I am soon going to begin my 1860s N-scale western layout.
The one problem I am having thus far is the actual placement of the layout. I would like to place it in the basement, simply because I have privacy downstairs. However I am worried about temperatures and how they will effect the layout itself. Our basement is not refurnished and has your standard white brick walls, brown board ceiling, you know what I'm talking about...
I live in upstate NY, and with winter just around the corner, the basement averages around low-mid 60s, perhaps a few degrees cooler on certain days. In the summer months, the temperature averages high 60s-low 70s. My father also spends most of his time downstairs where he frames his photography, and he claims humidity has never been an issue.
Should I consider placing my layout someplace elsewhere in the house, or is the basement a safe bet? What kind of issues should I be worried about with temperature? (ie electronics, wood warping, etc)
I simply don't want to come downstairs one morning and find my engines electronics no longer work (as I'm sure most of you would hate that). I know this issue has been beaten into the ground previously, though with my direct location being different from person A or person B, I am assuming every person's basement responds differently to temperature.
Any responses would be greatly appreciate, thanks guys.
One Past Law Concerning Trains To Travel Through Texas: "When two trains meet each other at a railroad crossing, each train shall come to a full stop and neither train shall proceed until the other has gone."
With the temperature ranges you describe, you should be just fine. I don't see any layout-related issues.
But, in the winter time, if the basement is unheated, you might want to have a portable electric heater to keep the temperature a little more comfortable around 70 degrees.
Rich
Alton Junction
Thanks Rich, will do!
I'm really excited to get started on this project and I'll be sure to post some pics along the way.
How big is the basement? A small dehumidifier might be worth the small expense for summer time. Do you have central air conditioning? If so, your basement might be dry enough in the summer from that. Also, does the basement have a sump pump? Are any of the basement walls damp or moldy looking? My woodworking shop is in my basement and I keep an eye out for rust and other corrosion. There is a fair amount of bare cast iron in the shop and high humidity would be a disaster. My basement is also unfinished, with no ceiling. The house has central AC, but the basement is neither heated nor cooled. There is a small, 25 quart dehumidifier set up to drain into the sump pump sump, but it has not run in the 25 plus years we have been in the house. Sometimes, I run an electric oil filled heater in my workshop when I am applying finishes in the winter, but the basement rarely gets below 60 degrees. I live in NW OH, so winters can be pretty cold here
Jim - Preserving the history of the NKP Cloverleaf first subdivision.
There are many, many layouts that live in basements similar to yours without any issues whatsoever. The temperature swings you mention aren't extreme.
However, I would be concerned at least somewhat about the humidity, in spite of your father's experiences. Unless he frames really, really big photos, he's working with much shorter lengths of wood than you probably will be, so for him the effects of any swelling or shrinkage will be much smaller.
Buy a dehumidifier with an adjustable humidistat, set it at something reasonable, and let it run. That's what I've done, and I've never had any problems with humidity. It just runs more during the summer, and less during the winter.
let me tell you about where my layout is. It lives in the corner of an uninsulated, unheated and unfinished garage. In the summer that garage can get up to 100 degrees but is uassaly at 90 degrees. Winter it uassaly about ten degrees warmer than tempeture outside( anywhere from -10 to 25 degrees). Spring and fall are a lot milder and its ussaly a comfortable 60 degres. Nothing seems to be affected by the tempature but i do bring in my locomotive and dc controller just in case.
It kind of reminds me of this years april fool joke done by MR, except its no joke
"Mess with the best, die like the rest" -U.S. Marine Corp
MINRail (Minessota Rail Transportaion Corp.) - "If they got rid of the weeds what would hold the rails down?"
And yes I am 17.
My temperature range situation is the opposite of that described by the OP. From the twenties (0-dark-00 on a late January morning) to the one-twenties (midafternoon July and August.) At both extremes, the minor electronics of my power supplies and boom box function normally. As for humidity, I live in a place where any 2-digit humidity reading qualifies as, `Above normal,' even if the digits are one and zero. Raises havoc with wood products, which is why my benchwork is steel.
Your temperature range is well within the green zone for most electronic devices, and the others have covered humidity control. Unless you want to spend beaucoup $$$ turning your basement into a NASA-standard clean room, you should be good to go.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - in a southern Nevada garage)
The basement is rather large actually, though I would only have one corner of it dedicated to the layout (of course).
The layout is a corner layout- imagine two 2x6 pieces, brought together into an L shape.
There is a patch in the basement which has had mold issues.
Overall, the basement has never had any issues with it being too damp.
ShortEngine87 There is a patch in the basement which has had mold issues. Overall, the basement has never had any issues with it being too damp.
YOU might not think there is a 'dampness' to the basement, but moving parts on a locomotive might tell you otherwise when they freeze shut due to rust. You already say you have one area patch tha has a mold issue. Moisture is there then.
Investing in a dehumidifier {at least for summer use if not most of the year} will probably tell you otherwise.
When I first came to live with My Other Half in this trailer home, I said we needed to run the dehumidifier I came attached to. MOH said No, we didn't. I said I could feel the dampness, and I'd make a bet that IF we drew out half a bucket or more in a 24 hour period, we would need the dehumidifier. Well in 16 hours it pulled a completely full bucket of moisture out of the air and I won the bet! Now MOH WANTS to run it at the slightest bit of dampness as the then 'middle aged bones' are now 11 years older and feeling the dampness!
With the moisture NYS has had this year, we have run the dehumidifier pretty much every day form March-April to October.And it consitantly pulled a bucket of water a day {50 pints}. It is NOT becasue of a damp basement, but rather we sit over ground and rocks on pillars of cinderblocks,s o the dampness rises through the floor, as well as having had the rainiest year on record here in Upstate NY, we have 'had it in the air' as well.
GOod luck and have fun with your layout!
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
The temperature range should be okay. Buy an inexpensive humidistat and check the actual humidity. If it is about 45% or less, it should be okay, also. If much higher, a dehumidifier will certainly help. In any case, I suggest painting the benchwork and any roadbed material that would tend to absorb moisture.
Dante
It is a good practice to place your ("green") benchwork lumber in the layout room for a while to adapt to the temperature environment -- It minimizes wood shrinking after-the-fact as it dries out over time.
Conemaugh Road & Traction circa 1956