Blank canvas (almost)

[Gorwanvfr]

Hi to all, 

 Bit of background. 
New to the railway hobby but not new to scale modelling. My father had a layout (8’x4’) when I was younger, but being the youngest of three sons. It was wrecked by the time I was old enough to appreciate it. The good news is I managed to save some of the locos and rolling stock. I’m sure they are not worth much but there is sentimental value  

Have a brand new timber cabin measuring 8m x 4m )internal dimensions) completely empty to build my layout. 

The issue is I don’t know where to start. I have been watching Everard Junction on YouTube and would love to build something similar.  From what I can make out it has four main lines and a branch line. Does anyone know what is the exact layout?

I would love some guidance and help if anyone has the time. I don’t want to start purchasing track etc without having a plan in place.  I understand and fully appreciate that a layout will transform and grow over time but I want to have a good foundation to start. 
cheers 

Steve 

[Mol_PMB]

Welcome!

That's a massive space for a model railway, and it will be a big project. It sounds like this will be the first model railway you have built, so you're on a learning curve. 

Despite the huge space available I'd suggest starting with something small so you can learn the techniques, and discover which aspects you enjoy the most (e.g. scenery / rolling stock / operations / electronics) as this will influence your priorities for the future big layout. It will also mean that the inevitable mistakes made whilst learning will be on a small scale, and you can avoid those issues with the later big scheme.

Building a large and complex layout can be daunting for an individual - I speak from experience here.

[Tractionman]

4 hours ago, Gorwanvfr said:

I don’t know where to start

you've come to the right place yes that is a great space to have.

as to answer the q, where to start depends really on your railway interests, eg location, period, operations, etc, and develop a plan around that--eg do you want to watch trains going past, a relaxing thing to do, then you'll need a roundy-roundy type set up, if you enjoy shunting and moving wagons around then a yard needs to go in too etc etc.

plus there's the budget, and time, how much have you got for each? They are the two biggest limits to model railway plans in my experience! 

good luck with the build!

cheers,

Keith

[leslie10646]

Heavens, that's nearly as big as my loft!

Who built you the cabin? I may have to relocate Portadown Jct!!!

Good luck. By the way, the "start small" is a good idea, but I just got stuck into the 21ft x 17ft straight away, built a double track main line leaving points for later bits and gradually built it up. The advantage was that I could run trains sooner.

The bit about what holds your interest is also a point to bear in mind. If you're into scenery, then start small. I admire other peoples' scenery but just want to run trains.

[jhb171achill]

Where are you based?

If I had that, I'd have a model of the whole Achill branch!

[Patrick Davey]

What a space!!

I'd be tempted to have three different layouts in there!!!

[Colonel]

 As others have said, that is a huge space and filling it with model railway will likely come at huge cost - in both time and money.

 Whatever you do, consider essentials like work bench space and likewise storage for materials and tools. Sounds like you are interested in a multi track circuit, with a junction to a terminus station? If so, will be an Irish theme, or will it be a generic one, to run trains of all kinds?

 If the former, a space like that gives to opportunity for an American style point to point layout, often built to include a hidden continuous run. Check out Model Railroaded Magazine for ideas. The key to this sort of layout is you operate each train as it travels around the various scenes, dropping off and picking up freight from various line side industries and stations on the way. Very prototypical. Like JHB says, you could model much of the Achill branch, or indeed Clifden, Valentia or indeed Derry or Burma roads to name but a few.

 Very specific though and not easy to get the right stock for either.

 Whatever you do, near in mind that filling a space like this will take years - five or more as a minimum, so think of it as a journey, not a destination and enjoy every step of it.

[Mol_PMB]

There are a lot of practical considerations too.

 

I don't see any electrical fit-out in your image, but you will need plenty of power sockets and good lighting, but preferably not direct sunlight. Effective layout lighting may not be the same as normal room lighting, also consider will you be working in your own shadow.

How will the temperature and humidity in the building be controlled? 

If you include space for a workbench and power tools, they may have additional utility needs, for example a fume extractor for a paint booth, soldering station etc.

Do you want to be able to walk into and around the space without ducking under anything? That may depend on your age and flexibility now, and also what it might be like in 20 years time. 

[Tractionman]

11 minutes ago, Mol_PMB said:

temperature and humidity

that's a very good point, too cold in winter and too hot in summer, real considerations for lofts, sheds, garages, outbuildings etc where we usually end up being with our layouts!

[Northroader]

I would be inclined to build something simple to start with rather than trying to fill the shed with a large layout from the start. Either a simple terminus to fiddle yard, say 8’ x 1’, or a 6’ x 4’ oval with a few sidings in 00 scale to build up your experience and explore what’s possible.

Ones you could aspire to in time, say, Ballyconnell Road or Kilbrandon Junction as good examples?
 

https://3mmsociety.org.uk/ballyconnell-road/

Edited May 5 by Northroader

[Mayner]

Sheds, garages, outbuildings are pretty much the norm for railway rooms in this part of the world, pretty ok once you have reasonable insulation, dehumidifer and heating on thermostate, solar panels ans storage heaters?

Probabably best to build something simple to start with or even a temporary oval around the cabin to get something running. 

I set up a temporary N gauge oval/folded under the purlins in our 17'X8' loft to 'get something running' when I returned to Ireland during the late 90s, before setting up a layout on proper baseboards, at the time I was modelling American N and was experimenting with maximum workable train langths before starting a layout.

I am from the keep it simple school of thought a large oval of Large Scale track with 3-4 yards loops around our garden for the past 17 years, operate every couple of weeks, before that relatively frequent moves of home location.

O Gauge/scale might be worth considering as an option with your available space, back in the 70s David Jenkinson a prominent British modeller started work on a large 4mm (EM gauge) layout "Little Long Drag" almost an American sytle walk around layout based on British main line practice with several stations (Settle-Carlisle mountainous northern section of Midland line to Scotland) https://www.rmweb.co.uk/topic/139701-railway-modeller-1973-little-long-drag/

Interestingly David abandoned the project after completing tracklaying and getting the layout to an operating state and turned his focus to modelling a simpler O gauge layout a fictious double track branch line in the same space.

One advantage in starting out in OO, O gauge or American outline HO is the sheer amount of reasonably priced high quality rtr models currently available compared with 10-20 years ago, while the amount of Irish outline models produced is limited compared with British or American outline a high proportions of locos and stock that operated during the late 70s-late 90s was produced in rtr form by MM or IRM/Accurascale during the past 20 or so years 

[Gorwanvfr]

Huge thanks to all for the invaluable advice and guidance. Lots to think about. 

[dropshort105]

Oh my God, the possibilities with that space are endless, decide on an era and a country, once that is established let your imagine go mental, then bring it back a smidge to something realistic, but most important, keep us updated, we are nosey buggers.

Edited May 7 by dropshort105

[Gorwanvfr]

Back again, next question any recommendations for lighting.  Have four cables having from the ceiling.  I’m thinking about led panels maybe 1200 x 600. Would love to know what other people went with.  I’m sure more lights will get added over time. 
thanks 

[Mol_PMB]

I don't have your scenario, but just a couple of pointers:

Think about the colour balance of the lighting. This can make a massive difference to how things look. You probably want something close to 'daylight' (noting that daylight can vary depending on season, time of day etc.) With LEDs, something between 'warm' and 'cool', and ideally with a broad spectrum.

Think about the positioning of the lighting. When standing back and operating/viewing the layout, you probably want the lighting above you so that the near side of the trains is well-lit. But if you put the lights above the operating position, then when you're working on the layout (e.g. laying track) you will be working in your own shadow. Conflicting requirements to some extent, there's no easy answer but it's worth thinking about. 

Decide whether you want the lighting to be dimmable (e.g. to represent operation at dawn or dusk) as this may not be easy to retro-fit afterwards. Cheaper lighting options are often non-dimmable.

[Tractionman]

On 4/5/2026 at 9:10 AM, Gorwanvfr said:

I don’t want to start purchasing track etc without having a plan in place.

Have you particular railway modelling interests, eg period, place, company, operations? I fear I'm at the opposite end, buying too much stuff with wide and varied prototype interests and not enough focus on layout building!

[Paul-B145]

I'm in a similar situation with a brand new layout to build and 8m x 2.5m to work with.

I was thinking of uplighters to reduce shadows but so far have only seen lights in B&Q that are not really what I'm after.

Could anyone recommend maybe something industrial(?) that would provide a suitable lighting level without costing the earth?

[dropshort105]

Are you going to have lighting on the layout, street lights, yard lights building interior lights etc, if you are, you don't want the room lighting too bright, something warm white, maybe with a dimmer

[Paul-B145]

I will have layout street lighting and will definitely go with the dimmer option probably in combination with something more functional as well.

[Colonel]

I think you need to plan for lighting on three levels:

1. General, for the whole space, so that you can see what you are doing during construction, but also dimmable for later.
2. Layout - much more specific, with LED strip being ideal. For example, if you are including back scenes, you don't want to see shadows of buildings on the sky or distant hills. An ideal set up is usually an overhead strip on the centre line of the baseboards, plus another one inside a pelmet (set a couple of cm in front of the layout outer edge) to cut shadows on the layout foreground. A pellet works like a picture frame and blocks out any unwanted sights that can spoil the scene you have created. This needs thinking about during layout construction, but not really needed until a section is finished as it could get in the way of track laying, scenery etc.
3. Workbench/maintenance area, where bright lighting is always important. However, note that if/when you are painting stuff, this should always be done under the same lighting conditions as on the layout itself, otherwise you may well find that colours suddenly look different.