your estimate on cost per foot?

[tinman1]

I'm curious as to what the cost per foot (avg) is for some of these awesome layouts posted here. I'm only talking what came out of the wallet and not the time involved. This would include everything, from the benchwork to the last pop can in the diner. (no room additions, carpet, etc). Did you purchase everything or do a lot of scratch building and obtaining readily available materials (dirt, crushed gravel, twigs)? I'm just trying to get an idea of where I stand.

[NS2591]

On my layout is probably between 20-35 a square foot. Depending on where at and how far along it is. I have a couple areas that s just a couple tracks and some scenery(paper mach'e ontop of card board strips from a box from work) so I'm not paying that much for those ares. But my eventual 4 track yard may go up as high as like 40 a square foot(N scale C55 is expensive when you need large amounts) Keep in mind though I have not progressed very far into the Scenery yet. I have only the basic amounts of it some does have some grass but that has yet to get glued becuase I may end up putting a farm there.

[skiloff]

I don't think I'd put that in writing in case my wife were to see it.    I've barely started the benchwork and I'm in almost a grand already, but I've torn down two layouts after moves.  I'm just glad I have more room now than when I started.

[larak]

Approximately $15 per square foot for me. If/When I add DCC probably another $3 or so.

Scenery - lots of natural materials, art supplies in bulk, etc. Rolling stock - train show castoffs modified with wheels, couplers, weights etc. Locos - mid priced, some P2k. didn't go overboard on the numbers of locos, just what I needed (8, could use another switcher). Structures - mix of updated stuff from old layouts, new and scratch.

[loathar]

It's kind of hard to say since I've only scratched the surface. I was figuring $100/sq. ft. but it looks like it's gonna be more like $50/ft. (100 sq. ft. layout). The thing that might push that figure up is if I go overboard on lights and signals.

[cwclark]

Well, let's see..I have about $35,000 tied up in the layout so far and my room is 23' X 25' so thats 575 sq/ft. Lemme divide 575 into $35,000...ok...so far it's $60.87 per sq/ft.  The catch is, i'm far from done as of yet!.....chuck  

[pastorbob]

That is tough to estimate.  My layout is 3 decks, occupies a basement area 35ft by 28ft.  However, it is pretty much done.  The basic bench work started in 1986-87, hasn't had much change.  Scenery is pretty much done, track is laid, wiring/DCC installed, so while components may be expensive, again, spread out over 20 years or so, not so bad.  Probably the rolling stock and engines are the most expensive part.

Bob

[Red Horse]

Your post got me to look up my journal from when this latest layout began, it is a 4'X8' in HO scale and too date down to the penny it only took  $1,010.68 and that is because I used a lot of recycled stuff, now this is also without any trains included so I think I got away with it pretty cheap.

[chatanuga]

My layout, so far, has a little over $4000 in just the layout itself.  I'm still working on how much rolling stock I have.

Kevin

[lvanhen]

This is one of those trick questions - with no correct answer.  3/4 of the stuff on my 4x8 plywood central is from the 60's & 70's - when Preiser figs cost about $2.95 per set!!  What about rolling stock - I have a bunch of Athearn BB's that I paid $1 to $1.50 in the '60's as well as a couple of sound/DCC locos that cost up to $500!!  How much is a car per foot - are we talking a Ferrari or a Yugo?!!  Too many variables - using an old piece of ply, scrap from construction sites, and flea market/yard sale cars & locos could be as low as $10/SF - craftsman kits & brass locos could be $1000+/SF!!

[Phoebe Vet]

The average number you seek is meaningless.  It's like asking how much per wheel does a car cost.  The cost of twenty Yugo's will be seriously skewed by including one Ferrari.

Some people have a simple layout with so many trains that they need to keep some of them on display on the wall until they want to run them.  Others have a few trains and acres of room to run them.

Some people pride themselves on their ability to make anything on the layout from stuff they find around the house, others buy already built everything.

$400 in DCC stuff on a 4x8 layout vs the same stuff on a 16x20 around the room 3 level layout.

If you seek an average, you need to subdivide by many catagories.

[nbrodar]

My layout + DCC, less rolling stock, cost about $60 per square foot.  The layout, with out DCC or rolling stock is about $52. Including my...umm...sizable fleet the cost balloons to more then I care to think about.

I use mostly commerical materials, but the costs come in clumps.  Benchwork and wireing costs are pretty balanced across the whole layout.  But, yards and urban areas are more dollar intensive the mainline running in open country.

Nick 

[howmus]

The average number you seek is meaningless.  It's like asking how much per wheel does a car cost.  The cost of twenty Yugo's will be seriously skewed by including one Ferrari.

Some people have a simple layout with so many trains that they need to keep some of them on display on the wall until they want to run them.  Others have a few trains and acres of room to run them.

Some people pride themselves on their ability to make anything on the layout from stuff they find around the house, others buy already built everything.

$400 in DCC stuff on a 4x8 layout vs the same stuff on a 16x20 around the room 3 level layout.

If you seek an average, you need to subdivide by many catagories.

What he said!  There is an awful lot of variables.  By "square foot" do you mean total floor space, or just the actual footprint of the layout?  If the first, I can account for around $50 per SF if the second then raise that to about $90 per SF.  That is with all the benchwork done, 95% of the trackwork completed but only around 30% of the scenery finished.  And I scratchbuild a lot of items.......  On the other hand, my sister's hobby is traveling all over the world to see artists and craftspeople from remote villages.  She spends over $8,000 a year on that.  I have a friend who is big into fishing.  Let's see $25,000 for the boat............

I figure that I will spend well over $125 per foot by the time I am finished, which will be when they pry the DT400R out of my cold hands! 

[Margaritaman]

Keeping track takes the fun out of it for me.

[N737AA]

I don't think I'd put that in writing in case my wife were to see it.   

 

Nuff said!

[CSXDixieLine]

Do you care if it is my left foot or right foot? Seriously I do keep track of what I have spent so far on my benchwork (that is the current construction phase I am on). I have an 18x9' 3-level layout, and anything that gets permanently attached to it goes on my expense sheet:

http://csxdixieline.blogspot.com/2008/07/expenses.html

Eventually, I will add all of the track, wiring, DCC, scenery materials, rolling stock, locomotives, etc. but will not add things such as tools (for example, I had to buy a table saw to rip plywood but that is not included). But as others have noted, what I spend may or may not be close to what someone else would spend to do the same space, depending on track plan, scale, era and other factors. Jamie

[shayfan84325]

If I don't include locos and rolling stock, I've got about a grand invested in 48 square feet ($21/sqft).  I buy almost everything second hand.  Often, refurbishment is required, but I feel good about where I end up for the money.  Our local club has an auction every September; lot of the time there is only one bidder on really good stuff.  eBay is a great source for used train stuff, too.  It can be a pretty economical hobby when new in box is not a criterion for purchase.

I'd like to see pictures of the various layouts along with their cost per square foot.  Here's mine:

A wide shot that shows the whole thing (including the furnace in the middle):

The track runs both in front of and behind the furnace.  This winter I'll be doing scenery on that section to the left in the photo.

Here's the track plan:

[tomikawaTT]

Three young ladies went to the ball in almost-identical gowns:

1. Miss Richstorm(1) wore her original (insert hyperexpensive custom designer name) gown.
2. Miss Wageearner bought her gown at Clothes r' Us, accessorized at Wal-Mart.
3. Miss Economy (a professional seamstress) assembled her gown from parts of a couple of Goodwill purchases.

Three modelers built identical layouts:

1. Bigdaddy Megabucks had his layout custom-built by (insert professional firm) and his expensive, top line RTR rolling stock custom-finished.
2. Joe Ordinaire bought materials at his LHS, his BigBox home improvement store and off the internet, accessorized from the Walthers sale fliers.
3. Senor El Cheapo scrounged scrap materials at construction sites.  His rolling stock was bought off the returns shelf at the LHS and from junk boxes at train shows.

I have nothing but respect for the #1 modeler, but my own work falls somewhere between #2 and #3.  My layout contains much recycled material (including multiconductor communications cable acquired in the 1970s. some wood products from 1980s construction sites and pink foam leftovers from a 1998 re-siding project.)  I can't even guess a per-square-foot cost, but it has never been more than I could afford - and I am NOT wealthy.

(1)  Storm was my favorite canine critter - a Shepherd-Husky mix with the appearance and attitude of a timber wolf.  One guess as to sex.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[twhite]

Interesting question and one I've never really thought about before.  And I'm discounting my rolling stock and motive power.  The lumber and foam was pretty cheap (Home Depot), the WS risers and roadbed wasn't so pretty cheap (my two local LHS'), and the track was relatively inexpensive (though the turnouts sure weren't!).  Hm, saved a bit on the foliage with bamboo skewers and a HUGE flat of furnace filters.  WS ground cover, ballast and some custom deciduous trees DEFINITELY weren 't cheap. 

Dang, I'd get too confused trying to figure it out by the foot.  Despite being a musician, I never WAS good at math (that's an old Urban Legend, anyway--musicians are good at FRACTIONS and that's about it!). 

Now I suppose I'll be up all night figuring it out.  Gee, thanks!

Tom  

[howmus]

Dang, I'd get too confused trying to figure it out by the foot.  Despite being a musician, I never WAS good at math (that's an old Urban Legend, anyway--musicians are good at FRACTIONS and that's about it!). 

Now I suppose I'll be up all night figuring it out.  Gee, thanks!

Tom  

Most of us can only count to 4.........

[Capt. Grimek]

Hey Tom,
I'm a musician (bass guitarist) and an ex music major and music teacher/band and choir director.
Musicians are statistically/educationally math challenged compared with other students.

Albert Einstein, even though a genius had infamously bad rhythm and had trouble sub dividing beats.

When I was a Music Ed. major in the '70s, our new Dept. head at our college, was one of the rare musician/composers who WAS good at math. He loved physics and insisted that our music dept. student body take Physics classes. We got an old John Houseman/"Paper Chase" (movie reference) "dinosaur" who
spent all class period muttering and writing obscure formulii on three blackboards. The ENTIRE music dept. was flunking physics. A huge embarassment, so they fixed us up with a young,hip, physics prof. who taught the concepts using NO math whatsoever. (Rolling balls down inclined planes, etc.)
We all earned "A"s and "B"s. I joke that I could have worked for NASA with that "A" in physics!

I've just purchased most of my dimensional lumber for an 8'X16' layout and I've got $185 worth into that.
About $550 for locos. Another $300 or so for track, some turnouts, a little rolling stock, etc.
So already up to a grand at least.

[Dallas Model Works]

I think the simple answer is: as much as you want it to.

It all depends on 3 things:

1) Quality of products used (and the price you pay for them -- you can pay full MSRP or discount)

2) Urban Density -- are you modeling a flat plain with no buildings (or trees) or are you modeling downtown Chicago?

3) Track Density -- are you modelling a one-track branch line or are you modelling a massive yard?

There's also a fourth: What the wife will let you get away with

 

[jfugate]

My HO Siskiyou Line is 810 square feet and to date the cost is roughly $20 per square foot.

I also have an article I wrote on layout planning analysis, which includes some comments on estimating layout cost.

Some basic observations:

What you put on the track costs the most, with locos being the most expensive item. What goes on the track is actually about 2/3rds of the cost of a layout. The physical plant (layout proper) is roughly the remaining 1/3rd. So if you provide the layout and all your friends provide the equipment - you're getting the less expensive end of that deal!

(This, of course, ignores the cost of the actual floor space ... )

Of the layout physical plant, basic "brown plaster" scenery is the cheapest, followed by benchwork, then electrical, and then trackwork. The single most expensive trackwork item is turnouts. Finally, the most expensive of all on the layout itself is scenery details - structures, bridges, vegetation and the myriad of other details like cars, people, animal and a host of other little detail parts.

That last item, the scenery details, can eclipse the price of everything else on the layout if you go hog wild and detail things to the hilt - especially with prebuilt stuff. For instance, I have one area where I've used a lot of Canyon Creek Scenic's trees. Their trees are killer level quality, and they're $20 a pop. I can easily fit 50 trees into an area a couple square feet in size, so that's $500 per square foot for that area. And that's the basic trees - they also have one-of-a-kind trees they'll do for you with eagle's nests, multiple curved trunks, moss and lichen detail - for $100 per tree. Of course you can build the trees yourself for a lot less, but don't ignore the time commitment to build 50 highly detailed trees.

Bottom line is scenery details, especially premade ones, can skyrocket the layout costs as far as you care to go. A basic layout with basic home made detail is not that expensive.

 

[IRONROOSTER]

I long ago lost track of how much I've spent and what I bought at list and what at discount.  I don't have a big enough layout to use everything I've got so I don't know how you figure that in.  But the truth is, it's not important.  This is a hobby and while I have a plan for an operational layout I also have things I like that won't fit in. The main layout is S, but eventually, I'll have some kind of a layout/display in HO, O, Lionel, Sn2 and maybe N and G as well.

Enjoy

Paul 

[MichaelWinicki]

In Spookshow's (Mark Peterson) terrific blog he's chronicled what he's spent on the last two layouts he's contructed-- now keep in mind that these costs do not include engines, rolling stock or the DCC to power the trains.  These are N-scale layouts...

Layout size 7.5 x 4.5 - Cost $5431.00 or $160 per square foot (layout completed and sold)

Layout size 7.5 x 3.5 - Cost $2771.00 or $105 per square foot (layout not totally completed)

Mark does use a lot of pre-built stuff and he loves lighting & signals which really boosts the cost, and he does buy a lot of stuff at his local hobby shop, which I don't consider to be a bad thing.  I think the information is interesting none the less.

[jon grant]

I'm too scared to sit down and work it all out.

Building a heavily urbanised layout probably cost me a lot more per square foot than if I'd done a more rural setting, and I used offcuts and leftover building parts where possible.

Jon 

 

[RRTrainman]

I think some of these guy's built there layout years ago.  I spent close to $500 of my first layout, but that was 15 years ago.  My extention that is 2.5 X 14 is close to $2000 and that was using some recycled pieces on it. 

[twhite]

Boy, howdy, Joe Fugate's sure on the button with the cost of scenery items--I just spent about $9 for a little rowboat so the $10 kids I bought a couple of months ago would have something to fish from on Bullard's Bar Lake.  The lake itself cost me about $10 to pour a couple of years ago.  All I can say, is for those amounts of money, there'd better be a lot of HO scale Kokonie Salmon in that there water!

Tom

[tinman1]

I probably should have stated a couple more parameters to get better results. I wasn't inquiring about room area, just actual layout size. Rolling stock and locos are not included either. I am building my first layout and am interested in a particular "look".  I was trying to find the avg costs from a person who scratch builds everything to the person who could afford to stack FSM kits where they wanted. The hardest variable to overcome is time. A person who built their layout 20yrs ago would have modest costs compared to today. My layout(actual) is approaching 280sqft. I can see from alot of these posts that I'm looking at $20-30sqft. Thats a chunk of change. This helps alot as I'm building, trying to keep this economical and progressing. Is dust considered weathering???? (joking)

[galaxy]

The only cost I have ever been concerned with is: what do I need today and do I have the money for it? If not, how long will it be before I have the money for it?

I'm affraid to know the total cost, as I am nowhere near complete, I'm on the "piece meal plan".

If I knew back when I got back into the hobby what it would cost total to "complete"....I never would have started and probably would have opted for another trip to Hawaii.

But it gives me such pleasure! and Hawaii would be short-lived again!