Modern N gauge terminus micro layout help

[Jerry1975]

Hi Everyone,

 

I got a regional commuter train set in N gauge for Christmas, it came with oval of track, class 101 DMU, and controller.

I would like to build a modern terminus layout for it to run on, end to end, length 4ft x 1ft and would like some ideas please.

I would like a platform or two and some freight of some sort to add intrest.

I liked the look of APA Park so something along those lines would be good but open to all ideas.

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Jerry.

[JohnR]

Minories in N should be about 4x1. Cant do much better than that.

[Jerry1975]

Thanks for your reply JohnR,

I have seen minories, something small would suit me best as ( I forgot to mention ) the fiddle yard

will have to be on the same board.

 

I am hopeless at designing layouts hence why I would like help from you guys please.

 

Thanks Jerry.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Jerry1975

[Zomboid]

You'll get a conventional BLT into that kind of space.

Have you got CJF's small layouts book? It's aimed at 00, but there's countless small BLTs which should give plenty of inspiration.

Also, think about your freight/passenger preference. With a DMU you could make your station a single siding/platform halt affair and use the rest of the board for freight, if that's your preference.

And with 4x1, have a look at carendt.com, lots of non uk content there (a plus for me, but not necessarily for everyone), but millions of ideas for that kind of space in all kinds of scales.

Edited January 18, 2016 by Zomboid

[Karhedron]

There was a nice compact 00 layout called "Westonmouth Central" on the old incarnation of RMweb. The scenic section was only 4'8" so you could nearly halve that for N gauge. 2 platforms for DMU stock and a small parcels depot if you fancy a bit of shunting.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3742

[Moxy]

Westonmouth is on the current RMWeb, here http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/104828-westonmouth-central/ along with a few more photos.

[Jerry1975]

Thanks for all of your replies everyone.

 

Westonmouth is a lovely layout and I like parcels traffic, I don't have the small layouts plans book but will try and get my hands on one.

 

The micro layout site is great too, lots to think about.

 

I'd like something with some small freight yard or industry, a platform or two for passenger trains and maybe incorporate some parcels trains too.

The layout will be DC, and incorporate the fiddle yard on the same board.

 

Also like some sort of town or a hint of a town so maybe a few houses and shops.

 

Am I asking for to much?

 

Thanks again for your help.

 

Jerry.

[Karhedron]

I'd like something with some small freight yard or industry, a platform or two for passenger trains and maybe incorporate some parcels trains too.

The layout will be DC, and incorporate the fiddle yard on the same board.

 

Also like some sort of town or a hint of a town so maybe a few houses and shops.

 

Am I asking for to much?

 

Not at all, one of the beauties of N gauge is the ability to fit a lot into a modest space. Although you may risk straying from the "micro" part of your brief.

[Jerry1975]

Hi,

 

Thanks for your reply Karhedron.

 

SWMBO has said I can have a small layout due to space limitations hence why I went for N gauge.

4ft x 1ft is my maximum baseboard length and it just fits on our dinning table length wise.

 

I am beginning to get a few ideas now, thinking station with 2 platform faces, some sidings where freight trains reverse / run round their trains to go further down the line, a dual carriageway overbridge and maybe a hint of a military museum as I like military vehicles too.

Just some ideas at the moment.

 

Thanks again for all your help.

 

Jerry.

[Karhedron]

Please excuse the very crude drawing but the idea below may make a useful starting point if you want to fit the whole layout on a 4'x1' board. It is a variation of the "piano line" style of layout. You have a 2 platform terminus for passenger trains on the left and a warehouse with platform on the right. This could be a parcels depot or could handle some other form of freight if you prefer.

 

The layout is fairly small so you will be limited to 2-car DMUs in the station and a shunter with a couple of vans at the depot but this should be enough to provide some fun operation. on the DMU side you have class 101s, 108s, 150s and 158s from Farish. Dapol provide 121s, 122s, 155s and 156s. You can select as appropriate for your period and area. For the depot, Farish offer class 03, 04 and 08 shunters as well as a class 14 (although these were quite restricted in terms of period and location).

 

The red line indicates a back scene with a couple of storage sidings hidden behind it. Trains enter the layout through the backscene, possibly disguised as a bridge under a dual-carriageway if you like. Passenger trains then make their way across the double slip to one of the 2 platform faces and then return from whence they came.

 

Parcel trains for the depot have a slightly more interesting journey. On arrival, they pull into the upper passenger platform before the loco propels them back into the depot. When the time comes to depart, the shunter couples on and draws them partway forwards into the run-around loop. It then uncouples and runs around before propelling them all the way back into the upper platform. Then it pulls them away forwards through the backscene and into the hidden sidings.

 

I have drawn it all very straight and angular but introducing some gentle curves would make it more interesting visually. You could also tinker with the basic idea if you wish. However I think it fulfills your requirements of a single 4'x1' board with both passenger and freight operations.

 

Googling piano line layout will give you more ideas and plenty of variations on the theme.

[Satan's Goldfish]

How's this? Gives you your DMU shuttles, a little parcels, shunting, and a mainline freight engine. A carefully placed mirror under the bridge at the end of the station will give the illusion of the line continuing through the station rather than terminating and fool the eye into thinking the box layout is larger than it really is.

 

[Jerry1975]

Thanks Guys for your replies and taking the time to do track plans etc, very much appreciated.

 

I like the piano layout idea, simple but effective.

 

Satans Goldfish:

 

I like your idea too, think I'm going for something a little simpler myself, I don't have much rolling stock at the moment.

 

I am saving for a class 66 at the moment as I have wanted one for a while, this would give me a freight loco for freight trains.

 

I am going for a period about 2000 onwards.

 

Thanks again.

 

Jerry.

[TonyMay]

I am saving for a class 66 at the moment as I have wanted one for a while, this would give me a freight loco for freight trains.

 

I am going for a period about 2000 onwards.

 

 

The Regional Railways livery of your set puts you firmly into a mid-1980s-early 1990s period.  Some of them probably retained RR livery with the new TOCs until the mid-late 1990s, pehraps with new TOC branding, look at photos though to confirm.

 

The class 66s were introduced in 1998 but didn't become ubiqutious until about 3-4 years later.  Some anorak can probably provide you with a delivery schedule.

 

The good news is however that if you were to go for a 1980s period, there were (relatively) more interesting diesels around than 66s (I say relatively because they're still a boring box on wheels).  Class 47s were the original ubiquitous main line British diesel loco.  And in the 1980s the liveries started to become a little more interesting than 1970s BR blue (which is probably the worst ever British livery, although with a fair amount of authentic grime, weeds, and dull overcast skies it goes with the dull run-down atmosphere if you want to capture this).

 

Anyway, yes with a newly painted clean and not yet on its last legs Class 101, it's the 1980s for you.

[Karhedron]

TonyMay is right with his dates but this a great period to model. Sectorisation (Period 8 in Farish's terms) was a colourful period that saw the introduction of the 2nd generation of DMUs (the Sprinter family) whilst still retaining many types that were introduced in the late 50s and early 60s. The range of liveries means you have far more variety than "blue with yellow faces".

 

Also, it was the last time there was any significant parcels traffic. By the time the class 66s had arrived 10-ish years later, this had pretty much all been lost to rail. Off the top of my head, the following diesels were around in this period and are available as RTR models.

 

Class 08 (Farish in many liveries)

Class 20 (Farish)

Class 31 (Farish)

Class 33 (Farish but a new one from Dapol coming)

class 37 (Farish)

Class 47 (Farish)

Class 50 (Farish but a new one from Dapol coming)

Class 56 (Farish and Dapol)

Class 58 (Dapol)

Class 59 (under development from Dapol)

Class 60 (Farish)

 

For a small depot like you are planning, a small loco would look more at home. The class 08 Shunter is ideal and has the advantage of saving room when running around. However it is your layout so if you want a bigger loco, I am sure you can come up with an excuse for one.

 

For passenger stock, the following would all fit in your era (in the appropriate livery of course)

 

Class 101 DMU (Farish)

Class 108 DMU (Farish, just about lasted until 1990)

Class 121 DMU (Dapol)

Class 122 DMU (Dapol)

Class 150 Sprinter (Farish)

Class 155 Super Sprinter (Dapol)

Class 156 Super Sprinter (Dapol)

Class 158 Express (Farish)

 

If you want to have a few unusual items then you could run things like the NGS Inspection saloon in this period too coupled to almost any loco you like.

 

[Jerry1975]

Hi guys,

 

Thanks for your replies and going to the effort of what was about in the 80's and 90's.

 

My wife thinks this would be a great period to model as it's " our era ", I would prefer something

More up to date as I will be buying more modern locomotives etc in due course.

Having said that, the 80's - 90's period is tempting, I will give it some thought.

 

Going to check catalogue for 80's period stuff.

 

Jerry.

[TonyMay]

Historical and regional specific context is one of the main things that distinguishes a model railway from a train set.

 

The best advice is that you're not modelling an exact location, so there's no need to be anal about it but I think it's worth trying to create an overall impression that's broadly right.

 

Even if you're not really into railway history, and don't read many books, or watch any videos, it's amazing what you will pick up by an osmosis-like process as you read magazines or forums or just browse Wikipedia.  And then you'll be looking a the model you've made and things will start to look wrong because (say) you've got some modern wagons with a BR blue diesel, but after a while these nags grow and grow...

 

So I do think it's worth trying to get the historical and regional aspects broadly right from the off.

 

Engineering trains are also a good idea (pretty much go everywhere and often use older wagons such as BR-standard bake vans).

 

Having said that, rule 1 applies, especially if your intended audience doesn't really know any better, or you don't care and you just want to ignore me and my grumpy ramblings like most sane people do.

[BoD]

There was a topic on the old version of the site with some excellent plans. You may find some ideas there.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=66&t=24472

[Jerry1975]

Hi Everyone,

 

TonyMay:

 

Thanks for your reply, I agree that the layout will look better with correct period trains etc, I'm just trying to decide what period to do, do I go for late 80's early 90's or 2000 onwards?

I guess it will depend on traffic I want to run.

 

I like the look of the modern 2000 onwards era but the early 90's era tempts me too.

 

BoD:

 

Thanks for the link to the layout plans, some interesting stuff there.

 

 

Jerry.

[Karhedron]

I like the look of the modern 2000 onwards era but the early 90's era tempts me too.

Late 80s/early 90s probably had more variety on the rails and more models available. It also suits your existing class 101. On the other hand, the best model is the one you enjoy making and operating.

[ParkeNd]

Hmm. 4 x 1. My own N gauge layout (seen in Railway Modeller Oct 2015) is 6 ft 6 ins X 2 ft 4 ins and measuring up a 4 ft X 1 ft slice doesn't leave much of it left - the whole thing is shown below and 4 X 1 would leave about 9 inches before and after the platform ends lengthwise and width wise would just about include the goods shed.

 

Now is the time to renogotiate your space allocation. The 1 ft width is what is limiting. If you had 2 ft in width for just 2 ft even of the length and 1 ft for the remainder you could shape it like a walking stick by having a 10" radius curve bringing your track round in front of you. There would then be space for a scenic fiddle yard so your trains could leave from somewhere and arrive somewhere.

 

This is what fits in 6 ft 6 X 2 ft 4

[Jerry1975]

Hi ParkeNd,

 

Thank you for your reply.

 

I could go wider but not longer, space is limited at the moment.

Also not having much rolling stock at the moment I don't want anything to big.

 

I like your layout, very well done, I take the trees hide the fiddle yard in the middle.

 

Nice dog in your photo too.

 

Jerry.

[south_tyne]

If you can get hold of some old Railway Modellers there was a lovely little layout in the March 1996 edition called 'Arlesby', a nice little n gauge terminus in a space of 4' x 1'. Five turnouts and would nicely suit a theme up to the present day. It has always stuck with me as simple but very effective and nice and spacious, not in any way cramped even given the limited space.

 

Granted it is quite an old magazine but worth a glance if you can! I'll try and draw up a quick sketch for you if I can at some point.

 

David

[south_tyne]

Hmm. 4 x 1. My own N gauge layout (seen in Railway Modeller Oct 2015) is 6 ft 6 ins X 2 ft 4 ins and measuring up a 4 ft X 1 ft slice doesn't leave much of it left - the whole thing is shown below and 4 X 1 would leave about 9 inches before and after the platform ends lengthwise and width wise would just about include the goods shed.

 

Now is the time to renogotiate your space allocation. The 1 ft width is what is limiting. If you had 2 ft in width for just 2 ft even of the length and 1 ft for the remainder you could shape it like a walking stick by having a 10" radius curve bringing your track round in front of you. There would then be space for a scenic fiddle yard so your trains could leave from somewhere and arrive somewhere.

 

This is what fits in 6 ft 6 X 2 ft 4

Hi ParkeNd,

 

You have a lovely looking layout there amd good inspiration... Do you have anymore photographs?

 

Cheers!

[Jerry1975]

Hi Everyone,

 

My internet was playing up so couldn't type what I wanted to in my last post ( silly internet ).

 

Karhedron:

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

The 80's - 90's period is growing on me, It brings back memories of standing on platforms in my youth

Taking numbers of locomotives a favourite being the class 37.

 

David:

 

Thanks for your reply and offer to post a track plan, that would be most appreciated if you can.

The layout sounds great and with five points sounds good too.

 

Thanks again everyone for your help.

 

Jerry.

[ParkeNd]

Hi ParkeNd,

Thank you for your reply.

I could go wider but not longer, space is limited at the moment.

Also not having much rolling stock at the moment I don't want anything to big.

I like your layout, very well done, I take the trees hide the fiddle yard in the middle.

Nice dog in your photo too.

Jerry.

Hi Jerry. Then I would be tempted to go wider to get yourself a fiddle yard at the front accessed by a curve - it can be a second station. Minories in OO is 8 ft X 2 ft (thus 4 X 1 in N) but was designed to give the impression of not requiring much scenery - the additional length required for a fiddle yard is missed off its dimension claims but is shown ghosted on the track plans - so the dimensions quoted are a cheat - see Wikipedia below. In N at least another 2 ft would be required to make it 6 ft X 1 ft even for a two coach DMU - and maybe even 7ft X 1 ft for a loco and two coaches. Whilst you have only one train at the moment they are well known to multiply over time.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minories_(model_railway)#Model

Edited January 21, 2016 by ParkeNd