchman walks the cut, allowing time to release the handbrakes,  Then you couple into the cut, you wait to charge up the brakes , etc.  They do the full brake test, etc.

 

Just depends on what you like.

[PaulRhB]

Steam Powered Video carry all the MR specials 

https://www.spv.co.uk/acatalog/Magazines_Annuals.html

 

Like others have said you can take inspiration from bits of these large layouts to build a module. 
I can’t remember if it was MRP or GMR but my module was inspired by a section of a layout I saw and fits into our large modular layouts ok

 

and what’s stopping you from building a multi station layout in the UK? This has 5 stations and size wise would work with a shortline if you folded it up into a room or garage here.  Also fits in my 7x9 spare room with three more layouts for storage  

 

Edited February 9, 2020 by PaulRhB