The N scale layout on the door is the equivalent of a 4 x 8 foot table to the HO. A popular and useful platform for building compact layouts. There's a good reason for that. Hollow doors are lightweight, have a hard surface, are easy to handle and assemble, and are not very expensive. It's also the perfect size for compact layouts. Large enough for an oval, figure-eight, or similar continuous track configuration, yet small enough to be quickly completed and portable. That's why this month I decided to sketch a track plan for the N gauge door layout.
Hollow doors are typically 80 inches tall (although taller versions are available) and range in width from 18 inches (for closet doors) to 42 inches. I chose a 30 x 80 inch footprint for my track plan. Its width easily accommodates double-track wrap curves with a minimum radius of 11 inches.
Since then model railway And its staff calls Wisconsin home. When designing project layouts and track plans, we often tend to think of the Midwest. The flat surface of the hollow door is also a natural for a railroad set in the Great Plains. I wanted to avoid the obvious with this rail project, so I chose a coal-hauling railroad in West Virginia. Layouts set in the Appalachian Mountains usually have elevation changes as the railroad climbs the mountains, but with such a compact track plan he only has room for one town, so a flat layout doesn't feel out of place. . Layering a sheet of 1-inch extruded foam insulation board over the door allows for above- and below-ground views of rock cuts, rivers, and wooded ridges, giving the feel of a mountain railway without the grade of the track. It can be obtained.
First, I drew folded curves at both ends of the rectangle. On the left side, he drew two concentric circles with radii of 11 inches and 12.5 inches, giving a passing trajectory. On the right side, I wanted a river with some bridges, so I drew 11-inch radius curves connected by short sections of straight track. I wanted to include such a scene because the railroad follows a narrow river valley through the Appalachian Mountains, often crossing it multiple times to keep the grade manageable.
I planned a small preparation yard at the rear of the layout, hidden from view by a ridge covered with tall trees. One end of the three-track yard was built into the end of the through line, creating another runaround for building trains within the yard. I had space on the left side of the bottom track, so I added a turnout to create a pocket for power and caboose storage, and connected the right side of the track to the other curve.
Mountain railways have to follow valleys, so there are not many straight tracks. I wanted the main to be curved, so I drew an additional 11 inches of arc at the bottom of the front and connected it with a straight line to the curves on each side. I had to redraw this several times because my first few attempts didn't produce enough curvature to put the industry in the foreground as I wanted. When his third attempt, setting the center point 3 inches from the edge of the table, proved satisfactory, I drew the river and its two bridges on the right, and on the left I tied the bottom of the curve of the passing truck.
This only left enough space for two lead turnouts on the inside of the loop and one turnout on the outside. To maximize operational possibilities, I made the outer industry a paper mill, a common industry in Appalachia. His three trucks at the pulp mill receive paper pulp and chemical boxcars in tank cars and ship finished products in boxcars.
Since the Appalachian Railroad always needs a coal mine, I put a tipple inside the left lobe of the kidney-bean-shaped loop. This leaves the right side of town. I drew some intersecting streets, then placed warehouses, company stores, storefront blocks, and the required company housing. I expanded the last spur at the back of the base and added a cargo shed and team truck area. Both can now accept and ship almost any type of cargo.
Finally, we filled in the empty space between the town side of the layout and the preparation yard with a wooded, obscuring ridge. When this is covered with a canopy of tanfbor trees and some rock outcroppings, the Appalachian locale of the layout is revealed. The tracks on either side of the loop pass through this background with a tunnel on one side and rock cut on the other.
The N gauge door layout plan is now complete. Although it is small and has only two industries, it still offers a wide range of operating options. My plan is set in West Virginia, and while the industry and terrain choices are different, it could just as easily be represented in the Pacific Northwest, the American Southwest, the Eastern Seaboard, or just about anywhere else. What can I build on the N scale layout on the door?
If you would like to see some more of my N Scale sketches, check out Celebrating 50 Years of the Ntrak Modular Standard and L-Shaped N Scale Shelf Layout. For more information on building N scale layouts, check out the Kalmbach Hobby Store books. Introduction to N gauge railway hobby Written by Marty McGuirk.
