Daz85UK

I went to B&Q today to get the wood for my baseboards, i was looking for plywood as that seems like the go to material. Every sheet of plywood was bowed or warped quite badly, is this something that can be rectified when building the baseboards or do I need to go somewhere other than B&Q? If so where does everyone get their wood from? Thanks

Thanks everyone for the replies, its definitely helping with the design process. Im still trying to persuade the boss to let me have an extra 4ft on a detachable section giving me 11 ft to play with.

Im sure this has been asked before, what radius is the tightest i could get away with? I wont be using steam locos, stock would be late 80s to late 90s with possibly some modern day locos such as a class 66. Also what is the tightest radius for a curved station platform before it starts to look out of place?

Thats great. Thanks again David. I think i should be able to stretch to 3’ wide boards so that will help a little with curve radius.

David, thats great! I really like that layout. Is that planned using code 55 track? Also what radius did you use for the curves at either end? Thanks for taking the time to post that track plan

Porkie, Do you have any photos of your layout or a thread on here? Edit: Just found the link in your signature, great layout!

Thanks guys, woodenhead, I was planning on keeping it seperate from the wall for the reasons you stated above however if I go L shape then I would not have the option of moving it away from the wall. I think I might do as zomboid said and go with 7’ x 2.6’ with the option for the L shape. I would like to have a bit of loco swapping in the platforms or running around and some shunting, so i think my best option is to have the partially hidden platforms and a small yarm/TMD.

Those layouts are great! I think I might go with that option for the station. As i mentioned above i could have a slightly longer layout if i split off 3’ of it when storing. Is this worth the hassle for the extra 3’? If so how quickly do you guys who have split layouts fit them together again when you want to use it?

Hi David, Thanks for the reply. Yes the longer sides would be up against a wall, I was think of maybe losing the L shape and just having a 7' x 3' layout which would be on wheels so that I could pull it away from the wall, that way I could get to all sides withut an issue. I was also looking at having a 10x3' layout however 3 of the 10' would need to be seperated when im not using the layout. This is my first layout so im not sure if this would be to difficult to do and how quickly I could re-attach the layout together when I want to use it. Just for planning purposesI have a couple of questions: 1) How long would an N gauge station platform need to be for a loco hauled train pulling 5 mk2/3s? I don't have any stock at the moment to measure. 2) Im using Anyrail to plan, how far apart should parallel tracks be when straight and when curved? I guess anyrail measures from centre of one rail to centre of another. Thanks

Hi Everyone, First post here although I have been lurking for a while. I having allocated a space in a room to allow me to build an N gauge model railway however I cannot find a track plan that works. I have had multiple tries on Anyrail and the layout just doesn't work for one reason or another. I thought I would post the dimensions available to me and see what you guys come up with? I have been to quite a few model railway exhibitions, most recently the great electric show and I really Iliked the two layouts "Peakstone" and "Hatch End" although I have a little more space than Peakstone but alot less than Hatch End. The era I'd like to model in is early to mid 90's as this was the time I used to go to my local railway bridge to watch trains as a child. I always remember watching loco hauled trains either run round or another loco coupling to the back of a train and taking the rake of coaches out the way it came again leaving the original loco to travel back to the depot, therefore I have been trying to incorportate a bay platform or add more than 2 through tracks to try and have a station that I could recreate the above, I would also like a TMD somewhere aswell if possible just to allow some shunting. Ideally I would like a continuous run layout rather than end to end with a fiddle yard behind a backscene using PECO Code 55 track and DCC. I know this is a long list of wants but no matter what I try in anyrail I cannot get the track where I would like it without having really tight radius curves. I would post a pic of some attempts on anyrail but they have not really got to a point that even resembles a model a railway. Dimensions are below Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to reply it will be greatly appreciated.