You hear people all the time saying I wish I had room for a layout...guess what..you do, just look at what this guy did.
http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/image/125989910
http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/image/125989911
http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/image/125989913
http://www.pbase.com/atsf_arizona/image/125989914
When I re-married back in 1993, the below was my fist layout.
(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/richg1998/Misc/Threelayouts.jpg)
(http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/richg1998/Misc/Rearview.jpg)
Rich
That is what would be called a "pizza" layout.
Below is a link to Carl Arendt's Micro Layout Design Gallery, a site dedicated to just this sort of thing. It's a personal favorite site of mine; hope you enjoy it, too, even if it is not strictly HO.
http://carendt.com/
From another forum:
"Info about above layout (quoting espeeboy's excellent description): the show stopper might have been the above by Greg Malinowski. It's an insanely good little crazy detailed/kitbashed/weathered "Bay Freight Division" - a small 36" diameter layout built on a perfectly round 1" thick piece of plywood! Those inside hidden curves and ones leading into the paved diamond crossing are about a 12" radius!!!"
excellent detail
Another way is to use your hard-drive on the PC with train simulator like microsoft train simulator or whatever else is out there. I still have RR Tycoon II on my hard drive. Great fun, and it is like a new and different layout every time.
While it is NOT quite the same as Real MRR'ing, but it is better than nothing at all.
And that is pretty cool little layout that RAM posted.
Another is a small board with caster wheels that can slide under a bed is one i have heard of before.
There was a layout in an issue of Classic Toy Trains where the layout actually folded into a wall. The only thing evident of the layout being there was the creases in the wall. A good, but possibly expensive solution to no room for a layout.
Kudos to
J3a-614 for mentioning Carl Arendt's website. Even if you aren't into micro/mini layouts, there is a lot of information to be 'mined' therein. For years I built car kits and wished I had the space of some type of layout. My first attempt (after moving south) was a 4'x 11' affair hinged to one wall of our garage (not the brightest idea in an area where the temperature and high humidity of summer is only offset by the cold temperatures of winter). Carl's website gave me new inspiration to bring my 'rail empire' indoors.
Currently I am working toward completion of my Monks' Island Brewery section and am beginning construction of the benchwork for the connecting Sweet Haven part. The Monks' Island measures 11"x 62". The Sweet Haven sub will measure 14"x 52". The whole 'shebang' nicely fits along one wall of our ex-guestroom and sits on track shelving.
The latest post of the Monks' Island Brewery sub can be seen at:
http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,13402.0.html (http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/board/index.php/topic,13402.0.html)
Additional photos can be viewed on my Photobucket pages at:
http://s395.photobucket.com/albums/pp38/Allegro34/Model%20Railroad%20Pictures/The%20Monks%20Island%20Brewery/ (http://s395.photobucket.com/albums/pp38/Allegro34/Model%20Railroad%20Pictures/The%20Monks%20Island%20Brewery/)
I sincerely hope a review of Carl Arendt's website will encourage you to begin building.
Cheers,
Ray
Quote from: J3a-614 on June 27, 2010, 08:28:07 PM
That is what would be called a "pizza" layout.
Below is a link to Carl Arendt's Micro Layout Design Gallery, a site dedicated to just this sort of thing. It's a personal favorite site of mine; hope you enjoy it, too, even if it is not strictly HO.
http://carendt.com/
Neat! I'll have to come back to this site again. :)