Combining 7 and 8 wide

[*thomas*]

Hi all

I hope that 2023 will be the year I can FINALLY start building a layout. The last couple of years, I've been building mostly 6-wide, but this scale is starting to annoy me. Nothing against 6-wide, I respect the LEGO heritage, but it's just not realastic. So, I decided to switch to an 8-wide based layout.

I do have some models (and trials) in 7-wide, one of them buying the Swiss Crocodile and was wondering how good it mixes with 8 wides sets. Does it look 'odd' or does it take a 'trained' eyed to spot it. 

Thanks for the insight. 

Cheers

T.

[Frank STENGEL]

My layout has both 7 and 8 wide trains. Most of my current freight rolling stock is made out of 2 axle 7 wide wagons. Basically, the 7 wide locomotives are smaller units (a br64 for instance) and do not look too much out of place with the larger 8 wide ones.

[Duq]

It probably depends on the train. A crocodile with mixed freight will look fine if you're mixing 7 and 8 wide, while an electric loco with passenger cars will look odd if one is wider than the other.

And at the end of the day, the only thing that really matters is whether it bothers you ;-)

[zephyr1934]

Well, 6 wide is unrealistic at minifig scale, but it is not in itself unrealistic. That said, if you are careful and deliberate you can step from 8 wide to 7 to 6 in one train. I frequently do 8 wide steamer, 7 wide tender, 6 wide cars. Tank cars and flat cars are probably the easiest cars to hide the transition because there is so little of them at the full width. Height is one thing to think about, if you make your 8 wide a hair short and 7 wide a hair tall, then a freight train of mixed 7 & 8 wide should blend in nicely. Obviously, a passenger train is the biggest challenge, with the full width, flat sided cars designed to look alike its going to be impossible to hide.

 

1 hour ago, Duq said:

And at the end of the day, the only thing that really matters is whether it bothers you ;-)

Exactly that, if you like it then it works

[XG BC]

you can build realistic in 6 wide but it isnt going to be realistic in terms of scale (8-wide isnt either but a compromise). as for mixing the different styles it works if the train itself is quite "rough" (like a cargo train is).

[Barduck]

My trains are 8 wide, coaches 7. Why? Simply because of weight, 7 wides are slightly lighter than 8's which is beneficial in the end, less weight means longer lasting batteries in the end

[XG BC]

makes sense even for 9v where there are no batteries but you could run longer trains.

[Selander]

I too build 8-wide locomotives, but 7-wide rolling stock. As mentioned before, the choice is because of weight, but also because I found some design advantages for using the odd number of bricks for wagons. I have participated in some exhibitions over the years and visitors practically never says anything about the wider locomotives, so I suspect that means the 7-8 wide combo works. 

I should mention my locos are typically exactly 8-wide, without protruding handrails or so! But for rolling stock I often have handrails or protruding details etc....so this makes the width more "equal" when looking at a 8-wide loco with attached 7-wide wagons....