Thinking out of the box

[electrolove]

Let's pretend that you have 1000 square feet big layout room. The room is very high from the floor to the ceiling. Let's say 13 feet.

What would you do to with that extra height to get a bigger layout?

Let's start thinking out of the box and see who can solve this in the most creative way.

[IRONROOSTER]

If you don't mind a lot of carpentry, you could do a rabbit warren approach.  With the top level at about 10 feet off the ground and top walkways 6 1/2 feet off the ground.  The lower level would be under the walkways with walkways under the upper layout. You would have to do some 3-d planning to make it all connect together and still be able to get to all of it.  Plus you would have a really tall helix.

Enjoy

Paul 

[electrolove]

I think I understand what you mean, not 100% sure. It would be very nice with a simple sketch, can you please do that?

If you don't mind a lot of carpentry, you could do a rabbit warren approach.  With the top level at about 10 feet off the ground and top walkways 6 1/2 feet off the ground.  The lower level would be under the walkways with walkways under the upper layout. You would have to do some 3-d planning to make it all connect together and still be able to get to all of it.  Plus you would have a really tall helix.

Enjoy

Paul 

[ukguy]

Take a look at Joe Fugates site , specifically the "mushroom design", this would be ideal in maximising your space I think.

Karl.A

 Incidentally there is no box, only the constraints we impose on ourselves.

[SilverSpike]

Karl beat me to it, I was going to mention the "mushroom" too!

Here is a link to Joe's Layout Track Plan with a cutaway view of the "mushroom"

http://siskiyou-railfan.net/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.20

 

[ndbprr]

I'm not so sure the mushroom is practical although it is doable.  13' doesn't allow for two levels with adequate head clearance (read two floors). It does allow for a raised tower of some sort from which to dispatch with a view of the entire railroad.  It also allows for a lounge of some sort over the railroad with a viewing deck as long as the railroad is less than five feet off the ground (staging area under or over the lounge?)  For a mushroom the horizontal space is the critical element in my mind.  The vertical height does allow for a great narrow gauge route up into the mountains with a number of switchbacks and effort to reach some kind of mineral or timber source with the engineer climbing up steps or levels with the train.  That would be a branchline for me.  It also allows for some really spectacular scenery (mountains, canyons or buildings and vertical height for bridges.  It seems more of a problem than a benefit to me.  I'd rather have more horizontal distance than vertical.  It does allow lots of room for lighting effects though.

[tomikawaTT]

The whole thing about a mushroom is that it isn't a two-FLOOR approach, it's a split-LEVEL approach.  4 meters of headroom would give lots of vertical clearance for a mushroom design.  The upper structure doubles up the square footage of layout surface, but does NOT impinge on the overhead clearance in the aisleways.

The only potential ??? about a mushroom is the long grade connecting the two (or more) levels.  Usually, this calls for a helix - but someone modeling the D&RGW in Central Colorado (Through the Rockies, not around them) has a wonderful prototypical excuse for long, sustained grades (and can use the Moffatt Tunnel to explain the length of the helix.)

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[lvanhen]

Go to http://www.northlandz.com/  .  This is a giant layout that has 35' (a little over 10m) of vertical height.  Maybe not the highest quality modeling overall, but very interesting.  Some very funny scenes and a copper pit mine that's at least 10' deep!!

[Rotorranch]

How about this?

That's Charlemagne's Kigdom in Helen, GA.

I've got a better pic, somewhere.

ed: Here's a link to some pics from Charlemagne's Kingdom...I'm still looking for another disc full.

http://s185.photobucket.com/albums/x247/Rotorranch/Charlemagnes%20Kingdom/

Rotor

[TrainFreak409]

Go to http://www.northlandz.com/  .  This is a giant layout that has 35' (a little over 10m) of vertical height.  Maybe not the highest quality modeling overall, but very interesting.  Some very funny scenes and a copper pit mine that's at least 10' deep!!

Looks like some impressive modeling to me! I'd love to visit Northlandz.

[tinman1]

13ft isn't a whole lot of height when you take into account a person 6' tall. You would be hard pressed to have anyone very comfortable with the ceiling an inch away. Would you come up with the room dimentions? I would think a standard double deck layout with a walkway on top of the second deck. That should give you at least 7' and some inches over the floor. The floor could have removable decking to reveal staging. Should be able to get 5 decks I would think. Either that or you could model Mt Everest in scale or a politicians ego (compressed)

 

edit-an upright walkunder platform 6' off the floor with almost a foot of floor

[twhite]

Electrolove:

The garage that holds my Rio Grande Yuba River Sub is FAR taller than 13', but I'm only 6' tall, so even with my grades, my layout at the highest point is only about eye-level, without my having to build an elevated walkway to view it. 

You're modeling Rio Grande mainlines in Colorado, and really, except for that rather dizzying climb of the ex-Moffat Line up through the Front Range west of Denver, the Rio Grande is pretty much confined to the BOTTOM of canyons for most of its mileage.  I remember riding the California Zephyr in the 'sixties from Denver to Sacramento, and except for the climb out of Denver to the Moffat Tunnel, where you are looking DOWN, the rest of the trip consisted of looking UP.  The Rio Grande is a canyon-bottom railroad as opposed to, say, the Southern Pacific Donner Pass line which is built very close to a ridge-TOP. 

Frankly, the only thing I use the extra height for is the mountains above the tracks, even though my Yuba River Sub is a two-level railroad. 

Don't know whether this answers your question or not, though. 

Tom

[Don Z]

EL,

As Tom stated above....I agree.

How about using the available space for extending your planned scenery up as high as possible? After all, you're modeling some very mountainous terrain on your prototype....extending the scenery will lessen the visual compression and make the layout seem bigger by creating the illusion that the train is smaller because it is being dwarfed by the scenery, as does the prototype. Here's a photo of a friend's layout....his mountains start at the floor and go almost to the 8 foot high ceiling above the layout.

Watching trains run on his layout is very enjoyable because it seems as though we are there to look at the scenery that is interrupted by the appearance of a train from time to time....

Don Z.

[twhite]

Don--

Whew, and I thought my Sierra Buttes were high!  Tell your friend that I both admire and envy his modeling.  That's some SPECTACULAR scenery!

Tom

[Flashwave]

Here;s a concern. Maybe some of you are, but I'm no whiz at carpentry. And I'll be dipped if I'm gonna trust my woodwroking skills with a full on catwalk above a lower level of my layout, or even my head.

But one could adapt to a double Mushroom, or what I;m gonna coin a Pyramid. A third higher level.

[ereimer]

how about a g scale layout with floor to ceiling scenery ?

i think that would be very impressive

 

ernie

[Autobus Prime]

Folks:

Stand the tables on their side. Use steel rails and lots of rare-earth magnets.

What box?