I am now able to use two closets off the main room that I want to start an ho layout.
I am just having a hard time finding a plan of what to do with the space, as far as planing goes.
As I am not fully committed to a design yet I am open to all ideas on the best way to use
the space. I was kinda thinking of a mid 40's to late 50's theme in anywhere U.S.A.
I am just anxious to get some trains running I am just not good at the planing stage.
Thank you, Thank You for all the help :-)
Those two closet spaces are all but inaccessible unless you can take down the inner walls.
Is that feasible?
Rich
Alton Junction
Do you mean the wall that separates the two closets?
Not only that wall but also the two walls that face the larger room.
I don't think that they would be bearing walls. The hall walls are. The window wall is an outside wall. So I could have a pro look at it and let me know for sure. But if he says I can knock them down I will for sure.
Yeah I was thinking the same thing about load bearing walls, but being interior walls that simply separate the closets from the hall and the main room, they are probably not load bearing.
The reason I ask about removing the walls, of course, is to give you access. One possibility might be to modify the walls instead of totally eliminating them. For example, if the walls were simply cut down to form 42" or 48" high walls, you could build the layout inside the closet spaces and be able to access the layout from within the main room.
If you are considering HO scale, you can run a continous loop or dogbone layout with sidings and other interesting track work with 22" radius curves.
You will gets lots of feedback over the weekend so get ready for some critique.
That closet door is unfortunate. Builders have this quaint notion that people want bed rooms with closet space, and never consider that someone might want to build a model railroad in there.
If all you do is remove the wall between the closets you can negate the need for the closet door, and you would be left with a large closet from the hall and a room the size you have shown.
Removing both closets is a plan, but maybe the next people to buy the house would rather have a bedroom with a closet. Silly people!
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
LION raises a good point about removing the closets only to find that the eventual buyer wants closets.
That is why I am suggesting that you may want to consider leaving the walls partially in place, maybe 42" or 48" high so that they can be easily rebuilt. For that matter, you could leave a portion of the walls up near the ceiling in place, sort of like a soffit.
I like that idea Rich!
folding doors might be a solution. Between the two closets you could place a normal door.
BTW both Lance Mindheim and the Model Railroader staff have published loads of plans for room sized layouts. Lots of then in 12 x 11 range. W Allen McClelland's Muddelty Creek branch (Model Railroad Planning 1996) modeling Virginia coal country is one of them.
Smile
Paul
Or just cut a "Tunnel" thru the wall where needed
dbduck Or just cut a "Tunnel" thru the wall where needed
True, but the real problem is still that door. You have to have access to it. And that limits the possibilities of the room. If you place even just a door between the two closets, you can ignore the door that is in the room, Trains can pass through the wall to access the closets for either staging or for other elements of the layout. When you move, you need only patch two mouse holes and let the new owners ponder over the reason for the mystery door.
i was thinking remove the wall between the closets..remove the door of the top closet to gain acces to the area & just simple close the door of the other closet leading to the hall
Then put a staging yard down the right wall of the area, with the tunnel being at the "top left" of the closet
2 foot wide yard ..2 foot wide access space
Use one closet for staging and one closet for a work bench area.
Edit: Just like what was posted above.
- Douglas
Doughless Use one closet for staging and one closet for a work bench area. Edit: Just like what was posted above.
I am going to suggest keeping the rooms, walls and doors as is, EXCEPT cutting tunnels through walls. It would be relatively easy to restore space to "normal" (ie. dull, non-railroady) uses with a little sheetrock patch and drywall compound.
Now I am going to try to draw some ideas... (Hey, I LIKE planning. Easier than laying and trouble-shooting track...)
I think leighant is on the right track here. That or take down just the wall between the closets, too, which I think is even better. One big closet for the next occupant, one big staging yard for you. dbduck's plan is a good start, except I'd make it run through.
The room entrance door isn't ideal, but you still have to enter the room somewhere, right?...
It's too bad that the closet width is only 4' as it would've been nice to fit a helix in one. But that brings up one reason to simply take the closets out. With a helix in the one closet catty-cornered from the entrance door, you could extend "waterwing" dog-bones in each direction. Stack up two or three levels and you've got a lot of space to run in and would be able to keep it all walk-in, except the helix of course.
The room is probably just big enough if made into one big room for a "no-lix" version, too, if you don't mind sticking with short trains, as the grades would probably be pretty steep to make that work.
But those are long-term projects. If there's the chance of moving, I'd stay with single level and use the existing closet space for staging as the easiest to move and quickest to patch up for the next occupants.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
All of which raises the two most important initial questions for the OP.
Are you interested and willing to remove one or more walls and/or doors?
What type of layout are you most interested in:continuous loop, point-to-point, staging, multi-level?
Here is my analysis of an HO continous route with 24" radius curves that will accomodate much equipment- some passengers cars, etc. No duckunders, liftbridges, etc. needed- inly "sepcial" construction would be some tunnel holes through walls, which can be tunnels, underpasses, etc.
I laid out a folded dogbone continuous route mainline with 24" radius curves. The green is an alternate route that allows some space in the middle of a wide section of shelf for structures, industries, etc. You can add industry spurs which will handle only a few cars and a switcher with 18 inch radius.
Note that you can easily follow a train around almost the entire circuit, including through the closet at top right of the plan. The exception is the short length through the closet at lower right. For the operator in the main room and attached closet, that short disappearance might represent a trip through a long tunnel. The short piece in the lower right room might be scenicked as a completely different place as a vignette viewing scene for railfans to see an occasional train pass. It would give you a chance to model an unusual scene you might not to use on the layout as a whole-- a snow scene, a desert scene, etc.
Where to put a yard? Perhaps across straightaway across top of plan.
Staging? A couple of deadend spurs might accomodate trains about 6 feet long to back either in or out in the lower right room, along the right hand wall. There is not room for them to enter forward, turn around and exit forward.
If the railroad is set at shoulder-high elevation (about 5 foot for me), the short section through lower right room can be on a narrow shelf that leaves 90% of the room open for ovther shelves and storage. Slightly less is upper right closet.
leighant, unless I am misunderstanding the OP, he does not have the main room available for the layout, just the two closets.
Hi
My own opinion on this.
Model railroaders tend to collect a lot of what other people call junk and we call very useful material.
So I would leave one of the closets intact for storing that and all the empty boxes for the trains. Don't throw the train boxes out. You will need them if you move house and to protect those trains that have to be left off the layout due to space constraints.
For the main space I would look at the possibility of a round the room with a peninsula or peninsulas to make the maximum use of the space. It will need a bit of ingenuity to deal with the doors. If there are places you can double stack you can have railroad on top and fiddle yard underneath.
Some form of fiddle yard is always a good idea even if you can only find room for a small one.It's somewhere for trains to go to the rest of the nation and the world which can enhance operational possibility's no end.
regards John
How about a helix and material storage/work bench in one closet and a multi deck layout in the other?
Kelly
www,finescale360.com
richhotrain leighant, unless I am misunderstanding the OP, he does not have the main room available for the layout, just the two closets. Rich
Rich might be right on this, reread the first line of the OP's first posting.
If so it only leaves him with a 12x4 room space. A donut (doughnut) with very narrow shelves is a possibility, however radii appropriate for long coaches are out.
Just remove the interior divider. Then reverse the swing of the door into the closet from the main room. Then you can build a large dogbone layout but the section on the back wall would be best at 18" deep so you have a 30" walkway. What equipment do you want to run???????
Just to clarify one of the posts. I have access to both closets and the main room. With the closet that opens to the hall is actually the closet that is in my home office room. So both closets and the main room are what I have available to build my layout.
Sorry for the confusion
Duane
damigg Just to clarify one of the posts. I have access to both closets and the main room. With the closet that opens to the hall is actually the closet that is in my home office room. So both closets and the main room are what I have available to build my layout. Sorry for the confusion Duane
Wow, well that changes everything. From your original post, it seemed as if only the two closets were available. The fact that you have the availability of the entire main room really increases your options as to the design of your layout.
Thanks for your response Rich. Hopefully it does give me way more options. The hardest part of this is the track design. Because I am just not any good at figuring out what to design for the space. I am going to build in HO because it is just the right size. Hopefully it just won't take me a year to come up with a plan I can live with but yet get that bug eyed wow factor when the grand kids come over.
Well, with the availability of the 11' x 12' main room, there probably is no reason to remove any closet walls. The tunneling concept is a lot more practical, particularly since you have door access to both closets. You may, however, want to remove the door to the main room closet.
So, the layout will be in HO scale. Tell us a little more about what you have in mind for the layout.
Continuous loop or point to point?
Single level or multi-level?
Staging areas, yards, sidings?
Era?
Steam, diesel, or both?
Flat terrain, mountainous, rivers, bridges, harbors?
DC or DCC?
Freight, passenger?
Give us whatever guidance you can.
I am kinda wanting to do both steam and diesel primarily freight with some but not a lot of passenger.
Western United States sort of leaning towards Rio Grande or Union Pacific and BNSF western route areas.
Rivers bridges that kinda stuff with enough flat area for small town and yard with a possible round house and turn table. Gotta have a trestle some where. I will be using DCC and multi-level would be very cool to pull off in that space.
Looking in books and on the internet it is just so hard to decide because everything you all do is so very cool!
Thanks to Rich and everyone for the help. :-)