24x20 here, in a "California Basement" (garage). HO scale, extended dog-bone, 36" min radius (except for one small 34" section in hidden trackage), 2-2 1/4% interrupted gradients. Western mountain scenery. Layout is built along three walls with an extended "island." Height from floor to "0" elevation on the layout is 45 inches.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
I have an around-the-room layout in an oddly-shaped basement room of 560 sq.ft.The layout is partially double-decked, with 355 sq.ft. on the lower level and an additional 145 sq.ft. on the upper., and an aisle area of approximately 195 sq.ft. Beneath the layout is a storage area (train stuff and household stuff, tools, etc.) of roughly 350 sq.ft.
That's 500 sq.ft. of layout and 350 sq.ft. of storage (admittedly only 2'-3' high) in a 560 sq.ft. room - fairly efficient use of space, I think.
Wayne
IRONROOSTER gregc Consider Byron's page on Why Waste the Space on an HO 4x8?, a 4x8' layout in a 12x12' room or an around the wall type of layout. 4x8', 32 sq ft is roughly 22% of the room. The around the wall layout uses up all the room space except for roughly the 4x8' space, 112 sq ft or 78%. Uh, actually he is using an 8x10 room so the 4x8 is 40%. In a 12x12 room you can have the 4x8 and still use the room for other things. If you put the 4x8 on wheels (an easy thing to do) you shove it the corner when not in use for even more useability. I think this illustrates an important point with size. The real size is how much space is taken up that can not be used for other things. I have a 12' x 31' space where I am building phase 1 one of the "Big One". It's around the room with a center peninsula. There is nothing else the room can be used for (except under the layout storage). So how much is aisles and how much is benchwork doesn't matter, all 372 sq ft is layout space. In another part of the basement I have a 6'x12' tabletop on wheels (currently it has some Lionel trains on it). Since it is on wheels it's normal spot is in a corner so it only takes up 72 square feet. This allows for a small work bench, tool chest/carts, and a desk plus access to the door to the outside in a 14'x18' area. Enjoy Paul
gregc Consider Byron's page on Why Waste the Space on an HO 4x8?, a 4x8' layout in a 12x12' room or an around the wall type of layout. 4x8', 32 sq ft is roughly 22% of the room. The around the wall layout uses up all the room space except for roughly the 4x8' space, 112 sq ft or 78%.
Consider Byron's page on Why Waste the Space on an HO 4x8?, a 4x8' layout in a 12x12' room or an around the wall type of layout. 4x8', 32 sq ft is roughly 22% of the room. The around the wall layout uses up all the room space except for roughly the 4x8' space, 112 sq ft or 78%.
Uh, actually he is using an 8x10 room so the 4x8 is 40%.
In a 12x12 room you can have the 4x8 and still use the room for other things. If you put the 4x8 on wheels (an easy thing to do) you shove it the corner when not in use for even more useability.
I think this illustrates an important point with size. The real size is how much space is taken up that can not be used for other things.
I have a 12' x 31' space where I am building phase 1 one of the "Big One". It's around the room with a center peninsula. There is nothing else the room can be used for (except under the layout storage). So how much is aisles and how much is benchwork doesn't matter, all 372 sq ft is layout space.
In another part of the basement I have a 6'x12' tabletop on wheels (currently it has some Lionel trains on it). Since it is on wheels it's normal spot is in a corner so it only takes up 72 square feet. This allows for a small work bench, tool chest/carts, and a desk plus access to the door to the outside in a 14'x18' area.
Enjoy
Paul
I agree with Paul as well, that is what I have been trying to explain to Greg all along.
If the space is ALL layout and layout necessary isles, that is the required/used space.
I understand some people have their layout in a room also used for other things, but many of us have dedicated spaces. In many cases those folks design their layouts to use the whole space.
My model building workshop is in a different part of my residence, my computer is in a seperate office in my home, I don't own a railroad scanner.
In fact, while my layout is in the second floor of my detached garage, my model workshop is in my basement. That alone consumes a space about 15' x 20'.
The basement is about 1300 sq feet, but has a very low ceiling - the house was built in 1901 - so the trains are in the garage, a building I designed and built 19 years ago.
I have considered building a second layout, a water front ISL, in the basement - but time is the limiting factor.
And, if I was really ambitious, there are three rooms on the third floor of the house not really being used.......at one point I considered puting the Christmas Village On30 up there and leaving it up all year long.....again, need to retire to have more time.
Sheldon
Interesting.
I have no basement. And though I have a 21 x 24 ft garage...it has no insulation or climate control. Since I'm single and have no one to answer to...I built a 'C' shaped layout 14 x 19 x 10 that occupies my living room, dining area, and part of my kitchen. About 80' of mainline for continuous run.
Mark H
Modeling in HO...Reading and Conrail together in an alternate history.
I have a basement room of about 336 square foot, and I'm building a new layout around the walls with roughly 58' of main line with a minimum 28" radius curve and minimum #6 switches. Room size is 21'x16'.
Actual space used will be a rather small 118 square feet, but a decent size for a branchline layout with some switching.
ATLANTIC CENTRALThat is an interesting view, but I don't know hardly anyone personally around here with a layout that small. Sheldon
I should have explain why that is. The guys I know has a "man cave" that houses their layout,work bench,small computer area, railroad scanner and paint booth..That's all the space they are allowed by their "sufficient other" or she who rules the house and is the master of all she surveys.
Some layouts is around two walls L Shape with turn backs or a simple 4x8 or 4x10' layout..Nothing fancy.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Live in a condo and my spare bedroom is my layout space. L shaped Approx. 22x2x4 at the ends for continuous running. Height is 51"
Not huge by any means but having fun building it and running what track I have installed. It will be DC only.
I'll add my data although I never measured the mainline distance:
1st layout: 16x19' hollow L - track went around it twice - tear drop to tear top configuration with a yard and one passing siding - passing capacity 15' long train.
2nd layout: 14x25' continuous running, yard over hidden staging, single track mainline with passing track capacity 18'.
3rd layout (under construction): 10x18' twice around the wall, 11 track staging yard under main yard which is over the top.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
gregc ATLANTIC CENTRAL gregc ATLANTIC CENTRAL I know a few with mega layouts, 2000, 3000 sq feet. size of the room or layout benchwork? Yes I mean size of the room. Benchwork is typically 2/3rds of the space, sometimes 3/4. Once layouts take on complex shapes it is hard to describe them based on benchwork size. Many basement sized layouts around here are wind around the room several times with narrow benchwork. Again, amoung the people I know, my 960 sq feet is "average". Sheldon i don't think room size is a good way to measure layout size. Consider Byron's page on Why Waste the Space on an HO 4x8?, a 4x8' layout in a 12x12' room or an around the wall type of layout. 4x8', 32 sq ft is roughly 22% of the room. The around the wall layout uses up all the room space except for roughly the 4x8' space, 112 sq ft or 78%.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL gregc ATLANTIC CENTRAL I know a few with mega layouts, 2000, 3000 sq feet. size of the room or layout benchwork? Yes I mean size of the room. Benchwork is typically 2/3rds of the space, sometimes 3/4. Once layouts take on complex shapes it is hard to describe them based on benchwork size. Many basement sized layouts around here are wind around the room several times with narrow benchwork. Again, amoung the people I know, my 960 sq feet is "average". Sheldon
gregc ATLANTIC CENTRAL I know a few with mega layouts, 2000, 3000 sq feet. size of the room or layout benchwork?
ATLANTIC CENTRAL I know a few with mega layouts, 2000, 3000 sq feet.
size of the room or layout benchwork?
Yes I mean size of the room. Benchwork is typically 2/3rds of the space, sometimes 3/4.
Once layouts take on complex shapes it is hard to describe them based on benchwork size. Many basement sized layouts around here are wind around the room several times with narrow benchwork.
Again, amoung the people I know, my 960 sq feet is "average".
i don't think room size is a good way to measure layout size.
Greg, I understand what you are saying, and I don't have an electronic version of my track plan to post here, but I will try to describe it.
24' x 40' room above 32' x 40' detatched garage, stairs enter near center of one end. Layout goes all the way around room with duck under, and has two large peninsulas that stick out into the room.
Benchwork varies from 30" deep to 48" deep, the two peninsulas are 8' wide to alow for large curves (min 36") and fill all the remaining interior of the room except for the 3' wide isles.
My layout benchwork scheme is typical of other basement sized layouts in this region.
So more than 60% of the floor space is bench work.
greg - Philadelphia & Reading / Reading
ATLANTIC CENTRALAverage? That depends on the fomula you decide to use, and will vary considerably in different parts of the country. Here in the Mid Atlantic, where nearly every single home has a basement, layout tend to be fairly large. I know dozens of modelers within 15 miles of my house with layouts that fill anywhere from 500 to 1500 sq foot rooms/basements.
GACK! My room is 24' x 27' and I thought that that was BIG room, but it only works out to 648 square feet. And the LION has BIG generous isles. But him also has three levels of track on the back 40, and four track mane lions.
Him had 14 scale miles of tracks, nine miles of it on the main route between 242nd Street and South Ferry and back again. The other five miles are for the express trains which operate "from the Nevins Street Tower whcih was never build but the trains run there nonetheless.
So I like my layout, but apparently it qualifies not as a Mega Layout. We call it a room size layout with the cavat that it is a Class Room.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
Modeling BNSF and Milwaukee Road in SW Wisconsin
My room is about 24' x 15'. I have used (so far) 120 Metres of track plus about 40 turnouts. As far as how much is benchwork, I have not figured it out.
I can more than double my space if I choose, however I am glad I didn't go any larger than what I did.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
ATLANTIC CENTRALAgain, amoung the people I know, my 960 sq feet is "average".
Sheldon - your layout can´t possibly be just average
Seriously, I don´t think it is possible to establish the size of an average layout, based on facts and not only guestimations. What we see here is certainly not your average Joe Schmal layout, but the layouts of people to whom model railroading is a not unimportant part of their lives. Some of them are room-filling or even basement filling empires, some of them are much smaller ISL´s or modular layouts.
My best guess is, that, if there´s to be a poll on that topic, the vast majority of layouts are the much discussed, loved and hated 4 by 8´s, if you include all types of "trains", incl. the "toy" trains.
But what´s that information good for? The fun and in model railroading does not depend on the size of the layout, unless you are into that "my layout is bigger than yours" - game. I am not, and my layout is not even a small layout, but rather a micro-layout.
My layout is around the walls of a 35 x 13 room, 3.5 sides of it, with reversing loops at each end. It operates as a point to point so the main line is about 80 ft. When I run trains for display, the backside of the dogbone comes into play and then the main line is about 170 ft
- Douglas
2 4x8 sheets of plywood to form a "L" shape in a 14x10 shead, insluated and air conditioned, not an option in East Texas
cuyamathe median room size is 240 square feet
An interesting number... roughly the size of a single car garage.
I have the right to remain silent. By posting here I have given up that right and accept that anything I say can and will be used as evidence to critique me.
There's probably no good data to be found, since it’s all anecdotal (including what I am about to post).
Looking at 100+ custom layout design projects I have done since 2003, the median room size is 240 square feet and the average room size is 490 square feet. But clients for custom layout design likely tend to have larger spaces, so the data is skewed.
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
BRAKIE selector I suspect the majority of layouts of any description almost fill a bedroom or a corner of a large open basement. Something like 6X10. A great many are on plain old sheets of ply measuring 4X8. Those filling large garages, basements, or leased spaces dedicated to 'large' layouts would be in the minority everywhere, something like one in six or eight. It's just a guess. Based on the modelers I know I will say you nailed the common size the average modeler builds. I've also notice the popularly growth of switching layouts over the past 3 years.
selector I suspect the majority of layouts of any description almost fill a bedroom or a corner of a large open basement. Something like 6X10. A great many are on plain old sheets of ply measuring 4X8. Those filling large garages, basements, or leased spaces dedicated to 'large' layouts would be in the minority everywhere, something like one in six or eight. It's just a guess.
I suspect the majority of layouts of any description almost fill a bedroom or a corner of a large open basement. Something like 6X10. A great many are on plain old sheets of ply measuring 4X8. Those filling large garages, basements, or leased spaces dedicated to 'large' layouts would be in the minority everywhere, something like one in six or eight.
It's just a guess.
Based on the modelers I know I will say you nailed the common size the average modeler builds.
I've also notice the popularly growth of switching layouts over the past 3 years.
That is an interesting view, but I don't know hardly anyone personally around here with a layout that small.
To Gregc ,Size of the room.
My HO layout is currently 4X10, once remodeling of 2 rooms is completed however, it will be going to a "L" shaped 4X12X13 (in a different room than currently housed, once it's expanded.). Turn backs and middle will "bump out" to 5 feet to allow larger radii. (Some of current layout will be reused, most rebuilt though.)
Ricky W.
HO scale Proto-freelancer.
My Railroad rules:
1: It's my railroad, my rules.
2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.
3: Any objections, consult above rules.
My layout is 15x30 with a 240 mainline. It is a very large dogbone but designed as point to point with the backside used when a just running trains or breaking something in.
ATLANTIC CENTRALI know a few with mega layouts, 2000, 3000 sq feet.
Average? That depends on the fomula you decide to use, and will vary considerably in different parts of the country.
Here in the Mid Atlantic, where nearly every single home has a basement, layout tend to be fairly large. I know dozens of modelers within 15 miles of my house with layouts that fill anywhere from 500 to 1500 sq foot rooms/basements.
I know very few modelers with "small" layouts - less than the size of a bedroom.
I know a few with mega layouts, 2000, 3000 sq feet.
In this part of the country, I would say my layout space is "average", 940 sq foot room just for that purpose. My mainline, when complete will be about 800' of double track.