# What to do for my town



## hokie1525 (Jan 13, 2015)

Building a little town section on my 4x8 layout. Here's what I'm envisioning: A road comes in from around the water tower, loops around the houses, church, and commercial properties, then exits by the water tower. In the middle of the loop I have a little park with some trees, park benches, etc. I'll have a line of trees dividing the town from the roundhouse, with a little dirt road cutting through the trees to take workers to the roundhouse.

Does that sound like a good plan? What issues might I run into? Is there room for any more structures or is it "crowded" enough? 

Also, if I make the road at the level of the foam, then the rest of system (park, houses, church, sidewalks, other land features) needs to be raised to sidewalk height (with the exception of the commercial properties which have built in sidewalks). Any ideas on the best approach to accomplishing this?


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Your answer really depends on your tolerance for compromises. You can really do whatever you want to.

In the space you have there, you're going to have trouble doing anything realistic. What you propose would be quite scenic, probably very interesting to look at, and certainly fun to model. You could just go for it.

If you want to be realistic, all kinds of problems will pop up. Think about traffic flow. Most towns wouldn't have a loop around their downtown area; the downtowns develop in areas of high traffic. First of all, a real street has 2 lanes 13' wide. Business will want parking areas, so add another 8 feet or so for some parking spaces, and your main street is already about 5" wide. How do people access the back of the buildings? Your homeowners are all going to want some kind of front lawn space, even a small one. And yes, you need sidewalks everywhere. You're out of room quickly... never mind that you have several "corner" businesses and no room for streets between them.

Here are some ideas that might help improve things a little (some are mutually exclusive).
1) Have only one street, running from lower left up towards the roundhouse, then cutting back towards the fascia. You can (should) have sidewalks on both sides. Make these out of sheet styrene the same thickness as those on the Merchant's Row models.
2) Slap in a scenery divider between the businesses and the sidings and have the rear track pass through it. Use photos on this to suggest the rest of the town, beyond Main Street.
3) Instead of a street / road, get cobblestone or brick textured paper and create a "pedestrian only" downtown area, which would make the narrow spaces between your buildings logical. Put a small parking area behind the church.
4) Have two streets crossing in a T, one going lower left to the center; the other bisecting the layout just about in front of the rearmost Merchant's Row model. The Merchant's Rows would provide the sides for these streets; fill in with other structures.
5) Don't forget to model RR crossings!
6) The raised edges on the Merchant's Row kit sidewalks are a problem (I have 2 also). Either heat the styrene and flatten them, or glue them down.

Just some ideas. Hope that helps.


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## hokie1525 (Jan 13, 2015)

Thanks, CT. I appreciate you taking the time to look at my images and think about possible designs. I hadn't thought about scenery divider as an option. That might work better, though, if my table were in a more central location. As the space in this room allows, I don't think I would get much use of the sidings unless I could have an angle to view them from the other side of the divider.

I haven't glued down any structures yet, with the exception of the roundhouse of course. So anything can be moved to make better use of the space.

I do understand that modeling realism in HO scale on a 4x8 table is a long way from practical. What I didn't want to happen was to build something that looked so "unrealistic" that it took away from the beauty within the details. I don't want somebody's first impression to be distracted by bad scale or lack of flow.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Understand that this is a tough call to advise someone on something like this. Were it MY layout, I would make it as realistic as I could in the space available. But I would never try to force someone else into that solution.

Since it sounds like you're thinking along similar lines, I would either put in the scenic divider or rework the town layout so that you can do streets in a T shape. I think the latter would give you a better outcome, not only because access to the rear of the layout is limited, but because I think it would work better with the various corner store fronts you have. Try MR I and V facing each other on a street running front to back on the layout, and see if you can't work II in, butted up against the back side of I (or leave a little alley), on a street running towards the water tower. On the near side, put the houses closer to the roundhouse and church on the left side and give them some landscaping in front, with your park next to the church. Maybe a small stream running off the mountain and through the park?

Dunno. Just some ideas to stimulate thought.


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## hokie1525 (Jan 13, 2015)

CTValleyRR said:


> Understand that this is a tough call to advise someone on something like this. Were it MY layout, I would make it as realistic as I could in the space available. But I would never try to force someone else into that solution.
> 
> Since it sounds like you're thinking along similar lines, I would either put in the scenic divider or rework the town layout so that you can do streets in a T shape. I think the latter would give you a better outcome, not only because access to the rear of the layout is limited, but because I think it would work better with the various corner store fronts you have. Try MR I and V facing each other on a street running front to back on the layout, and see if you can't work II in, butted up against the back side of I (or leave a little alley), on a street running towards the water tower. On the near side, put the houses closer to the roundhouse and church on the left side and give them some landscaping in front, with your park next to the church. Maybe a small stream running off the mountain and through the park?
> 
> Dunno. Just some ideas to stimulate thought.


Great ideas. Maybe tonight I'll play with it and post some pictures of what that might look like.

You're imagination is better than mine :smilie_daumenpos:


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## hokie1525 (Jan 13, 2015)

I measured about 3.25 inches between sidewalks for road. Not sure how much space for the yards but at least this gives an idea.
















Another option


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## Magic (Jan 28, 2014)

What I do when I'm trying to visualize an idea is to paint the area brown or something like that then paint in the gray roads. Put some cars on it and see how it looks.
Try different setups till you find something that works.

Magic


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## hokie1525 (Jan 13, 2015)

I realize the size road in the pictures above is two lanes only. That would probably make it a one way road with street parking in front of the shops.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Do you have a scale ruler? 13' is the width of a traffic lane in most towns (except up here in New England where vehicles were an afterthought in many cases). As Magic suggested, you can fudge a little by putting a couple of scale vehicles in and "squeezing" until it starts to look too cramped.

Nothing wrong with one way streets. For realism, each house should have somewhere to park at least one car, even if it's just streetside. Lawns in front can be dinky -- I've seen plenty that are a strip of grass about a dozen feet wide, especially if the back yards are generous. It's rare, though to have a detached house's front door open directly onto a sidewalk. And don't forget to install a fence to keep kids off of the tracks!

Your second option looks good (although you may want the front of the church facing the center); on the first option, I would move the church to the other side of the street. It looks too cramped where you have it.


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## cole226 (Feb 8, 2013)

The little town I live in has mostly 100-150 yr old houses.
Town is 4 blocks wide and about 12 long.
Business on.main, houses everywhere else. Almost all sit directly on the street.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Detached, single family homes, directly on the street? As in, step off the porch or out the door and you're on the sidewalk, such as you would be in a business? You're not talking about townhouses or apartments? Where is that? I would like to take a look (because, after all, there is a prototype for EVERYTHING)!


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## cole226 (Feb 8, 2013)

Lots of towns like this in n.e. pa


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## cole226 (Feb 8, 2013)

Lot of coal company houses were singles too. 
When they were built the streets were probably buggy paths.


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## hokie1525 (Jan 13, 2015)

So I intend to have small yard in front of the houses. The two smaller houses are the DPM Gold Emery Lane set. They come with a bunch of "yard accessories" which I intend to paint and model such as birdhouse, slides, pets, clothes line, etc. And a fence. 

Still debating between a two lane and a four lane road. Four lane is more realistic, however leaves the structures cramped to the railroad tracks. With two lane I can perhaps model a "town parking lot" in the nook created by those first two commercial buildings. Then widen the space between them and put some sidewalk in. 

The other advantage of two lane is I don't have space for four lanes to cross the tracks because of turnouts on my layout, so with four lanes I would have to narrow the passage to two lanes over the tracks. 

So if I go two lanes, the only question is make it one way directional traffic or two way? I'm not sure two way is realistic with only the two lanes.


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## jlc41 (Feb 16, 2016)

Hi Hokie, am working on a 4x8 also. Similar to what you have. I want a tunnel at one end also. I like yours. Is it scratch built? Any advice would be welcomed. I think CTValley has some good observations and ideas on your project.
Thanks Joe


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## hokie1525 (Jan 13, 2015)

jlc41 said:


> Hi Hokie, am working on a 4x8 also. Similar to what you have. I want a tunnel at one end also. I like yours. Is it scratch built? Any advice would be welcomed.
> Thanks Joe


I'm no expert, but I can tell you what has worked for me. Everything is scratch built. I followed the Woodland Scenics process for building the mountain. See their website, they have a good video. Newspaper "pillows" and plaster sheets. Search for my posts, I think there's some pictures of my process. There may be better/easier/more accurate ways of doing it, though. Some people just stack foam boards, then sand to shape. 

Advice: If you haven't bought track, use flex track. Much easier than what I did, piecing stuff together. I followed a Atlas track plan but it wasn't perfect.


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## cole226 (Feb 8, 2013)

A lot of the towns here have 2 Lane one way main Street. Some used to be diagonal parking, but have been changed to parallel or off street parking as vehicles got larger. 
Here in Tunkhannock, a lot of business buildings had been demolished over the years to aleaveate traffic. Now we finally got a bypass.
Used to have over 2400 trucks a day go.thru town to papermill. That was a mess. 53' tractor trailers don't play nice with narrow intersections.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

cole226 said:


> Lot of coal company houses were singles too.
> When they were built the streets were probably buggy paths.


I grew up in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, in a house built in 1740. Even these houses have a small strip between them and the street. The sidewalk is about 6-8 feet from the street itself (unlike most city sidewalks), and the houses about the same distance back from the sidewalk. Most people leave grass between the sidewalk and the street, and plantings between the sidewalk and the house.

I hadn't considered the so-called "company houses", though. There is probably a different standard where the goal is "cheap housing as fast as possible" rather than something that will appeal to a buyer. Coal country is a good example, you might also find similar arrangements in former lumber, railroad, or gold mining towns.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Two lanes, two lanes plus parking, one way, bidirectional, 4 lanes.... all have their prototypes. Use what you can fit in. Where Main Street intersects the other, post a big blue and white "P[arking]" sign, with an arrow pointing off the layout. Parking is there... just not RIGHT there.

I always try to keep a couple questions in mind: how would traffic flow? Where do people walk? Where do they park? How do they get to work? Industries served ONLY by rail, with no road access, are EXTREMELY rare -- although again lumber camps and coal mines may have had rail-only access, with movement around the camp / town on foot only. There are some towns on the barrier islands off the East coast where access is by boat only. Look at Venice, for a more famous example.


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## hokie1525 (Jan 13, 2015)

This is what is making the most sense to me right now. It gives enough space for two lanes, plus sidewalks all around, including in front and beside the church, and in the alley between the two close commercial buildings. I may swap those buildings, mostly because of the location of the sign on the one building, which would be better located if they were swapped.

Still debating the space between those two buildings. I'm thinking either a parking lot, park, or apartment building. Parking lot may be a little dull. I like the idea of placing a parking sign and "suggesting" it's location somewhere off the model.


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## jlc41 (Feb 16, 2016)

Hokie, thanks for the comeback. Nice job on the tunnel. I made the same mistake with the track, much better using flex. I like what you have now. Think about backing / paralleling up the small houses to the green. That would set them back and give you a dog leg.


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## cole226 (Feb 8, 2013)

Looks like you about have it.
Maybe move the other building with the turrent to the intersection.☺

Looks like nobody lives on the wrong side of the tracks.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

A parking lot would be a good use of the space behind those stores. Remember, that is where they would most likely get their deliveries, so filling it up with another structure probably won't look that good (and apartment owners have cars, too).

I like the arrangement you have now. Give it some landscaping, and make your park, and I think you'll have a very nice "downtown" area. Maybe slap down a thin layer of Sculptamold under your park so it's not dead flat. Even terrain that has been "sculpted" by man has some variation to it.


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## hokie1525 (Jan 13, 2015)

Suggestions for creating the road? Should I lay down some surface over the foam, or just paint right on top? What about the RR crossing? I need to slope over the ballast, but not that steep. I need a trick to build that "ramp". WS Smooth It? Or cheaper product? Sculptamold?


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

Provided your foam is free from blemishes, painting right on it works fine. If you have blemishes, fill it with WS foam putty or drywall compound and sand it smooth.

You can use WS SmoothIt to build that ramp, but it's essentially just high priced drywall compound. I buy a big tub of pre-mixed drywall compound and use it wherever I need a smooth surface. I love Sculptamold, but it's a lot of work to get a really smooth surface (like a road) with it. Can be done, but there are easier ways.

You can also use styrene to make the ramp. I don't recommend bass wood because the grain has a tendency to show, making an unrealistic appearance. Don't make it too steep (make sure an HO scale vehicle doesn't bottom out at either the bottom or top).


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## santafewillie (Feb 13, 2016)

Like CTV, I use drywall compound for ramps. For my asphalt covered roads, I use strips of thin tar-paper roofing material glued to the foam surface. If you keep the ends of the ramps slightly lower than the tops of the rails, you can butt the tar-paper right up to the rails or the wooden crossing leads. For the tar-paper, if you don't already have access to some, just find a friendly construction site and ask them for scrap pieces.
Willie


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## The New Guy (Mar 11, 2012)

hokie1525 said:


> Building a little town section on my 4x8 layout.


A bit late to this but I'll throw this in anyway - do you have space for a free standing side table? Town would be the place on the other side of the tracks, main street, church, a couple houses...
one little shack inside the track loop gives you the cliche and saves space for actual RR use - an industry or two.

The little extension wouldn't need to be big, single lane and simple sidewalks. everything else would be implied by it's absence without actually running out of room, ie parking. Just a few cars and people walking creates the illusion.

Done right you could even fold down, or completely remove when not in use.

HTH


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