I would suggest building a moderate sized shelf layout (18"x72" or 96") in an existing location to validate your interest and help determine if it would be worth the investment ($ and time) in upgrading the 2nd floor workshop space. Of all the candidate spaces you have available, the 2nd floor space would definitely provide the most valuable and liveable space, albeit at the cost of $$$ to prepare it for layout construction/operation.
Modeling an HO gauge freelance version of the Union Pacific Oregon Short Line and the Utah Railway around 1957 in a world where Pirates from the Great Salt Lake founded Ogden, UT.
- Photo album of layout construction -
MJPinSEWII know it's not in the house but I still want it to look good. The price I threw out there was based on some work he did for me last year. I had him fix the walls in the kitchen, living room, and bathroom of a rental property that I was getting ready to sell. That included finishing some new drywall as well as some of the old plaster walls and spraying texture in all 3 rooms and it cost me $600 materials included so I think that since this is a smaller space & no texture it would most likely be cheaper
If you can get a "cheap" price to do the drywall installed and primed, sure, why not. Our basement cost would have been much higher and we were already coping with other home expenses and in order to keep progress, we needed to cut costs to recover financially. Yours ought to be less than half that so maybe not so bad.
Doug (onewolf) has a good point, you have a lot of expense riding on a train layout. If this is something new to you, it may be valid to be sure this is worth it.
Coming here for advise, most of the people in this forum are train nuts and it's kind of a no brainer to want to have a good sized layout space if it is obtainable. So we are biased.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Onewolf I would suggest building a moderate sized shelf layout (18"x72" or 96") in an existing location to validate your interest and help determine if it would be worth the investment ($ and time) in upgrading the 2nd floor workshop space. Of all the candidate spaces you have available, the 2nd floor space would definitely provide the most valuable and liveable space, albeit at the cost of $$$ to prepare it for layout construction/operation.
Very good point. I have actually had that in the back of my mind as well. I'm not exactly new to the hobby, but it's been a number of years. A lot of things have stayed the same while others have changed such as the development of DCC. I have both some HO & N scale equipment, no much of either but I'm going to pull it out this weekend and take a bit of inventory. I am going to re-visit N-scale as well. Earlier in this thread I said I wasn't interested in it but after thinking about it I think the last time I did anything with it was before I started wearing glasses. That may be a game changer as far as choosing scale. Another thing is even if I eventually decide to renovate the attic space it may be a few years before it's ready. Partly due to budgeting and the other reason is I don't do much inside during the summer. As soon as it's starting to get nice in April I will be getting the yard and pool ready for summer, then I spend a good amount of time in the summer attempting to make a little money on the side repairing small engines and in fall comes hunting season and before you know it Christmas is here. So for the most part it's January-March and part of April that I would get to spend working on this. Last year my step-daughter muved to Tampa so now we take time to try to get there over the winter and this coming fall my stepson is getting married so I'm sure there will be time & money going to plan his funeral plus I'm sure there will be grandchildren on the horizon. Now, having said all that I do see a light at the end of the tunnel called retirement. I'm hoping in about 12 or 13 years I can accomplish that goal and then I'm sure time constraints will change. So many things to think about. Having said all of that, there is still things I need to do to that building no matter what I do upstairs. Electricity being first, my entire shop runs off of one 15 amp breaker in the basement so that will need to be upgraded. The sub panel in the shop has 6 empty spaces so I will have to decide if that is enough to do everything I want to do. I have a feeling it won't be as I want to add 1 circuit upstairs for lighting, not sure how many a layout of that size would require, (input for this would be appreciated) dedicated circuit for a furnace, plus I want to add a 220 outlet in the shop for a new welder. I am also siding the building because I am sick of painting every few years. I already have the siding so as soon as it gets nice out I'll be working on that but there is going to be a bit of pre-planning for a possible layout by replacint the windows on the secone floor. Right now they are just aluminum storm windows which has always been fine because it's only ever been cold storage.
What size is the main panel in the house?
Mike.
My You Tube
How about placing the layout right in the corner of the living room because you have no room to put it anywhere else, given a thousand square foot condo.
Either I have the greatest wife in the world that allows me to do it. Or I'm an idiot with all my priorities screwed up. Or both
TF
PS Judy watches TV. I don't. At least we are still in the same room together in the evening. Can you see the irony here?
mbinsewi What size is the main panel in the house? Mike.
main panel is 200 amps
Track fiddler How about placing the layout right in the corner of the living room because you have no room to put it anywhere else, given a thousand square foot condo. Either I have the greatest wife in the world that allows me to do it. Or I'm an idiot with all my priorities screwed up. Or both TF PS Judy watches TV. I don't. At least we are still in the same room together in the evening. Can you see the irony here?
that would never fly in my house.
So I have been giving this a lot of thought over the last few days. Most people that have responded, myself included, seem to think that the attic space above my workshop would make an excellent room for a nice around the walls layout. It has also been pointed out that it would be a large investment & undertaking for someone that has been out of the hobby for quite some time and may or may not have the motivation for such a large project. So here I find myself back where I started. I have secured a space in our office, approximately 4'x8' in which to build a layout. That would be enough room to build an HO scale switching layout or a nice little n-scale layout. Either one could be 24"-30" wide, perhaps an L shape in the corner and run it the length of the empty wall, or about 8'.
Still a lot of things to think about but I think starting out small may be a better approach than jumping in with both feet into a project that large. I still need to nail down a scale to model but right now I'm leaning towards N. I know I originally said I would prefer HO but I can do more with N in a limited space. I also need to decide on a time frame. I'm thinking the 70's as I am mostly interested in diesel but could still explain the occasional steam locomotive.
I know there's much more to it than that but I have to start somewhere.
You do what you think is right, for you.
Good luck!
MJPinSEWI So I have been giving this a lot of thought over the last few days. Most people that have responded, myself included, seem to think that the attic space above my workshop would make an excellent room for a nice around the walls layout. It has also been pointed out that it would be a large investment & undertaking for someone that has been out of the hobby for quite some time and may or may not have the motivation for such a large project. So here I find myself back where I started. I have secured a space in our office, approximately 4'x8' in which to build a layout. That would be enough room to build an HO scale switching layout or a nice little n-scale layout. Either one could be 24"-30" wide, perhaps an L shape in the corner and run it the length of the empty wall, or about 8'. Still a lot of things to think about but I think starting out small may be a better approach than jumping in with both feet into a project that large. I still need to nail down a scale to model but right now I'm leaning towards N. I know I originally said I would prefer HO but I can do more with N in a limited space. I also need to decide on a time frame. I'm thinking the 70's as I am mostly interested in diesel but could still explain the occasional steam locomotive. I know there's much more to it than that but I have to start somewhere.
With a little planning and thought, the test layout could be a module that gets moved to the bigger layout if you decide to proceed.
Sheldon
[quote user="MJPinSEWI"]I have been negotiating with management for some space inside the house but the only room is in the office.
Get air rights as did Grand Central Terminal.