just a bit curious so gotta ask. Where is your present layour located and where have your past layouts been ie, basement, spare room, attic, garage, etc. Also which location has worked best for you.
My current layout is in the building stage in the living room on the wall about 6’4" above the floor. This height was chosen so that I can walk easily underneath without hitting my head.
This shelf layout has a lot of potential for expansion into other rooms (yes I am a bachelor) but also makes housekeeping difficult. Mountains are also a problem due to the fact that the layout is rather close to the ceiling and operation will be from a small step ladder which has drawbacks as well. It just seems that there is so much wasted space above the door jam and below the ceiling so it made sense to use it. THE MAIN THING IS THAT SOON THERE WILL BE TRAINS RUNNING AND THAT IS WHAT COUNTS.
Basement. The only other place I would even think of placing a layout is in the loft above our garage, which used to be a place for the grandkids to sleep when they visited. It is finished, but has the sloped ceiling partway up the wall as the building was meant to represent a barn.
6’4"? My god man how do you plan to do the maintenance on it?
A spare bedroom would be best in my opinion. I too an a bachelor and have a small two bedroom trailer but as I sleep on the couch most of the time, so putting my layout in a bedroom seemed the best place for it. And while the train layout is not in use I can close the bedroom door to keep the dust down. And keep the layout height down so as to let others enjoy the fruits of your labors.
IE it’s more fun to play with others then to play by yourself. Short people love to watch trains too. (short people in this case are kids)
Basement is the place of choice for me. The layout here is in a room 13 feet square. The layout is a shelf 16 inches deep around all four walls of the room. There is a lift out for the doorway but since the layout is four feet off the floor I usually just duck under.
There are no windows in the room so scenery was a lit easier. The other choice would be a separate building for a layout behind the house if no basement was available.
In our basement. The ceiling is only 1" taller than I am (6’-4") so I have to limit the height of the layout to 42" so that I can “reasonably” work on it. I have a dehumidifier, which I run in the warmer months. Humidity stays at ~50% during the summer and ~20% during the winter.
The TV/Stereo center, MRR work bench, filing cabinet and my practice room also share the same area. Cozy but functional.
The original one was on a ping-pong table eons ago. I was too little to remember the actual layout. Then the table became hoisted in the garage and lowered when in use. The next one was half of a three car garage. It was just recently torn down to house a Corvette. The new one will be on the walls of the garage 20x16 L shape and @ 3 feet deep in most places to accomodate the Corvette. Glad I am able to keep everything at the parents house to boot.
When I get around to my own it will be a shelf layout in the garage about 18x7 L shape and two feet deep (when I get to clear out some junk).
Basement. Years ago in our apartment I built the first one in the second bedroom, second one was in the master bedroom. All since then (in three houses) have been in the basement.
Basemet now, but I have had several modular apartmet layouts. Before I was married I had a modular layout which ran around the walls of my living room and dining room. Visitors used to say “You’re single, aren’t you!” My wife let me have the whole 30’ x 60’ basement for my train layout. The only thing I had to do was buy her a new house to put on top of the basement.
Built a 24’ x 30’ building JUST for TRAINS ONLY. Yep, thats sure what it was built for. I think, if you move the camping equpiment, the tools, the extra beds stored for in-laws, the drum set, you might still find some of the original benchwork!
Now, I am planning to build a switching layout in our (present) bedroom, we are adding a new bedroom on, so this one will become our hobby room.
Before I was married, the kitchen (2), a spare bedroom (3) , the front room, and one summer when I went totally insane, an outdoor HO layout on a 4x8 sheet of marine grade plywood propped up by 4 sawhorses. Looking back, that one was lot’s of fun!
My first layout was in a room in my parents basement some number of years ago. It was a 4X8 and I had a ball with it. Much later I built a 12’ X 6’ T layout in the basement of a house my wife and I rented. Now I am working with my son on a 4X8 for him in our basement. He has the area just right of the bottom of the stairs which is just about perfect for his layout. The area beyond that is going to be a future extension that I want to go crazy with. I imagine I’ll get lots of help from the boy and his mom too! [:)]
Basement way back in the 70s when I started in WY (in high school), then basement again when I lived in PA after graduating college, a spare bedroom when I lived in FL, then a garage when I lived in CA, and again a garage when I lived in WA, then a spare bedroom when I moved in WA, and now the basement again here in NJ.
