An Idea?

Perhaps.

Recently, I have been trying to come up with a way to have a decent layout despite the fact that I have essentially no space for a permanent layout in a traditional sense. For reasons I've explained previously, I do not have the space for a traditional shelf layout or a module along Free-mo lines. At the same time, I've also had somewhat of a difficult time coming up with practical ideas for a location to model. Part of this problem is a result of my desire to model a specific prototype location - thus, I've closed off the easy way out of this problem by freelancing a small area to fit a small space.

In the past few weeks, however, I think I may have come to some sort of solution and compromise that would allow me to build a layout that would fit my needs.

First, I think I've found a good solution to my space problems, thanks to Rick De Candido and his Fillmore Avenue Roundhouse blog. A short time ago, he shared a layout idea called the Model Railroad to Go. This idea, I think, does exactly what I need from a model railway at this time - it takes up relatively little space on a permanent basis, it allows a larger layout than simply a micro-layout (and certainly larger than no layout, which is what I have right now), and it allows the layout to be set up an almost any space that there is room to set the layout up in. I suggest that you read his blog post about (see link in text above), bu the idea, as I understand it, is that there are two layout sections and a staging section that can be collapsed and stacked together and then stored in a relatively small space.

This concept of a truly portable layout - that takes up almost no space to store - is almost ideal for my situation. I don't have space for a permanent layout of any size, and nor do I want to have a layout that takes up most of a  room. Given that my layout building activities are confined to a rather full storage room anyways, I do not want to take up more floor space than necessary in the room. But with a potable layout, one section of layout could be placed on top of the Ikea shelf unit that serves as my layout room workbench for a time, allowing me to work on the layout, while the rest of the layout could be easily stored, taking up little space. Then, when I wanted to operate the layout, I could set up the layout in the middle of the room, in another room, on the back patio, or anywhere else, allowing the layout to be fairly larger than it could be otherwise.

In my last post I ranted about large layouts, so one might reasonably wonder why I'm trying to make a larger layout by adopting a portable approach. In this case, it all hinges on what is considered relatively large; for example, the aforementioned layout concept would allow about an eight foot long layout, considered by most in North America to be a very small layout.

 As for the a location to model, I think that I have perhaps found a location or two that would make an interesting prototype to model - one, a small area of team tracks and a builder's supply near downtown Toronto (By Bathurst Street and Fort York), and the other, another set of team tracks with a branch of the same builders supply, this time further north in Toronto near Yonge Street and the Summerhill TTC station. Both of these locations are of a fairly compact and model-genic size, and both could, I think, be fairly easily designed into an eight by one foot space. The downtown Toronto location is slightly more interesting, in my opinion, but by the 1970's, my era of interest for this layout, the location was covered by the elevated Gardiner expressway, which I have no interest in modeling, so any layout I built would be roughly accurate to 1959 but operated with 70's equipment. This might, however, be a compromise I could live with, though I'll have to think about this some more. Also in the favor of the downtown location is the fact that Bathurst street, which would be modeled in part on a layout depicting that location, had streetcar tracks on it, which I think would be an interesting feature to model.

As of yet, I'm undecided about what exactly to model. Still, I think that I'm very close to having something worthy of layout construction - the biggest hurdle, that of finding a way to build a layout given my lack of space, has been surmounted, and now I have only to decide on a particular location to model.

Comments

  1. Hi Sam,

    If you can, get a look at some British railway modelling magazines. Portable layouts that have to be packed away are very much the norm over here, and solutions to the "space problem" frequently occupy pages of magazines and books, and have done so for many years. Worth having a browse on RMweb.co.uk, where there are several layouts built to be easily stored away when not in use.

    Simon

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    Replies
    1. Hi Simon,

      I always try to find British Model railway magazines, but they are often very hard to find in the United States. They often seem to be more helpful and inspiring than American magazines, which generally only feature large layouts.

      I've never seen RMweb, so I will have to go look at it. Thanks for making me aware of that!

      -Sam

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  2. Hi Sam,
    Thanks for referencing MR2G and Good Luck in all your modeling endeavours!
    Rick

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    Replies
    1. Rick

      Thank you for coming up with MR2G! It seems to be just the layout idea I needed.

      -Sam

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