I've got a dinky little 3'X7' n scale layout... The reason it's so small is because I built it out in my shop which has a 12'X8' office on one end. I just didn't have room to build it in the house.
marksrailroadI've got a dinky little 3'X7' n scale layout.
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My first layout was an N scale measuring 3 by 7, built on a hollow core door.
Nothing wrong with that!
-Kevin
Living the dream.
My basement is 62x30' plus a side room that is my workshop/staging area. I have one side of it pretty much full of layout, the other side I will have to shrare with a bathroom and mechanical room, which will be stage 2 of the construction. Making decent progress, but still a long way to go.
However, various other "family considerations", plus a small workshop/paintshop quickly reduced that to an oddly-shaped room of about 560sq.ft. This caused me to build a layout with grades a bit steeper than I had hoped, but also forced me to become more creative. Even given the shortfalls of what I have, I think that it's better than it would have been with the larger space, and has helped me to focus on making it work.
With the kids all grown-up and moved away, I could reclaim about half of the missing space, but have no interest or ambition to do so.
Wayne
My layout is in a 14' x 30' area of the unfinished basement.
There is an 8' x 8' section on the side of the layout and the roundhouse is under the steps.
I started the layout over 20 years ago. I am trying to get it somewhat finished now that I have retired.
19' x 9'5 (inside) free standing room. 179 sq feet interior space. It is a well constructed insulated and heated stick-built structure, on a section of mobile home frame, so it's relocatable.
Layout is around the walls, deep bench, mostly 30". Approximately 120 square feet is layout. This is as big as I want my layout.
Continous loop (visible) with yards and sidings, plus 32 feet of hidden staging, that's four 8' long trains. Not bad for an ISL. Minimum curve radius is 32"
Layout track elevation above floor is 4' 10". I'm 6'1" so its a comfy view and even work height, and an easy duck-under across the door.
Beneath the layout is 28 linear feet of workbench, averaging about 31" from edge to wall leaving plenty of space on top for tool chests and storage cabinets, and more under the work bench space, and plenty of knee room. Dan
3 X 7 N scale is not all that "dinky" in my opinion.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
My layout is 39 X 121/2 with a 24 foot center island 30 inches wide which accomodates my hump yard on one side. The other side of the center island has a town, the coke plant and few small industries.
My layout is in a L-shaped room cantilivered along the walls. Mainline run is 110’, I have a Jim Six type one town atmosphere with the Mosinee Papers papermill in Wisconsin the main switching theme. The narrowest aisleway is 42”, I have handled 6 comfortably which is 3 crews of 2.
TomO
Current layout: N scale. Consists of two 2'x4' self-contained layouts that I can connect together into a single 2'x8' layout.
Bubbytrains
I plan on building a 12x24 building over the summer specifically for a railroad, I might build it with two decks but I'm not that far along yet...
Steve
If everything seems under control, you're not going fast enough!
NWP SWPI plan on building a 12x24 building over the summer specifically for a railroad, I might build it with two decks but I'm not that far along yet...
Please be sure to post lots of pictures.
My remodeling project still has months to go, so you might have a train room before I do.
My train room is in my daylight basement and currently has my 4 x 8 N scale East Penn which is pretty well completed with only some minor scenic work and details to keep me busy. The main line is around 40 feet long. My more ambitious North Penn and New England is an L shaped double track dogbone style in N scale. Each leg of the L is about 15 feet x 4 feet The North Penn main line will be around 84 feet of double track main and a separate 16 foot long single track mining branch. Still lots to be done on the North Penn before the trains start running.
PantherphilMy train room is in my daylight basement
Hi... Floridian here... we don't have basements.
So, I do not understand ther term "daylight basement". Could you explain this one to me? Thanks.
I'll reply, but please do not consider it a boast....only a good observation and point! My current layout, the Piermont Division" is in a twice expanded basement totaling 2850 sq ft with one room being 76' long Point as promised.......I had just as much fun with my first pike in 1963 which was 11' x 6'. Only difference is that I almost finished the smaller layout. I'll need leave from the afterlife to finish my current pike.
HZ
A day light basement is built into a side hill so that it has a ground level entrance and full windows on the down hill side, preferably on the sunny side of the house.
PantherphilA day light basement is built into a side hill
Sometimes called a walk out basement, as opposed to a walk down basement, where the entrance is down an outside stairwell.
Current building codes, in my area, require an escape route from a basement. In my house it is a deep window well, that doesn't really provide much daylight, but if the inside stairway was blocked by fire, I could get out the window.
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
BigDaddySometimes called a walk out basement
OK... that term I knew and had heard before.
Thank you for helping me out.
Howard ZaneI'll reply, but please do not consider it a boast
Howard... if there is anyone here who can actually boast... well... it would have to be you.
I love your layout. I could never build it or maintain it, but I sure do admire it.
Here in Louisiana we have no basements, too wet, we do however in some places have houses that are built up on either posts or a man made hill that has a "daylighted" basement type area some aren't closed in some are... I used to go to a school which had classrooms in the basement which had those deep well windows which brought in a little sunlight, no much but some...
SeeYou190 Pantherphil My train room is in my daylight basement . Hi... Floridian here... we don't have basements. . So, I do not understand ther term "daylight basement". Could you explain this one to me? Thanks. . -Kevin .
Pantherphil My train room is in my daylight basement
Kevin, you don't understand "daylight basement" because in Florida you don't have any hills to build them on.
Around here, easily 25% or more homes are built with "daylight" or "walkout" basements where the house is on sloping ground and one or two sides of the "basement" are actually out of the ground.
Here is an example with the house "removed" from above.
https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https%3A%2F%2Frct7.msbexpress.net%2FRCT41Help%2F1%2FContent%2FGraphics%2Fbasement_walkout.jpg&imgrefurl=https%3A%2F%2Frct7.msbexpress.net%2FRCT41Help%2F1%2FContent%2F001103.htm&docid=54E7g8hlhG-RCM&tbnid=Up3ygLILd_1k6M%3A&vet=10ahUKEwijvqzCqJ_ZAhUpU98KHfjJCAAQMwiiASgNMA0..i&w=450&h=300&bih=633&biw=1280&q=daylight%20basement&ved=0ahUKEwijvqzCqJ_ZAhUpU98KHfjJCAAQMwiiASgNMA0&iact=mrc&uact=8
For more pictures, just google it.
Sheldon
My HO scale Layout is roughly 11 foot six by six foot with a couple of extra bits to fit the room which has a door to the garage and another to the rest of the house. I operate alone (or with my grandson who is 4) from the centre and visitors watch from outside.
Alan Jones in Sunny Queensland (Oz)
The main layout is a 7’by 7‘x 32“ layout I have 3 other shelves 2 are for display (along with a wall case from my late mother in law)
Lately though my big project has been a 5’ x 3’ x 12 automatic reversing subway shelf layout.
Joe Staten Island West
When we bought our house, a dedicated train room was a high priority for me. We found an unfinished 3/4 walk out basement with a kitchen and bedrooms above it. She gave me full railroad rights to the area and dreams of an 1800 sf HO layout danced in my head for a couple of months.
I chose to cut back the RR room to a modest 35' x 15' reserving the remaining space for an office, family room, work shop, 1/2 bath and a wet bar.
After the basement was finished and building the RR became possible, I changed scales to On3 (On30 to be truthful). I wish I had more space with the larger scale. If needed, I can occupy the work shop with little modifications and gain another 15' x 15'.
Hello all,
"She who must be obeyed" allows me a 4'x8' resting on the bed in the conputer/train/spare room.
I've managed to build up rather than out as this pike includes a 3% incline with a spiral trestle.
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
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/ =
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.
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.