# Who says O-gauge takes lots of room?



## Handyandy (Feb 14, 2012)

An O-gauge layout shouldn't be too hard build or find room for. I built one on a cut down old door, 30" x 48". Got a loop of O-27 track with two switches even. A 36" wide door would give you room for a loop of O-31 track. I store it behind my chest of drawers when not in use. It's cut to 48" long so it fits in the trunk of my car. 
I can run trains almost anywhere without having to take track apart and put it together. Just need a card table or folding saw horses to set it on (or lay it on the floor even). Hook up a transformer and you're ready to run. 









May not be anyone's dream layout, but it gives you place to run stuff that would otherwise sit on a shelf or in a box. Gives you something to do until you have the time, room and/or money to build a "real" layout.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

Yep, you even have room for an accessory in the middle.:thumbsup:

Coal loader?


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Looks like a formula for fun, to me!

We had a member on here (forgot who, though) who had a small Figure-8 O setup. He ran a train where the caboose just cleared the loco by about 0.001" while running across the crossing. I kept watching that thing over and over, thinking, "OK ... this time they've gotta crash!" Never did. But had me glued to my laptop watching the thing!

Enjoy the (small) ride!

TJ


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## DieselGen (May 3, 2011)

Nice!

Want to go smaller? O23.75 - http://www.josephrampolla.com/GarGraves.html


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## seabilliau (Dec 12, 2011)

I love it. I was on the verge of doing a 48x48 layout using Atlas O27 until I started dabling in N scale. I still have the table ready to go, just need to win the lottery or convince my wife to increase my budget.


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## Lehigh Valley Lines (May 12, 2011)

Here is my small layout on a ping pong table 5'x9'










I also changed the track around to have to independent loops and use the switches for sidings.


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## Big Ed (Jun 16, 2009)

What road you running Lehigh?

You need some valleys on it


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## Lehigh Valley Lines (May 12, 2011)

big ed said:


> What road you running Lehigh?
> 
> You need some valleys on it


Its the Ping Pong Pike . There's no hills or valleys in this small section of the line. Some day it will have a tunnel and a bridge, well at least ghat is what the boss says. The boss being my 3 year old little son


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

tjcruiser said:


> Looks like a formula for fun, to me!
> 
> We had a member on here (forgot who, though) who had a small Figure-8 O setup. He ran a train where the caboose just cleared the loco by about 0.001" while running across the crossing. I kept watching that thing over and over, thinking, "OK ... this time they've gotta crash!" Never did. But had me glued to my laptop watching the thing!
> 
> ...


That was me. I believe there was about a 1/2" to an inch of clearance


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## tooter (Feb 26, 2010)

DieselGen said:


> Nice!
> 
> Want to go smaller? O23.75 - http://www.josephrampolla.com/GarGraves.html


That's totally charming! 










I've posted this link a bunch of times but it bears repeating. It's a site totally devoted to small layouts in every scale from all over the world:

http://carendt.us/scrapbook/linkindex/index.html


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## tjcruiser (Jan 10, 2010)

Santa Fe,

Yes! That was you I was thinking of with the death-defying figure 8 vid. I LOVE that sequence ... though it still makes my heart skip a beat watching it over and over!

Thanks for the reminder!

TJ


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

tjcruiser said:


> Santa Fe,
> 
> Yes! That was you I was thinking of with the death-defying figure 8 vid. I LOVE that sequence ... though it still makes my heart skip a beat watching it over and over!
> 
> ...



I'll have to put that train back together. The buildings and things were used on my Christmas display at the Redford Theatre (Detroit) and a few changes have been made when I put them back on the layout (I swapped a few buildings out for others). Right now I have my Postwar 1513s set, the one the 2037 locomotive came with, running. Not quite as exciting 

It took a lot of experimenting to get the right cars together to make the train just long enough. If I put a slightly larger engine on it wouldn't work (I've tried )


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## Wabashbud (Jun 25, 2010)

When you don't have an extra room or a basement you convert an atrium to the train room (or train space). It's 7.5 X 7' and its all my railroad.

Bud


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## tooter (Feb 26, 2010)

Woah... That figure 8 vid is *really *exciting!


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## santafe158 (Jul 14, 2010)

choo choo said:


> Woah... That figure 8 vid is *really *exciting!


It's a fun little layout. I play with my carpet central on my bedroom floor more often, but I still enjoy hitting the basement when I don't want to wake anybody up and firing up old #2037 :laugh:


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