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A small model railway layout can be as little as a shelf or a box and still be fun to run, as long as it is built around something to do: shunting wagons, delivering cars or running a train to a terminus. Carl Arendt, who had collected about 1,500 of them on this site by 2009, defined the smallest kind like this: “Micro layouts are small model railroads, usually less than three or four square feet in area, that nonetheless have a clear purpose and excellent operating capability.”
Carl Arendt’s answer, from his article Secrets of Designing Micro Layouts: because a micro layout “fits into even the smallest flat or bedroom”, can be finished “in a reasonable amount of time at reasonable cost”, can be detailed to any degree, and “will provide a significant amount of operating fun”. The last point is the one that matters. In his words, the need for “operating fun”, things to do on the layout, “is what distinguishes a micro layout from a diorama or a module”.
Small also means finished. A layout you complete and operate teaches more than a large one that never gets past the baseboard, and a small one can be carried to an exhibition, stored on a shelf or rebuilt when your interests change.
Almost every successful small layout is one of a handful of track arrangements. Each links to the matching pages of the Micro Layout Design Gallery, which holds 250 plans.
| Type | What you do on it | Gallery pages |
|---|---|---|
| Inglenook (shunting puzzle) | Make up trains in a set order from three short sidings. Very high play value for its size. | Inglenooks |
| Timesaver | Spot cars at industries using a short runaround. A brain-teaser. | TymeSavers |
| Shelf switcher with a runaround | A train arrives, the loco runs round, wagons are shunted to sidings. | Runarounds, For Operation |
| One switch, or none | The smallest working layouts: a single point, or a straight line with a hidden fiddle yard. | One Switch, Straight Lines, The Fork |
| Sector plate, traverser or train turntable | Replace space-hungry points with a moving piece of track. | Sector Plate, Traversers, Train Turntables |
| End of the line | A branch-line terminus: trains arrive, run round and depart. | End of Line, Passenger Lines |
| Continuous run | A small oval or figure of eight with a siding or two, for trains that just run. | Single Level, Multi-Level |
| Industrial, tramway and narrow gauge | Tight curves and short stock make whole railways fit in a small space. | Industrial Trams, Narrow Gauge, Logging, Mining, Dockside |
| Layouts in boxes and odd places | Shoeboxes, briefcases, A3 sheets, bookshelves. | Layouts in Boxes, A3 Sized, Shoebox Madness |
| Dual gauge | Narrow and standard gauge meet and exchange traffic. | Dual Gauge; see our dual gauge guide |
The length of your rolling stock decides almost everything on a small layout, because sidings are measured in wagons. Divide the real length by the scale to get the model length. The table shows two typical vehicles: a short four-wheel wagon about 6 m (20 ft) long over buffers, and a 12.2 m (40 ft) American boxcar, the car John Allen designed his Timesaver around.
| Scale | Ratio | Track gauge | 6 m wagon | 12.2 m (40 ft) car | Classic Inglenook train space* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N | 1:160 | 9 mm | 38 mm | 76 mm | about 30 cm (wagons) / 61 cm (cars) |
| TT | 1:120 | 12 mm | 50 mm | 102 mm | about 40 cm / 81 cm |
| OO | 1:76.2 | 16.5 mm | 79 mm | 160 mm | about 63 cm / 128 cm |
| HO | 1:87 | 16.5 mm | 69 mm | 140 mm | about 55 cm / 112 cm |
| S | 1:64 | 22.42 mm | 94 mm | 191 mm | about 75 cm / 153 cm |
| O (US) | 1:48 | 31.75 mm | 125 mm | 254 mm | about 100 cm / 203 cm |
* Eight vehicle lengths, the stock alone in the headshunt and the long siding of a classic 5-3-3 Inglenook; add the locomotive and the points. Our own arithmetic from the scale ratios; ratios and gauges from Wikipedia, Rail transport modelling scales, except TT (1:120, 12 mm), the usual figures for that scale.
Two ways to get more railway into the same space follow from the table: a smaller scale, or shorter prototypes. Narrow gauge, industrial lines and trams use short vehicles and tight curves, which is why so many micro layouts model them. Carl Arendt’s Squarefoot Estate Railway, in G scale on 16.5 mm track, occupies 11 × 14 inches, under one square foot (The Squarefoot Estate Railway).
Carl Arendt compared micro layout design to designing a theatre set: “you carefully pick a single location then figure out how to squeeze the illusion of it into an extremely small space” (Secrets of Designing Micro Layouts). The steps below follow that approach.
Carl lists the stage designer’s tricks he used on micro layouts: “flexible backdrops, low-relief and flat models of structures, forced perspective, behind-the-scenes fiddle yards, and carefully chosen rolling stock” (Secrets of Designing Micro Layouts). In practice:
Carl Arendt defined micro layouts as small model railroads, usually less than three or four square feet in area, that still have a clear purpose and good operating capability. The need for something to do is what separates a micro layout from a diorama.
A simple shelf layout with a few sidings, or an Inglenook shunting puzzle. Both need few points, fit on a shelf, and give plenty to do. Carl Arendt’s Easy Starter Micro Layout is a good first plan.
Many micro layouts are a few square feet or less. Carl Arendt’s Squarefoot Estate Railway, in G scale, occupies 11 × 14 inches, less than one square foot, and still has operating work to do.
Smaller scales such as N fit more railway into the space; larger scales such as O give more detail and presence on a tiny scene. Narrow gauge and industrial prototypes help in any scale because the stock is short and the curves are tight.
Give it a job: a shunting puzzle, cars to deliver to industries, or a terminus with a run-round. Add a fiddle yard or hidden exit so trains come and go, and use cards or a random draw so each session is different.