What can fit into 14.5' x 16' basement space?

[onebiglizard]

I agree with earlier posters - around the walls will give you much more mainline and more realism in a given space.  A drop bridge or swing gate across your entrance is relatively easy to build, and if you keep it narrow (2 tracks wide, say) you could still duck under it during operating sessions. 

Alternately you may be able to put a turnback loop on either side of your entrance, but then you have two "blobs" to deal with, and they do take a lot of space!   On the plus side, the blob does let you turn trains, whereas pure around-the-walls requires a given train to always run in the same direction, unless the hand of God comes down and turns it manually.

I have a similar space - 13'3" by 24'.  How I wish I had that extra foot of width!  I've gone around the walls and am currently planning a peninsula up the middle of the room.  You might consider a mainline run around the room and a branchline up a peninsula (or even 2, if you are creative with your space) to create some other operating action while you have the mainliners running around.

[ndbprr]

What is the one thing I would do differently?  Take up stamp collecting.  Not really but sometimes. What can you fit in?  Make a list and be realistic.  let's face it the BNSF mainline from Chicago to LA ain;t gonna make it.  Neither is a four track mainline into a major city.  Here are the questions I would answer and HO will give you the biggest selection and bang for the buck:

1.  Do I want steam, diesel or steam and diesel?

2. Is there a railroad I want to model?

3. What area of the country? 

4. What do I really absolutely need to have? ( mainline fast freights or passenger, city or country, flat or mountain, era, lone wolf or with friends, switching, particular industries, etc.)

5. Is there a branchline that covers what I want that I could use as  source?

6. Is there an historical society that can help me with specific questions?

7. This is a big one.  Is there any chance of my moving so I should consider modules to make that easier?  I once built 6' x8' modules and planned to horse them out of the basement when I was thirty years old.  Now everything I do is based on remembering that experience and they are doen to under 3' x 8' and mostly 4'.

[BuffaloCreek]

This is good information... I checked out Armstrong's book last night (the wife thinks I'm losing it already...) from the library just before they closed. Anyway, I now have several questions but I'll focus on just one: If you started from scratch today knowing what you know, what are the two things you would have done differently?

[pcarrell]

You've had some great input so far.  A lot can be done in that space, even in Horribly Oversized scale (Is it THAT obvious I'm an Normal scaler?).

Before you get too deep into this, you might get the creative juices flowing by giving Spacemouse's Beginners Guide a read.  It's good for beginners, and those more "seasoned" railroaders too.

[Trainman Sam]

First: to the forums!!!

Second:  I would suggest you purchase several books from Kalmbach Publishing that I found very useful (If you don't already have them!!!):

Realistic Model Railroad Building Blocks by Tony Koester

Track Planning for Realistic Operation by John Armstrong 

How To Build Realistic Layouts (there are a series of these: Freight Yars, Towns and Cities, etc.)

These have helped me in designing a layout that will function the way I want it to AND prototypically!!!  This way, I can operate my model railroad in more than one way, giving it more "play value" and more satisfaction in the long term. 

Third:  I would get involved with a historical society for the area you are interested in.  You had mentioned Buffalo Creek (I am assuming NY) but I ran a search on Google:

http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rlz=1T4GPEA_enUS311US312&q=Buffalo+Creek+Historical+Society

It lists several "Buffalo Creek" entries...

You can also find helpful tips and such in the pages of the two series that I am currently collecting the back issues to:  "Model Railroad Planning" and "GREAT Model Railroads"

Here is a link to Kalmbachs Books page:

http://kalmbachcatalog.stores.yahoo.net/model-railroading-books.html

and a link to the Great Model Railroads Annuals page:

http://kalmbachcatalog.stores.yahoo.net/model-railroading-great-model-railroads.html

also the Model Railroad Planning:

http://kalmbachcatalog.stores.yahoo.net/model-railroading-model-railroad-planning.html

 I wish you luck on your layout design and construction!!!

Sam

[gandydancer19]

 You will get more running area if you design your layout around the walls instead of using a table type in the center of the room.  You will also get broader curves to be able to run larger motive power.  I would build a lift up section where I enter the room, but I have built them before and for me they are easy to do.  Research is the key.  I know you say that all you want to do is watch trains run, but that will get old, even before you finish your scenery, so you should plan for realistic operations, even though you may not use it.  On the up-side, by building that way your layout will look more realistic.

What I do for layout design (have done so far) is define my area and benchwork first.  Next I decide on a theme.  (Mainline running, with a branch line(?) or other special interests.)  Then I put in a mainline.  I am fond of twice around the room types divided by scenery and grades. 
Since I have gotten into operations, I also have a staging area of some sort, whether it is a lay-over for entire trains, or a yard that simulates an interchange yard.  One track in staging is a through track for continuous running.  If I put cars on it, the layout becomes point to point for operations.
Next I try and determine how many small towns I can have, and possibility one city with a yard and loco facilities, without them crowding one another.  Usually small yards and facilities unless I have the room for larger ones.  I will try to fit in a way-side industry or two just for variation as long as it won't crowd things.
Then I go looking at plans for modular railroads. I look for ones that would make good towns or cities because their track plans are usually fairly compact, and most of the way they will be switched is already determined with a good track plan themselves.
Because I freelance, I don't worry about town and city names etc., but if you want to model a specific prototype, you can name the towns as the railroad you are modeling would, and build or plan you scenery to suite the area you want to model. Also, some of the industries that may be recognizable in a town you choose to name from a real one may have to be built or otherwise implied to achieve the "feeling" of the real town.
When building starts, I try and get all of the benchwork built first.  Then plan where the towns will go and install the mainline to get some trains running.  Then I work on one of the yards so I can store stuff when not running.  Then I plug along on the other track work and scenery design and continue from there.
Hope this helps.

[selector]

With all that space I could have a dream layout, but certainly twice as much rail as I have now.

Because you enter in a corner, you could have a nice bent dog-bone, maybe even a folded one so that you can enter a central operating area and exit without having to duck under anything.  At the ends of the dog bone, and in the middle where the major bend takes place, in the corner opposite the door, your curves could be in the order of 40" or more.  Many can only dream of such curves.

Additionally, with the lengths of runs you appear to have, you could get a nice 2% grade lifting you to as much as 6-8" off the main level, particularly with switchbacks...although switchbacks take up a lot of length.

One or two editions of the Railroad Planning guides that Kalmbach publishes would really help you here.  Someone near you may have some, or perhaps a libaray?  Kalmbach sells them, of course, and you can get them at a local hobby shop or by ordering directly from Kalmbach.

If you haven't already spent a solid two hours digesting it, I would strongly recommend reading "Track Planning for Realistic Operation" by the late John Armstrong.  It, too, is available through Kalmbach, and virtually all readers agree that it helped them immensely to understand that their layouts should comprise more than a loop or two with some sidings and a yard.  Having read it myself a couple of times, I couldn't help but agree.

-Crandell

[jeffrey-wimberly]

 You can build quite a bit in that amount of space. I built this one in roughly 8' x 10'.

 

[BuffaloCreek]

We are building a new house and I'll finally have a space for a train layout; it will be it's own room in the basement with an entrance door in the corner, exiting to the garage and stairs going up. I thought a lot about my requirements over the past few years:

1) Roughly based on the Buffalo area, a Short Line like the Buffalo Creek would be the core although I'm open to other ideas...

2) Roughly 1920 to 1950... (As a little kid, I only remember what Buffalo looked like in the 1970's and it left a real impression on me, but I think it would be cool to model railroading during the great depression era...)

3) More focus on running trains in a circuit than switching cars around a yard...

4) Possible interchange with other railroads like NYC, Penn, NPR, LV, TH&B, etc... so I can change-up the locomotives... It's seems Buffalo was the hub for many railroads of the day!

5) I'm 95% sure I want HO unless somebody has a really good argument for another scale... I want detail of several small views that HO can deliver vs. N...

I don't not have any buildings or track and very little rolling stock. Actually, my rolling stock consists of two Erie KATO GP9s I received over the years as Christmas gifts.

Finally, our home should be completed this summer (we'll be starting construction in March), so I have some time to plan out really excellent layout that I can start in September. Any design input or suggestions are greatly appreciated (including labor if you live in the Seattle area)!