For the past several weeks, I've been working on a small N layout. I rescued a strange piece of what seems to be mahogany plywood from my late dad's garage some years ago, and I always thought it could be used for a small N layout. Eventually I got a couple of Kato N Unitrack sets to play around with, and I started to lay out ideas, but nothing quite jelled. Here is what I was trying to do in 2016:
The dimensions are something like 47" x 27". I set it aside in vertical storage for almost ten years until a better inspiration hit. At this stage, I'm doing final electrical and mechanical testing of the basic oval. Currently there are two Kato Unitrack 20-032 Micro Trains uncoupling magnets installed at either end of the siding track. I'm trying to install them so that contemporary freight cars in the 50-70 feet range can be uncoupled mechanically on a straight section long enough to keep the couplers aligned.
The outside radius curves are 315 mm, which is the equivalent of 24-25" in HO, so I can run contemporary six-axle diesels with the long freight cars. But this will severely limit the number, length, and purpose of the spurs, and I'm still working out exactly where more 20-032 uncoupler magnets and other track sections will go.
Given my age and stage, I've declared myself retired from going underneath any more baseboards. As a result, terminal strips and switch machine decoders are mounted on top of the layout, along the edges as needed. As it happens, there are strange rabbets along the bottom edges of the plywood as it came to me, and they can be used to run all wiring underneath. I'll find a way to mask the terminal strips and so forth with scenery but keep them accessible.
I weathered the single-track, wood-tie Unitrack to conceal the shiny Unitrack look. I've left the double-track concrete-tie sections alone for now.
