I have a 0x0 foot layout right now, hoping to expand to a 2x10 switching layout.
My layout fills a two car garage. It also has an annex which is built on shelves in two bedrooms. In southern California we don’t usually have basements. Most houses are built on a concrete slab. Most people park their cars in the driveway or on the street. Pickups, vans and SUVs are considered to be the same as a car. As for RV parking, boats and trailers, it depends on the municipal code. In most cities you cannot park your RV in your driveway unless part of your house, like the garage, sticks out farther than the part of your driveway where it is parked. Otherwise it has to be on the side of your house or in the back yard. It also depends on if your neighbors complain or not. If nobody complains then code enforcement dept never shows up. In a county pocket you can usually park your RV anywhere including on the street. As someone who owns an RV I could never imagine building a layout in it. There just wouldn't be enough room. I thought about the shipping container idea but that would be more of a code enforcement problems than an RV. Plus unless it was a refrigerated unit it would be too hot.
ROBERT PETRICKI've often pondered the idea of getting a 48-foot container and setting it up out back.
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Shipping containers are suprisingly narrow inside, I think they are just over 7 feet. Once you add any sort of insulation and interior walls you will be down to seven feet.
Believe it or not, they are also very prone to leaking. They were never intended to sit outdoors for long periods of time housing something that needed to be kept weatherproof. Those flat steel roofs are not as rugged as you might think. They are built light to keep the tare weight down. The vertical support members need to be so heavy that everything else is made pretty flimsy to make the weight somewhat reasonable.
The doors are another issue. Theya re designed to be secure, not weather proof or rodent proof.
I do not like shipping containers. Maybe someone has better luck with them and can offer another point of view.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
I've often pondered the idea of getting a 48-foot container and setting it up out back. We (USA) receive many many more containers than we send, so there are dealers who sell the surplus as storage units. They are sturdy and weatherproof (could maybe use some insulation), so wind, rain, and/or rodents and vermin wouldn't be an issue.
I figure the layout therein would be a long narrow unfolded folded dogbone with wide loops at either end. I realize such a linear layout might not appeal to many, but I'm perfectly okay with it. Afterall, the prototypes we emulate are very linear in nature.
My former club was working on the idea of setting up just such a layout in a refurbished baggage car at the local 1:1 railroad museum. It never panned out, but it was a good idea.
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
Mark,
Thank you for the kind words. We bought it in 1995 and spent 3 years doing a complete restoration. It needs a few things done now, all these years later, but is overall very sound.
Still has the original plaster walls and molding throughout most of the interior, but all the mechanicals, wiring, pluimbing were replaced when we did the restoration.
It has been great fun to be the steward of this property.
Sheldon
CanalligatorsThe whole story is at http://canalligators.altervista.org/RR_Website_0_Main.htm, the website has been somewhat tossed together so the pictures aren't great, but the information is there.
Just a heads up, it takes me to almost blank page with Altervista, and says link no longer excist.
Mike.
My You Tube
ATLANTIC CENTRAL Our house was built in 1901 on eight acres. Today it still sits on one acre in the small crossroads villiage of Forest Hill, once a stop on the Ma & Pa RR. https://www.google.com/maps/@39.5877062,-76.3877755,3a,75y,185.13h,78.16t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCAj8CdmHAh5DLhHh7YXnWA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 Sheldon
Our house was built in 1901 on eight acres. Today it still sits on one acre in the small crossroads villiage of Forest Hill, once a stop on the Ma & Pa RR.
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.5877062,-76.3877755,3a,75y,185.13h,78.16t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCAj8CdmHAh5DLhHh7YXnWA!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
Kevin,
One more thought/point:
I could be wrong, but I suspect that many of the laws/ordinances you are refering to apply only to specific limited zoning classes within that city.
I suspect you too have older areas, or more rural areas, with more random developement that is not subject to those sorts of restrictions?
My wife and a I are not planning to stay in this big house forever, but even when we move it will likely be to an equally "rural" setting, with a similar amount of land, just with less house.........and very likely a bigger train room......
PED I fixed that problem for me by building my latest layout in a RV trailer that I gutted and used the resulting space for my layout.
I fixed that problem for me by building my latest layout in a RV trailer that I gutted and used the resulting space for my layout.
I understand the zoning law issue but I live in the country so I have no such problems. At one time I lived in an area that would allow RV's but no plain jane trailers such as a construction trailer. Mine retains the look of an RV since all my changes were to the interior. I alos have a enclosed car hauler trailer that has been fixed up inside with electricity and work bench that I use as a workshop with all my tools. Makes it easy to move around with minimal packing.
Paul D
N scale Washita and Santa Fe RailroadSouthern Oklahoma circa late 70's
SeeYou190 ATLANTIC CENTRAL A trailer with a valid registration and tag, parked on a driveway on private property, is in most cases, not subject to zoning laws. . Most cities in Florida have very strict zoning laws about what can be parked in the driveway of single family homes. . When I moved to Cape Coral you could not park a Van, Pick Up, or Station Wagon in your driveway. . Minivans, SUVs, and other "Gray Definition" vehicles made these laws unenforceable. It is still very difficult to find a City in Florida where you can park a boat, RV, or other "non-automobile" in your driveway. . Vehicle storage lots are very profitable here. . -Kevin .
ATLANTIC CENTRAL A trailer with a valid registration and tag, parked on a driveway on private property, is in most cases, not subject to zoning laws.
Most cities in Florida have very strict zoning laws about what can be parked in the driveway of single family homes.
When I moved to Cape Coral you could not park a Van, Pick Up, or Station Wagon in your driveway.
Minivans, SUVs, and other "Gray Definition" vehicles made these laws unenforceable. It is still very difficult to find a City in Florida where you can park a boat, RV, or other "non-automobile" in your driveway.
Vehicle storage lots are very profitable here.
Just one more reason I don't live in Florida.
Here in Maryland, we do have sub division communities with those sorts of HOA rules, but not county or city level zoning laws.
Where we are, we are not even under any "town" or "city" government. Land use here is too varied to have laws like that.
Very large percentages of the housing here is not located in "neatly planned" sub division communities, but rather a more random "one house at a time" kind of developement over the decades.
Can't park a pickup truck? Well I park my pickup truck indoors........and my FORD FLEX station wagon.
See the building in the background, that is my 32 x 40 garage with second floor train room:
Our house was built in 1901 on eight acres. Today it still sits on one acre in the small crossroads village of Forest Hill, once a stop on the Ma & Pa RR. We have houses in our village that range from 1865 to just a few years old, they range in size from 1500 sq ft to 6,000 sq ft, they range in lot size from a 1/4 acre to working 100 acre farms behind the rows of houses along the road. Some folks are working class, some are professionals, everything in between.
Our zoning here in the village even allows you to run a home based business, I run mine from home, and a guy around the corner has a printer/copier business.
Can't ever see myself on a 1/2 acre lot where all the houses are the same......here is how we live:
ATLANTIC CENTRALA trailer with a valid registration and tag, parked on a driveway on private property, is in most cases, not subject to zoning laws.
SeeYou190 PED I fixed that problem for me by building my latest layout in a RV trailer . As long as you can avoid zoning problems and HOA rules, this seems like an overall good idea. . -Kevin .
PED I fixed that problem for me by building my latest layout in a RV trailer
As long as you can avoid zoning problems and HOA rules, this seems like an overall good idea.
A trailer with a valid registration and tag, parked on a driveway on private property, is in most cases, not subject to zoning laws.
As for HOA rules, well, we all make choices......but I'm not living anyplace where a bunch of busybodies tell me what I can park in my driveway.
"the lawns were mowed daily, twice daily if needed.........."
If a trailer suites your size requirements, I think it is a great idea.
PEDto allow year around comfort. I purchased a older 26' trailer (no slide outs), gutted it and wound up with an interior of 23' x 8.5' to work with. Still working on it but I will have a N scale folded dog bone layout when I am done. I actually started on this layout in Oklahoma then moved it to Arkansas. I learned a lot of lessons along they way about problems with an old RV but I would do it again. If anyone is interested in doing something similar, I can provide a lot of do's and don'ts.
One of the finest layouts I have ever seen was built in 50' x 10' stripped down construction trailer the builder purchased for $500. He was then in the military and moves were frequent. On overseas gigs, trailer was sometimes stored in the motor pool. I was thinking of doing the same thing during my Army days as transfers were quite common. This is a great idea if you think you'll be mobil.
HZ
[Broken quote repaired by moderator. FYI, to properly display quoted material: Be sure to include the bracketed "quote" and "/quote" codes before and after the quoted text.]
HO: L-shaped 21x21, around the walls mostly, accessed at one end. Road is a folded dogbone with interchanges east, west and carfloat. The walking area is sceniced as a bay.
HO: 2x5 table which holds the rail museum. My granddaughter is the curator.
N: 3x9 table in two sections, mine and my grandson's parts.
Lionel: 3 1/2 x 7, loop in loop.
The whole story is at http://canalligators.altervista.org/RR_Website_0_Main.htm, the website has been somewhat tossed together so the pictures aren't great, but the information is there.
Genesee Terminal, freelanced HO in Upstate NY ...hosting Loon Bay Transit Authority and CSX Intermodal. Interchange with CSX (CR)(NYC).
CP/D&H, N scale, somewhere on the Canadian Shield
32 X 29 once I get moved back in and started on the new layout:
Lower level (Casper and Laurel yard configurations have changed):
Upper level:
My layout fills a room that is 64' long. Widths of the room vary from 10' to 16'.
The layout is around-the-wall following about 130' of walls. There are some peninsulas too.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
EVERYWHERE LOST; WE HUSTLE OUR CABOOSE FOR YOU
Old layout was 4 foot by 7 foot HO standard gauge. New layout will be 9 foot by 36" shelf layout, HOn3 narrow gauge logging. A 8 foot by 36" extension will follow along a second wall to extend the line into the woods to the reload camp. Mike the Aspie
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
My home layout consists of a test track that is all of six feet long. I had great plans for a 10' x 23' layout in the garage but I have abandoned building the layout because of my back problems. No need to go into the details.
However, I am having a lot of fun helping to build our club's new permanent layout. The layout is 25' x 20' with about 530' of track. I was fortunate enough to have my track plan chosen for the layout. I can't do much of the physical work but I am sure having fun helping to coordinate all the work on the layout. I am also able to do some mechanical stuff like adding jumpers to the turnouts alla Allen Gartner's recommendations in 'Wiring for DCC'. What I am really enjoying is seeing my plan come to fruition. Getting to oversee the construction is rewarding too.
I have a thread that covers the construction of the club layout:
http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/11/t/263414.aspx
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I grew up with a crazy dad, two uncles and one grand pop who loved model trains. Our house in northern New Jersey was a modest split on a 36' x 60' foot print with a single car garage. Besides model trains, Dad loved Corvettes (C-1) so our one car garage was to become a three car arrangement adding another 35' to the length. the contractor was also a rail nut and suggested extending the basement under the full width of the new garage. I was only a young gizork then, but I remembered Dad building the extended benchwork while the roof was still being built. Well this pike grew to almost 95' by 16'. It was all Lionel with the then new Gargraves track and Dad had someone build custom turnouts which were quite long....a good guess would be #6, but more than 3 times the length of the Lionel 022's.
Actually everything I know now about building a pike came from Dad and two uncles...including how to cut through basement walls...a chore which was and is considerably easier than one would guess. On the sad side, all came down in 1961 and Dad and crew never wanted to share the pike with others. I am just the opposite as to me art has no meaning unless it is shared.
AltoonaRailroader After looking at some weekend photo fun photos, I started to think about scenes people were taking pictures of. It Made me wonder how big everyone‘s layout is.
Well... All of my Weekend Photo Fun pictures are taken on a 30 inch by 30 inch piece of plywood!
I have all kinds of moveable scenery pieces so I can pose a variety of scenes. This has almost become a hobby all on it own! Great fun, and I recommend this to anyone that does not have a layout right now.
My layout takes up 27'x29' in our basement.
Marlon
See pictures of the Clinton-Golden Valley RR
Well, my layout was 4X10.
A possible move prompted me to remove all but the main yard and mainline loop.
Said move never materialized, due to an issue, so, it has sat "in limbo" as another move might occur. (If the second move does not, a remodel will, so the layout will be moving locations one way or the other.)
If the remodel is what occurs, the new layout will be a 12X12 L shaped layout, with the turnback curve ends wide enough to allow a 28" minimum radii.
If the move occurs, it would be a totally different space, so a totally different plan.
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.
I don't have a layout of my own -- but I belong to a club with a 70x72' monster. :)
Mine is a 20', around-the-walls switching layout. It is a point-to-point railroad, in an approximately 10' X 12' spare bedroom. I moved about a year-and-a-half ago into the place I'm in now. I could have built a different, and somewhat bigger layout, but I worked so hard on this one to get it to the track configuration I wanted and all the wiring, with a complete DC two cab controlled system that I wanted to enjoy the friuts of my labor. I will be getting married in April of this year so, anticipating that move, I did not scenic it. The layout is in four bolted together sections, so moving it again will not be a problem. When my new bride and I move in together We will have built onto the house, with space for my office and a train room. I think the new layout space will be about 12' X 15' (taking my office out of that 12' X 20' addition). The layout may well spill over into my office, so I don't know exactly how much layout space I will end up with. There will be no partition between layout and office, so that makes it a bit flexible.
One other thing. My desk will be in a bay window, like a station agent's desk. Yes, it will be designed to look like a railroad depot, the basic design for which is after photos of a depot on my layout.
My layout is packed and awaiting a new home. It was in a 24x24 foot room above the garage. There was about a hundred square feet of actual layout. There were a lot of things I'd like to fix and redesign, so here's my chance.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Ok, here is am older basementg layout. Not too big.
Roger Hensley= ECI Railroad - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/eci/eci_new.html == Railroads of Madison County - http://madisonrails.railfan.net/ =