Instead of a hotel, we rented apartments in both Madrid and Barcelona as part of our trip to Spain. The Madrid place is a 2br/2ba place of about 880 sq ft. about 1/2 mile from Atocha Station, in a building that’s probably 18th Century judging from the architecture and some beams in the interior. I’ve identified 3 areas where a shelf layout could be built, the largest of which would be about 15 feet x 18". Whoever did the renovation on the apartment did an outstanding job. My wife’s first comment when we opened the door was, “Wow, we could live here easily”.
There are 2 train stores within a couple of miles of here and the nearest Metro stop is less than 1/4 mile away from the apartment. I haven’t looked up model clubs yet, but that’s next. The Spanish Railway Museum is within 2 miles as well and we’re within walking distance to the Prado Museum.
We dropped off the rental car at Atocha Station, which meant actually driving in downtown Madrid. I thought, being a Sunday and all, it would be relatively easy. As my wife opined, I was what she likes to call “wrong”.
This post is an outgrowth of the thread discussing where model railroading is most popular (and challenges faced by modelers outside the U.S.). Granted you can’t build a mega layout in a place like this, but building some kind of layout is entirely possible and, in a city center apartment, you don’t need all the paraphernalia (mower, weed whacker, leaf blower, car) you might need in the 'Burbs.
I thought of another name to check out. Jon Grant has not been hanging out on the forum lately, but is still active. He is well known for his small, but well done layouts.
George, thanks for the warning, but this isn’t exactly my first rodeo. The only thing a pickpocket could pick out of my pockets is lint and some small change.
It occurs to me that many of the challenges faced here would be similar for anyone living in an apartment anywhere, although things would be a tad more problematic if living in an environment where having a car is both inadvisable and unnecessary (inner city). While driving in from Toledo, we saw numerous new apartment blocks in the suburbs, where presumably, a car wouldn’t be a real pain to have. Then, again, I did see a parking place for sale in downtown Madrid. Would only set you back the equivalent of $24,000.
There are many different ways of having a layout in an apartment - from a shelf layout to a layout which can be lifted or folded up, a mini-modular layout or a micro-/boxfile layout. Size is certainly irrelavant to the amount of fun one can have building a layout.
The only real drawback is when you live in apartment is actually building it. There is no way to avoid making a certain amount of mess while building the layout and that can “earn” you one of those serious looks from SWMBO! Guess how I come to know that!
Just one more reason why my layout, and most of my other toys, are in the 2,000 sq foot building in the back yard, or in the basement. I can’t even imagine living in an apartment.
I raised three childiren in a small townhouse many years ago, but even that had a 16’ x 70’ back yard with off street parking and a basement were I had a workshop for model trains.
Guess I would have a real hard time being a true city dweller…
Like Sheldon, I’ve never actually been a city dweller, either. However, it’s something I’d consider under different circumstances (like the availability of high speed inter-city rail service). The 390 mile trip from Madrid to Barcelona took 3 hours flat. A quick trip on the Metro and a short walk got us to the apartment we rented. I’m quite impressed not only with the vast improvement in Spanish rail service in the last 30 years, but also with the extremely well maintained Spanish highway system and I have to admit being a bit surprised to discover that the high speed rail network here is second only to China in size.
I’ve had the “country gentleman” experience. I enjoyed it for a while, but mowing nearly a hectare of lawn on a regular basis is not my favorite recreational activity even if it means riding around on a lawn tractor pretending it’s an F1 racer. I also couldn’t see the advantage of having to make a 60 km roundtrip to obtain groceries (at least until Hannaford built a new supermarket in a location that reduced the expedition by half). No thank you. The apartment we’re staying in has a supermarket about 250 meters away, there’s a good restaurant next door, a bakery across the street, and the nearest metro stop is 150 meters from here.
ATLANTIC CENTRAL
Guess I would have a real hard time being a true city dweller…
Now, I agree to that statement, Sheldon
Unfortunately, I am one - but not by own choice. I do miss the garden we had and my man cave in the basement!
Like Sheldon, I’ve never actually been a city dweller, either. However, it’s something I’d consider under different circumstances (like the availability of high speed inter-city rail service). The 390 mile trip from Madrid to Barcelona took 3 hours flat. A quick trip on the Metro and a short walk got us to the apartment we rented. I’m quite impressed not only with the vast improvement in Spanish rail service in the last 30 years, but also with the extremely well maintained Spanish highway system and I have to admit being a bit surprised to discover that the high speed rail network here is second only to China in size.
I’ve had the “country gentleman” experience. I enjoyed it for a while, but mowing nearly a hectare of lawn on a regular basis is not my favorite recreational activity even if it means riding around on a lawn tractor pretending it’s an F1 racer. I also couldn’t see the advantage of having to make a 60 km roundtrip to obtain groceries (at least until Hannaford built a new supermarket in a location that reduced the expedition by half). No thank you. The apartment we’re staying in has a supermarket about 250 meters
