# Crammed layout or scenic layout?



## Aminnich (Nov 17, 2014)

Hey guys, 

As most of you know, I have been working on my layout VERY slowly, but I am still working. 

This past week I found a good find on Craigslist, I came home with literally a truck load of foam  FREE :smilie_daumenpos::smilie_daumenpos:

I was also at the allentown train show. 

Anyway, Im debating what I should do with all this foam now, I was originally planning on adding as many switches and industries on my layout as possible, but now it thinking to make it just a "scenic" layout with a few industries. Coal and lumber being the two main ones. 

What do you guys think??

BTW, my spring break is coming up, so hopefully I get a layout updatw you two in within the next 2 weeks.


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## Patrick1544 (Apr 27, 2013)

I personally like scenery and a few industries. Gives me the sense of distance rather than over crowding and not seeing everything all at once


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## thedoc (Oct 15, 2015)

Again what is your main interest, do you like to switch industries, or do you like to watch trains running through the scenery. To try it out you could install a few industries at first to see how you like switching and then decide.


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## D&J Railroad (Oct 4, 2013)

Aminnich said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> As most of you know, I have been working on my layout VERY slowly, but I am still working.
> 
> ...


When I think "Truck load", I imagine about 500 sheets of 4'x8'x2" foam board. That would certainly be enough to build some very large mountain systems on a very large empire.


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## Aminnich (Nov 17, 2014)

D&J Railroad said:


> When I think "Truck load", I imagine about 500 sheets of 4'x8'x2" foam board. That would certainly be enough to build some very large mountain systems on a very large empire.


I have a bit of a disclaimer, it was a pickup truck load.... of styrofoam blocks. 

I understand extruded foam is better, but I could not pass up the price. the bulk of my load was 15" x 15" x 7.5" blocks about 500 of them i think.


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## Chaostrain (Jan 27, 2015)

Think back through your memories of watching and playing with trains. Now go through them again with the question of which ones did you enjoy the most? That, sir, is the type of layout you should do. Personally I'm a train watcher. I'm the type where as I get more track for my trains to run on the less I work on the layout.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

Aminnich said:


> I have a bit of a disclaimer, it was a pickup truck load.... of styrofoam blocks.
> 
> I understand extruded foam is better, but I could not pass up the price. the bulk of my load was 15" x 15" x 7.5" blocks about 500 of them i think.


That works just fine as scenery material. We've used a lot of plain white styrofoam in the land forms on the club layout.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

This is struggle. I like making buildings and setting them up and having a small town on my layout. But I love a sense of open spaces. I have my layout divided about equally between the two, but there is always the temptation to add one more building or something to encroach.

I do work hard to make the areas that are my downtown and developed areas look somewhat realistic, not, too crowded. I love the "everything I could cram in" layouts, as some friends have - just so much fun, but I don't (or so far haven't) gone there. The photos below show the two extremes on my layout that I try to balance about 50/50.


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## Guest (Feb 29, 2016)

I think a city like Lee's is very scenic. There is a lot of activity and diversity in a city. In my opinion it's more scenic than a country scene. There's just more to see. If your layout is big enough it's nice to have both a city and country with rivers and mountains and such, but for a smaller layout I would go with a city.

As to industries, you need enough with enough variety to keep you interested. I like mixed freights more than unit trains so I like industries that use a variety of freight cars. Coal mostly uses hoppers and logging flat cars. Other industries can use boxcars, flats, gondolas, reefers and other types of cars. If you go with coal and logging will that give you enough variety? Some build logging layouts and never tire of it though I would find it boring.

Take this as my suggestions since none of us can tell you what layout you will most enjoy. Whatever you decide to do I'm sure you'll have fun with it.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

I like having enough track on the layout to give the trains something to do, but not so much as to create an unbelievable layout. Good scenery and structures is also essential, thus I would tend towards "less is more" where track is concerned. Also, as you found out, track is much more expensive than landscaping materials.

Of course, you have to do what's right for you. We can only tell you what OUR preferences are, not yours.


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## Aminnich (Nov 17, 2014)

I just like to know what you guys like to see in a layout and I usually get some pretty cool ideas for my layout.


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## Shdwdrgn (Dec 23, 2014)

Just another though to add to the confusion or deciding what you want to do... Consider the nature of your industry. Coal would tend towards (mountain?) mines. Logging comes from a forested area. Stock cars would lead you to a ranch. Tankers might lead to an oil drilling field.

You can also consider that you don't need full end-to-end service to incorporate an industry. You might have a spur for a cattle ranch, but no place to drop off the beasts. Your industrial area would have plenty of docks to drop off loads with no indication of where the materials came from. You could have a mine to collect coal from without a place to dump the loads, or you could have an entire industry set up to process logs without showing the forests that the logs came from. The point is to feed the imagination -- give enough hints that a whole world of operations are happening, but don't try to show every last detail in your limited space.

The flow of your layout dictates what you can do to combine both scenery and industry. If you have a long layout, you might do open countryside at one end and a city at the other end. Something that is more oval shape might allow hillsides around the outer edge with a city in the center. You can combine features in pretty much any layout design, you just have to get creative about not cramming too much.


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## Aminnich (Nov 17, 2014)

My layout is gonna have a lot of mountainous areas to it. So coal and logging will be a good set up


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## mesenteria (Oct 29, 2015)

Aminnich said:


> I just like to know what you guys like to see in a layout and I usually get some pretty cool ideas for my layout.


I like realism. I like to see my trains run, sometimes up a grade, sometimes descending one. I like sweeping curves and some mountainous terrain. I like hills that are heavily treed, but I also like some of the western scenery that one sees in AZ, NM, CA, and NV.

I also enjoy trying to create realistic scenes and to take images of them. So, it means some work to get a reasonable extent of realism. Unfortunately, in my modest space, I can't have nice wide curves, grades, overpasses, AND also have a built-up urban area. So,I choose to concentrate on the rural scenes and just have a tiny representation of a village. I must also have a yard, a turntable, and a roundhouse.

I enjoy watching trains run. I don't really enjoy the building of a layout hugely...it's a means to an end for me. Long coal drags, fast passenger trains, they are what I want, and that means open spaces, vast scenery, almost no urbanization. I don't like clutter.


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## Aminnich (Nov 17, 2014)

Can't wait to get a decent layout update!


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## thedoc (Oct 15, 2015)

Aminnich said:


> My layout is gonna have a lot of mountainous areas to it. So coal and logging will be a good set up


It is not required that you have either the origin or the destination for a particular commodity. For example you could have loaded coal cars going one way and empties going the other, without mines or a user on the layout. Refrigerator cars could be a run through with an icing facility on the layout to re-ice loaded cars, getting those refers over the mountain could be a challenge.


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## RonthePirate (Sep 9, 2015)

Lee, I like the way your town looks. Yes you have lots of buildings.
So do real cities. Yes you have lots of street traffic.
So do real cities.

Yes you have a beautiful countryside just out of town.
So do real cities.

To me, it does not looks cramped. It looks real. As real as modelling can get.

Edit: And if anyone says different, you can always get your private army off the display and into action!


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## Shdwdrgn (Dec 23, 2014)

thedoc said:


> Refrigerator cars could be a run through with an icing facility...


THAT'S what the ice loading dock was for! Something was tickling the back of my brain that this might be something I need on an early 1900's layout, I had completely forgotten that early refrigerator cars were literally packed with ice. Thanks for the reminder.


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## Mr.Buchholz (Dec 30, 2011)

Patrick1544 said:


> I personally like scenery and a few industries. Gives me the sense of distance rather than over crowding and not seeing everything all at once


I second this. As interesting as it might be to cram a lot of things in, it's better to focus on a few things and space them out. No need to make clutter all over a layout. Plus, you can always add things at a later time if you wish.

-J.


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