If you had the opportunity to build your train room from scratch (remodel, new build, etc), what would you say is the practical size? Now obviously there are some gigantic railroads out there with whole teams of operators, but moving away from that into a practical size for a one person RR, what would you build? 8x10, 12x16, 20x20? Would you go square or rectangular for the same given footage?
I’m trying to see if I can squeeze enough space out of the remodeling budget without breaking the bank. We’re talking train room here, not the railroad that would go in it, so disregard scale and track plan; those would be fit to the room. But the room must be fit to a budget.
Are you planning an addition to an existing home? To utilize the basement or some part, Is the “train room” to be incorporated into the floorplan as a separate room. An out building or garage? Just too many options and not enough info.
That depends on what scale you will be running, what size room or space you have to work with and what type of layout you are thinking about building. Do you want more emphasis on scenery or operations. To many variables. It’s all personal preference! I’m running a freestanding 4x12 layout with double mainlines and some switching operations, but know I have more rolling stock and locomotives then my layout can handle and I’m in the process of expanding. You can start off small and leave yourself the option to expand as you go along.
Agree, it’s a hard question to answer, but I’ll offer a bit. Scale and what you want to do when you are running your railroad. Your finances, present and future also make a difference on planning. Would you be happy running trains on “plywood central” or would you prefer less running in completed scenery.
A basement or attic, where the stairs enter in the middle gives you an ideal place to start. You can start small and easily grow. It can be point to point or continuous running. A shelf along the wall(s) can have wide ends for yards or blobs to turn trains for continuous running. The ends can be moved further apart as the railroad grows and peninsulas can be added if the space is right. For continuous running a shelf around the whole space for starters, widening some spots or adding peninsulas as you expand.
On that note, seeing how I’m an N scale operator, I would have to go with a rather reasonable (actually generous) spacing of about 10x18 feet. I’d go more rectangular because I love to see my trains stretch out across the main line.
My layout is in a space that was designed specifically for that purpose. It is a 24 x 40 room above a 6 car detached garage. It has heat and A/C and its own electrical sub panel.
For most layout concepts rectangles are better. If I was doing it over, I would change a few things. One, being on an upper or lower level, I would have the stairs in the middle of the room, not against a wall.
And my 940 sq feet has turned out to be just a lttle small for my goals. 1200 sq feet or more would have been better.
BUT, the layout I am building is designed to be able to be moved, and one day will likely move to our retirement home, where I may well have 1200 or more sq feet and be able to expand the layout.
Personally, after 44 years at this, if I did not have the kind of space I have, I would seriously question if I even wanted to continue in the hobby.
Sorry for the confusion. Didn’t mean for it that way. This is one of those philosophy of design type questions. While at the extreme ends you could fill a huge basement in N or a small shelf with a single O scale scene, there are some practical design limitations that impact the “ideal” space. I recall some articles in MRP I believe that measured the space efficiency of different multi level designs, but don’t recall anything about optimum practical space.
For example, humans don’t scale down, so there are minimum and ideal aisle widths ( a minimum that you can’t walk in and a too large that becomes a waste of space). But once you allow for aisles, that sets a minimum size to the room for each additional aisle you add.
Let’s say we look at the around the wall layout. Using a standard of two feet for the bench work (recognizing that it could range between six inches and maybe 30, but let’s call it two for discussion), an around the room layout needs about seven feet (two sides of bench work and three feet for aisle). But a single peninsula adds about five feet for the bench work and extra aisle, not counting turnback curves.
But then that creates the question of what the optimum ratio of length to width is. If the room is 12 feet wide, do you make the room 18 feet long for example?
Sorry this has gotten so long, wasn’t meaning it too. I just get wrapped up in theory sometimes looking for the optimum practical (vs my dream basement that will never be built) design.
Thanks Sheldon. That 24x40 you mention is practically close to the 2:1 ratio of the 4x8 standard. Most of my doodles tend to be based on that ratio as well, unless I’m planning a specific room. Wonder it that’s something ingrained in our brains from birth – from playing cards to plywood to cars, it shows up a lot.
First, there’s a huge difference between building a separate building or addition and finishing a basement.
There’s also a big difference between 8x10 and 20x20. i.e 80 sq ft vs 400 sq ft
Scale can also make a big difference. For a given space you’ll generally have 1/4 the equipment and track in O scale that you would have in HO. This will mean less maintenance for O.
Track plan makes a difference. The more complicated the track plan, the more effort and cost to build and maintain.
Level of detail makes a difference. Using RTR Athearn cars and RTR Atlas and Plasticville buildings is cheaper and quicker than building craftsman kits from Funaro and Camerlengo, Bar Mills, and others.
Are you planning on building this for 20+ years or are you moving 3 years from now.
How much time do you have to spend on the layout? Are you retired? Work overtime? Have other time commitments?
Since you are unsure of the size, I suggest you set aside as big an area as you can comfortably and then develop a modular trackplan so you can quit when you have enough modules.
Personally, I’m retired and have no plans to move. I plan to eventually fill most of a 1400 sq ft basement. But I’m building a short line from one end to the other so I can quit if the layout becomes big enough before I use the whole basement.
I have a 15 x 21 foot room for the layout, workbench and some storage of supplies. In that size room, with an E shaped layout, I have enough space for 22 inch R curves. If you wanted to take up more space you could get 24 inchers in there. If you model modern day, with it’s longer, taller EVERYTHING (I talking HO scale), 22 inch R… for me, really isn’t large enough. SO! I mostly stick to the era of smaller locomotives and rolling stock though I own and sometimes run the mammoths such as 2-6-6-4 steam as well as SD 70 M2’s. I would prefer 32 or larger radii curves so that I could model and use more modern equipment. But when you start putting that type railroad in a 15 foot wide room the problems start to multiply. There goes the aisle space and room for a workbench etc.
For me it’s the old givens and druthers scenario. I’d druther have that but I’m given this.
Build as large as you can afford and have time to work on… [:D]
When I started my layout I had to build the room for it first in the basement. There was a steel column at 11 ft from the end wall and that set the room at 11 by 22 but there was a sump pit in one corner so it became 11 x 18.5. I designed an around the room layout for this space; 2 ft shelves with minimum 2 ft aisle and a peninsula on the 11 foot wall. If I had it to do over I would have made the room 12 x 18.5 and worked around the column. I could have put my staging along the wall with column and had more room for the peninsula.
When I build my dream layout it will be in a separate building, minimum of 10,000 sq ft, surrounded by an electrified fence and a moat filled with aligators to keep my girlfriend out.
Well, I designed and built my own house with thoughts of having the entire 1200 sq.ft. basement for the layout. Wide centre stairway and absolutely no utilities to limit use of the space. [tup]
What I ended-up with was about 560sq.ft., but in a very odd-shaped package, and there’s a couple of support posts in there, too:
The grey area will eventually be doubledecked, giving about 500sq.ft. of layout area, and 195sq.ft. for aisleways.
The limited space forced me to be creative with the trackplan (I didn’t even use one) and I’m mostly pretty satisfied with the way it’s developed. If I could have a little more room, I’d widen the aisles around the peninsula - they’re plenty wide enough for me, but a little restrictive for larger folks. [;)]
If I could, I’d like to have a layout that’s at least twice the size of the one I have now which is N scale and is six and a half feet long by three feet wide. And if I had a choice I’d like it to be L shaped. The problem is my train room is built in an out building about sixty feet from the main house out in the back yard and is rather small measuring twelve feet long and eight feet wide. The way I have it set up is that the layout is on one side of the room and my work desk is on the other with my rolling stock cabinets mounted to the wall. Because of the hot summer temperatures I’ve brought all of my locomotives into the house just to be on the safe side. When I win the lottery one of these days I’ll really do it up right…[;)]
I believe,that you should concentrate on getting this paragraph,resolved first,whether it be an existing structure,or add on,a basement or attic… How much space you have,and so forth…If you have a doorway,consider a pocket door rather than a swing door and so forth…All the answers you have received,are all good,except the cart is before the horse…
