Small Layout Design

Monthly Reminder

@... — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 05:30:44 -0700

Discussion of the design and construction of small model railroad layouts.

PLEASE NOTE WE DO NOT ACCEPT SALES AND WANTS ADVERTS - EBAY IS THERE FOR THEM.

This group is intended for the average model railroader who does not have an entire basement or even an entire room to devote to a layout. Here we will discuss smaller layouts -- table-tops, shelf layouts, micro-layouts, modules and modular layouts -- and how they can be designed and built for enjoyment and modelling satisfaction.

The above is an example borrowed from Carl Arendt's excellent site

http://carendt.com/scrapbook/linkindex/index.html

and also at

http://carendt_backup.gully.org/

Due to restrictions in file space, 4 separate groups had been set up for the sharing of design files and photos.

/g/sldfiles

/g/sldfiles2

/g/sldfiles3

Due to space restrictions on groups.io photos from the Small Layout Design yahoo group are located at the following

/g/small-layout-design-photos

By the way, we do not tolerate trolls or flaming

Now: Monthly Reminder - Tuesday, April 1, 2025

@... — Mon, 31 Mar 2025 21:00:06 -0700

Monthly Reminder

When:
Tuesday, April 1, 2025

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Description:
Discussion of the design and construction of small model railroad layouts.

PLEASE NOTE WE DO NOT ACCEPT SALES AND WANTS ADVERTS - EBAY IS THERE FOR THEM.

This group is intended for the average model railroader who does not have an entire basement or even an entire room to devote to a layout. Here we will discuss smaller layouts -- table-tops, shelf layouts, micro-layouts, modules and modular layouts -- and how they can be designed and built for enjoyment and modelling satisfaction.

The above is an example borrowed from Carl Arendt's excellent site

http://carendt.com/scrapbook/linkindex/index.html

and also at

http://carendt_backup.gully.org/

Due to restrictions in file space, 4 separate groups had been set up for the sharing of design files and photos.

/g/sldfiles

/g/sldfiles2

/g/sldfiles3

Due to space restrictions on groups.io photos from the Small Layout Design yahoo group are located at the following

/g/small-layout-design-photos

By the way, we do not tolerate trolls or flaming

Re: is this still a small layout?

utz.kaufmann@... (Utz - R. Kaufmann) — Wed, 12 Mar 2025 01:09:07 -0700

Joe,

a KCT locomotive would be nice, but I don't think there are any in this 
color scheme for Large Scale. I got a SF-Alco and looked for a place, 
where SF would interchange with an industrial shortline so this 
shortline could have leased the engine. I found the KCT and think, it is 
a good match. I'm not good at painting engines so I do not think I can 
paint the Alco in KTC colors. Maybe I find a custom painter somewhere 
who could do that, though I really like the blue and yellow scheme of 
the S4.


Utz

Am 08.03.2025 um 02:16 schrieb TILLMAN, JOE via groups.io:

Re: is this still a small layout?

jtillman@... ( TILLMAN, JOE) — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 19:41:03 -0700

Utz,

At 15 sq. ft or thereabouts, it qualifies as a small layout. It isn't a Arendt microlayout but it is a small layout and a neat looking and operationally fun one at that. I love the KC area. Do you plan for some black and yellow KCT locomotives?
Keep up the good work and have fun!
Joe

On Fri, 7 Mar 2025 19:19:53 +0100, "Utz - R. Kaufmann via groups.io" <utz.kaufmann@...> wrote:

Hi!

I´m working on this layout in my bedroom but I'm not sure if it
qualifies as a small layout in this group.

Utz

Re: is this still a small layout?

utz.kaufmann@... (Utz - R. Kaufmann) — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 10:15:21 -0800

Here is more information about this layout:

it is in Large Scale and since there a very few industrials buildings in this scale and I do not have much room I will use flat prints of industrial fronts and partial sides from the 3D Program DAZ Studio laminated to Gator board. It is possible to use this 3D programm to design these flats to almost any size.

Real model parts can be added to get a more 3 dimensional front of the building. Also there are roofs available. With them added to the flats I can hide the mainline part and the interchange.

The ground will of course be built in a conventional way.

Utz

Am 07.03.2025 um 19:19 schrieb Utz - R. Kaufmann via groups.io:

Re: is this still a small layout?

jolitzwr@... (Bill J.) — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 08:13:47 -0800

Works for me!

Re: is this still a small layout?

rotary-oy@... (Charles Weston) — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 17:08:17 -0800

Nice! Looks like it will be fun to operate.

Charles Weston

San Antonio

On Friday, March 7, 2025, 12:20:02 PM CST, Utz - R. Kaufmann via groups.io <utz.kaufmann@...> wrote:

Hi!

I´m working on this layout in my bedroom but I'm not sure if it

qualifies as a small layout in this group.

Utz

Re: is this still a small layout?

andrewtailby@... (andrew tailby) — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 17:07:55 -0800

Looks to be a great small shunting style layout that you can have fun with.

is this still a small layout?

utz.kaufmann@... (Utz - R. Kaufmann) — Fri, 07 Mar 2025 10:19:57 -0800

Hi!

I´m working on this layout in my bedroom but I'm not sure if it qualifies as a small layout in this group.

Utz

Now: Monthly Reminder - Saturday, March 1, 2025

@... — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 21:00:06 -0800

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Re: Do we really need sldfiles/sldfile2/SLDFiles3

jberg_y@... (Jim B) — Wed, 19 Feb 2025 07:27:51 -0800

Bruce,

Thanks for the explanation as to why it would not be appropriate to consolidate the groups under the one. I knew they were all created because of the need on yahoo groups to get more space.

Jim

- Jim B.

Baltimore Society of Model Engineers Estd. 1932

O & HO Scale model railroading

Join Us: https://bmoremodeltrains.org/membership

Check out BSME on: Facebook, Instagram

Re: Do we really need sldfiles/sldfile2/SLDFiles3

michael4449@... (Michael Nickerson) — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 08:47:01 -0800

Bruce,

I appreciate your analysis.

Mike Nickerson

Living in Concord, California, USA. That is in the San Francisco Bay Area, You may not be aware of this city of 120,000 people. Because it is 21 miles due East from the much larger Oakland (pop 440,000), the label for Concord is overshadowed by that of the larger city. And San Francisco is 30 miles West of us.

On Sunday, February 16, 2025 at 06:36:22 AM PST, Bruce Wilson via groups.io <wilsonbrucea@...> wrote:

Jim:

As owner let me answer that. When these groups were ported over from Yahoo that is how they were on yahoo due to yahoo file storage restrictions. All the porting to groups io was done automatically once the requests were made to move the groups and whatever was in the yahoo group got moved over to the corresponding groups io group. The photos group was set up to allow larger photos to be posted to yahoo and not take up the limited storage space yahoo had which was filling up at the time.

It has worked for now and I am not interested in trying to consolidate everything into one group. In older messages there are some references to files or photos posted in the auxiliary groups and discussions about them.

Bruce Wilson
Barrie, Ontario, Canada
Life Member    NMRA
Member    Scale 7 Group    Gauge 0 Guild  7mmNGA
Member Bird Studies Canada   Ontario Bird Banding Association
Nature Barrie      Simcoe County Banding Group

On 2/15/2025 23:31, Jim B via groups.io wrote:

Ok, I know this an administrative question and probably should just be directed at the moderators.

I think the extra groups for Photos/Files are not needed, as I see the groups.io allowing 1 Gigabyte of storage space for a free group, and those three other groups have about 80 Megabytes of space between files and photos, can't they all be combined and moved to this group or the small-layout-design-photos group? Even that one only has 301 megabytes of storage used.

Seems very counter productive to have 5 groups to look through for ideas.

- Jim B.

Re: Do we really need sldfiles/sldfile2/SLDFiles3

wilsonbrucea@... (Bruce Wilson) — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 06:36:20 -0800

Bruce Wilson
Barrie, Ontario, Canada
Life Member    NMRA
Member    Scale 7 Group    Gauge 0 Guild  7mmNGA
Member Bird Studies Canada   Ontario Bird Banding Association
Nature Barrie      Simcoe County Banding Group

On 2/15/2025 23:31, Jim B via groups.io wrote:

Do we really need sldfiles/sldfile2/SLDFiles3

jberg_y@... (Jim B) — Sun, 16 Feb 2025 06:20:18 -0800

Ok, I know this an administrative question and probably should just be directed at the moderators.

Seems very counter productive to have 5 groups to look through for ideas.

- Jim B.

Baltimore Society of Model Engineers Estd. 1932

O & HO Scale model railroading

Join Us: https://bmoremodeltrains.org/membership

Check out BSME on: Facebook, Instagram

Now: Monthly Reminder - Saturday, February 1, 2025

@... — Fri, 31 Jan 2025 21:00:06 -0800

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Now: Monthly Reminder - Wednesday, January 1, 2025

@... — Tue, 31 Dec 2024 21:00:06 -0800

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Be Part Of The Next Layout Tour (So. Calif.)

chiefbobbb@... (Bob Chaparro) — Fri, 13 Dec 2024 11:47:57 -0800

Be Part Of The Next Layout Tour (So. Calif.)

[Please do not hit “Reply��. Contact me directly.]

Model Railroads of Southern California’s next layout tour will be Saturday, February 15. The tour area will be Burbank and the surround cities. Railroads in any scale plus garden railroads are welcome to participate.

I would like you to consider participating in the tour.

Participating in a layout tour is a great way to share your work and meet your fellow model railroaders. You’ve probably worked hard on your railroad so you might as well get some recognition from people who will appreciate your efforts.

All you need to do is operate your trains. I will do all the planning and publicity, as I have done for sixty-four previously tours since 2006, including tours for the NMRA national convention (Anaheim), the National Narrow Gauge Convention (Pasadena), the Southern Pacific Historical & Technical Society, the Santa Fe Historical & Modeling Society and several PCR and PSR regional conventions.

The tour is self-guided (No busses) and free.

If you have any questions before committing to the tour, please ask. In any event, please contact me directly in the next several weeks if you are interested so we can add your railroad to the tour. Once you have been added to the tour, I will contact you to establish the hours that work best for you.

Thank you.

Bob Chaparro

Moderator

Model Railroads of Southern California

https://www.facebook.com/groups/150347595443

chiefbobbb@... [chiefbobbb At verizon DOT net]

Now: Monthly Reminder - Sunday, December 1, 2024

@... — Sat, 30 Nov 2024 21:00:06 -0800

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Now: Monthly Reminder - Friday, November 1, 2024

@... — Thu, 31 Oct 2024 21:00:04 -0700

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Re: The Wandering Spruce Railroad

mikechoochoo@... (mikechoochoo) — Mon, 28 Oct 2024 07:41:25 -0700

I’ve been following it online. Maybe I’m just noticing it now, but I see more layouts like that where there are two sides with a view block between them. This would also work in an urban setting, with underpasses and tall buildings.

M. Nix