When I was a kid, I went through a phase where I was really interested in model railroading. Like most boys, I had an inexpensive toy train set that ran around on the carpet until someone stepped on it, swore, and then I had to pack it away, perhaps making another appearance around Christmas. But I read Model Railroader magazine and gawked at the magnificent layouts that people had, perhaps taking up the entire basement, with hundreds of cars, and beautifully sculpted trees. In particular, I liked the romance of steam locomotives, and to this day I find trains to be pretty interesting.

Recently, one of my Facebook friends mentioned that Rod Stewart was a model train enthusiast. Calling him an “enthusiast” is damning him with faint praise. He apparently built a lot of his incredible layout in hotel rooms while touring. Judging by the pictures, it’s really amazing.

But back to me…

I don’t have the room, patience or skill to aspire to anything that could even be listed in the same breath as his, but I began to wonder: what could I really achieve? Could I build a small but interesting layout using reasonable time and budget? I’ve been acquiring some wood working tools that makes the benchwork easier to achieve, and while my house is crowded with all sorts of crap of my own, and my modelmaking skills (which never were amazing) are pretty modest, so would it be worthwhile to tackle a new project like this?

So, I did what I always do. I hit the web to look for inspiration, and to refresh what knowledge I used to have but may have forgotten.

First, gauge. All of previous toys had been either O or HO scale, but I had definitely preferred HO at the time, as my layouts were always space constrained, and HO gave me enough space so that I could put some switches in. But in considering possibilities for a new layout, I’ve begun to consider N scale, which is a little over half the size. The locomotives are positively diminutive, but it does mean that a layout which would be 4’x8′ in HO can probably be squeezed into a much more manageable 2’x4′ layout, which seems really attractive to me.

But what could I really accomplish on such a small layout? I didn’t know, so I went out looking for inspiration. And I found it in abundance on the All Gauge Page at thortrains.net. As it says, it contains tons of information about layouts of all gauges, sizes and interests. But what I found most helpful were some of their layout designs like this page full of N scale mini layouts. What’s especially cool is that they include lists of all the track that you need to construct them. There are a bunch of other nifty small layouts here as well as well as many others. There is a ton of information here. I haven’t begun to scratch the surface.

Something as small as this could still be interesting. At just 2’x2’6″, I could easily imagine constructing this entire layer as part of a small coffee table with a glass top, which would both protect it and make it serve a dual purpose.

I’ve no idea whether this will stick in my head as interesting, but for an evening at least, it was pretty interesting to think about.