Grant's next layout

[Grant_T]

I should be finished with Hamamachi Station by the  end of the year, so I'm thinking of the next layout (I'll keep Hamamachi Station as an easy show layout option and something to run trains on). I have been thing of three options.

 

a) A large N scale layout including a Shinkansen line, two urban lines and a rural line, that would basically fill a room.

b) Switch to HO and build a small sectional rural line.

c) A sectional/modular N Scale line that can be built piecemeal and perhaps expanded to the stage of eventually including a Shinkansen line.

 

All of these are attractive to me, but for various reasons I've chosen option c. Option a would involve a big commitment of time and space that I'm not willing to make right now. Option b, while I love the idea of a bigger scale, means my current collection of trains and gear is redundant. Option c means that I can start small, really focus on diorama like scenes, and store it all pretty easily in the available space I have, and occasionally set up for running and shows. Hamamachi, while it allowed me to get trains running quickly, was a real compromise in a lot of ways (principally, being an oval arrangement). 

 

So, the next layout will be a collection of non-standardised modules built progressively as I complete each module. It will initially be end to end, but I'm not ruling out having a large loop in the future. The initial theme will be rural mountain Japan, with a single track non-electrified line and running single or short multiple units. I think that individual sections will be under 1200 long, and about 300mm wide. There will be no set shape for the modules, I'll just expand as space and my whimsy permits. There is the potential for larger modules so that I can include larger features (e.g., viaducts, towns, etc.) 

 

I'm going to start with two storage modules, probably with scenery, and a middle diorama module of some kind. I'm also going to use Unitrack, because I like its idiot proof nature and the simplicity of the points. This will be a challenge to make the curves look natural, but I'm going to buy a bunch of Unitrack of various kinds when I'm in Japan in a couple of weeks and then experiment when I get home. I'm also planning for a day of research on the Aizu Railway.

 

I hope to begin this in November at the start of our Summer. I really want to step up my modelling with this layout. 🙂

 

Grant

[tossedman]

Cool! Looking forward to seeing what you come up with. I've been thinking of a new layout as well and am stuck between your B and C (minus the Shinkansen). I like the idea of the detail one can add to HO but already have a large commitment to N scale in the heaps of Unitrack that we already have. Thanks for posting your thoughts.