a. Small size - should fit on top of a bookshelf and have very low weight.
b. Two stations well separated and with a reasonable transportation mission.
c. A large forest, a high mountain with tunnels, a big river with bridges.
d. And finally - a medieval castle!
The solution is a N-scale layout 30x120 cm (1x4 feet) with small trains that shall transport tourists from a lower station via a zigzag up to a station with a castle.
The trains are very short, only one loco and two cars. At the lower station the loco can switch between two passenger cars and two goods cars.
OneTRAK. After hearing about the OneTRAK-idea I added the through track in front.
It passes under the cliff with the castle and connects to the outer world.
- Read about OneTRAK at Northern Virginia NTRAK.
view
section
The mid section where you see the lower, middle and upper tracks. Each track passes the river on a bridge.
In the background you see my former assistant Chrisse who always showed a great interest in model railroading. Usually by sleeping either behind or on top of the layout while I was working with it.
section
The left section with the lower station and its two tracks, one for passenger cars and one for goods cars. There will be a station building in front of the tracks and a "large" forest on the hill side.
In the background Chrisse asleep!
> For cat lovers only <
The castle will be a simple paper model of Stolzeneck from:
- Schreiber-Bogen Kartonmodellbau.
Trains
The trains up to the castle are passenger trains with loco plus two passenger cars, and goods trains with two cars. Longer trains cannot be used because of the short track at the switchbacks. And this is also sufficient to handle the tourists traffic to the castle. The goods train take care of the needs of the castle which arranges "medieval dinners and games". In earlier days there were transports of timber from logging sites, but today this is handled by lorries.
Zigzag Railways - Start Page
Last updated 21 January 2003