Train Room Pictures & Thanks to Forum

[donhalshanks]

#65279;I had never built a “train room” before. Over a long time, this forum answered my questions and
gave me great ideas and solutions, and my room is now finished. I thank everyone for the help!

Some asked me to submit pictures when finished, so I will attempt to so.
First, to summarize, I did the following:
- Started with unfinished basement and stairs, and a little over half of basement could be used.
- Planned for 19' x 22' for train space with an alcove RR waiting room in alcove at btm of stairs.
- Built floor to ceiling stud walls inside the insulation blanketed cement block walls.
- Added a door from train room into rest of the basement (which is the work shop and utilities).
- Added 1 - 20 amp circuit to fuse box and wired 15 receptacles around the room, with master
off switch w/light indicator on wall, for all RR power. Included GFCI feature.
- Added 3-20 amp circuits to fuse box and wired 36 junction boxes for 6 banks of 6 recessed
ceiling light cans each. Wired each bank to 6 dimmer wall switches. Positioned all lights to be
above train layout and not future aisles.
- Added 1 dedicated 20-amp computer circuit to fuse box and wired receptacle near center of
room so RR could have computer control in future.
- Built in the open steps for carpet.
- Dry walled the studs horizontally. Did not tape seams because of health limitations in family.
- Glued and nailed 30" high wall paneling to dry wall for wainscoat bottom.
- Built frames in each corner for rounding the corners of room for scenic back drop.
- Used Tyebond solvent free adhesive to glue 0.06"styrene in 4'x8' sheets above wainscoat for
backdrop in train area. Filled and sanded seams with caulk.
- Used a “50's and before” type wall paneling above the wainscoat in alcove and down the
stairway. This was glued, nailed, and painted white.
- Installed Armstrong drop ceiling, wiring in recessed lights, hanging them on framework, and
cutting circles for the lights at proper places in the ceiling tiles.
- Passed all electrical and wiring inspections by the city.
- Painted sky backdrop on the styrene using the three horizontal bands of blue shades and one
white band on bottom method, blending the colors together while wet.
- Put moulding around ceiling perimeter, corners, baseboards, and top of wainscoat.
- Did the one thing I didn’t do myself..... had carpet installed.
- Made alcove into a train station “feel” waiting room using collected train and coca-cola stuff.
This also provides a nice lead-in to the trains area.

- Most positive thing: very pleased with the results and learned a lot.
- One negative: Using automotive type filler (but its toxic) on styrene seams instead of caulk
would be much better. Two of my seams are not the greatest but they are good enough,
particularly when lights are on.
- Most outstanding: having the help from participants in this forum

I’ll try the pictures. First one is the steps down to the train room:



The alcove waiting room area:



The front left corner of train area:



The left rear corner of train area:



The right rear corner of train area:



Full view of the train area:



Thanks to all. Hal

[jwar]

Hal...Fantastic Job, with a touch of class that will hi-light your layout...very professional....John

[ARTHILL]

Pretty cool. Next some tables and next thing you know you're carving rocks and planting trees. Keep the pics coming I love them.

[donhalshanks]

Thanks. With help from you guys I have built the first 24' of L-girder benchwork and am working on the ribbon roadbed, risers, and cleats. Will send photos when it is ready for track.

By the way, dates on photos are wrong. Camera had improper date when pictures were taken. Pictures were taken about a month ago.

Hal

[claycts]

Gee, I thought I did a good job, need to hide this from my wife!!
Great job and will set the tone for your railroad.

[rrinker]

That looks great! Next house, the room is going to be finished!

--Randy

[canazar]

Wow, thats freakin ' dude. Nice job.
I really like the back drop too. I think the different shades add alot to it. One think I like about your set up so far, you can tell you put alot of work and though into it. Guess what, you will be inspireing folks now.

Best Regards
John k

[selector]

Very nicely done, Hal! You must be just about too big for your hat now...I would be if I had your determination, patience, discipline, and skill. I hope you are having a heck of a good time. [:D]

[Medina1128]

Heck, your train room is nicer than my living room. (Make notes to improve train room. Hey, ya gotta set your priorities)

[John Richards]

Simply put, Bloody Marvelous,
Thank you for inviting us all in.

Best wishes,

[oleirish]

Hal
Outstanding,gives me something to dream about!!!

JIM

[dgwinup]

Aw, shucks. Ohio isn't close enough to Southern Illinois. Dag nab it!

Well, if you ever pass near St. Louis, MO., call and drop in.

Did we really suggest all that stuff you did? Boy, are we smart, or what?

Darrell, intelligently quiet...for now

[ereimer]

that's gotta be one of the prettiest train rooms i've ever seen , and it passed inspection too !

how long did all that take ?

[Anonymous]

Wow! Nice job, Hal. That is about the best prepared train room I have ever seen! I can't wait to see some pics of the layout! Please keep us updated! Again, nice work! [bow]

[Tom Bryant_MR]

You really have patience and it will pay off. I for one, would be building and laying track before worrying about floor and ceilings, and would be regretting later on. Example for us all. Thanks for the pics. I'm printing them to show my better half that the train room can be just that - a room in the house.

[skiloff]

Very nice. Makes me wish I had a "room" instead of a "corner".

[Dayliner]

This is simply fantastic. I'm looking forward to lots of ideas and inspiration from you in the near future! Please keep us posted.

Cheers,

[Anonymous]

Whew that is a NICE room.

What was the Bill? (Sorry had to ask)

I dont think anyone in MR has really addressed what it takes to get a train room up and running. I think youre the first.

keep the pics coming!

[jwr_1986]

That is absolutely beautiful. I have to print this out so I have an idea of what to do when I get my own place. Enjoy your new and wonderful layout room.

Jesse

[donhalshanks]

Again, thanks for the nice comments. A few have asked questions which I'll answer.

How long did it take? Well, about 4 years, but keep in mind in that time I wintered & RV'd each year in FL for 5 months. I also took this on as a hobby project when I retired, so I didn't make it a job. I worked on it when I really wanted to and wasn't doing other things. Also, while having the normal handyman fix-up capability, a lot of the work was new to me, so I researched each step a lot, and learned or improved my skills as I went. I think 1 year would be reasonable for me if I had dedicated 50% of my time year round.

How much did it cost? Not sure. I had two goals. (1) make a finished environment for a layout setting. (2) Make it a nice recreation room of value, if I ever sold the house. I bought materials as I needed them for the next step, and did all the labor. Home Depot or Lowe's were my main source. I bought recessed can lights in 12 to a box (cheap). I used reasonable priced paneling. I bought styrene sheets from a plastics company (cheap), I bought electrical wire in large coils whenever on sale. Total was probably a few thousand dollars. Plus, the biggest item I didn't do, purchase and installation of carpet with a pad, biggest single price $1,100. It was hobby expense as I went .

Resource for getting a train room up and running? More than maybe the person thanking me for this might think. I found through mag index, that some excellent articles in MR and others, did exist. I also went on this forum and posed the question.... if they had the chance to build the ideal train room from scratch, what would it have to have in it. The responses were wonderful, and right on target. It became my criterea and what I tried to accomplish! The ONE guideline repeated in almost all references..... do it right and do it before starting the layout.

Hal