dpgibbons Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 I'm planning a simple circular O gauge layout of 6-7ft radius and thinking that I could combine it with a more ambitious N gauge circular scenic layout. The two layouts would use a common baseboard subframe with the interior N Gauge track inside and at a higher level, with a two-sided backscene dividing them. Feedback welcome please on whether this has been done before and what the pitfalls might be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdvle Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 (edited) Seems to me to be a significant waste of space, and would require you to have a room that is at least 17'x17' and then the associated waste of much of that space requiring a walkway around the layout. Far better would be to build around the walls and just put the O track below the N layout, perhaps hiding it with a curtain if you don't want it to distract from the N layout. Edited April 18, 2019 by mdvle change tone Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCB Posted April 18, 2019 Share Posted April 18, 2019 Sounds like a great idea. If you have a big enough room... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturminster_Newton Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 Buy an O gauge Rolling Road...then you can watch the loco valve gear in operation and do any maintenance. Especially useful if you want to show the hidden operation of your Dapol 1:43 Terrier. Peco Oh set track is 40" radius so about 6'8 for a circle on the floor, which is why many only model in modules which is fine. At least you don't have to devote vast scale acres to squeezing an O-gauge circuit into your pint pot space. Unless you use the N-gauge as a miniature line popular in the leisure industry...remember that? It would provide an RD&DR style attraction to the lineside of the Oh-gauge In truth and modern home terms at least until the mid-90s only the Garden was suited to siting a modest O or smert-two based layout. With modern planning and development even the garden is now a casualty of the reduction in space and increase in population density. Hence the steady increase in module based O-gauge layouts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted April 12, 2020 Share Posted April 12, 2020 On 18/04/2019 at 03:12, dpgibbons said: I'm planning a simple circular O gauge layout of 6-7ft radius Radius, or Diameter..?? There's quite a difference!! And if you mean diameter, that means very tight radius curves for O Scale, so only short locos & stock if using British outline. Doesn't leave a particularly useful space inside for N Scale either - it would need an access hole in the middle, unless you have arms with a 3- or 4-ft reach. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCB Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 I like the idea of a circular test track. In fact one of my April 1st ideas was a circular test track which revolves on a centre bearing. With a motor drive it could turn anti clockwise at the same speed as the train runs clockwise. i'e the train stays still. That way you can always get at the loco when it packs up and the bogies etc get run in unlike most rolling roads. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dpgibbons Posted April 13, 2020 Author Share Posted April 13, 2020 (edited) Yes, I meant radius. It's not that I'm short of space (or rolling roads), but the large hole in the middle of a circular O gauge layout is rather a waste of it. Two circular layouts on one set of boards means less baseboard building, less setting up and packing away and the potential to share use of power supplies etc. The boards would be divided by a two-sided backscene with the O gauge tracks - a mainline with perhaps a loop or two - on the outside. The N Gauge layout would be raised and viewed from the inside and with a ~36ft run could be considerably larger in scope. The difference in track height would allow eg an N gauge fiddle yard over an O gauge tunnel section. Edited April 13, 2020 by dpgibbons Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCB Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 Actually an old friend, Stan Froud, had an O gauge test track round his OO gauge layout. It looked really odd. If it was 6ft diameter with a big hole in the middle you could roll it down the hallway and hang it on a nail in the garage, 6ft radius, well same thing but hang it from the ceiling, A bit like the chandelier in Any Fools and Horses. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Harlequin Posted April 13, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 13, 2020 You could install DCC Concepts Powerbase and run the layout while it's suspended upside down on the ceiling - a great use of space that has hitherto been ignored by modellers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zomboid Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 I remember seeing many large scale (probably LGB) railways suspended from the roof of toy and model shops, but never one that used anti gravity systems to replicate the Schwebebahn. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-UnitMad Posted April 13, 2020 Share Posted April 13, 2020 2 hours ago, Harlequin said: You could install DCC Concepts Powerbase and run the layout while it's suspended upside down on the ceiling - a great use of space that has hitherto been ignored by modellers. It's been done, but in OO, don't know about O Scale... https://youtu.be/aqXdEpgsk1U 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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