GAUGING THE SPACE
RAILWAY LAYOUTS
Not everyone has the luxury – or indeed the bravery – to dedicate a room to a train layout. Fear not; Jamie Douglas is on hand to show you how, regardless of the space you have available Words: Jamie Douglas Photography: Andrew Tipping
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rain expert and creator of the epic Manchester Brickadilly railway model, Jamie Douglas, is here to give Bricks readers a beginner’s guide to building a train layout. From which trains to buy first to how to maximise battery life and even tips on building tunnels, it’s time to listen to our resident conductor and start laying the tracks. A few weeks ago, the LEGO Group released a new train – 10254 Winter Holiday Train, reviewed on page 54 of this issue – which seems likely to get a whole new generation of fans interested in LEGO trains. Given the potential for increased interest in running a train layout, it’s worth taking the time to explore the options – and the physical implications – of building a layout using LEGO elements. Although many people who buy the Winter Holiday Train will simply use it to run around their Christmas tree, many will then use the set as the starting point of adding trains to their existing City layout. With LEGO trains, it’s very easy to want to add a bit more track, maybe an extra siding here, an extra train there, another loop perhaps, until before you know it you’re wondering whether you can justify converting the loft space to house your LEGO layout – if you haven’t already done so!
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But let’s backtrack a bit first. Let’s look at the things you need to know when first building a layout into your city. Let’s look at all the things that it doesn’t tell you on the box, and which most people figure out by trial and error. Firstly, let’s look at space. If it isn’t already apparent, LEGO trains take up a lot of space. The track gauge (the distance between the rails) is a lot larger than the scale used on most model railways. Those who had a Hornby train set when they were a child will remember being able to fit quite complex layouts into a relatively small space. Because of the space needed for LEGO trains, you’ll need to think about just how big and complex you want your railway to be, and how much space you can allocate to it. As the radius of the LEGO curved track is 44 studs (35.2cm), the minimum size of a LEGO railway is 88 x 88 studs (70.4cm) – basically, a circle of track. You’ll want more than that if you don’t just want it to go around your Christmas tree but it’s worth bearing that size in mind because it’s also the width of a standard 180-degree turn of track. Because LEGO track is 8 studs (6.4cm) wide, you may already have worked out that you could put LEGO Modular Buildings back-to-back inside a loop of track 88 studs wide, and still have 8 studs of space left over.
