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Garage Layout Design Contest

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Garage Layout Design Contest
Posted by SpaceMouse on Saturday, May 10, 2008 1:33 PM

No more wimp shelves. Time to go for the gusto. Open scale. The parameters are in the diagram. Ignore the doors shown. Submit in .jpg format 800 pixels wide.

Left side is 2nd car space and there is walking access.

Submit a write-up with your theme and specs. Be sure to specify your scale. Grades and curves must be consistent with equipment.

Deadline for submission: May 30th. Midnight.

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

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Posted by loathar on Saturday, May 10, 2008 6:52 PM
Who won the last one??
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Posted by SpaceMouse on Saturday, May 10, 2008 8:35 PM

 loathar wrote:
Who won the last one??

vsmith

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

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Posted by Don Z on Saturday, May 10, 2008 8:51 PM
 SpaceMouse wrote:

No more wimp shelves. Time to go for the gusto. Open scale. The parameters are in the diagram. The house door swings into the house. Submit in .jpg format 800 pixels wide.

Left side is 2nd car space and there is walking access.

Submit a write-up with your theme and specs. Be sure to specify your scale. Grades and curves must be consistent with equipment.

Deadline for submission: May 30th. Midnight.

You state that the house door swings into the house, but it is drawn swinging into the garage. Would you clarify please?

Don Z.

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Posted by SpaceMouse on Saturday, May 10, 2008 8:55 PM
Don, the exterior door swings into the garage as per code. The door to the house is drawn closed to save space.

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

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Posted by Don Z on Saturday, May 10, 2008 9:04 PM

Is this a detached garage? I've never seen an exterior door into a garage that was attached to a house....other than the overhead door. Can access through the exterior door be blocked since there is access to the layout area from the house door?

Don Z.

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Posted by Vail and Southwestern RR on Saturday, May 10, 2008 9:22 PM

I've often seen doors like that.  Might be regional?

I wish I had twelve feet to work with!

Jeff But it's a dry heat!

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Posted by odave on Sunday, May 11, 2008 5:23 PM

 SpaceMouse wrote:
Left side is 2nd car space  

10' wide seems pretty snug for a typical U.S. two car garage.  Mine is 21' x 21' and there's not a whole lot of room for both.  Also, what kind of vehicles need to be worked around - Hummers or Smart Cars? 

 

--O'Dave
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Posted by Texas Zepher on Sunday, May 11, 2008 5:31 PM
 Don Z wrote:
I've never seen an exterior door into a garage that was attached to a house..
Really, I've almost never seen one that isn't except on older (1960sish) houses.  What I have never seen is a door that is more than 3" - 4" from one of the walls.  I notice in MR layout contests always seem to put them 12" away (even the last MR magazine layout contest) so a small track holding shelf can be put there behind the door.
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Posted by chadw on Sunday, May 11, 2008 6:13 PM
I think what Spacemouse means by "left side is 2nd car space" is that this is a 20x20 two car garage and the left half is a car space.  That means that you can have an aisle off of the left side of the layout in the car space but you can't build part of the layout there.
CHAD Modeling the B&O Landenberg Branch 1935-1945 Wilmington & Western Railroad
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Posted by vsmith on Sunday, May 11, 2008 6:52 PM

Q: If I have a 20 x 20 garage why would I chose the more restrictive side as the layout side? the car doesnt care.

I ask this because as is, my layout will not fit the given criteria as the door is in the way of my fiddleyard. Something I specificly avoided in my own layout construction where the access door was completely avoided.

If there is no provision for which side we can choose, I will sit this one out, I dont feel like redesigning what I already have spent a great deal of time planning and works well for me.

This is why I asked for a option for those of us intending on using our own layouts.

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by SpaceMouse on Sunday, May 11, 2008 9:50 PM
Okay take out the doors.

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

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Posted by vsmith on Monday, May 12, 2008 1:01 AM
Thanks Chip, I'll make sure to specify in my description that its a real existing space, and thats why it diverges from the rules in this regards.

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by odave on Monday, May 12, 2008 7:18 AM

 chadw wrote:
I think what Spacemouse means...you can have an aisle off of the left side of the layout in the car space but you can't build part of the layout there.

Ah, that makes sense.  I took the line on the left to be an exterior wall.  So there's only one vehicle that calls the garage home.   

Edit: oops, just found the answers under the "plywood" contest thread.

--O'Dave
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Posted by Lateral-G on Monday, May 12, 2008 7:56 AM
 Don Z wrote:

Is this a detached garage? I've never seen an exterior door into a garage that was attached to a house....other than the overhead door. Can access through the exterior door be blocked since there is access to the layout area from the house door?

Don Z.

 

Side garage entry doors are quite commom on attached garages. Although not a standard builders option they are put in. I specifically asked for one when we had our house built.

 

-G- 

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Posted by Don Z on Monday, May 12, 2008 9:23 AM

I wonder if that's a "Up North" habit....I live in a subdivision with 550 homes, all built in the last 10 years and not a single one has an exterior door in the garage, other than the overhead door.

Don Z.

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Posted by SpaceMouse on Monday, May 12, 2008 9:35 AM
Might be state by state. I don't have one in PA but they were in every garage in California.

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

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Posted by SOO_N Scaler on Monday, May 12, 2008 1:26 PM

As to comment that exterior doors do not lead from living quarters to garage space,,, I say nay. I live in central Texas,,, we have a standard 3'0" entry door going from house to garage.

  With the standard entry door you have two holes pre-drilled,, one for the deadbolt and one for the rotating, or lever action handle. I like this option,, as if a bad guy broke into the garage,, he would not be able to gain easy access to my home.

  I am currently working on a garage layout,,, still drawing plans in 3rd Plan-It. Wanna look see???  drop me line.

 

  Adios Wyatt

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Posted by chadw on Monday, May 12, 2008 3:00 PM

 SpaceMouse wrote:
Okay take out the doors.

So, does this apply for everyone?  Is the contest now 10x20 with the entry as the left side?

CHAD Modeling the B&O Landenberg Branch 1935-1945 Wilmington & Western Railroad
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Posted by SpaceMouse on Monday, May 12, 2008 3:42 PM
Yes, I changed it in the first post.  

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

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Posted by gandydancer19 on Monday, May 12, 2008 3:49 PM
Well, my garage is for three cars but we use it for hobby, work shop, and storage space, and don't have the large garage doors.  My layout share is 9'6" x 24'.  I am planning to submit my plan anyway.  If it gets rejected, so be it.

Elmer.

The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.

(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.

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Posted by Don Z on Monday, May 12, 2008 7:21 PM
 SOO_N Scaler wrote:

As to comment that exterior doors do not lead from living quarters to garage space,,, I say nay. I live in central Texas,,, we have a standard 3'0" entry door going from house to garage.

  With the standard entry door you have two holes pre-drilled,, one for the deadbolt and one for the rotating, or lever action handle. I like this option,, as if a bad guy broke into the garage,, he would not be able to gain easy access to my home.

  I am currently working on a garage layout,,, still drawing plans in 3rd Plan-It. Wanna look see???  drop me line.

 

  Adios Wyatt

Wyatt,

You need to reread my post. I wasn't talking about the door leading into the house, which my garage also has. It's the theory that there would be a walk through exterior door from the garage out to the great outdoors.

Don Z.

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Posted by markpierce on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 2:59 AM
Two-car garages are frequent sites for layouts in California. Every layout I've seen ignores any doors to the exterior. The only functional door is the one connecting to the house. In the San Francisco area, there are some well-done layouts based on such prototypes as the Yosemite Valley, Sierra, Western Pacific, and the SP Santa Cruz branch. You might have seen write-ups on some of these layouts in magazines over the last couple of decades.

Mark
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Posted by markpierce on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 3:04 AM
Oh, and as I recall, none of the doors for entering the layout/garage areas intruded into that space. If not originally designed that way, the modelers corrected the situation.

Mark
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Posted by exPalaceDog on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 7:11 AM
 vsmith wrote:

Q: If I have a 20 x 20 garage why would I chose the more restrictive side as the layout side? the car doesnt care.

Also note that choosing the right bay would require items such as groceries to be passed over/thru/or under the layout to get from the vehicle to the kitchen.

Have fun

 

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Posted by vsmith on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 10:50 AM
 exPalaceDog wrote:
 vsmith wrote:

Q: If I have a 20 x 20 garage why would I chose the more restrictive side as the layout side? the car doesnt care.

Also note that choosing the right bay would require items such as groceries to be passed over/thru/or under the layout to get from the vehicle to the kitchen.

Have fun

 

My contention was that if I had a 20x20 space, which I did in real life, I would not choose the more constrictive side given what I had planned to install layout wise, I would chose the right hand bay for its clear 10 x 20 space and leave the left hand door side open for vehicle and access, thats all. In fact my current layout actually goes across the back wall of my garage, its elevated and the deck is cantelevered enough so if I park a car, theres enough room for either of our cars, which are small, to fit easily; the cars nose slips under the layout. Wink [;)]

This is why I asked for a proviso for those of use who would like to submit our real layouts as entries. I will modify my layout to fit the 10x20 space as oriented Big Smile [:D]

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by vsmith on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 11:13 AM
Chip, just a thought but maybe the layouts when submitted should be done so in an east-west format, not the north-south orientation as shown on page 1, so your getting 800 w x600 h format and not 600 w x 800 h? Save some space that way.

   Have fun with your trains

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Posted by SOO_N Scaler on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 1:58 PM

Don,,, I was not trying to mean spirited, or hateful. People say I come across that way.LOL

   As for the ext door going from garage to outside,, I have one of those too,,,,,,lolololol. It aloows access to the backyard. The only other access is a gate in the fence.. which was made by a wood butcher,, because it takes a 100T crane to get it to move.

  That door is a half glass unit,, with the window opening,, which works great for my exhuast and fresh air intake for my portable A/C unit.

  I apologize if I sounded upset,, mad at world,, angry, mad,, po'd, hateful,,disgusted,,,I can make that list last a long time,,,, my wife always adds new words to it daily.LOL

  Time to go make the doughnuts,lol,,, or should I say excavator buckets.

  Adios wyatt

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Posted by gandydancer19 on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 3:30 PM

 vsmith wrote:
Chip, just a thought but maybe the layouts when submitted should be done so in an east-west format, not the north-south orientation as shown on page 1, so your getting 800 w x600 h format and not 600 w x 800 h? Save some space that way.

The track plan / drawing would be too small.  The vertical format would work best.  I just converted mine from horizontal to vertical and can see the details better.

BTW, nothing was mentioned about length, just has to be 800 pixles wide.

Elmer.

The above is my opinion, from an active and experienced Model Railroader in N scale and HO since 1961.

(Modeling Freelance, Eastern US, HO scale, in 1962, with NCE DCC for locomotive control and a stand alone LocoNet for block detection and signals.) http://waynes-trains.com/ at home, and N scale at the Club.

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Posted by SpaceMouse on Tuesday, May 13, 2008 3:44 PM
My thinking is what Elmer mentioned. My limitation is the horizontal width of the space I have for the layout on my website.

Chip

Building the Rock Ridge Railroad with the slowest construction crew west of the Pecos.

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