Small Layout Plans.

[KotangaGirl]

I like small layouts, - I know this is a strange and very British thing that many Americans might think is odd, but for me the TMR format means that I can indulge in making layouts that I saw in Railway Modeller (as well as other model railway magazines) back in the day without wondering where I'm going to put them in my already crowded cottage.

Anyway I found a very interesting PDF about small layouts online so I thought I'd share it here.

http://thoroughbredlimited2015.yolas...n%202015-2.pdf

[zsuda]

... thankz, kotangagirl ... very nice overview ..
grtz
daveric

[Vern]

The only problem with small layouts, particularly some of the old CJ Freezer plans from Railway Modeller, is that they don't always fit very well with the parts we have available in Trainz - massive tunnel portals with great big grass banks on top and to the side and the dighole size don't help.

[wilts747]

I think one of the first pieces of advice I was given when asking where do you start with Trainz was to build any model railway I might have had. It didn't have to work or even look the same but I would have some idea of what I was trying to achieve and would find my way round Trainz trying to build it. I'm still trying and still learning but have heard similar advice offered many times since to 'newbies' to keep it small and simple as the basis of many model layouts are, and all of which can be built without making them look like they were build in TMR2017. Peter

[ray_whiley]

I like small layouts

And so do I, Annie - they pose quite a challenge. And I always have to enlarge things as model railway curves usually look silly in Trainz. Thanks for the link - I will explore that site fully when I'm not just updating my laptop. I can see St Antoine sur Mer taking shape soon - I have many assets collected from private French web sites and have already made a three station virtual model railway set in France. But of course it can't be shared because so much is not available on the DLS.

I fuly agree with you, Vern, and I have to choose very carefully which plan I use as a basis for my efforts. And a fiddle yard always seems to be more obtrusive in Trainz - which is why I tried screening it with a separate layer in Bramleigh.

Ray

[ray_whiley]

Talking of small model railways (real), my smallest was a loco shed diorama in a shoe box - which I had the temerity to take to a meeting of the local model engineering society. And they liked my scratch-built N scale coaches, which I took there in toothpaste tube boxes. Most members modelled in rather larger scales …

The master of small layouts in the USA is (or maybe was) Carl Arendt who has published books and DVDs or CDs with many ideas.

Ray

(Copied from the wrong thread where I first posted this).

[ray_whiley]

Here's another one:

http://wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/small-layouts.html

Ray

[KotangaGirl]

I think one of the first pieces of advice I was given when asking where do you start with Trainz was to build any model railway I might have had. It didn't have to work or even look the same but I would have some idea of what I was trying to achieve and would find my way round Trainz trying to build it. I'm still trying and still learning but have heard similar advice offered many times since to 'newbies' to keep it small and simple as the basis of many model layouts are, and all of which can be built without making them look like they were build in TMR2017. Peter

That's really good advice Peter. I think we've all seen newcomers to the forum announce that they are going to build the West Coast Mainline (or equivalent) and then they fade out and are never heard of again. A small layout is a good training project (excuse pun) and a good way to try out techniques without feeling daunted by the miles of empty baseboards still to go.

And so do I, Annie - they pose quite a challenge. And I always have to enlarge things as model railway curves usually look silly in Trainz. Thanks for the link - I will explore that site fully when I'm not just updating my laptop. I can see St Antoine sur Mer taking shape soon - I have many assets collected from private French web sites and have already made a three station virtual model railway set in France. But of course it can't be shared because so much is not available on the DLS.

I fuly agree with you, Vern, and I have to choose very carefully which plan I use as a basis for my efforts. And a fiddle yard always seems to be more obtrusive in Trainz - which is why I tried screening it with a separate layer in Bramleigh.

Ray

So far I've managed to avoid the problem of curves by building layouts that are shelf type layouts against a wall, but even so it's not a total cure as Walkley Sidings took a bit of frowning over to get the pointwork fitted in without making it too insanely tight a radius. There are some 'round the corner along two walls' type layouts I'd like to try my hand at, - and then I'm sure I'll come up against the problem of avoiding flange squealer curves.
Fiddle yards are a problem. Do you hide them or leave them in plain sight? A view blocker in the form of the traditional tunnel or bridge doesn't always work and I know with Seaton I've given reality a jolt by putting a bridge where there wasn't on on the prototype. It's not an easy question to answer.

[KotangaGirl]

Talking of small model railways (real), my smallest was a loco shed diorama in a shoe box - which I had the temerity to take to a meeting of the local model engineering society. And they liked my scratch-built N scale coaches, which I took there in toothpaste tube boxes. Most members modelled in rather larger scales …

The master of small layouts in the USA is (or maybe was) Carl Arendt who has published books and DVDs or CDs with many ideas.

Ray

(Copied from the wrong thread where I first posted this).

That would have really been something to see Ray. I had a brief try at 'N', but had to flag it away as being too small for me. I even made a start on a scratchbuilt Hawthorne Leslie tank engine, but only ended up frustrating myself. I think I've still got a left over box of 'N' gauge bits somewhere.

I occasionally have a look at Carl Arendt's website and it's a good source of ideas. He certainly was the master of small model railways.

[ray_whiley]

As I said earlier, I was attracted by St Antoine sur Mer, on the web site mentioned above, and wanted to save and print the plan for future reference. To do so would have meant printing the entire PDF! Time for some lateral thinking...

First, I took a screenshot of the page showing the plan. I then opened it in PhotoPlus which I have used for years, selected just the plan from the whole screen image, and saved it as a new image. I then tran transferred to to Paintnet and saved it as a tga. No luck - it just saved the whole PDF. Back to PhotoPlus - which will not save as a tga or jpg. Decided the only answer was to print the PhotoPlus image success! So I now have a printed copy to work from

Other plans may follow.

Ray

[KotangaGirl]

I usually centre the part of the PDF I want on my monitor display and press the 'Print Screen' key. I then paste that image into IfranView and use the cut and paste tools to remove the part of the image I want. I save that image and then I can modify it or do anything else I might want to do to it in Paint.NET.

Annie

[ray_whiley]

Thanks, Annie. That sounds simpler. I must try irfanview. I've used PhotoPlus for many years - it's about time I said farwell, I guess.

Ray

[ray_whiley]

Tried it pasting it into paint.net and following your guidance. Worked perfectly - so I can now make a template.

Ray

[teddytoot]

I'm trying to make Hook Basin from that PDF. As stated, real life is too cramped for Trainz and to get a reasonable track layout I have had to increase the length by 50%. Incidentally I got the image for the basemap by Googling and saving an image from it. Incidentally you can copy an image from a PDF (at least in Adobe) but then need to paste it into a paint program.

As regards the problem of fixed points not joining up I use the CL invisible track to join them together and them move them together so that the invisible track effectively disappears. It needs careful adjustment to avoid a twitch when passing over. This is a case where I think this track is superior. Since we have got fixed track that will join up I came to the conclusion years ago that the problem was due to the close proximity of the adjacent spline points, but I am probably wrong. I do know that the "ready wired" animated fixed points that Andi was working on before he tragically died would join up. I converted a lot of the 2ft wire-up points to his later version in TS2012 only to have all my hard work undone by the new engine in TANE and TRS2019.

[KotangaGirl]

Two small layout gems built in 'O' gauge.

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/in...omment-3931272

https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/in...omment-3932675