The design is around the room on wide shelves. It is sectional, so pieces can be removed to work on them.

There will be 100mm (4”) “bevy shelves” designed in. A cold refreshment is considered by many to be an essential element of model appreciation, and the track is not the place to set it down.

Too often, layout designs include no allowance - when calculating aisle widths or reach depths - for control panels, shelves on the fascia, throttle hangers, car-forwarding card boxes, protruding turnout controls, or shelves.

The control panel slides away when not in use.

Compromises

There are a few compromises. Wide curves and a continuous run leave no option but a duck-under or lift-bridge at the entrance. I prefer the lift-bridge (or lift-out). 95% of the times you walk in and out of the room you won’t be running trains. On those occasions when you are showing visitors or running in a loco, drop the bridge. The rest of the time, walk in comfort.

The height is a compromise to allow storage below. My workbench is one desk stacked on top of another so that set the height. Advantages are eye-level viewing and easy duck-under, but I regret that kids (and my Mum) will need steps. I like manually thrown turnouts in yards, but this layout might be too high for ground throws – fascia-mounted controls may be required.

The layout is wider than modern guidelines, especially this high. But all track is within 30” of the edge, with the additional depth being used for scenery. I left a couple of inches between the benchwork and backdrop for lighting the backdrop from below. This reduces shadows on the sky, and allows sunrise/sunset effects.

Extensive staging in a small bedroom demands either “behind the backdrop” staging like the brilliant layout of Mike Hamer (Model Railroad Planning, January 2001 page 22), or two levels. Since we have decided on an eye-level layout, I went for an upper deck. Simple construction implies no hidden spirals or descending ramps. The answer is one advanced bit of engineering: a train elevator. It has a small footprint compared to a helix (and is no slower to traverse), and it leaves everything else on the level. It does limit train length, but with two parallel tracks you can bring a train up in halves and assemble it.

Trackplan.