TA462 I've seen one in a guitar case once that I thought was incredible. So much detail in such a small case.
I've seen one in a guitar case once that I thought was incredible. So much detail in such a small case.
You're not just stringing us along, are you?
Alton Junction
Basement for me; it takes up a majority of a 33' by 24' space.
Mine is in the living room. Its a coffee table layout 2' x 4' and is N scale. The layout has a glass top plus plexiglass sides (it's a Ikea coffee table) so it is relatively dustproof and cat-proof!
Jeff B
Yikes, I've just reviewed all the postings and realized I have yet to participate!
Mine is in the largest of 4 upstairs bedrooms - 11 1/2 x 15 ft.
The other 3 rooms are my hobby/PC room, the Wife's hobby/PC room, and a legitimate guest bedroom.
Having the use of a spare bedroom is excellent, but the minus is that all your stuff has to go thru the house before it hits the layout room. Thus, extra care must be taken to not mess up the hallway or stairs.
ENJOY !
Mobilman44
Living in southeast Texas, formerly modeling the "postwar" Santa Fe and Illinois Central
I also have mine in the basement. Trying to talk the boss into building an addition onto the two car garage so I can cut a little hole in the wall and run the trains into the garage. The addition would be another two car garage.
Sam
Well, it is about time, mobilman44. We have been waiting on you.
Mine is in the dining room (few houses with basements in the South) since nobody uses the dining room to eat in anymore. Room is 11x11 with layout along three walls. In fact the room size and door/window location is almost a perfect match for the spare room layouts MRP had as a theme several years ago. Working in that size and shape room has taught me:
a. Small square rooms are less than ideal -- longer/narrow rooms give length for a reasonable town between corner curves.
b. After hours of measuring, cutting, fitting, laying track, pulling up track, relaying track, I have come to the conclusion that less is more. Even though my original plan was simple, pulling up some switches and track led to better operations and better appearance. Not counting the staging yard, I'm down to just seven switches on the layout from the 15 I started with.
c. As has been mentioned before, published plans are often way to optimistic about how much track will fit in a given space and don't allow enough room for switches, curves and the fact that actual track is wider than a pencil line. Most of the layouts in those MRP plans I mentioned above try to cram way too much in the available space.
d. No matter how hard I try, I cannot always fit prototype track arrangements into the available space. I spent a lot of effort trying to fit a realistic, selectively compressed version of a prototype town in there. It took several years of attempts to realize I was better off modeling the "feel" rather than the actual towns, leading me toward a proto-freelance rather pure prototype. From years of track planning, I probably need about twice the room size to fit a prototype in a satisfying way.
Here is the latest tally:
Basement - 25
Spare Room - 18
Bedroom - 11
Separate Structure - 7
Garage - 4
Attic - 1
So, we have 66 layouts accounted for.
Each of you who has responded will receive your $1,000 Participation Check in the mail shortly.
Rich
Did I mention that I have a second layout in a coffee table? ($2000)
Alan Jones in Sunny Queensland (Oz)
Alantrains Did I mention that I have a second layout in a coffee table? ($2000)
That second check is in the mail.
You don't by chance have a third layout, do you?
My layout is S scale so shouldn't I get a larger check - $1360?
Paul
Hello I am kinda suprised to see I am the only one with a attic layout.
Richhotrain if you are sending out checks? My little girl she is 8 and would like to know is this counts as a basement layout
if so then send 2 checks please. Have nice day Frank
Greetings all
I recently purchased a "Weatherking" brand out building, one of many that is built under that name, (not to advertise) this one is a 10x20ft lofted barn and comes with a 6ft wide double opening front door centereds on one side as well as two 6x10ft lofts one on either end. Storage of anything extra in our house is provided very nicely. Additionally I have a workbench at one end, all of my 1/35th scale military dioramas and 1/48th scale aircraft under the one building roof, not to mention the 16ft HO shelf type layout with a return loop at each end. (All photos on my FB page) As this worked out to be a perfect building for just about everything hobby related it also serves as a workshop as the room is still quite workable with everthing extra in the lofts. I would recommend a building such as these to anyone that has extra outdoor room and they are constucted in such a way one can insulate, supply 110 power and place paneling and other finishing products on the inside to dress it up a bit. My barn was around 3k but worth the investment. Now all I have to do is heat the darn thing as the temps in SW New Mexico have hit below freezing and low 40s in the daytime.
The best,
johncpo
Content removed due to a completely frak'ed up and incompetent Kalmbach customer service.
I could start a 3rd layout..........Hmmm come to think of it , there's an old portable layout at my Dad's place that Mum wants to get rid of.....
My layout is in our Garage suspended above our car!
The only place available
The layout size is just over 4' X8'
Progress is slow but I am still enjoying the process.
Tracy - Lady who loves the Rails both model size & Real Life!
Building a model railroad (which lives above my Car) in the Land Down Under, Australia.
My Railways blog about my Model Railroad adventures
A lot of folks have also given sizes for their layouts. Just looking at the room choices, it would seem the "typical" layout is a lot smaller than the average bandied about (the really large ones would skew the average). There might just be more useful information about the typical railroad in this thread than in previous official survey.
Nice finished basement (Including a full bath and closet) with a furnace/air room. Leaves me a modeling space of 30ft by 34ft, for a three deck layout.
Bob
Basement, have in storage an 8'x4' layout I was helping a young fellow to build, he has since left town, and I'm looking at finishing the wiring and as it has 18'' curves and a 4% grad using it as a test track for my locos and rolling stock.
"One difference between pessimists and optimists is that while pessimists are more often right, optimists have far more fun."
Basement - 27
Separate Structure - 8
Garage - 5
Now up to 70 layouts accounted for.
Can we reach 100?
Has anyone said "DOGHOUSE" I guess thats only when the wife finds a new loco on the layout...lol
Rich mine is in the garage in western pa ... Alot of homes out here have the 1/2 basement ..1/2 garage...would love to have the seperate building or large shed with power....
West Penn N
I also have the basement with a house on it, we bought it 4 years ago and when I first looked at it I couldn't believe the basement, it was dry walled ,insulated with a drop ceiling with recessed lights all around the walls. And so after 21 sheets of plywood and 4 sheets of homasote I have my railroad empire.Jim.
There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over.....
I have a little 9x9 shed that comes with my space. It started out as pure storage, then became a model boat building shop that moonlighted as a computer repair shop then that all got torn down and not it is a model railroad with a "fix just-a-bout anything" workshop.
Massey
p.s. My landlord was shocked when she found out what I did to my shed!!
A Veteran, whether active duty, retired, national guard, or reserve, is someone who, at one point in his or her life, wrote a blank check made payable to "The United States of America" for an amount of "up to and including my life."
West Penn Nscale Has anyone said "DOGHOUSE" I guess thats only when the wife finds a new loco on the layout...lol
The key here is to have alot of engines and keep them in boxes for long periods of time. Then when she asks you about the new engine on the layout you can simply say that you just took it out of the box.
Rich, Rich, Rich, Rich, Rich!!!!!!
Yo, I finally made a simple Z Gauge one!!! In the 'Living Room!!!!!'
Count me!!!
See, it is "Channel Zee!!!!"
ChadLRyan Rich, Rich, Rich, Rich, Rich!!!!!! Yo, I finally made a simple Z Gauge one!!! In the 'Living Room!!!!!' Count me!!! See, it is "Channel Zee!!!!"
Consider yourself counted, Chad !
U da Man.
Geezzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz, that is terrific.
Your check is in the mail!
Rich,
Mine is in the basement along with my work areas, not really what one would call a "finished" basement, but it is finished well enough for me.
Wayne
Modeling HO Freelance Logging Railroad.
We have a Tri-level house and my layout is in the subbasement with the furnace, well and other utilities. The layout will go around the walls of a 12x24 foot room when it is complete. Right now the trains can only move about 18 feet along one wall. That's progress considering two years ago they could move about three feet.
Dave
Basement - 31
Spare Room - 19
Separate Structure - 9
Garage - 6
We now have 77 layouts accounted for.