I constructed my first N scale layout in a coffee table in 1976 based on the East Glasstop project railroad series that appeared in Model Railroader from December of 1970 to April of 1971. However, it was not until I retired in 2016 that I completed my second layout, a 5 x 5 foot square with a yard extension, started in 1978 and built from a plan in Kalmbach’s 101 Track Plans. Although I expanded this layout in 2018 with a ten-foot-long shelf with two main lines, by that time I had acquired more N scale equipment than I had track to run on. I found in retirement that I enjoyed building layouts more than operations, and began to consider constructing smaller layouts to not only give me more places to run trains, but also allow me to enjoy the construction aspect of the hobby. In 2020, during COVID shutdowns, I came across an N scale “pizza box layout” on YouTube, only 18 inches in diameter, and started looking for N scale mini-layout track plans online. It was then that I discovered Steve’s Trains.
Among other scales, Steve builds in N scale, his layouts were 3 x 5 feet in size or smaller, and were in my opinion quite well done. I found a track plan for a layout that was only 2 x 3 feet. This track plan was unique in that it not only featured a twice-around mainline loop, crossing at grade, but also an upper-level city scene with a trolley line. I had never built a city scene before, so I decided this would be my first attempt at an N scale mini-layout.
With a layout this small, I decided to use Kato Unitrack as I thought it might be easier to build with given the relatively sharp curves. Also, having the switch machines self-contained in the Kato track bed was another positive for this small layout.
I chose to build the layout using a framework of 1 x 3 inch clear pine lumber with two cross pieces. This would allow me to place it on short legs with casters so that I could slide it under my larger layout when not in use. Being at a lower level, it would be perfect for my grandson, who was four at the time, to view.
I temporarily set the track on two one-inch thick layers of foam board which would eventually come to form both the scenery and the track base.
I built up the upper level for the city using additional layers of foam board and used a surform tool to carve in the grade for the road to the upper level. The picture below shows the layout with track laid and ballasted, and the ground and hillside contours partially completed with Sculptamold.
The road was added using several layers of Woodland Scenics Smooth-it, sanded in between each application. Ballasting Kato Unitrack with Woodland Scenics fine ballast was challenging, as there is not much tie height above the plastic roadbed when compared to flextrack on cork, but with careful placement and a lot of fine brushwork, I was able to place the ballast prior to gluing. The upper-level concrete retaining wall was scratchbuilt using Evergreen styrene and the factory building in the corner was a kitbashed Walthers Cornerstone kit.
The picture below shows another overview of the layout under construction prior to adding the city buildings, which are mostly Design Scale Miniatures structures, painted and weathered.
I found the DSM buildings easy to build and realistic. I added Woodland Scenics Just-Plug lighting in several of the buildings.
After completing this layout in early 2021, I found that I have been bitten by the mini- and micro-layout bug. I have since built layouts in an old suitcase, on a 24-inch round table, and inside a glass-topped end table that I built (with an English theme). I built a logging switchback over my desk and a 3’ x 4” two-level layout cantilevered from the wall. I am currently working on a triple-deck, two-and-a-half by four-and-a-half foot layout with one level being Japanese themed, one level having a two-track main line with an automated passing siding, and the top level being an urban scene with big-city depot and tall buildings with a back-and-forth line simulating a subway.
These smaller layouts will enable me to continue my hobby should my wife and I decide to downsize in retirement, as all of them can be further detailed. Despite all this layout construction, I still find that I have locomotives and cars rotating to layouts from a display shelf!
