Layout Room and Old Concepts

I've often spoke about the "I Want it All" mentality, which generally ends up disrupting the best intentions in the world. Many people could thing I mean by that to only focus on one thing until a future project show up. Not really.

Since my high school days, I've been revisiting countless times the same small layout concepts, or as they should be called correctly dioramas (or cameo layouts). These themes interest me a lot, but not in a way I'd like to build a large layout based on them. Sometimes, only one aspect of an era or a specific location makes an impression on you and it is these elements that I'd like to model.

Having cleaned up a lot of my model railroad stuff over the last few weeks, I came upon several of these aborted ideas in my boxes. It could be freight cars, locomotives, structures, turnouts, etc... And since I was accessing what could be useful in the future and what will never be of any use, I had the occasion to revisit a few ideas. This is in line my goal of building a 17' x 12' hobby room in my basement later this winter and using a wall to display small shelf layouts on one wall. Among the many projects, I selected those that were small enough to be depicted full scale without compromising reality and that could still be operated with a small cassette if wanted. Also, all of them can be built to quite a good level of detail without going broke and being drowned in never-ending projects.

Here is a selection of three old projects that are likely to inspire me in the future. Track plans have been updated according to my improved design abilities.

The first layout is about Q.R.L.& P.Co. Limoilou Shops built in 1927 and still standing to this day. Back in 1998, I acquired DPM modular wall parts and started to assemble this large plant. At that time, my idea was to create a 1 feet x 6 feet long layout that could fit my bookshelf. I had no space available in my room and for a reason or another, I thought this one turnout layout was the way to go. I was fifteen years old back then and I'm still surprised how this design is still strong and didn't need any alteration on my part. Operation would be simple: switch cars at the car repair shop. It would also be a terrific diorama to display and shoot models in context. Given I love Q.R.L.& P.Co., have built many models of the line and clearly know I will never build a full layout on that theme, I think it would be the most fitting was to pay homage to this great interurban railway. And the best thing is Limoilou Shops served both the urban division streetcars and the interurban passenger and freight rolling stock. This layout would be about 12" x 16".

The second idea has been presented countless time and it is Avenue Industrielle in Limoilou, about 500 feet west from Limoilou shops. I always liked this ridiculously minuscule industrial spur and still think it would make an interesting one-turnout layout. It is compact, as character and freight car traffic quite diverse. This is a relaxing project that would show case quite well my classic CNR 1950s material. This layout would be about 12" x 80"

The third idea is an old one I visited countless time but rarely wrote about: recreating a small steam engine facility. The fascination is both for steam locomotives but also for the peculiar structures associated with a roundhouse: coal tower, sanding house, ashpit, turntable, shops, sheds, etc... I'd like to represent a mid-sized terminal, something similar to what CPR Prince Edward Street Roundhouse in Quebec City was but protofreelancing it a little bit. I wouldn't waste my time trying to cram everything on such a layout. Only the tracks connecting the roundhouse and feeding the coal tower and ancillary structures. The layout would be fully operable, but would mainly act as a display cabinet for steam power and specific MoW rolling stock. While based on a real roundhouse, I wouldn't try to match specific buildings but rather go for a generic Canadian feeling. The goal would be to kitbash structures I already have and scratchbuilt the rest as I see fit, using Canadian practices as a guide. Looking at this picture of the roundhouse at Orangeville, Ontario can only bring forward inspiration. This layout would be about 14"-16" x 80".

I would love to see these three cameo layouts stacked together on a wall, creating vignettes of what Canadian early 1950s railroading used to be. With careful lighting and setting, they would tell several connected stories and I can already imagine how their themes would play together. Each module could have a name describing its purpose: The Shops, The Roundhouse, The Spur.

With their minimalist size, they would also be easy to handle and put on a workbench to work on them. Wiring and electronics would be minimalist and shared to keep things simple.