Can I work with a 4'x8'?

[NozomiFan]

So as the title implies- Or do I need to stick two of them together?

Took a small hiatus from Shinkansens to work with my RC crawlers, so that's why you haven't seen me..

But, I'm back!!

[Lawrence]

Welcome back   

I guess it depends on what you want to do and whether or not you will have access all the way around the boards

[KenS]

If you're asking about fitting track, 8' is a bit short for a full-size station, but more than sufficient for running even six-car trains.

For example, the radius of the outer track on Kato's larger banked concrete-tie track is 414mm, or 16.3". Even with a bit of space between the ends, that leaves 4' 8.5" (1488mm), room for 6 248mm straight sections.  You'll lose about 124mm at each end with R481 curves to match the #4 platform end (assuming you want a center island), or about 372mm with #6 switches and R781 curves to match the other ends (I don't know Tomix, but sizes are probably similar).  That leaves at least 733mm for three platform sections, including the curved platform ends.  That's room for just over 5 commuter cars (about 135mm each) if you split each track to make a pair of island platforms.  With just a single center island between two tracks there's room for four platform sections plus the ends, or about 9 commuter cars, although the R481 curves could be problematic for some trains (My Kato 500 Series doesn't seem to have a problem, but I haven't been using these curves long). And if you just want a pair of side platforms, you could use the whole length and fit even an 11-car Yamanote train. Note that Shinkansen cars are longer, so you'll fit fewer of them.

However, you probably want to allow a bit of space between the curves and platform ends so it doesn't look to cramed together, and so you can avoid coming out of one curve and entering another (the dreaded "S curve" which tends to cause problems).

So a single 4x8 used for an oval can support smaller trains of the 4-6 car size well, and longer ones less well but it's still possible. If you want to run really long trains, 8' isn't really enough.  But you can build a pretty good N-scale layout on one.

[Krackel Hopper]

hey hey,

A 4'x8' would be okay, if you don't plan on building a station (as KenS pointed out) but wouldn't look too bad for just running 8 car bullets.  Full 16 car sets would be a little much for the 4x8..

I played around with the idea of cutting a 4'x8' in half to make a 2'x16' layout.  This would most certainly give you the running length for big trains.  Only downfall, you are looking at 12"/11" radius curves.

If you look around on the boards, there is a lot of mixed feelings about running bullets on such small radii.  They will not look very good on the tight curve, but if you can hide the ends in a tunnel or some such.  The other problem with this idea is the inconsistency of bullets to run these curves.  Some people say the Tomix XXX runs just fine while the Kato XXX derails, but the Kato YYY works while the Tomix YYY does not.

[cteno4]

Nozomifan,

ak ken and krackel stated, doing a station is tough in a 4x8 for anything over a 6-8 car train. full 16 car train requires a just under 9' station.

if you have the room and $ for two 4x8 then great! the more you can spread things out the more interesting scenes you can do and track plans as well! also you dont need all the area of 2 4x8 sheets. if you have the space you could do a thinner layout that snaked around some and have a more interesting track plan (with more length to it) and over all shape/look to it. sometimes the large rectangle can get a bit blah. also at 4' deep you will want to either have access on both long sides or the ability to pull it from a wall to work on it, as you will find it very hard to work on things past 2-3' in from the edge depending on your height and reach.

you might think of smaller modules you can bolt together. this always leaves you room to expand or reshape later and if you ever have to move it you are not trying to move a 4x8 with stuff on it! i helped one of our club members do this for his home layout on his dining room table. started out 4x8 made of 4 2'x4' modules, then added one more to go to 4x10. later he decided he wanted the dining room table back and was going to redo the layout in the living room so we refitted 3 modules to 4x6 there. allowed him to expand and contract as things changed for him.

btw im planning on this on my own home layout as i know if i didnt murphy would have us move as soon as something large, permanent or bulky was built!

cheers

jeff

[Mudkip Orange]

Well for an 8-car train 4x8 is fine, for 16s you'll want more.

But considering how many attempts you've made at full-size layouts I'd really consider just doing Kato on bare plywood tabletop, and then doing your scenery in sections. Even a 4x8 layout is a vast chunk of real estate in N scale.