Sat 8 Apr 2006
Having spent many enjoyable hours doodling ideas for the trackplan, I decided that it would be good to post the rejected designs somewhere. As time allows, I’ll redraw each of my doodles and post them here. All plans are in N scale, and are designed to fit on a hollow core door (34″x80″). Any suggestions for layout designs are always welcome – please leave a comment at the bottom of the page if you have a suggestion.
The Mountain Switchback
Clearly inspired by a plan in Kalmbach’s 101 Trackplans for Model Railroaders this design is a point to point railroad operating between three towns/industries. I envision the scenery heavily wooded, perhaps an Appalachian theme…

Timber Pass
I really liked the simplicity of this design – a single yard nestled in the hills, bordering a small community. The yard would serve as an interchange for the ‘rest of the world’, as represented by the hidden staging yard.

River Interchange
Originally I was quite intrigued about building a layout where the entire landscape was cut in half by a river, and a lone interchange crossing it. A small residential area against the scenic divider, and several bridges was also inspring…

Tehachapi Loop
I never intended to build the Tehachapi Loop, however after reading a Model Railroad Planning article on desinging small layouts with bigger prototypes in mind, I decided that it would be fun to see if you could fit the ‘loop’ on a door. The curves are tight, and the grades are steep – but it fit!





February 4th, 2008 at 7:36 am
Found your entire website quite….intresting and refreshing. What I mean by that is …to find someone who models for the enjoyment of modeling and having fun rather thn exploiting all of the non prototype aspects is great…..I live in Hamilton and grew up in Dundas, have a 7 year old son who loves trains and Iam starting back into Nscale after a 8year absence. Going to try to do the same as you….local insperations but try the “T-trak method”
Ed
February 4th, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Thanks Ed! The site keep me honest – sometimes I just don’t have the energy to play trains late at night, but updating this site is a piece of cake, so if asked, I play with trains 4-5 nights a week! Glad you like the style of the site – I figured that it would be more helpful if this site was actually a blog and documented successes and failures – rather then, as you say “exploiting non prototype aspects”.
Anyway, thats for the note – best of luck.
P.S. Hamilton is a great region to be modelling! I’m local(ish) to the area…