Building a 26 x 75 cm N-scale layout for IKEA Billy

[MeTheSwede]

 

Lately I've been running out of steam a bit with constructing Yamahama and the rolling stock acquisitions I did recently (pictured above) and their ability to run on Tomix Super Mini Rail (103mm radius) has inspired me to construct a micro layout. This should be a fairly quick build (I hope) and it's one where I intend to be a bit playfull and not worry too much about "realistic plausability", which is my motto for Yamahama.

 

As I've got a lot of IKEA Billy bookshelves, I'm building a layout that will fit one and thus be easy to store, either to display behind glass, or store away out of sight among many available shelves. The space will thus be 75 x 26cm (which is less than 1 x 3 foot in imperial units).

 

Track design is done by hands using the tried and tested trail and error method.

 

 

 

At first I experimented trying to come up with some kind of mountain layout with continuous running at the base and a branch line going up the mountain, possibly using switchbacks. I found the space to be just a bit too narrow for something like that. A figure 8 seems like the only doable option where the track bridges itself.

 

 

 

A Kato pocket line train could climb the inclines with some difficulty, the Nostalgic Train Collection couldn't. Atleast not in both directions pulling a wagon. Also doing something nice scenicly with this piece of spaghetti seemed hard. Either I had to go for a larger design, skip the continuous running, or skip the inclines. I decided to skip the inclines in favour of a level design.

 

This is what I came up with.

 

 

 

If I can't have a mountain branch line, I'm going for some street running instead.

 

A passenger station will be placed at the top and a harbour at the right, so both room for passenger and freight operations. A mountain is going over the rightmost point and adjacent track below it to divide the layout into two distinct scenes. The top left point allows the layout to be connected to the rest of the world in the form of some kind of fiddle yard, a temporary layout, or even another module.

 

Putting everything on just a flimsy 5mm piece of foamboard means the track will be level if I put down my 5mm foamboard pieces with grass on next to the layout to make a temporary expansion.

 

[Beaver]

Yay, another tatty old local line layout!

 

I trust there will be doddery wooden buildings aplenty, weed-strewn track and leaning telephone poles?

[bc6]

Wow this is a first for me a bookcase layout very cool.

[MeTheSwede]

On 10/1/2023 at 5:23 PM, Beaver said:

Yay, another tatty old local line layout!

 

I trust there will be doddery wooden buildings aplenty, weed-strewn track and leaning telephone poles?

 

Some doddery wooden buildings curtesy of Tomytec has been prepared.

 

All poles on my layouts have a tendency to start to lean, so I'm sure that could be arranged. 😅

[MeTheSwede]

The next step was track painting. Not very exciting, but atleast it's quick work with an airbrush. I bought a cheap piece of equipment on Amazon three years ago. I think it was 50 euro, but it does what it is supposed to do.

 

 

 

I had some other track that I also wanted to paint. I assemble the pieces into long sections in order to keep paint away from the parts that connect to eachother and thus ensure electric connectivity between track pieces.

 

The next mission was to carve a foam mountain. For this I've got another tool, a hot wire cutter I picked up for less than 20 euro. When I've got the rought outlines as I wanted it, I pressed the mountain down on the track and got an inprint on the bottom of the foam. Then I used the wire cutter again, this time to excavate the tunnels, which took me about a minute. Then the details of the mountain was carved. Not that I have to be very detailed, when everything is going to get overgrown anyway.

 

 

 

A scale mountain isn't exactly going to fit into a bookcase, but something small like this should work pretty well as a scenic divider and hide some of that toy-like track oval feeling.

 

Time to arrange some doddery wooden buildings. I tinkered quite a bit with this, but in the end there weren't that many ways to place buildings.

 

 

 

Some movable greenery helps me to get a feel of how things will turn out.

 

 

 

This should pretty much end the planning stage.

 

Looks like one of the electric poles are already leaning.  😉

 

[tossedman]

Cool idea! If you have glass doors on the front you'd keep the dust down as well. It makes me think of the super detailed tiny layouts we see Japanese modellers create.

 

I was looking at our Billy bookcases and wondered if anyone has built, or seen, a layout that goes from shelf to shelf with holes drilled for the trains to pass through. A shelves layout as it were.

 

Something like this perhaps.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Todd

[cteno4]

I remember seeing (maybe in model railroader) a number of decades ago of a wall of bookshelves with a point to point layout going on one shelf like this and the rest full of books. Sort of big old English library shelves in oak. It was lovely.

 

jeff

[MeTheSwede]

Drilling holes in Billys was one of those things I somewhat considered as I was starting out in the hobby.

 

If also considering having the line climb up to higher shelves, it should be possible to build a very long point to point layout that way.

[MeTheSwede]

Just a mini update today. Stuff started to grow on the little mountain:

 

 

 

This should be enough for now. I can always go back adding more later.

 

 

[brill27mcb]

Yes, you could model the Hakone Tozan Railway, bottom to top!

 

Rich K.

[tossedman]

Or the Uyase Forest Railway!

 https://pds.exblog.jp/pds/1/201307/05/60/f0231460_1431239.jpg

Edited October 6, 2023 by tossedman

[MeTheSwede]

The ground has been painted and buildings are starting to get a permanent placement. The project is gradually starting to look like a layout.

 

 

 

 

[tossedman]

It’s looking great! Looking forward to seeing more. 
 

Cheers,

 

Todd

[MeTheSwede]

I installed some fencing along the back alley to keep nosy tourists in check and away from touching the detailing work at the backside of a couple of buildings.

 

 

Brown seemed like a good colour to make it blend in with the environment.

 

 

And here we've got a tourist waiving his hands as he tries to ask a local for directions to the railway station, which happens to be the building on the right hand side of the alley.

 

It turns out the inside of a 22 x 48 cm loop can look unexpectedly spacious with the right camera angle. The paved surfaces needs some more weathering. I need to learn more about that some time.

[tossedman]

Nice! Populating this with people really adds to the layout. I like how you're taking advantage of the tight scenes to create some great pictures.

[MeTheSwede]

On 10/12/2023 at 1:42 AM, tossedman said:

Nice! Populating this with people really adds to the layout. I like how you're taking advantage of the tight scenes to create some great pictures.

 

Thanks!

 

Keeping scenery removable is often key for taking these kind of close up photos. It's fun to take them, because I will often see viewing angles on my screen that I can not see with my own eyes.

[MeTheSwede]

It's time for another small update.

 

Apparently I'm building Machinaka, because the sign on the station platform says so.

 

 

 

The station layout is a bit unusual with both an island platform (peninsular platform?) and a side platform despite there being no more than two tracks, but I'm sure there's a perfectly logical historical reason for it. Perhaps it used to be a terminus station, before the tunnel was made and the line extended for through traffic?

 

 

 

I'm really happy with the lamp posts from the Tomix 4061 mini platform kit. I wanted them to blend in well with nature and surrounding buildings, so spray painted them with some Tamiya "NATO green". The part connecting the two platforms was scratch built with styrene.

[MeTheSwede]

 

I haven't been paying much attention to what's going on on the "other side" of the mountain. Since I had an unused Tomytec harbour building I got when buying some boats second hand, I thought I should use it.

 

 

 

But I think it looks too big for this micro layout, so tried to see what smaller buildings might get requsitioned instead.

 

 

 

Something like this could work I think.

 

[MeTheSwede]

 

Today a quick look at the back alley where little Rin-chan is walking to a friend's house. Meanwhile Sasaki-san can be seen hurrying out on some important errand he remembered he had to do, just as his wife told him her mother was coming over. What a pitty he couldn't see her today.

 

 

[MeTheSwede]

Have you guys ever visisted the Japanese countryside that time of the year when you can litterally hear the grass growing?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[JR East]

I really do love the cosy ambiance of this small countryside station. 

[MeTheSwede]

On 10/30/2023 at 12:23 PM, JR East said:

I really do love the cosy ambiance of this small countryside station. 

 

I was also enjoying the relaxing cosy ambiance of this village and then suddenly loud people started to disturb the peace.

 

 

What's going on here?

 

 

 

 

Ahhh... some underground idols and their crazy fans. And a train passing, but you can't really hear that over the music and shouting.

[MeTheSwede]

When I had a friend over for a visit I surprised him with trains waiting for him on my dining table/gaming table.

 

 

My little layout had gotten a temporary expansion using my wargaming scenery and some spare Tomytec buildings...

 

 

and turned into a larger point to point layout. My friend was given tasks to carry out, while I tried to get some photos taken while trains hurried back and forth.

 

 

 

 

Some street running in the town.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm starting to like manual points more and more. No cables to burry, no need to figure out which lever goes to which point. It's quick and easy to switch with finger or coupling stick.

[MeTheSwede]

The temporary station area looked...

 

 

quite temporary, as the name suggests.

 

My friend was tasked with delievering a refrigerated car from the temporary station to the port and pick up a covered open wagon to return instead.

 

 

- Oups! Wasn't there a bumper there?

 

 

The uncopling stick from the sky does it's work. The local guy who just saw a train car almost ending up in the water, looks less than impressed by my friends engine driving abilities.

 

- I was supposed to pick up the other car too? Then I need a place to park the white one somewhere first.

 

 

It got dumped in town. 😄

 

 

 

The only proper run around was located in between the stations and made switching a bit tricky. Here it's being used for a train meeting.

 

Finally some more shots of my little under construction layout in it's temporary countryside surroundings:

 

 

 

 

 

It took us 15 minutes to clear the table afterwards.

 

Driving around trains together was fun. I think temporary layouts ought to be more popular among people who like the operational aspect of the model train hobby, as it's possible to give yourself new operational problems to solve every time.

 

[cteno4]

Excellent Swede! Temp setups are fun. That was the first 6 years of our club.

 

jeff