Opinoins on benchwork plan

Model Railroader Layouts and layout building
1

I’ve been clearing out a corner of my basement for a layout and need some opinins on the best use of space. Pic 1 is what I have to work with. None of the mechanicals can be moved. On the bottom is a water meter, workbench, and escape window.

Pic 2 is what I thought I had decided on - a basic 9x15 rectangle. I would build in access panels as necessary or leave a narrow space in the middle open.

While looking around the room last night I started re-thinking the rectangle and came up with pic 3. I moved the workbench to the top and created more of an L shape. I left an narrow access aisle (18")along the left and bottom to access the water meter and window. I do have an escape window in another area of the basement so I could build up to the wall under this one to gain a little more space on the layout. I do need to leave the water meter area open so I can get a step ladder in there to reach a valve in the ceiling.

All thoughts/opinions welcome!

BTW this will be an O-gauge layout. No track plan yet.

Thanks, Don

2

O gauge Standard or 3 rail?

3

3 rail. I’ve been on the Toy Trains forum for a while, thought I’d solicit opinions from this forum also.

Don

4

It depends on what you want the layout to do. Is it primarily for railfanning where watching the trains run is the primary goal? Or are looking for a walkaround layout where operation is the goal? What’s your minimum radius (or diameter), while O gauge can go down to O27 (13 1/2" radius), some O gauge requires O72 (36" radius). For a railfan type layout with large locomotives, I would go with your second picture and have an oval with center aisle reached via duckunder/drop leaf/gate. For an operating layout with small locomotives I would go with your third picture with a view block down the center.

Enjoy

Paul