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Part 1: Large-Scale Bookshelves
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Places where rails meet the water seem to be natural prototypes for excellent model railways. Here's one of the simplest possible sites -- a "natural" for a shelf layout in almost any scale -- Norddeich Mole. Located in the north of Germany on the North Sea, the Mole contains a single spur of level, straight track!
"Here is the end of the German railroad network at the beginning of the North Sea. All passengers have to leave the train here and board the ferries to islands like Norderney or Juist. From the nearby station, Norddeich, the loco pushes the train into the single track of Norddeich Mole. Passengers from the ferry enter the train and the loco pulls the train out of the station and vice versa. "This tiny station sees a lot of regional trains, Intercity trains and night trains to destinations like Berlin and Zürich -- but no fright trains! The Intercity trains in Norddeich are pretty long -- about 8 to 10 coaches, each 26.4 m (87 ft) long. The regional trains are shorter; the Deutsche Bahn uses 'double deck coaches' for this service, and 4 to 6 cars form a train."
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In Alberta, Canada, Michael Mott is building a completely different type of shelf layout. He writes: "I am working in the weird scale of 30 mm = 1 foot. LGB track (45mm) becomes 18-inch gauge, and 3 foot gauge becomes 90 mm which is the same as 3-1/2-inch gauge, one of the standard gauges for live steam. "I have been building the 3-1/2" in the garden as an out and back. I have also started on an exhibition layout built on three 4x2-ft tables forming a total layout that is 12x4 feet -- bigger than 99% of your micro layouts but not bad for a layout using 45mm track and 90mm track gauges. The model will be a combination of a Welsh slate mining operation and an underground tram converging at a loading dock, where the track gauge of 3-1/2 inches represents a three-foot gauge interchange track."
These two photos show early mockups of Michael's 1:10 scale efforts. The left-hand photo shows two very unusual elements he's working on: a model of a compressed air loco that was used at a town called Bankside in Alberta, Canada, located in what is now Banff National Park; and a STUB double-slip switch, using Code 330 rail. It actually works! For much more information on this unconventional modeling effort, see Mike's website. And to whet your appetite, here is one of Mike's early design concepts for a shelf layout in 1:10 scale. It uses not one but two backstage sector plates, and is made possible by the incredible stub double-slip.
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Don Coker, from Columbus, Georgia, USA, loves to doodle track plans, and as he's a professional artist his doodles tend to be both attractive and accurate. Here's a good example, designed for 7/8in to the foot using a gauge of 1-3/4 in (45 mm) to represent two-foot gauge (60 cm) tracks.
Don's comments on this delightful little
shelf switcher (with very large trains!): "I have been messing around
with this notion for some time. It's certainly not a new, groundbreaking design ,
just the old 'sector plate special' (stole it from your book), but I thought it might
work for a switching layout in 7/8n2 with four-wheeled cars and lokey (small equipment).
I would love to build it to fit on one wall of my studio but make it portable (on
casters) to take to local and regional shows. I think that it would measure about
8x2.5ft (240x75cm). |
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One way of getting large-scale trains in a small space is to use a prototype that is very small with tight-radius curves. Industrial 15" gauge trains fill this niche nicely, and Gn15 scale modelers have begun to create some excellently-operating large-scale layouts in very tiny spaces.
"I have altered the rational of the layout, after reading in the Oakwood Press book about Leighton Buzzard Sand Pits; and I have made it a bit more bizarre by moving it to France, hence the name. I just need to get a driver with a beret and a Gauloise hanging from his mouth to finish it off. "The building is inspired by the stables at that previously named location. The hopper is Plustruct, around a cut-down washing-up-liquid (liquid detergent) bottle. There are two engines and four wagons on the layout -- some of the stock is from Sidelines kits while the other locomotive is based on an old Tri-ang dock shunter cut up a bit. The wagon is the underframe of a white-metal kit from a Cambrian Oil tank, supplanted with a (real) wood floor.
"The layout is operated by a 5 digit, base 6 computing machine -- oh, alright then: 5 dice are thrown to determine the train make-up and load. The coloured spots on the first die determine the engine (green or yellow); the second die, the train type, either sand or engineering; then the last three dice determine the wagon order and load. "Once a train is made up it is reversed under the sand hopper (which can only take two wagons), Sand is poured into the hopper with the aid of a plastic spoon from a storage box. Once the sand has run egg timer fashion into the hoppers, they are driven away to behind the building and emptied. The working traffic light (easy in this scale) can be used to complicate things a bit if you want to. By the way the lean on the traffic light is purposely done, just as if it had been hit by a derailed train." Note that the turntable, which is large enough to hold a complete train of these tiny cars, is removable -- so the layout truly can repose on a shelf between operating sessions. |
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Also from England is this delightfully compact O scale layout by Colin French (shown above). It's an Inglenook layout with just one turnout and (at the left) a hidden sector plate that holds the loco and one wagon and serves both the rear siding and the split siding at the front. Here's the lowdown on Ledsam Street from Colin's exhibition handout: "This layout is a purely fictional
O Gauge micro-shunting layout. It is based in an industrial setting somewhere in
the United Kingdom and the layout represents a small area of a much larger industrial
complex in the 1930's.
"Wagons are selected by the use
of dice or cards -- two wagons for the middle siding plus one for the back siding
are randomly chosen with the loco coal wagon having to be moved to suit. Any new
wagon coming into the layout has to be positioned before outgoing wagons are removed.
This can provide a lengthy shunting session and allows continual operational interest
for such a small layout. Note; British O models are built to a scale of 1:43.5 for a variety of historical reasons. Track width is the same as for American 1:48 O -- 1-1/4in (32 mm). Continental European O uses the same gauge and a scale of 1:45. |
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Union Street is an O scale shelf layout being built and operated by the Strathclyde O Gauge Group in Scotland. The concept of the layout is to develop the model while exhibiting it, a 'show you how' approach to Gauge O modeling. The compact nature of the layout is deliberate to illustrate that a large scale can be developed for use in a small space and at a reasonable cost. I have drawn a rough track plan, to show how much track and operation can be packed into about 12 feet of shelf! A traverser is hidden behind the warehouse at the left, and serves as a hidden "fiddle" yard as well as a source of traffic for the busy Union Street station. (Photos by Jack Trollope)
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Alexander Kaczmarek, who lives in Berlin,
took these photos, drew the plan, and sent us some information. "Only one track
- no turnouts - and a lot of water...that´s all you need to build the station,
Norddeich Mole," writes Alexander.
Modelling Norddeich Mole on a shelf is simple
-- the entire trackage consists of one length of straight track! Scenery is entirely
waterfront atmosphere, and lovers of model boats will have a wonderful time building
ferries and other boats to tie up at the Mole. Train operators will require a multi-track
traverser (transfer table) at the right, with its entrance hidden by the false front
of the ferry to Norderney Island. A wide variety of rolling stock can appear at the
Mole, then retreat back to the hidden traverser, to be replaced by a completely different
consist. Wonderful for exhibitions! (Photos and drawings by Alexander Kaczmarek.)
Chris Peacock, from England, adapted
a design from this site to the needs of his Gn15 exhibition layout, Compagne desgravillons
et du sable de la Brettone. 
