Hi all,
I have been thinking, planning, and talking to my friend about rebuilding my layout. As many of you know, my current design is a 4x8 with a shelf. My current plan is something similar to this:
I am looking to rebuild with proper benchwork (my current benchwork was literally thrown together) and get more operation and modeling space in my basement area. Here's design I made in Autodesk Fusion. The shelf part corresponds to the shelf on my existing plan. The constraining objects are the shop room door, the support posts, and the treadmill.
Keep in mind this isn't actually a "track plan", this is a "layout plan". If I decide to do a layout with this footprint, then I will design a track plan. For now all I know is that the wall part will be the staging yard, and the main part will be modelling Plattsburgh and or Rouses Point, NY. If you can't tell from the picture there will be a wye so trains can go either way from the staging yard.
Another idea I had was to make a partial 2nd level so I could model the Plattsburgh PARC line. This would be visually seperated from the layout, and the era would be seperate. It would sort of be like a stand alone switching layout, that prototypically connects to Plattsburgh, bridging 50 years (from the present to the 70s).
I am bad at explaining myself, so please let me know if you have questions.
I would appreciate Input and advice. Also, don't forget that all decisions have to go through the Stockholders (my parents), and I can't really expand out of my area too much.
Thanks,
Harrison
Homeschooler living In upstate NY a.k.a Northern NY.
Modeling the D&H in 1978.
Route of the famous "Montreal Limited"
My YouTube
Please post the actual dimensions of the space.
And let us know how many inches are between the posts, the door, and the wall. Can you sneak a spur on the outside of the posts and still keep it to the right of the door? You have the benchwork angled to the inside, so it looks doable from here.
- Douglas
Ok, so I kinda forgot to point something out in my original post. People need to be able to walk between the posts and the layout to get to the other part of the basement, so any sort of spur would have to be removable/foldable. Here are some dimensions off the top of my head.
Layout size- 10.5x7 ft (by the door) 7.7x7 ft (at the other corner)
Shelf size- 9x1 ft
Distance from the wall by the door to the posts- 4.5 ft
Distance from the back wall to the door- 11.3 ft.
Distance of the narrowest point between the post and the layout- 1.8 ft.
Mike- While those are some good ideas for expantion, my parents will not approve to them, especially the one involving selling the treadmill.
Hope this helps,
If the distance between the posts and the wall with the door is 4.5 feet, then you have enough space to put a shelf along the waal with the door, and an aisle just to the left of the post to get into the far corner.
Think of a backwards F where you have your main shelf along the wall, and two peninsulas jutting out to the left.
If you don't invade the space with the treadmill too much, the middle peninsula could be your existing layout loop. Then have a branch extend around to the right corner of the room and the to the left along the wall to the door. Maybe a 30 inch wide ailse between your loop and the new shelf.
Then you could have 4 distinct scenes, the yard along the wall, the bottom of the loop, the top of the loop, and the branch.
Looking at your layout drawing, you should be able to shove your existing layout down towards the treadmill about 4 feet....tha shelf looks very long.
Not much help with a layout plan, but if you used a sector plate or transfer table for your staging. you could have longer staging tracks and use less turnouts.
(My tradmill interfears with my shop area.)
Good luck,
Richard
Harrison, I like your approach. And keeping the shareholders happy is always a good plan! Is there flexibility with respect to the location of the treadmill? If so, can you move the treadmill more south-west, and expand your donnut south-east?
Anyway, just a thought.
Simon
snjroy Harrison, I like your approach. And keeping the shareholders happy is always a good plan! Is there flexibility with respect to the location of the treadmill? If so, can you move the treadmill more south-west, and expand your donnut south-east? Anyway, just a thought. Simon
The treadmill could be moved about a foot "west", but not "south". I can't really expand the donnut much, because there are shelves (not mine) that make the "walkway" come between the layout and the posts, so basically people need to be able to walk through there.