Model Railway Forum

Whilst mocking up a track plan for an enlarged version of "Harte's Mill," trying to stay in the narrow confines of a micro layout, in this case
one that could be stowed under a small bed, it dawned on me to create the entire track plan using fifteen inch, and where needed, eighteen
inch, radii in the main. The resulting perpetually curved main would adapt nicely to mountain grades and canyons, notable for the American
West. Last time I was in Wales, and parts of Scotland, there seemed to be no shortage of dramatic geology.

It was realized that sticking to the desire for straight sections of mainline forces one into an oval, abbreviated, or the size of a football stadium.

For baseboard, a scratched and dented hollow core door is easily cut to length, very cheap, very light, and repels warpage. Discarded Styrofoam
can be used to form a sub-base in which to carve geographical formations. The whole affair can easily be stowed under a small single bed, that is my plan is for 40 inches by 60 inches.

Here is a rough mock up for what I have in mind. The single line will climb up and over the lower line, and cross by means of a timber trestle and
duck into mountains on either side. If the gradient is too steep for some of the most excellent, "pocket type" motive power being sold by Hornby,
then one can easily substitute diamond crossings. For those of the DCC persuasion, this one line layout would be delightful to operate.

OK, this is what all the blather was about trying to maximize a small space using primarily curves. In any event, my inspiration comes from many pleasant hours of gloaming over OO British layouts in the realm of those at or smaller than 3 feet by six. My British cousins have a knack for something like telephone booth packing, but with layouts that don't look like they are packed, but actually appear reasonable and methodical. We North Americans rather struggle trying to get a 4x8 looking more than a Christmas Tree circle. I mean, even Hornby Track Mats are superior, seriously.



So, without the aid of SCARM, basically because it would take a fortnight to figure out how to use it, I tried out my theoretical track plan, along the lines of if what I lived in Britain, and the only space available to stow the thing was under a bed. Which may happen, if I live long enough. I always want to build something new and different.

Long short, my goal of a 40 inches by 30 inches on a hollow core door would not work beyond a simple circle or oval. It needs to have twists in the route as the train picks its way through the rugged mountains of Colorado. Twists, simply, are more interesting to look at. Does not a passenger rake not look fine going over a crossover from one line to another? That being said, final dimensions are 33 inches by 69 inches.

There will be two autonomous tiers: one lower, one upper. The base will be foam board upon the smaller bits of plywood and a left over hollow core door base, which makes a superbly strong underpinning. Minimum radius is 15 inches, where 18 inches takes up on end of the lower circuit. That corresponds, rather closely to first and second radius, I think. Code 100 is all that is available in that line.

The scenery and time will be Western Colorado Rocky Mountains, circa 1880, a time when the initial Gold Rush of 1859 had settled down to a more methodical boring of the mountain veins of silver, lead, and gold. Now as it happens, the timber industry enjoyed a good run of it, and if I get tired of running the same Second Generation Steam (American Types, e.g.) I will be able to switch in 1920's standard gauge logging trains, such as a Shay or a Shay and a Heisler, hauling the odd array of lumber wagons and short passenger coaches. Even the motorized Packard bus of 1930's, the Golden Goose, will look perfectly at home, as the structures changed little in the ensuing fifty years, and the landscape and railroad not at all.



I will continue updating this new layout under Harte's Mill II, though it may get a new name, not sure yet. Thinking of something really outrageous, like, ah, better not say it.

This all looks very interesting, I especially like the trestle bridge crossover idea.

Have you seen this?

https://www.carendt.com/micro-layout-de ... o-layouts/

Twisted? This was a plan I came up with along the way to my current plan. I might have to blame alcohol

Still - it's only the size of a double bed

Wow interesting. I see you have a gradient. Don’t think you have enough room in that size. You need 5ft minimum to rise 2 inches and of course 5ft to go back down again, so the up and over will need at least 10ft, that’s one big double bed.

Great Scott, Andruec, that really is twisted. Must have been some brew, that.