Attic Ceiling Shelf Type Layout Construction

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
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This is posted as a image based post on just one type of attic layout suggestion. It is a shelf type layout placed in a finished, heated and air-conditioned attic. I built the basic frame work and layout as an HO layout in 1980. Since then it has seen two different layouts and is now undergoing a third complete changeover to HOn3.

The bottom of the table support timbers are 6 foot 3 inches off the floor such that no average height person need be concerned about bumping their head or having to duck.

Advantages:

Extremely long run of trackage with zero floor space used up.

Extreme ease of servicing/altering all electrical and mechanical systems under the table.

Extreme ease of reaching all trackage for cleaning or re-railing trains.

Ease of viewing in a realistic manner, near eye level operation. (User selectable)

Disadvantages:

Room must have a clear ~3 foot wide path in center along entire length. (no furniture or other obstructions.)

Limited number of viewers/operators.

Observation bench must be fashioned and moved to different segments of layout for operation or work on the layout. This is a game stopper for the very old, handicapped or infirmed as you are constantly getting up and down from the bench, especially during construction and wiring. Note: I am now 66 and have no issues with hopping up and down off the bench as I keep active and am in good health, overall.

I include a series of images of how I tackled the 2 foot wide shelf layout all around my attic. Those used to seeing, at sight, key aspects of construction should have little difficulty in figuring out how this was done.

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A great example of working with your space, and taking advantage of it. Too often, we think of fighting the space and making compromises, but by looking at the plus side and maximizing the advantages, we can end up with so much more.

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Reminds me very much of an article I recently read in a 1940’s MR while goign throught he 75 year DVD collection. Instead of an attic, this was a basement, and the idea was that even if you had an unfinished basement (partially dug out, say for the furnace), you could still build a layout in the rest, by digging a trench around the whole thing as the operating/viewing aisle.

Where there’s a will there’s a way, a layout can ALWAYS be built!

–Randy