Heart of Georgia an American Concept from the 4' x 8'

Modelers have for ever been making the 4 x 8 layout and will for ever remain as the go to for young modelers and beginners.

Some years ago I come across the Heart of Georgia (HOG) layout concept from Layout Planer Scott Perry. You can read up on the concept on his blog here http://hogrr.blogspot.com/

The was to create a better beginner layout from a 4' x 8' by cutting it up and going around the walls instead. Concept is by no means the for ever dream layout we all hope for but a better introduction to model railways that allows some form of operations to occur with a little more planing and fraction more bench work building.

The layout is derived from a sheet of 4 x 8 ply broken down into modules. Modules would need to be timber box frame from dressed pine or rip cut another sheet of ply for the boxes.

I decided this concept may work for a TGR branch line themed layout in OO scale but added a fiddle yard to simulate the main line.

 

The resulting layout is 2400 x 2900 (when including the 200mm W fiddle yard) that could be set up in a single car garage or spare room.

The operation concept is fairly simple in that trains enter the layout from the fiddle yard running past a small branch line passenger shed. The cross over here allows continuous running and could be ignored during an operating session.
Continuing on over a river crossing past a water stop into the main location of the layout. A reasonable sized passenger station provides layout impact at this location while the goods shed,  cattle race and fruit packing shed offer operational elements.

Departing this location we enter the final location on the branch. There long run around could be considered as part of this yard or ruled out as it is used for trains entering the branch. There is limited operations at this location with a standard goods shed and a timber loading siding.

The loading siding could be a pulp wood, cut lumber from a saw mill or raw log loading. Another alternative could be a clay loading siding similar to Tonganah or a fuel depot.

I think the baseboards and concept of this layout has endless possibilities for TGR style layouts and could be multiplied with an extra sheet of ply and making one of the locations a 'Y'