[upnick]

whats your preference ​

what size do you prefer the layout to be

SMALL less than 8ft X 4FT	4	8.51%
MEDIUM less than 12FT	12	25.53%
LARGE 12FT or more such as for exhibition sizes at a show	31	65.96%
	0	0.00%
	0	0.00%

How important are scenics to you

Hills/greenery	32	11.39%
Rocks	21	7.47%
Walled areas and cuttings	33	11.74%
Multiple levels	19	6.76%
Water features	15	5.34%
Bridges/ viaducts	29	10.32%
Signals/ working or not light wise	35	12.46%
Buildings related to the railways working	38	13.52%
Roads/ overpasses	22	7.83%
Trees/foliage	37	13.17%

Trackwork

Insulafrog points	10	8.26%
Electrofrog points	29	23.97%
Setrack	2	1.65%
Flexitrack	31	25.62%
Hornby	3	2.48%
Peco	28	23.14%
Kato	1	0.83%
Tillig	5	4.13%
Flieschmann	1	0.83%
Atlas	0	0.00%
Handlaid	11	9.09%

Gauge of track preferred

OO/HO	39	81.25%
N	7	14.58%
Z	0	0.00%
T	0	0.00%
O	2	4.17%
1	0	0.00%

Overall look of a layout

Landscape/scenery mainly	23	18.40%
Industrial/ (coal engineering etc )	10	8.00%
Station with platforms	30	24.00%
Loco servicing and shed/depot	21	16.80%
Switching	6	4.80%
Oval / flowing tracks	12	9.60%
Container terminal	4	3.20%
Cliff/sea	6	4.80%
Canal/mills	3	2.40%
Streets with the railway running through	3	2.40%
Other	7	5.60%

Backboards/lighting

Yes to backboards	36	29.27%
No to backboards	5	4.07%
Prefer painted	15	12.20%
Peco paper printed type background	5	4.07%
Lighting to street lights	21	17.07%
Lighting to buildings	23	18.70%
Railyards lit	18	14.63%

Country of choice within a layout

U.K.	38	69.09%
U.S.	4	7.27%
Germany	7	12.73%
Japan	0	0.00%
Other	6	10.91%

 

[upnick]

Hi All,

Thought it may be good idea to get the opinion of members on the forum as to what they like to see in a layout , be it large or small / your or others you see in the media or at shows ..... hopefully it will give a picture of our layout tastes and more popular features contained within them.

 

[MrBemo]

I don't think it is so much a case of the size of layout that one would prefer, it is more a case of of the space one has got.

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (MrBemo @ 17 Mar 2009, 12:53) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I don't think it is so much a case of the size of layout that one would prefer, it is more a case of of the space one has got.
Agreed, I would always seek to have the largest size layout possible within the space I have available.

For backdrops I prefer the photo type.

 

[MrBemo]

www.miniaturwunderland.de

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (MrBemo @ 17 Mar 2009, 14:21) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>www.miniaturwunderland.de

If I had enough dosh......

 

[john woodall]

I guess my room at 5 meters by 6 meters is classed as large then!

 

[Robert Stokes]

Large? You could get about four decent sized layouts in there and still have room to rent out to a student.

 

[Edwin]

For the avoidance of doubt, I've voted for many things I'd like eventually but haven't got now. Besides in the scenic area there wasn't a box for "huge pieces of plywood"...

 

[John Webb]

I don't think a layout has to be large to be good for exhibitions. Several of my favourite exhibition layouts have been the small 'diorama' type - they sometimes seem to get a 'completeness' of design and appearence which isn't always present on a large layout.

Regards,
John

 

[TonyDaly]

I like a little bit of everything if it is done nicely. I admire people who stick to one particular company in one particular area & try & have everything as it was in a space in time though it's not something I would do myself. Medium to Large in size with a fair run & plenty of action.

My pet hate would be running a continental train in a British setting. & I'm not one for small shunting type layouts even though I admire the thought & work that goes into them.

 

[patrick draper]

I think that using the maximum space availble is important, my layout is about 15' x 15' . If I had more room I would no doubt use it. If the are is enclosed by walls etc then the width has to allow leaning over to reach things, a mistake I made 20 years ago when starting my layout and now that I can't reach so well have difficulty reaching some parts. My criteria is for the running of the railway with aspects such as a terminus, through station, loco depot and turntable, passing loops and shunting. My railway does do all of that to the exclusion of a lot of scenery and roads etc. I have seen some excellent small layouts with superb scenery and some not so good. It depends on what you want and as stated on other threads the amount of detail depends on what you yourself require. The most important thing is to enjoy and relax doing the hobby. Some days I will make changes to things and others I will just run the trains. I started modelling almost 60 years ago and my interest has hardly waned so I must be doing something that suits me while admitting that my views and criteria are not always shared by everyone.

 

[BobB]

Coming back to the hobby after a fairly long break gave me the imperative not to bite off to much to begin with. I've been at my little layout for five years now and still have some details to add to an otherwise complete visual sceane. I'd really like a big layout with everything on it, looking perfect etc. but the time to put detail would mean I need another lifetime to finish if I reserve some for playing as well.

 

[pedromorgan]

thankyou for starting this thread. we havent had a decent poll in ages.

I like a layout to look nice. that is far more important to me that weather the stock is correct to the time, period or even country.
Grafiti would be a huge no-no.

I like elegant features. weather its a sweeping curve, a nice, well proportioned bridge or a dramatic cutting.

I find nice trackwork a real draw,

I hate layouts where you can go along and say "oah there is the hornby signalbox and the peco station fronting and the faller bridge....."

There has got to be movement. i dont care if its the same train going round several times but its important that there is something going round.

I have said this many times before but i like to see the "showmans gene". i like to see people who are enjoying themselves and are proud to show off their layouts. they are enjoying entertaining the public.
that to mee is 1000% more important than weather x train ran at y in the year z.

Peter

 

[dwb]

QUOTE There has got to be movement

Me too.

David

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (pedromorgan @ 18 Mar 2009, 06:45) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>thankyou for starting this thread. we havent had a decent poll in ages.

I like a layout to look nice. that is far more important to me that weather the stock is correct to the time, period or even country.
Grafiti would be a huge no-no.

I like elegant features. weather its a sweeping curve, a nice, well proportioned bridge or a dramatic cutting.

I find nice trackwork a real draw,

I hate layouts where you can go along and say "oah there is the hornby signalbox and the peco station fronting and the faller bridge....."

There has got to be movement. i dont care if its the same train going round several times but its important that there is something going round.

I have said this many times before but i like to see the "showmans gene". i like to see people who are enjoying themselves and are proud to show off their layouts. they are enjoying entertaining the public.
that to mee is 1000% more important than weather x train ran at y in the year z.

Peter

Yes, I would agree with most of the above. It has to look natural rather than some out of the box buildings crammed in the tiny spaces left where more track couldn't be crammed in. To look real it has to look like the train is running through real countryside.

The use of the same mass produced buildings on layouts has led to a sameyness about many layouts. I went on a layout tour a couple of years back and it really hit home how samey all these layouts looked. When I returned home I removed all of my Hornby buildings. Unfortunately I do have an entire city street of Faller and Vollmer buildings but as I need a city's worth it is to much to scratch build in the time I have available.

Track isn't a big issue for me, mainly because my priority is modelling HO, OO comes second. I also don't tend to look at the track that much.

I do try to run appropriate locos for the era in general but I'm not going to refuse to run anything because it's doesn't fit. As said above having a train running is far more important than most other factors.

 

[john woodall]

my personal view is that towns are added as an afterthought and not planned, which gives then the sameness.

Also a lot of people build a kit exactly as per the instructions without any changes or painting.

John

 

[Richard Johnson]

*** I simply like a layout to be "believable". Nether size nor prototype really matter, as long as the trains and their environment are in harmony.

ie: No glaring anachronisms... consistent in overall quality and reliable in running. No unpainted plastic and colours that are in harmony. Track, if not accurate, at least well laid and weathered... with no set-track radius curves or short points. I'm not talking about being overly pedandic about perfect detail in everything, just "nothing obviously out of place".. clear clashes with reality... such as a faller building in a non european scene, a modern diesel on a steam era scene, an EU loco in a UK station or an LMS loco hauling Mk2 coaches...

Having said that... I still like some layouts with less than total focus:

For example where a layout such as Neils exists I see it not as one hybrid EU/UK layout but as/like "several separate but connected dioramas".... because while Neil combines several themes in one large space, he doesn't mix up the prototypes but models different parts of the layout as different locales - a nice way of keeping harmony while accomodating a wide interest.

regards

Richard

 

[Richard Johnson]

***Forgot to say: creating any wide poll is hard so well done for having a go - but I think as a poll on a global forum, the small/medium/large is a bit conservative.... A very UK N scale point of view!!

I'd rate any layout with a longest dimension of 12' as small, and up to 24' as medium

Richard

 

[neil_s_wood]

QUOTE (Richard Johnson @ 18 Mar 2009, 14:25) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>Having said that... I still like some layouts with less than total focus:

For example where a layout such as Neils exists I see it not as one hybrid EU/UK layout but as/like "several separate but connected dioramas".... because while Neil combines several themes in one large space, he doesn't mix up the prototypes but models different parts of the layout as different locales - a nice way of keeping harmony while accomodating a wide interest.

regards

Richard
I got this idea from an article in Model Railroader a couple of years ago which suggested a means of modelling several different dioramas when you have limited space. You have to be careful about how you separate them but it does enable you to model multiple interests when space is at a premium.

cheers Neil