Horns of a dilema!

[jacon12]

I have a room, it is a very nice room and it measures about 15x21 feet. It has a tile floor and is airconditioned and heated. Here a photo of it when it was under construction, that's it on the end..

There is a roll up door on the end, but it is never let up. My problem is that I've been in photography forever it seems, well... since I was an 18 year old and I'm almost 62 now. That's almost forever, isn't it? Anyway, in this room I have all the studio equipment setup that I've had for years and used when I had a part time wedding business. Here's a picture made inside before the tile floor was laid..

In this studio I mostly do the type of photography that please me and not to sell. Like this..



Now to get to the problem and that is.. I've wanted to do a rr layout for the past 4 or 5 years also, but being a complete beginner.. I'm afraid I've waited to late in life to start one. I've followed things here and on other mrr forums and I know how expensive and time consuming it can be. PLUS... I really want to keep my studio.. SO.. I'm thinking maybe of taking one side of the room and doing a kind of dogbone (the 21 foot side). The ends of the dogbone would be about 4 feet x 4 feet and the long section only about 30 inches wide. This, I'm reasoning, would satisfy both 'hobbies', until the time comes that I either get ALL the way in mrr, or go back to full studio.
My question is, does anyone here have a similar problem? That is, do you share your space with mrr'ing and other hobbies? Vastly different hobbies?
Thanks
Jacon

[egmurphy]

QUOTE: I've wanted to do a rr layout for the past 4 or 5 years also, but being a complete beginner.. I'm afraid I've waited to late in life to start one.

Are you kidding, you're just hitting you're prime. I'm 58 and, although I've considered myself a model railroader all my life, this is the first layout I've ever managed to get to the operational stage.

QUOTE: I've followed things here and on other mrr forums and I know how expensive and time consuming it can be.

It can be if you let it. Doesn't have to be either of those things.

QUOTE: I'm thinking maybe of taking one side of the room and doing a kind of dogbone (the 21 foot side). The ends of the dogbone would be about 4 feet x 4 feet and the long section only about 30 inches wide.

Great idea. Nice space for a layout.

QUOTE: My question is, does anyone here have a similar problem? That is, do you share your space with mrr'ing and other hobbies?

Not exactly. we have a small house and my small portable model railroad is currently, by the grace of the DW, sharing our bedroom. I only wish I had a dilemma like yours.


Nice photo, by the way.


Regards

Ed

[jacon12]

Ed, you must have one of the worlds best wives. The layout is IN the bedroom!
What the heck, gotta put'um where you can.
Thanks for the input Ed.
Jacon

[Anonymous]

Too late in life? Are you kidding? Re-inventing oneself occasionally should be mandatory in this life. Learning photography is on my list of things to do when I'm 62.

I've been doing nothing but trying to plan my layout's co-habitation with my living space over the past year or so. One of my "re-inventions" led me to live up here in the mountains and, as a result, I now have little in the way of dedicated modeling space. My current, under construction layout shares space in my living room and part of my office. If things get out of hand there could be a branchline into my kitchen, though part of that has already been given over to my N Scale wood kit business. To paraphrase Donald Rumsfeld, we build the layouts we can, not the layouts we wish we could.

When designing your layout, include short spurs at appropriate locations where they could become branchlines or a continuation of the mainline in the future. Also consider the flexiility of building some detachable modules or sections that can be stored over or under the permanent part of the layout when not in use. This could double the size of your planned dogbone layout. Good planning could make setting up the detached modules faster than setting up for a photo shoot.

Wayne

[Robert Langford]

You guys are just kids, I turned 70 last October. Started my second layout the first of this year. Tore down the old one 25 years ago. Sure thankful I kept my rolling stock and engines. Can't afford DCC, but remember enough about DC to build.
BOB
Sandy Southern Railway

[jacon12]

Wayne and Bob, I appreciate the replies! Sometimes I think we get old because we let the world treat us like we are.. :) I have no idea where this hobby is going, I'm still stuck in the dreaming phase. Getting a layout down on paper has got to be the hardest part!
But, I'll keep hanging here and reading and trying to come up with a plan, then maybe one day I'll actually start cutting wood!
Thanks,
Jacon

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jacon12
...I'm still stuck in the dreaming phase. Getting a layout down on paper has got to be the hardest part!
But, I'll keep hanging here and reading and trying to come up with a plan, then maybe one day I'll actually start cutting wood!

You're closer than you may realize.

With this online community, you can do a little bit of layout work each day, then snap photos and post them online (you've obviously mastered that talent[;)]) to show us your progress, and get lots of feedback and encouragement.

Following this approach with another Yahoo modelers group helped me to tackle an otherwise daunting modeling challenge, and motivated me to keep going whenever I felt 'burnout' coming on. And I plan to do it again when I start laying the track for my new layout...[:D]