Hello folks !
A very simple an basic question:
What's your favorite kind of layout ?
I like small layouts like these two ones. And you guys ?
(http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/42/5525-110816133810.jpeg) (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=42778)
(http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/gallery/42/5525-110816133855.jpeg) (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?action=gallery;sa=view&id=42779)
:photospleasesign: :thankyousign:
At exhibitions - ones with plenty of movement
At home - ones with operational interest
On a sunny summers day my G scale garden railway is my favourite kind of railway but in the midst of winter my N gauge becomes my favourite.
As long as there is plenty of realism and the layout has an atmosphere representing the era/location then I'm a happy bunny.
There are lots of N gauge layouts mentioned here............
http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=22405.0 (http://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=22405.0)
Not mine!
I would prefer one that worked and did not have mice trying to eat my Mk1 brake when it is parked in the fiddle yard.
However I like busy industrial and though I model 60's modern image still hits the spot, not a great countryside fan despite living in a remote village!
Jerry
I tend to like larger layouts, particularly those that are based on a real location, but if it is a large layout with sharp curves or that looks completely unrealistic (steam age track layouts running modern image stock - yuck) it turns me off entirely. I also don't like seeing locos and trains that are significantly out of context, i.e. seeing and HST running on one line passing a slow pickup steam goods on the other line. That said I do recognise that what I dislike some people love, and that's great.
I'm very happy with mine, I wanted a "roundy, roundy" and either "end to end" or "out and back" in the end I've ended up with all three. A little bit more room would have been great but I've only got one spare bedroom and still needed to fit in a extra bed if needed for visitors as well.
My favourite kind of layout?
For my 'personal' use: layouts that I can actually get to work and that don't require hours of time for only a few minutes of running ('operating') time; Something that I can 'turn on and go' if you will...
For other people's layouts: ones that 'tell stories' and involve the viewer.
Thanks for asking.
I like something which looks "about right", big or small. End-to end layouts don't hold my attention though -believe me I've tried them many times but fair play if you're into shunting or timetables. For me it's watching someting appear at one end, travel a landscape, dissapear again and I don't mind it going round and round again for ages at REALISTIC speeds, not by scale, but for the length of track.
I have rule "0.5" -expanded timescales but "roughly right at a push". Hate pure "rule 1" but again fair play to anyone running that and I have learned (eventually) not to criticise.
Track-wise I'm really open to making whatever fit in your space. I'd rather see well laid and ballasted code 80 than poorly laid and ballasted code 55. I don't like hand laid track on copper sleepers -personal choice. It may be correct code and sleeper spacing, but solder blobs always look worse to me. I LOVE Kato and would use it as it looks great ballasted and weathered, but the points are too big so I struggle to fit it in.
I'm not such a fan of money no object layouts though again, fair play if you have the cash to spend. I really like folk trying scratchbuilding buildings and not just planting Metcalf card kits absolutely everywhere.
...I think the best layout is a finished one. I've had so many failed attempts -I came close to a 4x2 but it had to go when I thought I was loosing the house because there was no work. Thankfully now work is good, kept the house but in the clear-out for selling I have a dog-bone type layout running round 2 walls in the spare room. Couldn't fit in double tracks so it's single track and I'll have to live with that -R1 curves at the end by the way!. That's IF I can finish it LoL 'tut 'rolleyes.
Whatever works for you, as I am slowly beginning to learn.
Rich
Definitely scenic and medium sized.
I also like layouts that are reasonably true to life but not bothered if rule 1 makes an appearance.
I like some movement but am happy to see trains simply run around.
Im not keen on the slow shunting layouts really.
Era 7 onwards for me, so Blue to Colas.
Not really fussy about region or even if it's a fictional location.
My ideal layout has either multiple operators or is automated so more than one train is running. One thing I really like is when a layout has either a TMD / Depot or some form or yard / sidings that are actually being used. Whilst they add a lot in terms of stock display potential, I always find myself wishing that the locos would arrive / leave / be swopped around for example.
Skyline2uk
I go for anything that has a sense of realism and well made, for my own layout I like a roundy-roundy as I like to sit back and watch trains go by.
I'm lucky. I don't know much about railways so I don't know how to count rivets. I like a layout that looks TO ME like a model of a railway. If it has 'things' that pull some other 'things', I'm usually happy. I do like a bit of roundy roundy coz it's nice to see trains go by.
What I don't like on a layout is tracks/tracks/tracks and nothing much else. It has to convince my uneducated eye that I could be real somewhere!
The answer I got once on asking a guy at an exhibition, "Uh, where are the trains?" spoiled a layout for me... He pointed at a printed timetable on a stand and said, "There isn't another one due for 20 minutes or so.", then went back to the book he was reading.
I think that a shuttle arrangement adds a lot of interest so I'm working on one right now for my own layout.
Big, main line, modern image for me. I want to see long, full scale length trains snaking past.
Any one that works! For me that always comes first, whether operating or viewing...
Longish trains snaking through the landscape is what I'm trying to achieve with my layout although I'm intrigued by all sorts of other kinds of layouts both large and small that I've seen on the NGF and elsewhere. I'm constructing a biggish layout at the moment, but I'd like to have a go at a micro-layout next time inspired by some such layouts I've seen on this forum. Prefer industrial scenes to towns, open spaces to clutter, freight to passenger.
Webbo
I was hugely influenced by large peninsula style American layouts with multiple operators in my younger days. Layouts where an operator would despatch a train down the line to another guy. The late Peter Denny's Buckingham Branch being a supreme example, and it probably influenced me more than any layout.
I therefore built my own layout along those lines, but with the onset of old age, am beginning to realise it will probably never get finished. :(
Put it this way - I enjoy looking at layouts of all kinds, but for my private use, if I was given the choice between a 2mm FS totally accurate representation of the GWR Upper Lowerton Branch Line as it was on a mildly warm summer Sunday in 1936 or 1956 with enough stock to work the appropriate timetable, or a 1970s Lima/Farish/Minitrix layout which goes up and down and round and round in mildly implausible ways, I'd go for the latter.
On the whole I like layouts which are interesting, plausible and have character, they don't necessarily need to be ultra-realistic, but please don't have that Lima AL6 hauling a rake of Minitrix Gresley teaks.
I think character is the key word. :thumbsup:
I like layouts with some water in them, a harbour, seashore, river or the seaside.
For personal use I'd like quite a large mainline layout I can run scale length trains on, with a mix of passenger and freight services. Always fond of seeing such layouts with either a large complex depot and shunting yard, or large station. I'm not fond of visible roundy-round layouts as it takes away a sense of realism for me, although there's an easy fix there by having a chunk of the loop disappear behind a back scene. Its nice to see layouts that seem to edge into a built up open area but still make use of large open country side. A good eye for detail can really transform a layout into something special, Everard Junction, although not an N-guage layout, is a great example on youtube. Not an era I'm all that fond of and yet I keep watching his videos because its not only interesting to see how the layout is progressing but a great deal of care has gone into all the little details, without creating any clutter.
I agree with what Bealman posted, character being the key word. The best layouts I've seen usually have something special to them, a center piece if you will. For some its a finely crafted bridge structure, others a detailed station building with impressive architecture etc. Even kit bashing something from off the shelf to make it a little more unique can help a layout stand out.
I like to see the railway fitting into the landscape. Too many layouts in all scales start with track laid on a flat baseboard and then have scenery added. A layout built on open baseboards where the land around the railway gently sweeps up and down both above and below track height always does it for me.
I think I like any layout that demonstrates creativity and craftsmanship. Less about the degree of skill, but more the actual effort made by the modeller to create something unique to themselves.
To give you an idea of what doesn't impress me, I'd suggest 'Crossfields'. Not saying that it isn't attractive; it is, and stunningly evocative of the grimy reality of BR blue diesels as I remember them. But it works because of how much effort Mercig Studios has put into weathering the rolling stock and locomotives. These are individually impressive artworks, but because they're bought in by a layout owner with very deep pockets they don't really tell me anything about the modeller beyond his wealth. Call it 'chequebook modelling' if you like. The problem is that the scenics are, by contrast, relatively straightforward reworkings of Metcalfe kits (albeit rather cleverly done) so don't really impress in the same way as the Mercig-weathered models.
On the other hand, 'Frankland' is an example of a layout I like a lot. The rolling stock includes a lot of handcrafted stock, and the scenics are simply awesome, both authentic and unique in style and intent. You know exactly what the modeller is trying to evoke when you look at it, and the depth and quality of the scenics complements the rolling stocks beautifully.
There are lots of layouts on this forum I could gush over. But the key thing for me is that I'm looking at something that came out of the mind of the modeller rather than slapped together with off-the-peg items. As I say, the actual "quality" is a bit less important.
In fact I'd suggest people remind themselves of two layouts in particular, 'Madder Valley' and 'Heckmondwicke'. 'Madder Valley' sprang out of the mind of John Ahern and isn't technically accurate in any meaningful sense. It's a totally invented place with a made-up railway company using all sorts of oddball rolling stock. It's Rule #1 personified. But by gum it's got a lot of character, and despite the basic materials used, it's a layout to be savoured like a fine wine. 'Heckmondwicke' is at the opposite end of the spectrum for me. It's a layout produced by committee to make a point about P4/S4 standards, and everything was made to be as technically precise and realistic as possible. Yet it's very boring to look at, and even in the 1980s, when I would read articles about it in 'Railway Modeller', it impressed rather than inspired.
Cheers, NeMo
One that works :D
A small shunting layout is what I prefer at home as I can have it out and have a play, as I only have a small house. However at exhibitions I do like to see large roundy-roundy layouts with full or decent length trains, if they can incorperate a shunting yard or depot, then it's even better.
I am a firm believer with exhibitions, in the keeping it right era and area. I have often walked away from layouts running as rule 1, as no matter how good the layout is, seeing a scotrail, FGW, Chiltern, Northern, London Midland and Anglia One liveried DMU's all sat in the station wound me up. As does seeing a steam hauled pick up freight, running past a MGR Hopper train hauled by a class 70. It makes them more toy like. I have no problem with doing this at home, but keep it matching at shows.
I have recently been talked (read bullied) in to building a FreeMo module. I was invited by a mate to come down to his HO group meeting. They were building their modules up and it turned into a 45ft long run with plenty of shunting (or switching - kept getting told off for that one). Was great fun and all run off our mobiles but not using the Z21 system.
I have got 6 weeks to get a 12ftx2ft n gauge module to an electrically complete stage ready for a show and then 2 weeks later the 8ftx18inch HO module to the same standard. Going to be a busy few weeks!
Alistair