QUOTE Gary,
You need to broaden your horizons. At U.S. shows the N-Gauge layouts are often the largest. Each member of the club brings one or more modules that are 2 x 4 feet. Upwards of 30-40 modules are not unheard of.
Thats an interesting idea Dennis and could be applied to OO gauge or any gauge with the approach adopted by UK clubs. And it permits large layouts to be constructed at home rather than in a club room.
It could even be taken on by cyberspace clubs who get together on the internet and agree on a plan for a modular exhibition layout. The club members only getting together at exhibitions which they attend. With real estate being very costly in the UK it would permit groups of like minded people to work together from home to build a massive layout based around small managable modules.
As an example if 10 Model Rail Forum members got together a 40ft x 2ft exhibition layout could be created from home!
An agreement would have to be made on which products to use for scenery and how to build scenery so that there would be a colour match, and on the method of jointing the modules together. It might reguire a Peco backscene all the way along to make this consistent and therefore each module would be the length of one Peco backscene which is 3ft I believe so this might be an easier length to work with. The Hornby Skaledale range could be used for buildings across the entire layout to give it a consistent look and feel.
And the subject could be something that permits a whole range of interests to be taken into account. And to keep things simple Peco or Hornby code 100 set track should be used so that the public can relate to what they are being shown and can see what they can actually do for themselves if they put their minds too it!
In fact the easist way forward is to agree to use the scenic products of one manufacturer for buildings, one for track and ballast, one for landscaping and one for signalling.
Layout control, wiring and fiddle yard construction seem the areas that need the thought for such a scheme.
I'm just throwing ideas in the air at the moment but those reading this should understand my thinking.
Happy modelling
Gary