How big is your layout?

[grandeman]

I'm curious what size railroad most of us build. Space is always a premium and the larger the railroad the more expense, time (fun), etc are required. I have a friend with a two level railroad that takes up the basement in his small house. His mainline run takes a train traveling at 40 SMPH 15 minutes to get around! Some of the pics ya'll post look like they are of larger railroads. As for us, our layout is much more modest. It's main section is 4x14" with an extension that goes all the way around. It will have three small staging yards on three different levels. Here's a pic for perspective.



I think this one will satisfy us operationally and was all the space I could justify using but, of course, I wish it were larger.

What size is your railroad? Is it to small or does it take up to much room?

[SpaceMouse]

4.5 x 8 foot HO.

[grandeman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SpaceMouse

4.5 x 8 foot HO.

Neat. That's a lot of railroad for the space. Great job.

[cwclark]

My layout is 23' x 25' and you got that right!..pretty expensive!..here is a picture album of my layout in case you are interested...i'm still in the "plywood central" stage, but working as fast as i can to build it...i started it in March of 2004 ...chuck
http://community.webshots.com/user/bayouman1

[grandeman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by cwclark

My layout is 23' x 25' and you got that right!..pretty expensive!..here is a picture album of my layout in case you are interested...i'm still in the "plywood central" stage, but working as fast as i can to build it...i started it in March of 2004 ...chuck
http://www.webshots.com/community/user/bayouman1

That's WAY cool, Chuck. I need a bigger house. [:D] Seriously, there's so much that can be done in a space that size. Looks like you're doing a jam up job too. Do you have any help?

[cheese3]

mine is 10' by 10'

[AggroJones]

11' x 11' in an 11' x 9' bedroom. Almost "complete" 1 year from the starting date.

[grandeman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AggroJones

11' x 11' in an 11' x 9' bedroom. Almost "complete" 1 year from the starting date.

Aggro, I was hoping you'd post here. Your layout pics are fantastic. Is your railroad a shelf type that goes around the room? Does it have an island?

[Big_Boy_4005]

Mine is 46' x 38' double deck 3 rail O. I just put power to the first section of track tonight. As I stopped to reflect on that accomplishment, I realized that I haven't had a permanent home layout that worked since I was 12. That's 32 years. I have had a number of temporary layouts in that time.

[Anonymous]

My layout is 2ft x 12ft point to point with a interchange, yard and 5 industries and a card system. There are manual ground throws for the turnouts, 30 blocks and a power pak that I added a deadman's switch. Size of a layout does not matter if designed for alot movements.
I have in and out bounds to the interchange, breakkdowns and shuttling to and from the yard and out to the industries.
I plan to expand my layout and have industries where I can bring in a varity of cars.

[grandeman]

Bigboy, that one should take the prize. Is that in your home? That's going to be quite a railroad. I hope you have some faithful help though.

[grandeman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by tooltech

My layout is 2ft x 12ft point to point with a interchange, yard and 5 industries and a card system. There are manual ground throws for the turnouts, 30 blocks and a power pak that I added a deadman's switch. Size of a layout does not matter if designed for alot movements.
I have in and out bounds to the interchange, breakkdowns and shuttling to and from the yard and out to the industries.
I plan to expand my layout and have industries where I can bring in a varity of cars.

Good points. Layout type does need to be taken into account. A continueous run has different space requirements than a point to point or switching layout. Sounds like a fun RR you have there.

[AggroJones]

.................11 ft
_____________________________
loooooooooooooooooooooooooooool
l ooo_ ___________________oooool
loool.....................................looool
loool.................... __________ loool
loool.................../ooooooooooooool
loool................../ 000___________l
loool................./0000/
loool................/0000/
loool_______/00000/
looooooooooooooo/
______________/............Door
.........5 ft

This is the shape of my bedroom layout. 2 sides are 11 feet long. The room is only 9 feet wide. One of the petrusions runs in my closet space making it technically 11' x 11'
The shelves are 2' across.

[twhite]

My garage is 24'x24' and the layout is 24x17'. However, I still have designs on the other wall for a staging yard, so who knows? I've been able to get a 34" minimum radius, and instead of helixes, I've just thrown the non-parallel double track main line every which way while still maintaining a maximum 2.4% grade--not constant, the grade varies. Average is really more like 2%, and even that is broken up with level running. Now if I could rent another garage so that I can model the REST of the Sierra Nevadas, I'd be a happy camper!
Tom [:D][:D]

[grandeman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by twhite

My garage is 24'x24' and the layout is 24x17'.

So the two Farrari's have to stay in the driveway? [:D]

The larger railroads benefit greatly from the ability to use large radius turns. That's a huge benefit of more space (one of the many).

[AggroJones]

BIGGER is BETTER only to the point where you can still build and maintain the layout with the number of people you expect to be involved with it. In my case, one. THAT mean the MAXIMUM sized layout I could be comfortable with WOULD be 20' x 20'. But I don't have to worry about a layout too large for me. I don't even have that option.

[grandeman]

QUOTE: Originally posted by AggroJones

BIGGER is BETTER only to the point where you can still build and maintain the layout with the number of people you expect to be involved with it. In my case, one. THAT mean the MAXIMUM sized layout I could be comfortable with WOULD be 20' x 20'. But I don't have to worry about a layout too large for me. I don't even have that option.

I don't have the option either for both space and financial reasons. I'm kinda glad the space wasn't available to me now that I realize the costs involved. I might have started something that wouldn't have been feasable to finish. As it is, it'll get done. I do wonder how some of the larger ones will ever be complete. My friend I referenced earlier will have a tough time finishing his project.

[scubaterry]

13 X 7 with duck under. 24 in depth. Lots of switching (22 industry spurs), two yards and a two line main for roundy roundy. I'm in the Florida Keys and suspect I am the only MRR within a couple of hundred miles so I will be a busy little dude once I start operating.

[steveblackledge]

I have an 18' x 9' in my brick garage, it's on two levels around the walls with a 3.25% grade between the two. i have gone with using building flats against the wall's to give the illusion of depth, i hope it all works out
CHIP, your doing just fine there
ELLIOT, i like it
i will post a new picture later today

[tigerstripe]

That is the easiest question ever, not big enough!

but I have to settle for 10X16

[Big_Boy_4005]

QUOTE: Originally posted by grande man

Bigboy, that one should take the prize. Is that in your home? That's going to be quite a railroad. I hope you have some faithful help though.

We've had this discussion a couple of times here in the last year and a half, and from what I can tell, there may be a couple of people with slightly larger spaces than mine, but you're right, it is big. It makes for a rather daunting task. I designed the house with a large basement in mind. The living space is all on one floor, 4450 square feet. The basement is the same size, so the train room is actually less than half of the basement.

The railroad concept is directly from the local prototype, and represents about 50 miles of the BNSF and CP as they pass through the Twin Cities. It will be selectively compressed to about 10 to 1.

I actually had one person that I met here on the forum helping me. He came over a few times this past winter, but he has a lot going on and can't really justify working on my layout on his day off. With the exception of 10 to 15 man hours, it's all me. I work in fits and starts, going months at a time without working on it, but right now I am on an inspired roll.

I've been hitting it pretty hard the last couple of weeks, and it's beginning to show. I have a goal of getting a loop of track operational ASAP. To do this I'm going to put in a temporary cutoff in at the end of the first peninsula, so I can run while I build the second and third, then it's on to the upper level.

One big question is how long will my stockpile of track and switches hold out. I have a lot of stuff salvaged from a previous layout, but I'm sure I will need to buy more.

[fievel]

Mine's 10 x 10, N scale. It's got 19" radius curves, way too tight for my tastes. But I
had to compromise in order to squeeze in about 2 scale miles of mainline. I'm
like Bigboy 4005 in a way - I work in spurts,then slack off for a while. I wish I had room for a much bigger pike, but the Lord has blessed me greatly! I've got years of satisfying
labor ahead.[4:-)][:-^][:)][:P][8D][:D][^][:)]

[CP5415]

Elliot, it's nice to know I'm not the only one who works on the railroad like that.

Yesterday waas the first time since I think January that I actually "worked" on the layout.
I finally got around to buying a #4 switch I needed for a yard.
All I need now is a about a dozen more switches, 100' of flextrack & roadbed & I can continue with the second yard & interchange, the MEC right of way & my 2 staging yards.

The main part of my layout is 9x12 with 2 staging yards stacked on top of one another under the MEC right of way hopefully neatly incorporated into a bookshelf/tv stand so that the betterhalf doesn't complain about it! [:D]

Gordon

[Anonymous]

I'm building a 4 X 8 layout with this track plan.



Happy MRRing

[BRVRR]

Some great layouts here.[:D] I envy the space many of you have. [:I]My 4x10 BRVRR fits in a spare bedroom. The train table is on rollers so I have access to the back.


More photos of the layout, locos, rolling stock, etc. on my website. Link is in my signature.[:D][:D]

[DanRaitz]

I'm currently working on a 6' x 13 1/2' "L" shaped Sn3 layout. The benchwork, backdrop (still in primer) and lighting are up. Now I just need to go get some blue paint. I'll post photo's soon.

Dan

[oleirish]

CHIP:I'am watching you like a hawk,looking good,[:P]Quick question:how did you go from the flat top up your grade with out a bump?[^]OH !! buy the way if I send you my address can just ship that layout to me[:-,]

[oX)]OLE'IRISH[oX)]

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by steveblackledge

I have an 18' x 9' in my brick garage, it's on two levels around the walls with a 3.25% grade between the two. i have gone with using building flats against the wall's to give the illusion of depth, i hope it all works out

A similar size to our's Steve. Any chance of updating the 'My Model Railroad' page on your web site?

Our layout is 8' x 16' in a concrete garage, an OO scale layout and still in the early stages of construction. (oh yes, it's got a train lift) [:D]


waldovia.co.uk

[SpaceMouse]

QUOTE: Originally posted by oleirish

CHIP:I'am watching you like a hawk,looking good,[:P]Quick question:how did you go from the flat top up your grade with out a bump?[^]OH !! buy the way if I send you my address can just ship that layout to me[:-,]

[oX)]OLE'IRISH[oX)]

If I get your question, each riser is 1/4" taller thatn the last. The top and bottom of the grade only go 1/8" in the same space. Since it is a single piece of plywood it forms a parabolic curve at each location.

[Anonymous]

My layout is 16' by 7' on the wider end and 5' on the narrower end. It is sort of like a dogbone. I am currently building a HOn3 logging line on the 2x5' narrower end


This is looking towards the wider end where the main city is being built



This is looking back towards where the narrow guage is being built on the end.
These pictures were taken two months ago and since then the narrow guage roadbed has been built, the scenery roughed in, and the backdrop installed