The track plan

In my last post, I talked about how I was drawn to the classic western layouts of the 50s, 60s, 70's and 80s.  I also mentioned that some of these were layouts that have been featured in MR over the years.  One of my particular favorites was a small 4' x 6' MR project layout built in 1984 as part of MR's 50th year celebration, The Gold Hill Central.  I had not seen this layout for some time and I couldn't find anything on the web despite numerous searches--until I found a web preview of 101 more track plans for Model Railroaders (Kalmbach) which showed the plan in color.  Here it is:

After looking at this plan for some time, the penny dropped.  The more I thought about it the more I liked the idea of creating this neat little layout in N. With a little adaptation, this plan would fit nicely in my 20" x 30" space.  I really like the idea of the scenic divider down the middle on such a small layout is it breaks things up.  Plus it has some nice features that I look for in a good layout plan:

• Clear divisions of towns
• Interesting switching possibilities with multiple industries
• Good scenic features
• passenger operations
• engine service/storage area

The GHC has all of these, which is surprising for such a small layout.  Plus, things are not too crowded allowing for a fairly decent main line run.  Now, I know that 20" x 30" does not equate to 48" x 72" when scaling N to HO.  This is a limitation for sure, but I as I said before, I think the GHC is easily adaptable to my space requirements.  I will have to use several tricks to make this work:

• use short radius turnouts
• selective compression of scenic elements
• use only short rolling stock and engines

That said, its time to get busy surveying the right of way and determining locations of structures and scenic elements.  Until next time...