New to model railroading - looking for input

Hiya. A friend with a 70'x20' G scale layout in his yard has gotten me interested in trains. My wife has made noises about "allowing" a layout in the house, so I'm going to start modestly with a Z-scale "Christmas" layout to accommodate her.


I've always been an artist and modeler (mostly airplanes & spaceships) so I'm pretty comfortable with an exacto knife, a sheet of styrene and a paintbrush.


Theme:
Idyllic Winter town
I'm not looking for a silly set with Santa pictures splashed across the rolling stock, but I do intend for it to be picturesque and idyllic, not industrial. It will be accessorized with pretty little houses such as this "painted lady" from Cape May New Jersey:

I will be looking for places where I can buy these at-scale. I can build them, or kit-bash, or paint, but I don;t want to have to build them ALL. That would take me forever.

Era:
I think steam locomotive is the most idyllic. Early 20th century accesssories would be kinda cool but not essential. I'm not sure if late 20th century is significantly easier or if 19th century is significantly harder. Input welcome.


Benchwork:
The area currently allotted is 4 about feet wide, on top of a water radiator cover (I'll make sure I address any heating issues). Its depth is limited but I'll ensure I have enough room for a turning radius (which is something shy of two feet, right?)

So let's say 4'x2'.

Layout:
I'd like more than the basic oval or basic figure 8. I don't really need a lot of turnouts though, since it will just run unattended. Likely there will be only one train running. In facxt, I will need only one engine.

I'm thinking maybe a double oval or interesting figure 8. I'd like a bit of variety in the height. So low mountain and tunnel would be cool but I'm open to ideas. A ravine with high trestle bridge might be cool too.



There are some stores around Toronto that handle Z-scale, and I will definitely be making use of them, but only in track and rolling stock - they have very little in the way of buildings and other accesories.

Questions:
What is the minimum turning radius I should design for?
Can you direct me to some good sites with layouts I can get inspired by?
Can you direct me to some good places (probably online) that have a good selection of buildings, as in my example?

Thanks for any help and advice you can provide!!

Dave,

Send me the first picture you had on your posting......possibilities.
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Loren

Do you mean this:

Yes that.
If you send that directly to me it may be larger?

Never mind, I pasted it and filed it and it is large enough. Very cute house.

I found it by Googling 'Cape May NJ painted lady'.

Here is a larger pic:
www.virtualdollhouse.net/images/VD%20The%20Store/NE%20Lumber/144%20houses/NE1013-DH7%20Cape%20May%203295.jpg

stonysmith wrote:

Dave, For that size layout, if you have plenty of height, I'd consider an overlappped double-dogleg.

And what would that look like?

Always a good site to look for inspiration: www.carendt.com/microplans/index.html