Steven, what state do you live in? Do you happen to know if there are very restrictive permits required to put an unpowered shed into your parents back yard?As I understand it you need to get the MRR stuff you have collected out of their house,...and perhaps into a shed of some sort?
I put a 'watch function' onto Craigs list and picked up a 12x16 Handi House shed for $1500. Practically brand new. Lady had bought it and never really put it to use. Some people end up moving and selling off their sheds as separate items. you just have to be watchful, and not in a big hurry.
You could store your stuff in that shed until a much later time (after college) that you decide to build a layout. And these sheds not over 12 feet can be moved fairly easily to a new location, or resold for not a great lost if they are decent to start out with.Potentially you could start to build a big layout in one portion of that large shed you desire (12x24), , but maybe just put up a small temp one in the corner of the shed, with the other stuff stored over in another corner.
At that point you don't have a big investment that you can't recover in case many other 'life changes' come up.
Brian
My Layout Plan
Interesting new Plan Consideration
Look at what this fellow placed into a single level NARROW layout...
[Link to another forum removed by moderator]
I live in Louisiana in a small rural unincorporated community, as in the country.
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
If your main short term goal is to "get the trains out of the house", you may look for a used enclosed utility trailer as a storage unit. Not big enough for a layout but keeps all your stuff in one place so you can move it easily when the time comes.
If it was big enough, you might even have space for a small table or fold down shelf on one side to hold a small switching layout. The down side of that is that it would be miserable to operate in during summer in Lousiana.
Paul D
N scale Washita and Santa Fe RailroadSouthern Oklahoma circa late 70's
Short term goal: get train stuff out of house.
Mid term goal: have a place to work on MRR projects.
Long term goal: have a layout that allows for running trains and doing switching.
Don't overlook seacans....stackable sea containers. Sometimes they can be had for a few dollars (few thousands, that is..., or less), and they will protect your stuff from rodents and intruders of other kinds, not to mention rain and wind. Might be about half the price of a reasonable train shed.
cuyama This thread and this effort just don’t make practical sense. If one was really going to construct an out-building, the initial focus would be on budgeting, plans, permits, site preparation, running utilities, and setting a foundation. Not buying 2X4s. And parents who won’t allow the Original Poster to build a 2’X4’ model railroad diorama are fine with him spending $20-30K for this building ($90 per square foot building cost in LA)? Plus the costs of the layout itself? Someone is being strung along, either him or the forum. Like the multi-million-dollar NYC electric locomotive relocation to his backyard a while back, this is an impractical fantasy for this point in the Original Poster's life. Steven, it’s time to focus on achievable things at the club -- like building equipment, learning to do scenery, trying your hand at kitbashing structures, etc. Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry said it succinctly.
This thread and this effort just don’t make practical sense. If one was really going to construct an out-building, the initial focus would be on budgeting, plans, permits, site preparation, running utilities, and setting a foundation. Not buying 2X4s. And parents who won’t allow the Original Poster to build a 2’X4’ model railroad diorama are fine with him spending $20-30K for this building ($90 per square foot building cost in LA)? Plus the costs of the layout itself?
Someone is being strung along, either him or the forum.
Like the multi-million-dollar NYC electric locomotive relocation to his backyard a while back, this is an impractical fantasy for this point in the Original Poster's life.
Steven, it’s time to focus on achievable things at the club -- like building equipment, learning to do scenery, trying your hand at kitbashing structures, etc.
Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry said it succinctly.
Didn't we cover all this stuff here?
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/269384.aspx
NWP SWPI am however in a position to start construction on a building to put a layout in. I'm trying to figure out what size building I need to build a decent size layout. That's why I started this thread.
gmpullman riogrande5761 So you are going to build a shed? Sounds like quite a project. Don't forget building codes — especially in severe-weather areas such as yours: http://lsuccc.dps.louisiana.gov/pdf/UC_Codes_Amendments_2018.pdf Building to hurricane-resistant standards can add a considerable cost to your project. NWP SWP I think I might do that I'll go to HD and start buying lumber. You have stamped and approved plans already? Just sayin' Good Luck, Ed
riogrande5761 So you are going to build a shed? Sounds like quite a project.
Don't forget building codes — especially in severe-weather areas such as yours:
http://lsuccc.dps.louisiana.gov/pdf/UC_Codes_Amendments_2018.pdf
Building to hurricane-resistant standards can add a considerable cost to your project.
NWP SWP I think I might do that I'll go to HD and start buying lumber.
You have stamped and approved plans already?
Just sayin'
Good Luck, Ed
Just sayin' (again) Ed
The hurricane restrictions are as follows, collar braces for every other rafter (I do all of them), "hurricane ties" a thin plate of metal that is screwed to the top plate and the rafter, and a ground tie every 8 feet bolted into the earth.
rrebellCost of 12x24' building could be done for $6,000 or so for a pre fab $3600 for the building and the rest for the extras. We are talking a shed here.
When we started, he was talking about a train room with power, insulation, air conditioning, etc. So that it would be usable in the Louisiana summer, otherwise why bother? Pretty sure $6000 won't cover it. And the Original Poster doesn't have the dough, anyway. Or permission from his parents. Or the time to build it – he’s leaving for college in a year.
Otherwise, solid plan.
Once again, this Poster has the forum chasing around an impossible dream. How many more times will it be?
I’m out.
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
selectorDon't overlook seacans....stackable sea containers. Sometimes they can be had for a few dollars (few thousands, that is..., or less),
The used ones available cheap are often not watertight anymore. That's why they are available cheap. And its just the thing to bake the young man's models in the Louisiana sun and heat.
I do have permission to build it, but that said I'm not planning on building a building right now.
cuyamaI’m out.
You need to write 100 times on the blackboard:
I will not respond to this posting
cuyama rrebell Cost of 12x24' building could be done for $6,000 or so for a pre fab $3600 for the building and the rest for the extras. We are talking a shed here. When we started, he was talking about a train room with power, insulation, air conditioning, etc. So that it would be usable in the Louisiana summer, otherwise why bother? Pretty sure $6000 won't cover it. And the Original Poster doesn't have the dough, anyway. Or permission from his parents. Or the time to build it – he’s leaving for college in a year. Otherwise, solid plan. Once again, this Poster has the forum chasing around an impossible dream. How many more times will it be? I’m out.
rrebell Cost of 12x24' building could be done for $6,000 or so for a pre fab $3600 for the building and the rest for the extras. We are talking a shed here.
NWP SWP I'm not planning on building a building right now.
I'm not planning on building a building right now.
Like I said earlier, the forum is getting strung along....again. I’ll follow Cuyama’s lead.
Steven, I wish you the best of luck in your modeling endeavors if/when you get to them.
Mike
Water Level Route NWP SWP I'm not planning on building a building right now. Then you are wasting everyone’s time....again. In doing so, you are chasing away help from the forum for ANY of your projects. Like I said earlier, the forum is getting strung along....again. I’ll follow Cuyama’s lead. Steven, I wish you the best of luck in your modeling endeavors if/when you get to them.
Then you are wasting everyone’s time....again. In doing so, you are chasing away help from the forum for ANY of your projects.
cuyamaThe used ones available cheap are often not watertight anymore.
.
They are never watertight, even when new. They are also not rodent proof or insect proof.
There are better options.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Does anyone else here recall that article and photos of a train layout constructed in a moble/trailer home? It appeared in some issue of Model Railroader magazine, and I had kept a copy, but could not find it.
The fellow acquired a used, run down moble home in which he constructed a very long train layout. I think he got the old trailer for a song as it was longer really up to proper living without extensive repairs/and addition of all new applances, etc.Our fellow there in Louisiana might be able to find an old trailer home at a very attractive price and build his first layout in just half the length while getting some of his construction materials from the stud and siding from the other half.And if he got extra ambitious he might be able to disguise that trailer home by making it look like a caboose. (can't post the pic I found)
There's a whole plan for one in John Armstrong's Creative Layout Design book.
Half of one featured in last month's (May) MR is in a construction trailer.
Guy I follow on YouTube has a 40 foot container he uses to store some of his cars. He even cut in a pair of windows in the end opposite the doors. It survived a New Hampshire winter with no leaks.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
I remember making big plans for a big layout in a big building in my childhood days. My model railroading buddy and I would spend hours on designing layouts for rooms or buildings that didn´t even exist, but we had fun dreaming about them. Of course, none of them ever came even close to becoming a reality. I guess it´s one of those things that come along with growing up - thinking big and acting small, within the means one actually has. In the days prior to Internet, these "big" plans had no platform to be communicated to others, which I am thankful for. Any adult would have declared us as a mental case, had he or she found out what we were talking about.
The Internet has provided a platform to disseminate even the shrewdest idea, which quite often is not really beneficial at all. The OP´s idea to build an outbuilding for his trains is certainly challenging even to an adult with a well-filled pocket book, but most likely utopic for a youth who has to earn the necessary funds by mowing the neighbor´s lawn.
I feel a little sorry for the OP. He has been generating a number of ideas, some of which made me smile, some of which made me shake my head, but other than over-spending on his welcome he has achieved little.
So here is some advise to the OP, before I shut up:
Think small, not big!
You don´t need a train room and you don´t need a layout filling that room to enjoy the hobby of model railroading. There are shelf layouts, mini-modular layouts, micro-layouts, none of them requiring much room, but a lot of creativity. There is tons of information available in the Internet! Here is a pointer for you:
Mini-Modular Layout
You´ll find that thinking small, but acting big is much better than the other way around!
Happy times!
Ulrich (aka The Tin Man)
"You´re never too old for a happy childhood!"
Tinplate Toddler I remember making big plans for a big layout in a big building in my childhood days. My model railroading buddy and I would spend hours on designing layouts for rooms or buildings that didn´t even exist, but we had fun dreaming about them. Of course, none of them ever came even close to becoming a reality. I guess it´s one of those things that come along with growing up - thinking big and acting small, within the means one actually has. In the days prior to Internet, these "big" plans had no platform to be communicated to others, which I am thankful for. Any adult would have declared us as a mental case, had he or she found out what we were talking about. The Internet has provided a platform to disseminate even the shrewdest idea, which quite often is not really beneficial at all.
I remember making big plans for a big layout in a big building in my childhood days. My model railroading buddy and I would spend hours on designing layouts for rooms or buildings that didn´t even exist, but we had fun dreaming about them.
Of course, none of them ever came even close to becoming a reality. I guess it´s one of those things that come along with growing up - thinking big and acting small, within the means one actually has.
In the days prior to Internet, these "big" plans had no platform to be communicated to others, which I am thankful for. Any adult would have declared us as a mental case, had he or she found out what we were talking about.
The Internet has provided a platform to disseminate even the shrewdest idea, which quite often is not really beneficial at all.
Thanks to the Internet, forums and chat rooms, ideas of youthful exhuberance too easily find their way into otherwise sensible discussions. In this case, it's not that the OP is lying or exaggerating, but it is a waste of everyone's time to discuss projects that aren't going to happen.
Crazy ideas aren't limited to teenagers. I sometimes muse to myself about owning or buiding a large strucure to house an exact scale replica of all six large passenger train stations in 1950s downtown Chicago and the track work leading into them. The difference is that I restrain myself and don't start threads about projects that are never going to happen.
Rich
Alton Junction
Rich, even in my age, I maintain the luxury of having big dreams - like a gauge 1 layout in a huge hall with all those fancy steamers KM1 produces, or living in a log cabin by a lake, with a view of the Rockies and a red pickup truck parked in the driveway, but I would not dare to join a log cabin builder´s forum or a utility vehicle platform to talk about those dreams!
Neither dream will ever come true - sigh, but it´s nice to have them!
Water Level Route cuyama Someone is being strung along, either him or the forum. I vote forum.
cuyama Someone is being strung along, either him or the forum.
I vote forum.
As do I.
In the case of fantasy vs. reality,reality will win every time.
I agree with Byron..Learn new skills at the club.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
I agree with everyone that this is just a crazy dream that will never come to reality, but I am torn on just giving the advise to just move on. I am a big advocate on teaching my kids that they can do whatever they put the minds to. Don't limit yourself. If he has the will, he could do it.
I have done a ton of things in my life that everyone told me was not possible. The world needs dreamers and doers or we end up with a generation that don't want to do anything.
If he did the building on his own, framing, roofing, siding all on his own he could probably do it for 4k-5k The biggest question is does he have the skill set. I know how to tap a new breaker, trench for conduit and run it to an external building. With that you only have the cost of the breaker, wire and conduit. After it's in the building all you have are the costs of boxes, switches and outlets.
My advise is to ask your dad if these are skills that he could help you out with and teach you some life skills with. My grandfather was a Pullman worker and my dad was a Steel Mill worker, but these were life skills they made sure I knew.
I look at this as a good father son project that you can look back on and cherish some day.
Breakers? Conduit? Outlets?
That's easy. I know electrical, plumbing, framing, ect. My dad is a hotel GM with a degree in the field, he's been in the business his entire working life, I think he might have had aspirations to be a general contractor based on all the projects we take on, for example we have a shed, BUT that's slated to be a extended living space and is currently storage so no place for a layout.
I could build a building just funds are an issue, another thing a mobile home is a pretty good idea! It'd work very well and if I ever wanted to extend just get another and make it another "division"
Well only time will tell, I will keep setting aside funds and doing some small projects, thanks for all the advice!
You say dreams don't come thru, the trouble is some people dream to small. I made a wish list at 16, live in a mansion, have fine furniture, family and not have to work for a living. Got all that at 29 and no it was not given to me. Wanted a large train room with a built up layout, my train freinds said I was crazy after all family is expencive and long ago had to go back to work, got that too. Now I just go after money for no reason, that is the trouble with thinking too small. Our op knows his limitations and his special skills and it would not surprise me if he gets what he wants and what he wants is not expencive, you got the skills a $2000 project, especially if you scrounge, that how I got the materials for my mansion, it is amazing what is out there for free.
NWP SWP ... another thing a mobile home is a pretty good idea! It'd work very well and if I ever wanted to extend just get another and make it another "division"
... another thing a mobile home is a pretty good idea! It'd work very well and if I ever wanted to extend just get another and make it another "division"
That mobile home layout I spoke of was in a 12x60 trailer if I remember correctly. Too bad someone else doesn't know how to look it up,...perhaps in MR past layouts they covered.And I would think there might be a sizable number of 'surplus old trailers' down that way after the floods in New Orleans. The government has a way of misplacing things,...even new ones.
You might look thru a few of discussions concerning outbuildings.http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/29136
http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/16064
The great flood of 2016 had MHUs all over, Baton Rouge was the hardest hit by the flooding. FEMA has been EXTREMELY careful with their MHUs, that said mobile homes are LITERALLY everywhere here in Louisiana, trick is finding one in good condition, as in no leaks, water damage, ect. FEMA might be selling the MHUs I'm checking on that now.
Brian, we had things all settled down here and you came in and started again contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Stop that! Remember what Pippin said in Lord of the Rings:"Don't talk to it, Merry. Don't encourage it." when talking to Treebeard.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983