Matt & Kathleen Brennan <***@yahoo.com> wrote . . .
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Hi Matt,
Let me throw out some thoughts, ideas and suggestions that came to
mind after reading your post.
You have broken different model railroad types down into three
categories, A, B and C. My first thought is that it seems like you
are trying to decide what type of layout you want by what is the most
popular, not by making a decision based on what YOU like, which would
ultimately be the best type of layout for YOU. I could be wrong but
that was my initial reaction. Based on the amount of research you
have done into layout types, I am most certain that you are familiar
with the concept of listing your Givens and Druthers, as stated by
John Armstrong in his writings. I would recommend you do this if you
haven't already. Another suggestion I just read recently on another
group, was to relax in a quiet area with your favorite beverage
nearby, relax, put your feet up, close your eyes, and let you thoughts
drift to images of trains you recall from your memory. What did you
like? What seemed of interest? What got you interested in trains and
in wanting to build a layout in the first place? What locale or time
period is most of interest to you? Steam or Diesel or both? You get
the idea. When you start identifying some of these areas, it will
make it easier to make some sort of Givens and Druthers list, at least
in general, and ultimately lead to an easier decision of the type of
model railroad YOU would like to have. From there you can pick the
type you would like to build just for YOU.
In my opinion, the most popular layout would be, using your system of
identification, a combination of types A and B. Type A is generally
referred to as a "railfan layout", where you pretty much stand/sit
back, and just watch 'em roll. N-scale lends itself well to this type
of layout. Type B is a layout for those who's desires for a model
railroad tend towards "operations". And Type C is traditionally
called a "spaghetti bowl" layout. These were in vogue mostly 40-60
years ago in the hobby but with the ease of walk around control in the
past decade or two, staying with your train through the layout, as of
course the engineer on the prototype does, has mostly taken over. As
was mentioned they have pretty much fallen out of favor, but one
proponent of the style, and who has in fact built one himself, is
ex-prototype railroader and hobby author, Jim Mansfield.
As I mentioned above, my guess would be most layouts would be a
combination of A and B types -- either actually or if the builder had
enough room to do so. That is what I am trying to do in my 24 by 38
foot basement. I like ops but also like watching them run. I could
make one heck of an urban switching area with a branchline to other
industries in the space I have, but I want some running room, too. So
in general, I will have one wall as staging, and the other three as
double-main running on the old CB&Q, mainly set in a rural area but
coming through a small, as yet unnamed, urban location before
returning to staging. This will allow fairly decent length trains,
passenger and freight, to run on the layout. Some will just pass
through between Galesburg and Chicago, IL, and vice versa. Some will
drop and pick up blocks of cars at the main yard in the city area,
including some express and mail cars on the passenger trains. Plenty
of local switching chores in the area in the city, as well as across
the canal and outlying areas on the way back out toward the rural
area.
There will also be some interchange activity with other railroads via
locals and "transfer runs" to other areas off the mainlines and
staging in appropriate locations. At one point out in the country, a
single track will diverge from the eastbound main and that will be the
start of what I'm calling the Illiniwek River Branch. This rural
branchline will meander throughout the central portion of my basement,
stopping to switch at a couple small agricultural towns, and
eventually end up at a coal mine jointly owned by the CB&Q and the IC.
So you see, I'm not limited to one or another type of layout, but
have combined two types, I feel, quite nicely.
There are some great resources online for considerations and
suggestions based on experience and hard data, in the areas of what
type of, and how, to build a model railroad. One excellent source is
the Layout Design Primer which is located at:
http://www.vetmed.auburn.edu/~smithbf/BFSpages/LDSIGprimer/TOC.html
It is a compendium of articles written by members of the Layout Design
SIG but is accessible to non-members at the above link. It is a work
in progress. IIRC, Jim Mansfield whom I mentioned above, has written
a piece there explaining why he thinks the "spaghetti bowl" type
layout is still a viable option. Check it out...
I believe you said in the past that you aren't participating in any of
the Yahoo Group email lists, but for those who do, a couple which are
EXCELLENT in this area of layouts are the
Layout Design SIG at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ldsig/
the Operations SIG at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Ry-ops-industrialSIG/
and the Layout Construction SIG at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LayoutConstruction/
These are just three which would have some bearing on putting together
a layout, but there are others which deal more with down the line type
topics such as scenery, structures, modeling, etc.
Hope some of this is helpful, and if you have any questions or need
clarification, etc. on anything, just let me know, online or off.
More later . . .
Paul - "The CB&Q Guy"
(Modeling 1969 in HO.)
***@yahoo.com