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CATEGORY: Layout Designs
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Friday, February 04, 2022 at 10:56:00 AST.)
Friday, February 04, 2022
This was started back in October of 2021 for a client that wanted a stone cutting and finishing company done in On30 scale using a 15-inch minimum radius with PECO Setrack #2 turnouts. My client had a 7x8-foot corner space that could be used to depict the complex set somewhere in the 1920s to 1940s era range, using small locos and...
Views: 666 | Comments: 0
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Tuesday, February 01, 2022 at 16:21:52 AST.)
Tuesday, February 01, 2022
About a month ago, a member of my JoMRD Facebook group was looking for ideas for an N-scale layout on a 1x8-foot board. He didn't want any more than 3 industries, so I suggested a modern shipping/receiving warehouse, a food processing plant, and a transload/team track. The track plan I suggested was only done in 2D, but it gave a good...
Views: 1290 | Comments: 3
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Monday, January 31, 2022 at 7:09:00 AST.)
Monday, January 31, 2022
I decide that I was going to start 2022 by finally building a small switching layout for myself. So on Christmas Eve, a 1x12 foot shelf was attached to a wall in my old photography studio, using two hollow core doors. I then started going back thru some of my old designs, and stumbled on a layout I designed back in August of 2018...
Views: 785 | Comments: 0
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Monday, January 31, 2022 at 6:27:00 AST.)
Monday, January 31, 2022
This track plan was done for a client back in December. When he contacted me, he was looking for a pulp and paper mill to fit in his 18x84-inch space. He also dropped a bit of a challenge on me to squeeze in as much track as I could, since his interests focused mainly on switching puzzles in the past. Since my client left the track...
Views: 1081 | Comments: 0
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Sunday, January 30, 2022 at 16:47:00 AST.)
Sunday, January 30, 2022
Back in December of 2021, a member of my JoMRD Facebook group introduced me to the Pompano spur in Florida, and I gave him some feedback and help with a track plan to fit his 66x96-inch space on 12-inch wide shelf. I was quite impressed with the area depicted in the prototype, and I wanted to create a layout for a generic industrial park based on...
Views: 1061 | Comments: 0
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Sunday, January 23, 2022 at 16:46:00 AST.)
Sunday, January 23, 2022
This is one of those designs that took a twisted route to get from here to there. When originally contacted, my client was looking for a HO-scale layout that included a small yard and a station where he could stage his CN, VIA, and GO locomotives, with some limited switching thrown into the mix. He also wanted to provide allowances for...
Views: 1168 | Comments: 0
TAGS: Layout Size: Compact Layouts, Theme: Single Industry, Canada (Provinces): Ontario, Types of Industries: Railcar / Locomotive Maintenance Centre
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Friday, January 21, 2022 at 23:15:55 AST.)
Friday, January 21, 2022
This started as a simple Inglenook plan, but as I added more structures, I could see that I needed more track to get the industries I wanted in the design. I was hoping to include as many car types as possible to make operations a bit more varied. As it is now, there are options for grain cars, box cars, flats, gondolas, tank, hoppers, reefers, and...
Views: 3386 | Comments: 11
TAGS: Layout Size: Mini Layouts, Staging Options: Cassette Staging, Theme: Canadian Prairies, Theme: End of Line Station, Theme: Single Station / Town, Type: 3 Turnout Layout, Type: Inglenook, Type: No Run-Around Track, Canada (Provinces): Alberta, Canadian Railways: Canadian National Ry
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at 22:40:19 AST.)
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
You might be surprised to know that this track plan actually started as a switching puzzle in the December 1989 issue of Model Railroader (Coal Caper at Coal Canon by Eugene W. Browning). My client really liked the moves needed to switch the town, and wanted to use it as the basis for prototypical small town switching layout. We swapped out a few of the...
Views: 2533 | Comments: 11
TAGS: Layout Size: Mini Layouts, Staging Options: Cassette Staging, Theme: Single Station / Town
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Tuesday, January 18, 2022 at 9:13:49 AST.)
Tuesday, January 18, 2022
Back in March of 2018, I wanted to do a port city with a small piggy back service yard since it was something I didn't see very often on a small layout. I kept the design fairly simple, and it would be pretty straight forward to switch. There is a provision for a connection to staging on the right hand side, and it is pretty much almost require to...
Views: 4794 | Comments: 7
TAGS: Layout Size: Compact Layouts, Staging Options: Cassette Staging, Theme: Waterfront, USA (Regions): Northwest, Types of Industries: Wharves
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Tuesday, November 23, 2021 at 8:49:20 AST.)
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
I recently started going through my old 3PI layout files, and I remembered this design as soon as I opened the file. I played with this for fun back in 2000 and it was my adaption of a track plan that I found online. The original design was for a 1-foot by 4-foot space, and used a track arrangement very close to...
Views: 3416 | Comments: 14
TAGS: Layout Size: Mini Layouts, Staging Options: Car Float, Theme: Terminal Railway, Theme: Waterfront, USA (States): New York
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Monday, November 15, 2021 at 18:12:12 AST.)
Monday, November 15, 2021
Many of my small layout designs focus on branch line operations that make it easier to portray in a small room. I also tend to make them as generic as possible so they are easily adapted to a variety of prototypes, and this design is a good example of that approach. This is an HO-scale design for a small end of a branch line operation that would easily...
Views: 2537 | Comments: 2
TAGS: Layout Size: Small Layouts, Staging Options: Staging Yards, Theme: Branch Line Railway, Theme: End of Line Station, Theme: Passenger Service, Canadian Railways: Canadian Pacific Ry
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Tuesday, November 02, 2021 at 10:19:59 ADT.)
Tuesday, November 02, 2021
I designed this for a client way back in August of 2000. Back then I wasn't doing a lot of 3D work, so the layout had to wait 20 years for me to finish it. At the time, the owner wanted a layout depicting a Canadian prairie setting, and wanted to run both diesel and steam. Although meant to be purely fictional, his premise was based on the Prairie Dog Central...
Views: 5471 | Comments: 1
TAGS: Layout Size: Small Layouts, Staging Options: Staging Yards, Theme: Branch Line Railway, Theme: Canadian Prairies, Theme: End of Line Station, Theme: Passenger Service, Theme: Steam Excursion Trains, Canada (Provinces): Manitoba, Canadian Railways: Prairie Dog Central Railway
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Monday, October 25, 2021 at 6:42:21 ADT.)
Monday, October 25, 2021
This is quite a different design for me. As you may know, I prefer layouts built around the walls on narrow shelves, and generally stay away from shelves over 30-inches wide. However, I felt to do this design justice I had to go another route. The layout called for wider bench work to accommodate both the scenery...
Views: 1256 | Comments: 2
TAGS: Layout Size: Large Layouts, Theme: Industrial Railway, Theme: Narrow Gauge Railway, Type: Based on Actual Location(s), USA (States): Colorado, American Railways: Gilpin Tramway
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Tuesday, October 12, 2021 at 10:38:05 ADT.)
Tuesday, October 12, 2021
This design was done for a member of the Micro/Small Model RR Layouts Facebook group, and is an N-scale version of the Humboldt Industrial Park served by the Reading Blue Mountain & Northern RR (RBMN) in eastern Pennsylvania. While the industrial park is a fair size, the layout owner was able to narrow his selection of companies down...
Views: 4710 | Comments: 3
TAGS: Layout Size: Mini Layouts, Theme: Industrial Park / District, Theme: Switching Operations, Type: Based on Actual Location(s), USA (States): Pennsylvania, American Railways: Reading Blue Mountain & Northern RR
Posted in Layout Designs by Rob Chant. (Updated Sunday, October 03, 2021 at 11:36:55 ADT.)
Sunday, October 03, 2021
This design was done for a client back in February 2017, and was originally done in an 24" x 96" space with a staging yard added to the left end. The owner wanted to depict a small New England railroad branch line set in the transition era, using smaller diesels as motive power. He wanted smaller, mostly wood foreground structures, two to...
Views: 3280 | Comments: 0
TAGS: Layout Size: Mini Layouts, Staging Options: Cassette Staging, Theme: Single Station / Town, Theme: Switching Operations, USA (Regions): New England