I have a need for  two short staging tracks for an interchange with another railroad, and to fit it in the space I have for it, requires the straight sections to be spaced 1.5" on center instead of the usual/typical 2" on center.  As I measure most of the equipment I have (modeling circa 1953) I believe there should not be any clearance issues.  I don't intend to run locomotives on these sections of track, they only are for the incoming and outgoing cars for interchange throughout the operating session.  Has anyone successfully done this without issue?&nbsp

I'm building a new layout room. It is a shared space - trains runing around the walls. I'm trying to decide whether to use the roll of carpet I've been saving. I'm tending toward ditching the carpet and installing floating floor. The carpet would offer better fatigue resistance standing there working on the layout - kneeling underneath etc. But the floating floor is probably easier to build around, easier to clean up paint spills and solder splashes etc. The floating floor has foam underlay too, just not as thick as the carpet. Thoughts?

Gents,

As a plan my Multi Deck layout, I question yards and length of trains... I for one am not in the hobby to "reinvent the wheel." What is a good yard size to give the appearance of long trains as they curve around the layout but also give the feel of a heavy haul as I will be modeling the Rio Grande mid 80's to mid 90's with lots of locos? 

Is 30 coal cars not enough or is 45 to many with at least 3 locos up front and 2 mid train?

Hi all, 

Hoping to get some feedback on a design I've been working on. Originally i was building a N scale switching layout - I'd made a lot of progress, but the small size of parts combined with the lack of DCC sound and poor slow running have made me frustrated with N scale.