Benchwork For Model Trains - Defining Your Space and Shape

Before beginning any actual construction of the benchwork for model trains, there are two important considerations - Space and Shape.

Space simply defines the size of the available area you have or in other words, your physical boundaries. Space also includes your practical limits. Practical limits are, in my case, how much room my wife will allow me to use for my model railroad. While I say that mostly as a joke, consideration of other family members and their need for their own space is important in this area.

Once you come to an agreement about how much space you have, you can move on the model railroad shape you want.

Shape  is quite simply, the shape of the layout you will put in the space available. On a personal note, I prefer layouts that are not square, and do not have perfectly straight lines. Why? Real railroads hardly ever involve squares, real terrain does not lay in neat squares, mountain ranges do not lay in straight lines, rivers do not run in straight lines, very few things in nature lie in neat squares or involve straight lines.

Why then are so many layout plans based on squares?

• We just seem to be right angle and straight line thinkers
• Square layouts work better for square pages in layout design books
• Lumber comes in straight lines, squares, and rectangles in the case of plywood.
• Square is an old outdated pattern from years past when handy power tools such as inexpensive saber saws were in less abundance. It's much easier now to create irregular benchwork edges.

What I feel is best is, draw straight lines to temporarily outline the area you have available, but in your planning stages be open to bend the lines inward here or outward there, leaving it mostly the same overall.

This approach allows more freedom in planning and some of the benefits include:

• Able to make layout wider at curves, loops and turn backs and roundtables if you use them
• Can make bench work narrower where isle space is desired, especially where visitors gather.
• Makes railroad seem longer as long graceful curves give the appearance of greater distance.
• Looks more realistic when it does not actually follow the contour of a square.

Planning Stage


Once you have decided on the basic design from the many benchwork designs, I'd suggest you plan your aisleways first. Of course if you are going with a modular design you won't have aisleways, but since we have been talking about linear designs I'm going to assume you want aisles.

It may seem a bit awkward at first, but the first place to start is by planning the aisleways first. The layout of the aisles is integral to the overall design of your model railroad. You will create a much better track plan if you design the aisleways first.

Proper access to areas of the layout for yourself and visitors is essential, both while working on the layout and while later operating it. Once again, understand that aisleway boundaries are negotiable and pliable. Feel free to bend them in little here or stretch them a little there. I like to say the aisleways create the skeleton and the track layout provides the flesh. Any track-related alterations to your aisleway plans should be to provide wide places for turnback curves, return loops, roundtables, and so on.

Designing aisleways is a matter of compromise, wider is nice but not always practical. I like to have aisles at least 30" to avoid a bottleneck when visitors are present. Sometimes space requirements won't allow it, but I always make sure they are wide enough that I can do repairs to any part of the layout from my aisleways.

Try and plan you aisleways shaped like open letters such as C, U, F or E.

Lets look at an example using the basic pattern of a C and having a 12' x 12' room available. Of course this could be modified somewhat to fit about any size room by adding an aisleway or two.

Notice the light grey lines that defined my available space inside the room.

Using an aisleway design based on the letter C I have comfortable sized aisleway that that allows full access both to work on and view the layout.

I have added a hatch in the lower left hand corner in case it would be needed.

On this particular layout I decided to have a double-faced backdrop that allows me have separate scenes based on where visitors are viewing from.

This makes a nice layout that is easy to view and work on, yet breaks that monotonous square patter we are all so used to.

A little time spent in planning aisleways will go a long way toward creating realism in your model train layout. The benchwork for model trains does not have to follow a boring square pattern any longer.

If you would like more information on building Benchwork for Model Trains check out these great reference books:

How to Build Model Railroad Benchwork, Second Edition (Model Railroader)
Basic Model Railroad Benchwork: The Complete Photo Guide (Model Railroader)