The Dreaded Day Has Come

[Adelie]

I've agonized over this day for a while. The Chief of Engineering of the N scale Bunter Ridge Southwestern has issued the order to break her down and pack her up. Destruction (or disassembly, if you prefer) starts tonight.

We closed on a new house in Asheville, NC last week, so for the time being we are the owners of two basements. The one occupied by the Bunter Ridge Southwestern, still very much in its infancy (benchwork 90% done, staging level done, some operating level trackwork down and more roadbed/subroadbed in place) has a "for sale" sign in front. We will actually move when this house sells. Ah, it was a good space while it lasted.

I'm a bad news first sort, so as to end on a positive note.

The bad:
* Giving up a 40 x 14 unobstructed space,
* Giving up a pretty good plan for a railroad,
* Losing about 2 years of actual work building it.

Now the good:
* The new space, while smaller (16 x 20 with a possible 2 x 10 extension, somewhere between about 235 and 260 sq. ft useable), is finished. The lighting "ain't great" but that is correctable,
* There is a bathroom attached to the railroad space,
* While there are a couple of obstructions, these are pretty easy to avoid,
* The benchwork components of the old BR are reuseable in some form,
* The new space will also be where my office is located (not included in the useable space calculations) which means I can goof off with the trains when work is slow,
* Our quality of life will be vastly improved,
* The space is self-contained in the basement, accessible by a door to the garage and one to the outside. If the wife commences nagging, uh, gently reminding me of things I have not done, I can actually lock myself in the railroad/office area!

So, while the track gang (me and my trusty impact driver) prepare for a painful task while wondering what might have been, spirits are lifted by the vision of what might yet be.

[SpaceMouse]

Congrats! At least half the worry is over. I'll be waiting for the track plans to hit the forum.

[rrinker]

Don't neglect the office area! Build it high, on narrow benchwork and you can completely surround your work area with trains too. And still have plenty of space to line the walls with bookshelves and have a desk with the PC an whatever else you might need.A swinging section attached to the door would let you go all the way around. Add a cutoff connection where it goes into the actual railroad room and you can set up continuous running while you work without anything running out of sight.
Hmm, or have the loop around the office on a grade to proved the 'nolix' portion to support a double-deck arrangement in the other room with no space-eating helix.

--Randy

[Adelie]

I've put an Available Space diagram on my web space at:
http://home.earthlink.net/~adelie/Available%20Space.jpg

* The numbers are in inches, grid is 12" increments, scale is N. Era remains 1958. Primary industries are timber, paper, wood products, etc.
* My desired minimum radius would be around 23" with easements (cosmetic thing). I could be tempted to go smaller, but only if necessary.
* Would like to maintain 30-36" aisles.
* The opening on the bottom, near the left corner is a door to the bathroom and a second door to the garage.
* The hatched area is a closet. I love closets, but I wi***his one was elsewhere!
* Dashed line is the limits of useable space given appropriate access to doors, etc. The hallway that is 39" wide (6 or 7" wide shelf or shelves are as good as it gets here). This hallway will be for people only. Anything of any substance would simply come in through the garage.
* The opening on the right side is to the outside.
* My office is expected to be the room on the right side, the rest can be dedicated to trains.
* I do not know what is inside the wall between my office and the center room....it may be "pierceable."
* There is a window on the right side wall of the center room, near the top of that wall. The bottom of the window is at least 48" high, and the view outside is the two air conditioning units....no loss if it is simply covered over by a removable backdrop section.
* The ceiling in the basement is higher than any basement ceiling I have seen, largely because the house is sort of carved into a hillside (not a severe slope, but a slope).
* Rooms are completely finished and heated/ac'ed. My workshop is in a separate "semi finished" room next to the garage.
* If it matters, control will be through the existing Digitrax system (DCS100 command station)

My initial idea was a G-shaped folded dogbone with the fold in the lower left, running around the wall up the left side, across the top to the exterior wall in the middle room, down it's right wall, across it's bottom wall with return loops back in the left side room, extending to 36" from the shelf running up it's left side. If I invade my office, it will come off the a return loop and extend to a yard/city and switching section in my office. Such a run would either be on a shelf in the hallway or through the wall between the rooms. Loops would be largely concealed by scenery.

I don't care about trains entering scenes more than once. This could be multi-level, all or in part. Staging would be added in either a lower level or on multiple shelves in the hallway if I go through the wall with the mainline, or if I don't enter the office at all.

This is a long-term project and serious planning will probably not start for a couple of months (unfortunately). So if I don't respond to suggestions, it is not that I am ignoring them. I'll probably copy them to a Word file and get to them when I am done dismantling and able to focus on planning again.

[mikesmowers]

Congrats.... With a little luck you should have your new layout up and running in a couple of months. hahahaha

[ereimer]

looks like overall it's a good move for you and family . it's a pity about all the work you've done on the current version , but with the new basement already prepped you should be back into construction soon , and that will ease the pain

good luck !