# Needing a Lot of Help



## traviscorter (Jun 11, 2009)

I have an HO train layout in my garage, which has a roof that is caving in. I want to keep running model trains, but the only space I have available is in my bedroom. The available space is roughly 36" by 56". Should I run an HO layout, or downsize to N scale? What kinds of layouts should I consider? Thanks so much for any help!

Travis


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## Southern (Nov 17, 2008)

Hi and welcome to the forum.

That is a tough one. If you have a lot of HO stuff and not much N stuff you might want to make a modular layout. As to the type of layout that is a personal choose. There is a section in this forum that discusses layout design.


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## traviscorter (Jun 11, 2009)

Thanks for the welcome. Well, I own two trains in HO scale and two track layouts. I don't even know where to start when it comes to a modular layout, and am quite new to this model railroading buisiness...bouth the HO trains from QVC 7 years ago.


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Welcome...when I had a space problem, I came up with this...










...that's four independent loops of track in a space roughly 42" x 54". Three are done in flex track to 20", 18" and 12" respectively with a loop of Marklin sectional track. It's a hoot to watch in action, enough that, even if I had a bit more space, I'd likely not change it. As tight as that upper loop is, most Athearn diesels can traverse it with little more than a growl.


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## Spoonbender (Aug 16, 2009)

...that's four independent loops of track in a space roughly 42" x 54". Three are done in flex track to 20", 18" and 12" respectively with a loop of Marklin sectional track. It's a hoot to watch in action, enough that, even if I had a bit more space, I'd likely not change it. As tight as that upper loop is, most Athearn diesels can traverse it with little more than a growl.

I've been roughing out a couple of designs similar to this for my first layout. There is a local garden railroad layout that I really like because they can get 4 or 5 separate trains running on different tracks. In your example above, do you need four separate transformers or power supplies, one for each track? I haven't really started studying the power requirements yet, but I want to be able to run multiple trains on independent tracks like on your layout. 

Patrick


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## shaygetz (Sep 23, 2007)

Welcome to the forum:thumbsup:

I have a power pack for each loop but you could run all four off of one good quality pack with a high amperage. I prefer the controllability of 4 independent packs for the variety of locos I run, opposing directions _(though that could be fixed by simply reversing your track feeds)_ and the speed control, i.e. trolleys are much slower than passenger trains, etc... The three rail loop is pre-war Marklin that uses 30v AC so that had to be taken into consideration as well.


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