layout hight???

[Anonymous]

I spent all day working on the table top of my layout, but I need to figure out a good hight. I'm 6'3" tall, I was thinking bout 3feet, my little portable
workbench for the shop is 3 feet, and it felt like a good hight.
Any sugestions?

[fwright]

Height is usually a matter of personal preference. Some of the factors to consider when making your decision:

How deep is your table; that is how far do you have to reach? If you have to reach more than 24-30 inches a lower hieght is generally required.

Are there children using or watching the trains? If so, it shouldn't be higher than armpit height of the shortest child to use or operate the layout. Higher will discourage them from using it. The layout can be raised later as the child grows.

Scale eye level puts track hieght - highest track - 1.5 inches bleow eye level. But at that height, you cannot see past cars on the 1st track, or over any buildings in front of the track.

Anything above armpit level is very difficult to work on, no matter how shallow the layout. You really need to stand on a bench to work on the layout.

If you are doing switching operations on tracks 3 or 4 back, your eye must be a couple of inches above rolling stock on the front track to see what is going on.

A central control panel allows a sitting view as well as a standing view. You can generally adjust sitting height within a reasonable range by adjusting stool height.

Best suggestion is take your best guess at what you want based on the above factors, then try a full-size mockup. You only need to use one table if your plan uses several tables. Use cardboard boxes for buildings, cut to approximate size. Temporarily put some track on the table with some cars in critical positions and see what you think. Raise or lower the layout and run the trial again.

Then use what you like best.

[Anonymous]

As a general rule, 42" is considered to be something of a "standard" height for layouts, although that is by no means anything more than a guideline. Depends on what is most comfortable for the layout's owner; the width of the layout; whether access from the bottom is needed; and a variety of other factors.

Personally, I like layouts to be as high as possible, consistent with ease of access either from above or below. I just think trains--the entire layout, for that matter--tend to look better when viewed at somewhere close to eye level (in a manner similar to how we view most prototype railroad operations).

[spankybird]

One thing to consider is how much room do YOU need to work under it for the wireing.

[FJ and G]

Tom mentions the wiring which is a big concern with me, as well as placing things like under table tortoise switch or other contraptions.

Eye level is ideal b/c that's the way you view trains. However, unless you build a moving platform, you'd be standing all the time; and besides, others' eye levels are not your level

So, who besides you will visit the layout is a major concern. When I was a kid, I used to visit an HO club in my town and the layout was too high for me to see unless I jumped up and that really annoyed the old geezers, who didn't want any kids visiting their serious club anyways

The most ideal layout would be one that is adjustable, such as a ceiling dropdown connected by cables.

Given that most don't design, that, I'd suggest a layout about 45 inches tall that you can work under (but higher if bad back or getting older). The bennie of this height is that the trains will appear at eye level when seated and you also can reach across the layout when standing.

[cnw1995]

It is interesting to me how this works itself out a bit. My first layout was low - a standard table height - as I used a pair of folding table legs. My back was usually aching by bending over it most of the time though it was a great boon for my youngest children who could easily see - I ran 'astroturf' all along the perimeter as they couldn't help grabbing the layout edge with their hands. I use that layout as a table now ;) and my current layout height is kind of constrained by the raised crawlspace I use for it...
It is approximately chest height which allows me to reach in, lean against the layout's 'edge' or wall (something I wouldn't dream of doing if visiting your layout ;) ) and I can climb on it using a standard step-stool. I have backed a big long sofa against the wall so our youngest can easily stand there too -it's chest high for him too.
David, when I was young and visiting the O gauge layout in the basement of a church in our town's downtown - still there by the way - in Stamford, Connecticut - I bought my own step-stool. The layout was open to the public once a year during the holidays. The members were very impressed - but candidly still didn't want me around. I understand now - it was more of a grown-up retreat-from-life club and they were pretty serious about their free-lance prototype.

[ChiefEagles]

My last big layout was low and this one will be low [due to some restraints in go through a wall and two levels]. Got carpet under my layout. So getting on the floor once in a while to do wiring is not problem [once wired, not a lot to do after that except for some minor changes and/or additions]. Just want my wife's plastic bins to slide under it. I will then sit and run trains. Being able to reach all over your layout is on factor to remember. Build it your way.

[laz 57]

My layout is at 34 inches.
If I had to do it again I would put it at about 26 inches because getting up on the table as we get older seems to get tougher.
I helped my brother with his and he put his at 24 inches and works great. Easy to get under.
Hope it helps with your decision.
laz57

[ChiefEagles]

Hey LAZlander, hope yours has 4X4's for legs. You are too big to crawl on top. [;)]

[jkerklo]

I have a portable layout that I take to train shows. It is about 30" high. It is mostly flat, with panels about 40" deep, arranged in an open square with an opening in the center.

When making the basic layout decisions, I looked at "modular" layouts and a couple of individual layouts that came to the train shows. The modular layouts were mostly high so they could be viewed straight on by an adult. Visitors walked around the layout, marveling at the scenery, but the trains seemed almost incidental. The individual layouts were low so the entire track plan could be viewed by looking "down" on it. Vistors stood and watched the trains for a while, occasionally bending over to get a close look at the scenery.

To me, O-gauge trains are for the action of trains moving around the layout, with building and scenery as incidental. HO trains are an excuse to build scale scenery.

So, I built my layout low so the whole layout could be viewed at once.

John Kerklo
TCA 94-38455
www.Three-Rail.com

[lionelsoni]

Mine is at 45 inches, which is a little higher than I would like. But it allows me to put a lot of furniture underneath: the back halves of a desk and a workbench, a pile of storage cabinets with the little plastic drawers, three chests of drawers, three bookcases, and two sets of Elfa wire baskets, and some open space for big stuff. The desk is 30 inches high, the bench 27, enough to clear a computer monitor and an oscilloscope.

[laz 57]

CHIEF at least MINE is off the floor.
laz57

[FJ and G]

Doug,

Good story. You put it in a good light about adults wanting a retreat (possibly also from nagging wives who don't understand their purchases as well as kids who wi***o touch everything). Perhaps I have a better understanding now of those days back in the late 1960s.

The club, btw, is long gone, as well as I suspect, some of the older members of that club.

[wchrisyoung]

My Layout is 29" because I have two boys under the age of 6. I have enough room to get under it for wiring and my boys can see the trains.

Chris Young

[ChiefEagles]

See, there is no "TRUE" answer. It is what suits you and your area you have to work with. All of the above are great answers.

[Anonymous]

just a couple of words that i have found thru past experience that goes way back. i solicit and take in all available advice,study it for awhile,then do it. So I say do it then if you don't like it tear it all down and do it again. dr dan

[daan]

My layout is 74cm of height, so about 30 inches high. It's easy to get under and I don't need to get up the layout. However my height is directed by the ceiling of my attic chambre. If builded higher I have less space due to the roof being above it.
If you build a layout, try to make shure you can reach every part of it without climbing on top of it. Make hatches or removable lakes where you can pop up to reach out for derailed trains or make scenery. When you made a nice scenic layout you really don't want to crawl across it yourself to reach a derailed train or a not working switch!
To get under it is also important, but you could use one of those rolling supports they use to get under cars for repairs. Eye sight can be adjusted by yourself, just sit down to make the layout eyeheight, and standup for a birds view. I also enjoy the birds view, because it's nice to see the train drive through the landscape..

[trigtrax]

Okay here comes Mr. Dreary again... There are standard heights of things based on tradition at first and later on what's comfortable for 95% of all humans.. Tables are 29 " chairs 19", counters (kitchen) are 36.. Somebody already mentioned 42" (the height of my table saw). Since you're 6' 3" your on the upper side of the old bell curve. You will probably be most comfortable with a 42" or slightly higher layout. Another consideration is your veiwing angle of the final product and whether you have small children or curious household pets bent on trampling through Plasticville.

[Anonymous]

my last two layouts were about 32-33". Nice cause you get three legs out of a 2X4 instead of just two;) They are easy to climb on and easy to crawl under. As a few have said its good for the kids as well. If you don't want kids to touch it, make it higher. I will say the a four foot wide table is tough to reach across even at 33" so my next one won't be so wide if its a wall type layout.

Dennis