Building an N Scale Layout in an Apartment

I moved into my current studio apartment in May 2010. I knew I would eventually start some sort of layout and eventually decided that changing over to N scale made the most sense considering my space available. The alternative was a very small shelf layout. I did consider doing one based on Stockton, California, using my two Central California Traction Company SW1500 switchers. But I figured I'd get bored of a layout that had no mainline action. The CCTC switchers eventually were sold as part of my HO scale Ebay clear-out. (Curiously one went for more money than I had paid for it; the other went for less. Go figure!)

I then had to figure out what track plan to use. I had first seen the "Salt Lake Route" in the pages of the January 2010 edition of Model Railroader magazine. I fell in love with the simple combination of a two-track mainline that allowed for running trains in loops as well as an intermodal stub yard and one industry to switch.

The Salt Lake Route (SLR) was based on a segment of Union Pacific trackage in Nevada, but I figured it would translate well to my thoughts of an Illinois-based layout. The SLR was a 9 x 4 foot layout design.

Building tables in my previous apartment had been a nightmare of work and sawdust all over the carpets. I had even less space to work in my current apartment so thoughts of carpentry were out. I looked at buying those pre-made modular table kits found in model railroad magazines but the cost was prohibitive.

I also had in the back of my mind the thought that I might leave this apartment one day sooner than later and would hate to do anything permanent like my HO scale shelf layout that was dismantled and mostly destroyed when I moved from my last apartment to this one.

Thus, I reached back to a past layout and bought five 2 x 4 folding tables and set them up on one side of my apartment. This combined 10 x 4 area took up a big chunk of my living room but I felt the sacrifice in space to be worth it. Unlike my HO shelf layout, I would not be constrained by tables and shelves running around the length of the room.

Next, I had to find some extruded polystyrene rigid foam insulation board. This is the pink stuff made by OwensCorning or the blue stuff made by Dow. For novices to model railroading, you want to use such insulation board on top of your tables so you can detail and mold the landscape.

In the Midwest and East Coast of the United States extruded polystyrene rigid foam insulation board is apparently common as dirt. But in California, with our milder winters, it's as hard to find as diamonds. There are cheaper versions of foam board insulation for sale at Home Depot or Lowe's but they are not rigid and not as solid in structure.

I tried buying some of the required foam board from an online supplier in Iowa. The segments I needed were under $40. But they canceled my order when they discovered that to ship it by UPS would cost something like $400!

I then checked some Home Depots in my area and there happened to be just one nearby that had a stock of Owens Corning Foamular. The only problem now was that the 4 x 8-sized boards would not fit in my small compact car. I had to go back inside the store and get them cut into 2 x 4 segments. The guy doing the cutting wasn't so accurate so some segments were slightly smaller or bigger. But at least now they fit in my car's trunk and opened back seat.

I then lost interest in the project as my rent increased. I was not sure if I would remain in that complex and it made no sense to start construction on the layout only to have to take it down shortly thereafter. In the meantime, I kept buying N scale locomotives and rolling stock as well as some structures.

Around Thanskgiving 2013, I decided to press on with construction. My future in that apartment would be a matter of come-what-may. That said, the idea of not constructing too permanent a setup remained paramount.

I took the best pieces of Foamular and set two for each of the five tables. I glued each of the two boards to give me 2-inches of Foamular to be able to cut into for such thing as the Fox River.

Next, I took out all the track for the SLR. I had purchased KATO's Salt Lake Route track set. I found the best price to be from a hobby shop on Ebay for $680. This was no small expense. But I always found KATO Unitrack to be the best quality. It's also modular in design, meaning it's easy to set up and take apart. It's molded roadbed looks more like real ballast than track from KATO's competitors.

I will detail the set up of the SLR track in my next post.