Space, its an issue that affects many of us. Especially us millenials and those who have had to downsize.

In my workshop I have had my 6×1 exhibition layout set up on a shelf being used whenever i get a spare 20 minutes to run some trains or it is there if I need to test a loco. However, the chance to aquire two more partially completed boards of the same size in HO gave me the idea to expand that little layout into a much bigger vertical layout connected by cassettes.

If I had the room and connected the boards together you would have a layout length of 18′ however you would see the train in each town so really lets make that 30′ to allow for scenery between towns. Now we have a big layout taking up alot more room that I have available, by mounting these layouts veritically i can have 18Sqft of layout in 6 sqft, perfect. Add on a temporary fiddle yard that hangs on the workshop door and the concept is complete.

Here is the track plan:

Operations

Basic operation would be that the switch job picks up and sets out cars for the Class 1 railroad on the lower level and then delivers these cars to the industries within the three levels of the layout. To get between levels there is an off scene storage cassette which must be moved and rotated so that the train points the correct way to represent an continuous switching district.

Because of the off-stage cassettes these can be used to provide non-modelled junctions with other railroads or even the rest of the host short line. This would add operational interest and bring a variety to the switch crews. Those class 1’s could have permission to switch a specific industry or area (level) or they could just interchange cars with the shortline. Remember though to consider which way the switch at the junction is when aligning the cassettes, one could be a wye allowing you to turn locomotives, if you are backdating the concept.

Due to size limitations train length is limited to 40” meaning single unit working and a train length of 3-4 cars, due to the lack of run round on the lower level a shoving platform could be mandated for train crews.

Fitting it into the room:

I added three new shelves to my workshop (sorry for the mess) and place 1/2 ply to support the layouts underneath. I did this because there is a cut out in the wall which meant the shelves needed to be 18″ deep but the layout sections are only 12″ deep so without this the tracks going off the layout would hit the wall.

You can see with the layouts in place that they line up with the doorway rather than the wall.

I didn’t measure the relative heights but the upper level is level with my eye line (I am 6ft tall) so about 66″ the middle level is then about 52″ and the lowest level is 40″. As you can see i haven’t yet made the changes to the middle level shown in the track plan but will soon.

more to follow