Circular Layouts

[hayfield]

Back in I think was the late 60's at the Model Railway Club exhibition, there was a circular layout that has stuck in my mind ever since. Think it was 4mm scale, but may have been TT. As one line went through the back scene another line emerged at a different height. Plenty of movement and I guess several fiddle yards behind the back scene. Don't expect anyone could remember that layout

Lo and behold at St Albans this year there were 2 360 degree layouts

Three Chop Round up

 

 

Super layout, felt a bit sorry for the chap (s) working the fiddle yard inside but typical North American style of modelling highly detailed

And La Bsraque Sm which on reflection not quite 360 degrees but in the round even if it was square in shape



Which I thought was superb, very different style of modelling to the other. town was stunning.

 

A couple of years ago there was a smaller On30 at the Watford Finescale show but not quite 360 degree as part was the fiddle yard more like 240 degree. Many years ago started to build a 12' radius layout, even built 3 out of the 8 baseboards but nothing like the one I saw all those years back which seemed much larger

Edited January 14, 2014 by hayfield

[fender]

big fan of circular layout design here. if only I had the room!

[iamjamie]

I'm a big fan as well! I understand that it's not for all layouts, but I love it! It's like the railway modeller's version of the "train set on the kitchen table"!

 

I'm not sure why I like it so much... It's just seems like a much more dynamic and fun way of displaying a model layout. A lot more social too! 

 

I'm working on two layouts that have the same sort of 360 degree view, but they're not actually circular (and one of them is designed to fit on the kitchen table! Luckily it's quite big)!

Edited January 14, 2014 by iamjamie

[steve22]

Hi Hayfield, I believe that Ian Futers had a circular layout around the late sixties or early seventies,  I'm assuming from the sole picture I saw of it that it was '00' and Scottish steam.  It doesn't though seem like it's the layout you're referring to, though I don't recall seeing a track plan to confirm, yes or no.  Someone will hopefully put me right and tell you which layout it was.    

[skipepsi]

I fancy building a six foot radius P4 layout I am not sure why but given how round I am the baseboards won't be very wide.

[Kris]

I've built one in the past with multiple levels. It was a real pain to create the baseboards and keep the concentric. It ended up being about a 4ft radius, which in N was quite reasonable. It never worked as well as I had wanted however and a house move meant that it was scrapped well before it was finished. Even in the state I got it to there was something nice about only being able to see the train for a small portion of it's journey. 

[Debs.]

I recall a nice layout named "The Curate`s Egg" featured in Railway Modeller in the 1970`s.....I much admired its interesting oviform shape and have often thought of using the concept in a layout.

[cromptonnut]

Have you come across this one currently under construction on the boards?  http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/67894-star-lane-hooley/

[backofanenvelope]

I too have a liking for oval layouts and some of my favourites have to be Brafferton - 2FS and Robin Hood's Bay - 0 Gauge. As others have said its not seeing the whole journey,

[kevinlms]

I recall a nice layout named "The Curate`s Egg" featured in Railway Modeller in the 1970`s.....I much admired its interesting oviform shape and have often thought of using the concept in a layout.

Don't know about Railway Modeller, but it does appear in Model Railways 1972 September.

[Joseph_Pestell]

A  circular layout is, oddly, often the best way to model a straight length of track.

 

Given that most of us do not have that much space to play with, the conventional layout involves lengths of straight (or gentle curves) interspersed with corners. The "break" in the train caused by this sudden transition completely spoils the look. Put the whole thing in a circle (or widish oval) and, once you accept the basic premise of the curve, the trains look so much better.

 

Then, it's down to presentation and the arrangement shown by those two layouts allows one to hide one or more fiddleyards completely out of view and use the whole visible length of the outside. To give a mathematical example, a 12' x 8' conventional "roundy-roundy" will probably have about a 20' length of visible track. A circular layout of similar footprint (10' x 10') will have 3.14 x 10' visible = approx 30'.

[Joseph_Pestell]

Don't know about Railway Modeller, but it does appear in Model Railways 1972 September.

 

I think it belonged to a Club based in Southend. I recall seeing it at an exhibition, almost certainly Central Hall.

[gordon s]

There was also another circular layout doing the rounds a few years back.  Chessington seems to ring a bell, but I could be way off piste..

 

..and another springs to mind.  Shap Summit? or something along those lines.  A big spiral up to the top and then a hidden descent to storage and the start.

Edited January 15, 2014 by gordon s

[Trevellan]

The presentation of the first layout in the OP is superb. The lighting rig alone is a very neat piece of work.

[iamjamie]

Yes, I think not being able to see the train coming miles away is probably the main appeal... With Three Chop Round Up you could hear actually hear the trains before you saw them, which only added to the effect! We were actually looking at another layout, but when I heard the train in the distance without being able to see it I grabbed my partner and, dragging them over with schoolboy excitement, said "I think there's a train coming"!

Edited January 15, 2014 by iamjamie

[shortliner]

See the Model Railroad Planning 2014 magazine.   Chris Gilbert had one - since sold on - that he bought from a guy in the Soton area - about 4' across and designed to be operated from a stool in the middle of it - somewhere I had a design for an expanded version with several sidings This page, http://www.carendt.com/scrapbook/page95/  4 up from bottom

Also a fenland (I think) one, in one of the Gauge O guild small layout books complete with a traverser which is rather neat

Edited January 15, 2014 by shortliner

[Joseph_Pestell]

There was also another circular layout doing the rounds a few years back.  Chessington seems to ring a bell, but I could be way off piste..

 

..and another springs to mind.  Shap Summit? or something along those lines.  A big spiral up to the top and then a hidden descent to storage and the start.

 

Yes, there was Chessington Chalk Lane by Hull MRS members. Another from the same era (or a bit earlier) was Blackwell Brewery, an EM layout by MidEssex MRC.

[bike2steam]

I recall a nice layout named "The Curate`s Egg" featured in Railway Modeller in the 1970`s.....I much admired its interesting oviform shape and have often thought of using the concept in a layout.

 

I remember that one, and about the same time Jaz Milham ( now there's a name from the past) had a TT gauge circular layout that had electrically operated 'prodders' to nudge locos that would get stuck on the insulfrog turnouts to avoid the 'hand of god' affect.

Edited January 15, 2014 by bike2steam

[roundhouse]

My old American N scale layout ' California Coast' started off circular but ended up as an oval, scenic all the way round.

 

http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/71776-california-coast-the-surfline/?p=1043108

 

 

It is now up in the North East after recently being sold on from the person who bought it from me.

 

Ian

Edited January 20, 2014 by roundhouse

[edcayton]

There was a lovely little 00 gauge circular layout at one of the RMWeb member's days at Stafford. I think there may have been photo's on here; it would be nice to see it again.

 

Ed

[cromptonnut]

I'm assuming this doesn't quite count.

 

http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/26/planets-smallest-model-train-set-revealed-to-macro-lenses-micr/

[Brian D]

The Ashdon and Midport mk6 in the August 1986 Railway Modeller (and some of its circular predecessors) always appealed to me. Perhaps others on here might remember it.

Regards,

[Suzie]

Market Roundham is my favourite round layout. Anything Woodhead is good of course, but being on a constant curve really hides the curvature well.

[RailWest]

I recall years ago a certain person (who lurks somewhere here on RMweb IIRC) who built a circular 4mm layout based on Whitchurch Halt on the Bristol & North Somerset Railway - just the single track and the halt plus the scenery.

[Joseph_Pestell]

my old American N scale layout ' California Coast' started off circular but ended up as an oval, scenic all the way round.

 

I believe that it is now up in the North East after recently being sold on from the person who bought it from me.

 

Ian

 

I have been wondering if you were that Ian.