Around 34". It is great to work on and when seated on a roll around, give you that close to eye level look.
My current layout is 50" high. I had a 58" high layout a few years ago and while the viewing angle was great for the first track, I had trouble seeing behind the train. Less than 50" seems too low. This is for S scale and I'm 5'11". If I were doing it in HO I'd probably go to 54". For N scale 56".
I highly suggest you do some mockups with running trains before picking a height.
Good luck
Paul
I have built layouts up around 46" high, two of them, and one down at 24". All of them were very enjoyable. I found the height to be largely irrelevant except in the case of imagery; the camera must be down close to the 'ground' level. Otherwise, I can honestly enjoy kids' Thomas layouts down at 16" or ones where I almost need a step-stool.
It happens that storage is important for me. I have to be able to store stuff under the layout, so this means I will be building my new garage layout up around 46-52" (not sure yet...have to think about it a bit more). This has the happy collateral advantage of not having to stoop to retrieve items or to place a camera, or even just to appreciate a more natural placement of my eyes when watching the trains move.
I think optimal height is around 48 to 50 inches. I built my staging at 42 and the main yard at 50 inches. I don't care for viewing trains much below that - it's like viewing trains from a helecopter. It's better to view them more from the sides like real life. Get close to 50 inches, at least for someone near 6 feet tall, and thats a good compromise between accessibility and viewing angle. I have a step stool for working on it though such as track laying or other work.
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Great answers now all I have to do is figure out how to raise my around the room layout without hurting the completed scenery...
Mine is 42". The rationale--that's the height of the bottom of the light switch.
Richard
It's been a long time since I measured, but I think the rails would be about 48" above the floor. I'm 6' tall.
Here we go again,just wondering what your layout height is & why you chose that height,by the way mine is 39 inches & I wish it was higher cause Im 6ft.