I am finally allowed to build my Sn42 layout in the basement, the music recording studio for my mom’s band is getting the boot so I get a room all to my self! It is a 14x22 foot room, and I was wondering what type of layout I should have. Not a multi level, and I know it will be around the walls, but I don’t know how I should have the peninsulas, should it be just one big one all down the middle, or should I have multiple shorter ones branching of the sides? There are two doors one in the top left corner, 2 feet away from the corner,going down, and there is another to the right of the door 3 feet away. Any plans for the bench work? Sorry for the bad explanation…[banghead]
You will be on the very best of terms with your parents if you try very hard not to encroach on the shared space in the room, or mostly on storage space. By this I mean you might be smart to try to stick to one wall, maybe part way down another at the corner to make an ‘L’ shaped layout. If you go with a peninsula, you really limit the use of the rest of the space because a thinner L shape requires access only on the room side. A peninsula necessarily needs space on both sides of it, unless you are willing to have a couch or a table back onto one side of it…which makes it necessarily a thinner peninsula so that you can reach into it from the one side left open to you.
It would be wise to invite input, or at least agreement, from your parent(s) with one or more options so that they feel they have some control over the outcome, but also so that they know what you are contemplating, and why. The more they undersand about the impact their preferences will have on your eventual plan and its outcome, the more conciliatroy and concerned they will be to help you to achieve your goal of a functional layout. So, try hard for two possible plans, maybe three if you want to fly a peninsula past them. Discuss it. One great way to help them visualize what will become a reality to which they agree, is to use masking tape to ‘draw’ it out on the floor. Lay lengths of painter’s tape or masking tape showing the outline of the benchwork right on the floor/rug. It won’t damage anything, and when they see its degree of encroachment on the available floorspace, they will feel better about okaying one of them…and then it’s a deal.
Crandell
Thank you selector, only slightly confusing, but the room is actually 14x14, and I’d like to expand it, but if you guys say different, I won’t make it bigger…[*-)]
Since you are young and will probably move to another location someday, I’d suggest starting by using the smaller space. You could build it in modules, so that it could be moved later. Also, it would mean that if you decided to make it larger, expansion would just mean adding modules, not chopping in to a finished surface. Your track plan can also have places where future expansion can be attached with little disturbance of the existing layout. An industrial spur or small interchange yard, will give you a place to expand your layout.
Good luck,
Richard
Great advice so far. Including Mom and Dad in your plans will always be a plus. As for layout style I’m with Richard on using a domino or modular style of benchwork. On the plus side its easily expanded and when planed well, easy to take down and move. It can include peninsulas and even be “E” shaped with a run down the middle of the room. The modular style of benchwork leans its self to working around things very easily and can be built in stages.
Trainobsessed - I can only agree to getting your parents´ buy in to your plans. I´d also suggest to start small and grow bigger as your skills develop. Don´t start a project that you won´t be able to finish in a reasonable time. Room - sized empires take years to build and you probably won´t stay home long enough to come anywhere near completion.
Just out of curiosity - where do you plan to get your Sn42 locos and rolling stock from - the only source I know is Iron Horse Hobbies in New Zealand, and they are quite expensive!
hi,
for those who do not know: Sn42 is S-scale on HO mechanism’s.
BTW, have you been active under another name?
You might post a drawing of the room. Since i do not think you are entitled to order construction workers around; i assume the room is 22 x 14 and you are allowed a 14 x 14 space in that room.
I would design a master plan for the whole space, but would start the build with a phase one. Something that can be done in a year or so. Building in sections always is a great idea.
Model Railroading can be quite expensive, a DCC system, 30 switches, tracks and scenery stuff like trees, houses and industries beside the trains; all add up. Yep, involve your parents.
This plan for Sora might give you a better idea about phases. With the red line, temporary connection phase one, you will have a donut style oval, with 2 stations. If this is finished the red connection will be removed and the blue one added. The resulting layout functions as a loop to loop design. And finally the yard and harbour can be added.
Have fun
Paul
oops, I forgot to mention that I will have it in sections that are four feet long, and as wide as the bench work is in that section.
One of the first things I learned upon returning to the hobby 7 years ago was that it takes much longer to complete projects than I had anticipated. Trains are also getting more expensive. While I enjoy building kits and creating scenery out of coffee stirrers and sticks from the back yard, when I do that I’m trading time for money.
A large, basement-filling layout is a huge task. There is a lot to learn, too. All of this is good, particularly the learning part, and developing the necessary problem-solving skills will serve you well the rest of your life. Phase 1 of my layout is a 5x12 foot table in HO scale. It’s “finished,” in so far as any model railroad, even part of one, can ever be finished, and that took me 5 years. If you do the math, that’s one square foot per month, and, according to my wife, I spend way too much time on trains. Yes, I’m very detail-oriented and scenery is a high priority, and yes, the basic trackwork went down quite quickly, but consider what you’ll actually be able to accomplish, given the demands of schoolwork and your soon-to-be-much-better social life.
Well, Sir Madog, I plan to attempt to build my own cars out of wood, as I like the looks of the wooden cars, and it is what a shortline like mine would have used from 1915 to 1925. Sn42 is HO wheels on S scale after all, so I will also use HO chassis off of flat cars in HO. And I do not plan to, but i I want to, I could build some bobber cars on a single truck, although I wouldn’t use them on my layout, as I think they are way too European, and there weren’t too many bobber cars in canada. And I will, after doing up some HO locos to Sn42, I will measure the size of the locomotive, like how wide the engine is compared to the track, how tall the cab is, etc…
Quite an undertaking. Eager to see pictures of your achievement!
Here is a link to the homepage of Iron Horse Hobbies. They also have parts which may be of interest to you.
Thank you Sir Madog. I have decided that I will just go with a 14x14 foot layout that I will have build so I can easily move it, and I plan to invest lots of time into every detail. After hearing how long it takes for some experts to build layouts that are in the 1000 square feet range, you’d think they would take a lot longer and wouldn’t have paid attention to every detail. So I plan to make this layout take a long long time, but I plan to make it look very realistic, and I shall pay attention to every detail![swg]
Several thing you have to decide on a layout design. Do you want it to be point to point or continuous running? Is is possible to combine them, but going one way or another can change the options on layout footprint… Point to point is where the train runs from A to B, then you have to turn the engine, run it to the other end of the train, put the caboose on the other end and run back. Continuous running is where the train can run in a loop.
The next big consideration is room access. You can have a design with a clear walk way (like a U) or that has a duck under or lift out (like an O). Either way works, your preference.
In a 14 ft room if you have 3 ft aisles you will have 6 of 14 ft taken up with aisles, so that leaves 8 ft for benchwork, or 4 two ft wide benches, one on each side and a pair of two ft benches down the middle as a peninsula. Keeping the 3 ft aisle and assuming a bench all the way around the room (continuous run option with duckunder), that would make the peninsula seven ft long, or if one side didn’t have benchwork along it (point to point option with open entrance, it would make the peninsula nine ft long. By expanding the end of the peninsula to about 5 ft wide, you can easily accomodate 24" radius on the end of the peninsula.
An around the walls with a peninsula down the middle pretty much maximizes the footprint in the room for a single level layout.
If you go to a straight around the walls, you can make the benchwork a little wider, but you end up with a bigger hole in the middle.
There’s some great advice in this thread.
Here’s my [2c]
Draw your plan on the computer and import it into a second pgm like Train Player (or use design software that allows operations). Use similar sized rolling stock as you plan on using. Try it out. Take your time. Play with it for, say, a month, trying tons of different things. Keep a blank notepad close by and jot down ideas/changes. You might find that a certain turnout might be redundant or slightly off the location where it should be. Or a siding isn’t quite long enough to hold X amount of cars. Or there’s room to add X. You could find lots of stuff, probably most of it minor. But lots of minor stuff can add up and become big. Make a few changes and try out the update. Let your plan evolve, a few changes at a time.
-Ed
Might I suggest you consider the Bachman On30 line for motive power, cut down the cab and domes, replace the obvious O scale details, might prove a reasonable low cost method, I have S standard guaged their 2-6-0 with excellent results., although I kept the O scale headlight out of tradition to the SP who used oversized headlights during the period I model.
Best of luck
Dave
Cool… Your Mom has a band?[8D]
yep. If you want some of their music I can mail you some. I have to warn you though, it cristian music. That okay? If so, give me a yelp.
Thanks for the track plan. Don’t know if I’ll use it though.
That’s just about what I was thinking about. Here is the bench work looks like. It will be a point to point with two loops at either end, under the towns, which are where, at the top, it bulges out to accommodate the town, and the reversing loop. Then the other town is located at the other end, at the left bottom, where another loop is. They will both be hidden, for continuous running, I’f I want it like that,
Here’s a improved version of a trackplan I came up with. It’s still in a 14x14 room, but now it has staging yard coming or the wye, and one hidden with the reversing loop at the south west end. I shall add a passing siding, and populate it with siding/business, etc. Here it is.