very inspirational. I built my first (so far) N guage inside my piano bench, I had 11" by 23" to work with. now I'm hooked, and am building my next one in the missing drawer section of a vintage dresser.
interesting points ,if anyone else trying to find out how to build a model railroad layout plans try Pycanta Model Railroaders Protocol (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now ) ? Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my brother in law got excellent results with it.
Thanks for all the tips and tricks. I'm new to n scale but experienced with HO. Having lost layouts to tornados (try to get an insurance company to pay for your blood seat and tears in building a layout) and kicked out of spare bedroom when it no longer became a spare, I feel N scale may be the way to go starting with a coffee table layout.
My current project is inside a carry case. I have a video from a month or two ago showing how I built the case. Sometime later this year I’ll have a video on adding the scenery to the layout.
Thanks! Your channel is fantastic by the way. I need to start playing with tinkercad and get a 3D printer. I love your videos on your designing and 3D printing structures. I just checked out the elegoo mars printer on amazon you had a link to and I couldn't believe you can get the quality of prints you have out of a printer that cheap. Those things have really come a long way. I'm probably going to pick one up later this year and start playing with one.
Yeah he is a beautiful dog. I’ll have a full video out in a couple of weeks on layout #15 which I am almost done with, so maybe I’ll have to get both dogs in there as well.
It's better than nothing at all. I lived most of my life in rental places and no place to build. I could join a club, but I'm not that kind of people person.
Very nice layouts. Thank you very much fpor sharing these with us. BTW: nice 1:1-scale ambulatory dog model you have there ... how'd you get it to move ;-)
Steve, love your stuff. Thanks for sharing, I know it takes a lot of time and energy. Compared to many model railroaders, you seem very disciplined in keeping the layout footprint small. For most of us, that would require super human willpower! How do you do it?!!
Mostly because I don't currently have a lot of space for a larger layout, and I just like trying out different ideas in quick succession which is a lot easier to do with small layouts. One problem I've had with larger ones (I had a 4.5x8 foot layout prior to my 5x10 HO one I took down a couple of years ago) is that I'm often wanting to do something completely different before I even finish the layout.
Great video! I have all of my train things in storage at the moment but I hope to build a layout one day. I am wanting to have a small town but also have rural farmland as well. If you have any tips I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you in advance.
i am comsidering a 1901 layout.. liked the train in #9. Interested in doing a lot of horse drawn carriage is horseless carriage is and automobiles all in one scene plus a lot of different early American and Elizabethan buildings. Really enjoyed #11 Let me know if you're interested in doing a big layout in Philadelphia.
Do you have a video on how you do the powered rotation of the layout? Many years ago MR had an April’s Fool layout that had the same idea with the rotation equally reversed to the train speed so that you viewed the train all the time while the scenery flew by.
It is actually just a motorized turntable I picked up a couple of years ago off of Amazon. It just has two speeds but if you get the train speed just right you can match the train speed to the turntable rotation speed.
Not specifically, but most of the smaller layouts that have one have a segment in a video on how I did it. Almost all are built from styrofoam covered in sculptamold.
Thank you for this Steve, Im currently a guy with little space but in a couple years once I am able to purge some stuff from my garage I may end up with more space. I;ve always wanted to have some trains but sadly everythng I've ever wanted to do took either more time, more money, or more space than I had so for now I've vicariously through youtube modelers and toying around in the free trial of Scam. My problem is They don't make the Locos I would want to run in any scale lower than HO so I need HO level space minimum, and the locos I want to run are expensive so I need Expensive HO loco money, and then there's the fact I am the father of a 2 year old which eats up my time. Oh well one can dream
Steve, in response to this do you know any places that make nice N scale Canadian Steam Locos that I may have missed when I said they didn't make the Locos I like. I have 8 locos in mind, specifically the 4 preserved royal Hudsons, Empress, the two preserved Selkirks, and CN6060 but I have only found Rapido Icons of Canadian Steam that currently makes Royal Hudsons in HO (for $600 with dcc sound) and has plans to produce the rest of what I desire in future.
Man after seeing all these micro layouts, I have no excuse not to finally do something with all this N scale stuff I've been sitting on for years and years!😅 The ones with the train hovering in place as the layout rotates underneath it look SOO cool and mesmerizing!
I liked layout 14 the best. You finished with a train set layout on a dining table, which gave me an idea - I don't know if you have thought of it, but you might consider making an N scale layout of a large O scale train set layout such as Lionel.
Hopefully eventually. We have been remodeling the house this year so I haven’t worked on layout projects much at all but will be again here starting this fall.
Most of these are N scale on Kato Unitrack. In terms of brands for the locomotives and such, there are a lot. Kato, Atlas, Athearn, Micro Trains, and others are all fine. Really, most will do fine for you. Bachmann products are cheaper and their locomotives are mixed. They are fine for starting out but I’ve had more long-term durability issues with some of them. Obviously completely depends how much you run stuff. Also, there are different grades of stuff from most manufactures. Kato had three levels of pricing and features but the same motors in all kinds. Even Bachmann has cheaper and more expensive versions of their products. In terms of getting a train set to start, I like the Kato sets the best but there isn’t a huge selection of options in terms of starter sets. But they do make track and power supply sets, and then you can just buy a locomotive and freight cars or whatever separately that fit your taste/price range.
Wow I really enjoyed seeing these layouts they are great I'm doing n scale you have shown me that you can make a small layout I haven't started mine yet because I thought I would need a lot of space I have started getting stuff together
Pro tip- the smaller your locomotives are, the tighter they can turn. I have an Atlas Mogul with a set of overton passenger coaches. They look the best when they are placed on a curve of more than 6" but they can turn as tight as 4". I have put an N scale layout on a piece of wood 12" by 18" by putting the 4" curve out of sight.
Cool! It’s always good to have animal companions! Don’t know where huh? Dang! I was hoping to catch the strand of inspiration for my Bachmann stuff. Take care! Rogue
I want to make a layout that’s roughly 16”x36” to fit on my Amish fireplace, gonna be a frozen Christmas mountain. Mtn gonna be 1/3 of the footprint, I want the train to wind up it like polar express, ~20” high and a steep downhill across the back hidden by facade, to come out a tunnel in far rear corner, to standard loop across the front heading back to the mountain. Drop will be roughly 20” in less than 3 feet, for a Nscale train. Am I being realistic, is the steep drop too ambitious? What goes up MUST come down...?
That is an incredibly steep grade. You can have a steep grade on the downhill side but that is pretty extreme. The biggest problem is the transitions from the steep grade to flat it will be hard to keep things on the track at the bottom of a grade that steep. I would try mocking up a board that you can raise one end of to different heights and see how steep you can get away with using the locomotive and cars you plan for the layout.
Hi Steves, I noticed that you don’t use E-Z tracks on your layouts. Are there reasons why? You don’t mind to share the where you purchase all the accessories to make your layouts? Thanks
Kato track is more robust but e-z track will work fine and if you have it then use it. There is also a much much larger selection of track pieces available with the Kato track which is nice. I use various hobby retailers such as fiferhobby.com, modeltrainstuff.com, Amazon often has a lot, basically just depends what I’m looking for and what prices are. Even my local hobby town store has a lot of Kato unitrack and that is a national chain.
In all, I used 4 endcap modules from masterpiecemodules.com, though I have never actually completed one of them and the river module was just built to fit under the Kato double track bridges. I kind of planned to eventually make the scenery more elaborate but then haven't been to a train show in a few years now so stopped working on them for now since that was the primary purpose of the project was for a train show display for kids to operate and such.
I'm in 1/960. That one offers a lot in a really small scale. The smallest layout I did was 55mm x 85mm. It was in 1/1920 scale (almost 1/2000) and is available to view on Tinkercad.
Layout #3 is definitely a favorite of mine! I forgot that Layout #8 was on your channel, I was looking at it when I was thinking about shelf layouts. Do you think you will ever build any layout designed to run long trains? Not that I do not like the micro layouts, just curious.
I hope to build a larger layout, at least a door-sized n scale one, at some point but don’t presently have a space for it. Eventually I will, but will be several years yet I think.
I’ve thought about doing some kind of like that. I’m thinking about doing a folded dogbone type but with multiple folds so the track works it’s way up several levels to get to the top.
@@StevesTrains That might work with a double helix with points leading to the long run across a narrow layout. Planned you might get three trains running across river -- middle viaduct/bridge -- upper bridge -- top of the pass.
Very impressive layouts. You look like a scenery expert. I have a basement 20 × 24 feet. I am trying to design a local point to point layout. I would like to see how you would set-up a Yard to industries paper work oppression session. Thanks
More like a diorama. Pure art .
Okay, now I'm thinking I have to get into model trains!
Im getting back into it...this guys first layout was one of the first i saw when ibhad gotten started years ago. Now im back at it again lol
I. Love. Your. Vids
@@diydyl6207 Mine? You mean Steve's--he's so awesome!
Great layout ideas! I’m also impressed with your talents as a magician @ 9:28 where you make a dog appear out of nowhere!
Love seeing all those little layouts. You can do so much in a tiny space.
Steve all these layouts are well done and look great. Thanks for Sharing!
Wonderful! I too like the idea of compact layout design.
Thank you so much for uploading this. I love your layouts, and the industrial switching layouts have been a big inspiration for my own layout!
You are without a doubt "AN EXPERT" when it comes to model railroading.
very inspirational. I built my first (so far) N guage inside my piano bench, I had 11" by 23" to work with. now I'm hooked, and am building my next one in the missing drawer section of a vintage dresser.
Sehr gut gezeigt, wie man auf wenig Platz schön bauen kann.
Very impressed, awesome talented work. Thanks for sharing
Really impressed with how much you're able to do in such a small area.
interesting points ,if anyone else trying to find out how to build a model railroad layout plans try Pycanta Model Railroaders Protocol (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now ) ? Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my brother in law got excellent results with it.
Very nice all 15 layouts and a cute dog :)
Interesting layouts and some likely ideas that can be used.
I really want to see the larger layout please build it as soon as possible. I can't wait ! 😳😳
The first video of the 3.5 x 5.5 layout was up a couple days ago. I’ll have the layout done this summer.
Thank you! Lots of amazing ideas!
Love all your layout you have built, who says you have to have a big layout to enjoy the hobby 👍👍😃
Nice layouts! Thank You for ideas
You have a really good feel for landscape making these small foot print layouts very nice.
Thanks!
All very beautiful.
Thanks for all the tips and tricks. I'm new to n scale but experienced with HO. Having lost layouts to tornados (try to get an insurance company to pay for your blood seat and tears in building a layout) and kicked out of spare bedroom when it no longer became a spare, I feel N scale may be the way to go starting with a coffee table layout.
excellent photography specially on layout #1, track level and close, no hand held pan and zoom from 2000 scale feet...
Love the Dog, oh the layouts are all interesting as well.
Layout 3 is what I want to have!! So cool!!
All these layouts Are good. A small Reminder don’t set a Budget for a Layout It’s All About Pride in your layout.
Great work with lots of time and attention to detail which is key. 👍
If they aren't already being built to order, I sell them on eBay, or in the case of the 2x3' N scale layout, I sold that one at a train show.
What about a track set inside a suit case you can pack up and go with, but also have a couple places to switch off too?
My current project is inside a carry case. I have a video from a month or two ago showing how I built the case. Sometime later this year I’ll have a video on adding the scenery to the layout.
@@StevesTrains seems cool from what I've seen so far ^^ although definitely the same idea
You've done some beautiful work. One of my favorite mrr channels!
Thanks! Your channel is fantastic by the way. I need to start playing with tinkercad and get a 3D printer. I love your videos on your designing and 3D printing structures. I just checked out the elegoo mars printer on amazon you had a link to and I couldn't believe you can get the quality of prints you have out of a printer that cheap. Those things have really come a long way. I'm probably going to pick one up later this year and start playing with one.
7:23
Me: “whoa those are some amazing trees!”
Also me: “oh those are real trees”
As someone new to the hobby and have a very small area to create a layout thanks for sharing - new sub today
Thanks for the sub!
Wasn't able to concentrate on layout no 13. Was admiring your beautiful lab sitting there.
Yeah he is a beautiful dog. I’ll have a full video out in a couple of weeks on layout #15 which I am almost done with, so maybe I’ll have to get both dogs in there as well.
@@StevesTrains looking forward.
Inspirational! I'm working on a Z-scale layout in an end table I bought which was inspired by your first video! These are so cool!
Nice little layouts. It could be an excellent source of ideas!
"You Really do a Great job in a shall area. I was a fan of the HO 6' Switching layout. Very good and fun.
Excited to try out a similar 1x3 HO scale layout
Beautiful layouts. Well done!
Beautiful work and very inspirational to improve aspects of my layout. Thanks for sharing!!!
The model railroad hobby has evolved (or devolved) into the diorama building hobby.
It's better than nothing at all. I lived most of my life in rental places and no place to build. I could join a club, but I'm not that kind of people person.
So awesome. The detail and art in these tiny layouts
Great little layout builds so fun to watch them.
Very nice layouts. Thank you very much fpor sharing these with us.
BTW: nice 1:1-scale ambulatory dog model you have there ... how'd you get it to move ;-)
Super Impressive Steve! I work for the A&M. That layout reminds me of Rogers, AR. The layouts are beautiful and unique! Great work!
Thanks!
Steve, love your stuff. Thanks for sharing, I know it takes a lot of time and energy. Compared to many model railroaders, you seem very disciplined in keeping the layout footprint small. For most of us, that would require super human willpower! How do you do it?!!
Mostly because I don't currently have a lot of space for a larger layout, and I just like trying out different ideas in quick succession which is a lot easier to do with small layouts. One problem I've had with larger ones (I had a 4.5x8 foot layout prior to my 5x10 HO one I took down a couple of years ago) is that I'm often wanting to do something completely different before I even finish the layout.
@@StevesTrains Amen to that brother!
Great video! I have all of my train things in storage at the moment but I hope to build a layout one day. I am wanting to have a small town but also have rural farmland as well. If you have any tips I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you in advance.
I have a video on building a farm scene here: ruclips.net/video/__X23YpjR-s/видео.html
@@StevesTrains Thanks. Great video!
i am comsidering a 1901 layout.. liked the train in #9. Interested in doing a lot of horse drawn carriage is horseless carriage is and automobiles all in one scene plus a lot of different early American and Elizabethan buildings. Really enjoyed #11 Let me know if you're interested in doing a big layout in Philadelphia.
Don’t really have the time to do any larger layouts presently but I hope to eventually be able to take on big projects as my schedule allows.
Puppy is quite the photo bomber.
always is!!
Whoops used my other account. Yep, the dog always likes to get in the mix.
Good job Steve I like the smaller layouts 24" x 36" ideally.
Very Very realistic looking
I love small layouts, it's surprising what you can fit in
Very inspirational!.. love your furry kid!..
This just makes me want to get into building and selling model layouts...
The layouts look super realistic
Do you have a video on how you do the powered rotation of the layout? Many years ago MR had an April’s Fool layout that had the same idea with the rotation equally reversed to the train speed so that you viewed the train all the time while the scenery flew by.
It is actually just a motorized turntable I picked up a couple of years ago off of Amazon. It just has two speeds but if you get the train speed just right you can match the train speed to the turntable rotation speed.
I want to see how small American flyer S gauge layouts can get using regular Gilbert AF track.
MOLTO INTERESSANTI I QUESTE Realizzazioni questi plastjco pure se piccoli hanno un effetto molto realistico
Grazie l'ho apprezzato!
Inspirational ! I may make a micro-layout to develop my skill and operate !
Just WOW!
Now these are some inspirational layouts :)
Glad you think so!
You do a great job with mountains and caves. Have you made a youtube on constructing those ?
Not specifically, but most of the smaller layouts that have one have a segment in a video on how I did it. Almost all are built from styrofoam covered in sculptamold.
Very cool, thanks for the inspiration.
Super cool mate!..
Very nice video.
Nice! I got dizzy on the spiral track though! 😀
Thank you for this Steve, Im currently a guy with little space but in a couple years once I am able to purge some stuff from my garage I may end up with more space. I;ve always wanted to have some trains but sadly everythng I've ever wanted to do took either more time, more money, or more space than I had so for now I've vicariously through youtube modelers and toying around in the free trial of Scam.
My problem is They don't make the Locos I would want to run in any scale lower than HO so I need HO level space minimum, and the locos I want to run are expensive so I need Expensive HO loco money, and then there's the fact I am the father of a 2 year old which eats up my time.
Oh well one can dream
Steve, in response to this do you know any places that make nice N scale Canadian Steam Locos that I may have missed when I said they didn't make the Locos I like. I have 8 locos in mind, specifically the 4 preserved royal Hudsons, Empress, the two preserved Selkirks, and CN6060 but I have only found Rapido Icons of Canadian Steam that currently makes Royal Hudsons in HO (for $600 with dcc sound) and has plans to produce the rest of what I desire in future.
Great job plenty of ideas
Creativity and lots of patience....
I love your graffiti car! Thanks for posting, very inspiring :-)
All awesome layouts
Really fun video. Thanks!
Same here I have always put one around the x-mas tree for 60years old
Man after seeing all these micro layouts, I have no excuse not to finally do something with all this N scale stuff I've been sitting on for years and years!😅
The ones with the train hovering in place as the layout rotates underneath it look SOO cool and mesmerizing!
I liked layout 14 the best. You finished with a train set layout on a dining table, which gave me an idea - I don't know if you have thought of it, but you might consider making an N scale layout of a large O scale train set layout such as Lionel.
Amazing!
These layouts are great. I would like to try to build a version of layout 14. What radius are the curves?
That layout has mostly 7" radius curves.
@@StevesTrains Thanks for the prompt reply!
Great Work
Great builds. Do you have any micro layout coming up for sale in the future?
Hopefully eventually. We have been remodeling the house this year so I haven’t worked on layout projects much at all but will be again here starting this fall.
@Steves Trains your first layout is somewhat similar to my Marklin ho scale layout . Jolly good show Steve 🙂
AMAZING WORK!
FINALLY.... a moving train that’s NOT being operated at 300 scale MPH...!!!!
On layout number 8. How did you make the car uncouple?
Love these projects! Great inspirational and insightful tutorial!
I love each and every one!
Awesome layouts!
Anyone know what kind of trains he uses? Is this the N-type electric cars? Looking to start my first project with my son.
Most of these are N scale on Kato Unitrack. In terms of brands for the locomotives and such, there are a lot. Kato, Atlas, Athearn, Micro Trains, and others are all fine. Really, most will do fine for you. Bachmann products are cheaper and their locomotives are mixed. They are fine for starting out but I’ve had more long-term durability issues with some of them. Obviously completely depends how much you run stuff. Also, there are different grades of stuff from most manufactures. Kato had three levels of pricing and features but the same motors in all kinds. Even Bachmann has cheaper and more expensive versions of their products. In terms of getting a train set to start, I like the Kato sets the best but there isn’t a huge selection of options in terms of starter sets. But they do make track and power supply sets, and then you can just buy a locomotive and freight cars or whatever separately that fit your taste/price range.
@@StevesTrains stupid question but surprisingly hard to find, Do you know of any brands that make Choo-choo noises?
Nice layouts. Best of luck with the auction at your son's school this Fall.
Delta_KBOS they are having the online auction tomorrow so we will see what happens.
Thumbs up. Cool vid.
Great ideas!
Wow I really enjoyed seeing these layouts they are great I'm doing n scale you have shown me that you can make a small layout I haven't started mine yet because I thought I would need a lot of space I have started getting stuff together
Pro tip- the smaller your locomotives are, the tighter they can turn. I have an Atlas Mogul with a set of overton passenger coaches. They look the best when they are placed on a curve of more than 6" but they can turn as tight as 4". I have put an N scale layout on a piece of wood 12" by 18" by putting the 4" curve out of sight.
These are beautiful! Where do you get your inspiration?
Also, nice dog!
Thanks! We have two 90lb labs that are great!
No idea where the inspiration comes from...
Cool! It’s always good to have animal companions! Don’t know where huh? Dang! I was hoping to catch the strand of inspiration for my Bachmann stuff. Take care!
Rogue
I want to make a layout that’s roughly 16”x36” to fit on my Amish fireplace, gonna be a frozen Christmas mountain. Mtn gonna be 1/3 of the footprint, I want the train to wind up it like polar express, ~20” high and a steep downhill across the back hidden by facade, to come out a tunnel in far rear corner, to standard loop across the front heading back to the mountain. Drop will be roughly 20” in less than 3 feet, for a Nscale train.
Am I being realistic, is the steep drop too ambitious? What goes up MUST come down...?
That is an incredibly steep grade. You can have a steep grade on the downhill side but that is pretty extreme. The biggest problem is the transitions from the steep grade to flat it will be hard to keep things on the track at the bottom of a grade that steep. I would try mocking up a board that you can raise one end of to different heights and see how steep you can get away with using the locomotive and cars you plan for the layout.
@@StevesTrains that’s a great idea, a test run! Perfect, thanks for replying.
Hi Steves, I noticed that you don’t use E-Z tracks on your layouts. Are there reasons why? You don’t mind to share the where you purchase all the accessories to make your layouts?
Thanks
Kato track is more robust but e-z track will work fine and if you have it then use it. There is also a much much larger selection of track pieces available with the Kato track which is nice. I use various hobby retailers such as fiferhobby.com, modeltrainstuff.com, Amazon often has a lot, basically just depends what I’m looking for and what prices are. Even my local hobby town store has a lot of Kato unitrack and that is a national chain.
Thank you...very informative..
Truly incredible
Great layout techniques. For Layout 7, what config and how many t-trak modules were used. #7 is a favorite of mine
In all, I used 4 endcap modules from masterpiecemodules.com, though I have never actually completed one of them and the river module was just built to fit under the Kato double track bridges. I kind of planned to eventually make the scenery more elaborate but then haven't been to a train show in a few years now so stopped working on them for now since that was the primary purpose of the project was for a train show display for kids to operate and such.
Does anyone know what locomotive that is on Layout 12? It's too cute.
I’d love to see you build something in Z scale. Since you like small layouts, it’s a natural fit. You can do amazing scenery in Z.
I'm in 1/960. That one offers a lot in a really small scale. The smallest layout I did was 55mm x 85mm. It was in 1/1920 scale (almost 1/2000) and is available to view on Tinkercad.
Great work! Cheers.
🙂 Thanks!!!!!
Layout #3 is definitely a favorite of mine! I forgot that Layout #8 was on your channel, I was looking at it when I was thinking about shelf layouts.
Do you think you will ever build any layout designed to run long trains? Not that I do not like the micro layouts, just curious.
I hope to build a larger layout, at least a door-sized n scale one, at some point but don’t presently have a space for it. Eventually I will, but will be several years yet I think.
Yes, this layout is what pushed me towards building micro and mini layouts.
Have you ever built a helex type layout ??? on that small might cause problems. Another suggestion would be an underground loop.
I’ve thought about doing some kind of like that. I’m thinking about doing a folded dogbone type but with multiple folds so the track works it’s way up several levels to get to the top.
@@StevesTrains That might work with a double helix with points leading to the long run across a narrow layout. Planned you might get three trains running across river -- middle viaduct/bridge -- upper bridge -- top of the pass.
Very impressive layouts. You look like a scenery expert. I have a basement 20 × 24 feet. I am trying to design a local point to point layout. I would like to see how you would set-up a Yard to industries paper work oppression session. Thanks