Model railroad layout

In model railroading, a layout is a diorama containing scale track for operating trains. The size of a layout varies, from small shelf-top designs to ones that fill entire rooms, basements, or whole buildings.

Attention to modeling details such as structures and scenery is common. Simple layouts are generally situated on a table, although other methods are used, including doors. More permanent construction methods involve attaching benchwork framing to the walls of the room or building in which the layout is situated.

Track layout

An important aspect of any model railway is the layout of the track itself. Apart from the stations, there are four basic ways of arranging the track, and innumerable variations:

Rail transport modelling

Railway modelling (UK, Australia and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale.

The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, tracks, signalling and landscapes including: countryside, roads, buildings, vehicles, model figures, lights, and features such as rivers, hills, and canyons.

The earliest model railways were the 'carpet railways' in the 1840s. Electric trains appeared around the start of the 20th century, but these were crude likenesses. Model trains today are more realistic. Today modelers create model railroad layouts, often recreating real locations and periods throughout history.

General description

Involvement ranges from possession of a train set to spending hours and large sums of money on a large and exacting model of a railroad and the scenery through which it passes, called a "layout". Hobbyists, called "railway modellers" or "model railroaders", may maintain models large enough to ride (see Live steam, Ridable miniature railway and Backyard railroad).