Layout size for you O guys

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

Not sure if this has been covered before, but I'm wondering what the average layout size it.  What kind of room are you all taking up to do your layout.  I'm looking into putting my layout together and it seems like it is going to take a lot of space!  I'm trying to work out something with three lines.  One line is going to be O27 for my older engins (becuase I have a lot of O27 track that I do not want to waste) and the other lines will be O54.  Thanks for you input!

[phillyreading]

Welcome willy1094,

I have been using an extra bedroom for my layout.  Have lived in two or three bedroom houses and have managed to get an extra bedroom anything from 12ft by 16ft to 9ft by 18ft(backporch one time). 027 will work great for older stuff but if you have some longer cars 027 switches may interfere with them.  One thing that I have done with 027 is to use track clips underneath to make better connection, Lionel brand or Ives(old company now out of business).

Currently I have an 8ft by 11ft half inch plywood with an upper level 6ft by 4ft with one track overhanging supported by 1 inch by 1 inch wood.

Lee F.

[HopperSJ]

I'm on a modular benchwork table in a partially finished attic room (no it's not ideal, but I have it!). The layout is 6 X 8. A bent back dog-bone design covering two layers with 4 sidings (eventually to be 5).

[dwiemer]

Personally, I have two spare bedrooms, one is very large about 18 x 25.  In that room, I am building a layout 12 x 18.  But if you read some of the books and look through some of the magazines, you can really be creative and build quite a layout in a limited space.  They had one guy in Brooklyn, NY who had a floor to ceiling layout that had better than 5 levels of track, mostly along one wall with some reversing loops.  I would suggest looking through these layout books and developing your own ideas.  You will find talent you didn't know you had.

Best of luck,

Dennis

[Anonymous]

Thanks for all the posts!!!  I have two rooms I can choose from.  One is a little larger than the other but both seem pretty small.  I never really thought about making layer I guess.  It will be a while before I get the $ to get a good layout going and I can't wait.  I tell you what though.  So far this site is a wonderland of know how and insight!!!  I thought I knew a little about lionel.  Turns out I'm totally lost :)  At least now I don't feel so tied up having limited space!

Robert

[phillyreading]

Most of the guys in this hobby have some what limited space for a layout.  Some of the layouts shown in CTT magazine are of people who have lots of money, I would rather see some of the smaller layouts.

Lee F.

[49Lionel]

I have a 6x10 table with an outer loop of 42" radius track and an inner "pretzel" of 027.  I can get a continuous run of nearly 2" for one lap, yet also store 22 cars and several locomotives on sidings.  It's bigger on track than it is on scenery, but it's not too cramped.

[pbjwilson]

My layout is about 4 x 12. It's built on either side of a wall in my basement. After years of trying to figure out where I could squeeze in a layout, I finally secured this space. The following photo shows the horeshoe curve, my office to the left and main room in basement to the right.

The train returns to my office through the wall hidden by the tunnel at the end of this run. The track is on the countertop of a wall of cabinets.

.

With accessories and a backdrop and lots of lights it becomes a layout.

If space is a concern, (and when isnt it?), shelf type layouts use less space and ussually give you longer runs. Shelf layouts also are somewhat easier to construct as the benchwork necessary is more smple, often just shelf brackets. Take some time to really think through what you want, and can afford, before you plunge in to construction. Good-luck. Lots of good advice and help on this forum when you need it.

 

[brianel027]

Willy1094, I have always had small layouts and have learned to make the most of small spaces by being very creative: cutting, kitbashing and chopping down accessories, cutting down the footprint size of the 027 turnout, etc. My current layout (last one having water damage during heavy rains back in June) is built entirely on blue styrofoam insultation board with a light pine frame, designed to have add-on sections easily removed and the whole thing is light enough for me to move alone.

Don't be fooled by the train mags or the train companies or what you read on the forums. As Phillyreading said, the vast majority of participants in this hobby are tradtional operators with small to mid-size layouts. Even the train company execs know this. The command control and scale segements of this hobby are a drop in the bucket as compared to all us others. Command control users are still estimated to only 25% of the hobby... not great after more than a decade.

Just work with the space you have and have fun. And even looking at the articles on larger layouts in the train mags can give you ideas for your layout. Check out this website for more ideas:

http://www.thortrains.net

[Kooljock1]

Mine is "L" shaped, 12' long on each leg, and each leg is 5' wide.

I'm using what all my neighbors in our condo complex describe as their "storage" area. It was completely unfinished and unheated when we moved in, but now has wall to wall, track-lighting, and baseboard heat.

Jon

[jefelectric]

I have a two room layout, old layout is 6'-8" X 10'.  Added a shelf layout 12" X 12' went through the wall to the unfinished basement and added a 5' tappering to 4' X 13' layout.  Now have about an 85' run on the main line.

Paul, I see your picture is on page 75 of the December CTT.   BTW, that is a neat idea for a layout.

[pbjwilson]

I have a two room layout, old layout is 6'-8" X 10'.  Added a shelf layout 12" X 12' went through the wall to the unfinished basement and added a 5' tappering to 4' X 13' layout.  Now have about an 85' run on the main line.

Paul, I see your picture is on page 75 of the December CTT.   BTW, that is a neat idea for a layout.

John,

Yes I noticed that. I find it offensive that a fallen comrade would be found to be humorous. I am now consulting my lawyer to see if we have a case against CTT and Arttista.

Thanks for the compliment on the layout.

[csxt30]

I have a two room layout, old layout is 6'-8" X 10'.  Added a shelf layout 12" X 12' went through the wall to the unfinished basement and added a 5' tappering to 4' X 13' layout.  Now have about an 85' run on the main line.

Paul, I see your picture is on page 75 of the December CTT.   BTW, that is a neat idea for a layout.

John,

Yes I noticed that. I find it offensive that a fallen comrade would be found to be humerous. I am now consulting my lawyer to see if we have a case against CTT and Arttista.

Thanks for the compliment on the layout.

Paul : I didn't know that was your layout !! Congratulations & hope that guy that fell off the ladder is ok !! Boy, nice layout you have !!

Thanks, John

[cnw1995]

I'm using a raised rock-filled crawlspace that is about 11 ft by 29 ft. and was otherwise used for storage in my unfinished basement. It's now been sealed for radon gas, so I have 7 4x8 foam boards on top of the seal and indoor-outdoor carpet atop that. All 027 track. Before that I had a simple train set oval on a 3 by 5 ft. table. So you can see space is relative. Unlike what you might read in some of the other gauge modeling magazines, O gauge works well in all sorts of settings.

[pbjwilson]

I have a two room layout, old layout is 6'-8" X 10'.  Added a shelf layout 12" X 12' went through the wall to the unfinished basement and added a 5' tappering to 4' X 13' layout.  Now have about an 85' run on the main line.

Paul, I see your picture is on page 75 of the December CTT.   BTW, that is a neat idea for a layout.

John,

Yes I noticed that. I find it offensive that a fallen comrade would be found to be humerous. I am now consulting my lawyer to see if we have a case against CTT and Arttista.

Thanks for the compliment on the layout.

Paul : I didn't know that was your layout !! Congratulations & hope that guy that fell off the ladder is ok !! Boy, nice layout you have !!

Thanks, John

Hey John,

My layout is a few posts up. I hope you dont think the one in CTT is mine. By the way did you bring a train home from work yesterday?

[csxt30]

Paul : yes, I thought that was your layout on page 75 !! Now I get it !!

Oh, no, didn't bring a train home yesterday, just repaired a couple freight cars is all !! There's a pretty nice coboose at work I wouldn't mind having, though !!

Thanks, John 

[Roger Bielen]

willy, a layout I'm currently working on for someone is in a 12' X 16' spare bedroom.  The benchwork is around the walls, with a diagonal at the door corner with a liftout bridge.  The layout is approx. 2' wide from the wall, maybe 3' at the widest point.  He used Fastrack and has 2 main lines with a couple of sidings.  My previous layout was L-shaped about 9' & 7' on the long sides with 9' being 5' wide and on the base side 4'.  It provided many fun hours until I had the space for my current 15' X 26' layout.

[palallin]

My layout is about 6' x 17', a folded dogbone with its ends stacked almost on top of one another.  Inside the upper loop is a siding, and spur, and the lower loop of another dogbone, this one not folded, of On30 track which rises high above the middle bend of the lower dogbone.  The On30 will have a spur, a mine complex, and a small servicing facility.  A station sits between the O and the On30 on the level they share.

[Birds]

My layout is in a finished basement that has a guest room in it.  The train table is roughly 6' x 12' (four hollow core doors right now).  My layout is about 6 x 9 and runs on Lionel O-31 tubular track.  I have a little room left to expand the layout.

Chris

[Anonymous]

Man!  Now I can't wait to get started.  Thank you all for sharing and for the pointers.  Now I just need to be directed toward a glossary for layout terms :) Like dogback etc.  Man I'm pumped! 

[jefelectric]

Man!  Now I can't wait to get started.  Thank you all for sharing and for the pointers.  Now I just need to be directed toward a glossary for layout terms :) Like dogback etc.  Man I'm pumped! 

Here you go.

http://www.trains.com/trc/glossary/default.aspx?&list=1

[darianj]

My layout is 10x6 with all FasTrack on it. It's 1 main line around the perimeter, a little action and some building on the inside of it, and a small yard with 2 lines on the side. I would like for it to be bigger but for now that what I have.

[Joe Hohmann]

My small layout is only 5x8, with 2 loops of FasTrack (O36 and O48) with a siding. I run semi-scale for the most part. I installed TMCC a few weeks ago for one main reason...so I could always see my 100+ hand-painted figures inside of the passenger cars under constant and optimal lighting conditions. Since I'm very into "scenics", even this small layout still has me busy after 2 years.

For the "bigger stuff", I joined a modular group last summer...the Delaware Valley Hi-Railers. Joe

[fifedog]

Hey Will, don't forget you can throw some O-42 curves in there, and they will look right at home on a 4 x 8.  My current layout is 9 x 6 L-shaped, and the cookie-cutter bench work is 4 feet wide. I also encorporate some O-72 curvature to stretch the run.

[Dave Farquhar]

I read somewhere that MTH did market research and found the majority of O gauge layouts are 8x8 or smaller. It's not the impression you get from the magazines or even the forums, but apparently a lot of people have quietly built small layouts in whatever space they have available.

My first layout was a 4x5, roughly. I built it literally out of scraps I had in the basement. I'm building an 8x8 now. It's mostly O42 and O34 curves, with a few O54s sprinkled in.

[Anonymous]

6x10 layout with 31" and 42" loops with a few stub sidings.

http://home.comcast.net/~graz6/wsb/html/view.cgi-home.html-.html

Mike

[Pennvalley]

8 X 14 - flatlander using five 2 x 8 modules so far. Two main loops 42 & 54 with a two track yard. Will have a trolley/rdc inner loop later on.

[thor]

This has been a year long battle for us, I've tried the floor, the most area but takes too long to set up and take down so we only get about an hour of action unless the house is empty for a day.

I've been over the whole house from top to bottom to try and locate an area that wouldnt inconvenience anyone and yet would allow for a fixed setup.  I thought of making our queen size bed revolve horizontally and putting it on the underside, I floated the idea of a shelving run around the living room but the trouble is its a small overcrowded house and every spare inch is filled with someones stuff or doorways, which its riddled with and those doors are always in action so the shelving idea wouldnt fly.

I tried an 8x4 sheet kept flat up against a wall but its pretty heavy and awkward to manouver, I tried a combination of card tables and the kitchen or living room table but those folding tables can't stand much weight and are too flimsy anyway.

Finally, I located a potential site, an alcove that was a fireplace, I'm going to fit shelves in it for storing Asherahs toys and put two hollow core doors 30" x 80" hinged to work in two planes so that they open and close like normal doors and also can be locked together and swing down to make a 60" x 80" baseboard plus the 21" x 54" shelf they'll be attached to.  We can only do this with the track attached, no scenery or transformers but its still a huge improvement.

I think the other secret is to think in 3D, to make storable units that allow for inclines and an upper level too, which can quickly be placed onto the baseboard.

However even this solution isn't the greatest because it takes up the middle of the living room so we can't leave it down for longer than a play session but beggars can't be choosers! 

[DCmontana]

Just in the nick of time!  In another 3 and a half weeks I will be taking my 5 X 12 layout to school for the train's Christmas visit.  The grade school kids love it and have great time watching the trains run.  The high school kids pretend to not be interested, but they drift in and out when they can.  Several of them stay after school the days it is here and ask a lot of questions.  Now, I am moving into a new house soon and I don't want to take it down and move it to the new house, put it back together at the new house, take it down and move it to school and back again.  Looks like I will just have to take it down in the old house, move it to school, and back to the new house.  And I am going to have a room in the basement all to myself "AND" twice the space for the train.

"Don't do it Dick, it will cost too much!"

"Expand, expand!  New yards!  A river!  Bridges!"

"It will cost too much!  You can't!"

Sound of a conscience being silenced.  And then, "Honey, I have to go to the lumberyard, I need a couple of sheets of plywood and homasote, by!"  Sound of the pickup leaving the drive way.  Oh, he knew is wife wasn't at home when he called to her!  "Heh, Heh, Heh!"

 

[anjdevil2]

After being on the "outside" for many years, I am making a return to the hobby. (Gee, Dad, why can't I have those 027's???)

I've started with a 4X8X1/2  plywood with 4X8 foam isulation, covered with LifeLike grass layed out on an inexpensive pool table.  I tried to make it portable enough to lift off, so that the kids could play pool.

Having said that, the layout was banished to the garage for Halloween, and consiquently has been on top of my racecar since.  For Christmas, we are building another 4X8 set up with the foam out (as snow) and setting up the tree with my wife's buildings.

After Christmas, I'm making room in the garage and making an "L" shaped layout, with storage underneath and still have room for the racer.  I may make the long part of the "L" removable, so that the entry & exit will be easier.