Construction began today

Can't have a railroad without trains

The lay of the land

True to life topography, more than anything else, defines whether scenery is realistic or not. I am going to be modeling a steam era railroad in the mountains of West Virginia and want to realistically represent the thickly wooded, rounded hilltops and valleys characteristic of the region - in a very small space. This prompted me to turn the original Atlas track plan from an "up & over" arrangement to a "down & under" configuration. Rather than having the track ascend and pass over track below on unrealistic piers and bridges, the outer edges of the layout will be at a higher elevation than the center. The planned mountain ridge at the NE corner of the layout will then be able to seem twice as high, justifying the tunnel, while a drainage basin can descend through the center of the layout from N to S, effectively dividing up the switching areas into two distinct scenes.

Fitting it to the space

The original Atlas plan stretched to compensate for using code 55 track components and fit to Woodland Scenics stands. This leaves a small area at the upper left for a small work table and area for a possible future rail yard expansion.

Bench work

Since I live in a rented apartment, building anything semi-permanent or attached to the walls is out of the question. So is building any bench work myself to support the layout because of the mess involved and my lack of proper power tools. Therefore I've decided to use a couple of easy-to-assemble Woodland Scenics bench work modules which will provide a 3'x4.5' platform upon which to build. Considering time saved and the amount of material and hardware involved, the low price modules are the most economical choice.

Deciding on a track plan

Layout Size and Realism

I live in a small, one bedroom apartment. The maximum area I have available is approximately 24 sq. ft. in one corner of the main living area. I would love to work in HO scale or possibly On30, but the space is just not there to do anything other than running short trains around in a circle with no chance to create the illusion that that is not exactly what they are doing. So, I - or the fates - have decided on N scale.

This is the corner space I have to build in. It's not very much, but there is an electrical outlet and there are no windows panels which would require access.