Railroad in a small place

[sctrainguy]

I am having some issues, first off I have a bunch of HO scale Trains, my wife and I want to get a small layout going but we dont have a lot of space.  I was thinking about a 4x8 layout but that does not seem to give us room for the scenery.  We live in a small studio and we are trying to design a layout that works for us. 

any suggestions?

[the Bach-man]

Dear SC,
Check out the displays I did in the Photo Gallery- plenty of scenery there, I think...
Have fun!
the Bach-man

[SteamGene]

Properly planned, with the right locos and rolling stock, you can do a lot of scenery in a 4x8. 
Gene

[RAM]

Lets face the facts, you only have a small space so you need to make the most of the space you have.
How about a shelf switching layout.  12 to 18 inches wide.  This can be as long as you room, if you
have room.  You can use flat buildings which will only take up about an inch of space, Than you attach
a 4 by 8 section.  This could be attached with a piano hinge so when not in uses it can be dropped down
so you have the space when not using the layout.  The switching layout could be used even when the
rest of the layout is in the down position

[Hunt]

Download and consider the four simple to build layouts in this link.
http://www.trains.com/mrr/default.aspx?c=a&id=603

[sctrainguy]

Thank you for all of your wonderful tips! is it possable to have an elevated track on a 4x8 layout? or would that not be recomended? my wife also wanted to know if a mountain with a tunel would work on a 4x8 layout? I took some measurements and I can go 8x8 as well but I am kind of leaning away from that idea because of space issues.  since we are moving our living room around, I think I may be able to put in there but that leaves me with the 4x8 or smaller.  I also have a small up stairs space...not sure if it would work or not. 
Back to the mountain and creating hills, are there any tips or tricks any one can share?

[SteamGene]

On a 4x8 you want to cancel ideas of big steam.  I wouldn't run anything larger than a 2-8-2. 
Yes you can do a tunnel and mountain on a 4x8.  The standard way to do that is put it in a corner.  As a general rule, you don't want track more than 3 feet away form an aisle - so an 8x8, without a trap in the middle, is not a good idea, though a 5 or 6 x 8 would work fine and allow you to run slightly larger steam and larger cars as well. 
Gene

[Hunt]

Thank you for all of your wonderful tips! is it possable to have an elevated track on a 4x8 layout? or would that not be recomended? my wife also wanted to know if a mountain with a tunel would work on a 4x8 layout?

The Bach-man suggested the Photo Gallery to you.

Let's go there by clicking http://www.bachmanntrains.com/home-usa/gallery/album13?&page=1 to see step by step building of a layout with mountain tunnel using an available layout kit. Click on any picture to enlarge it. The On30 layout was built by the Bach-man. While the scale is O narrow gauge, the track used is HO gauge.

[kevin2083]

Yes you can do a tunnel and mountain on a 4x8.  The standard way to do that is put it in a corner.

Also, If youre going to put in a tunnel, make sure that you have a way of getting trains out if they get stuck.

[Guilford Guy]

If you start out at the staging(long siding at bottom of layout below backdrop dividing line) track and head out with your train swapping cars at each industry, which includes a shove move to swap out the tankers at the juice plant(other siding above below backdrop), then returning back the way it came and heading into staging while all the time dodging a passenger train which loops often stopping at the stagion(usually stays on the other half of the layout of the freights crew unless a meet is set up). 
Contact me for all the info if you feel like going this road...