Well, technically I guess I sold the whole house too. [:)] Signed the papers yesterday, unless something goes wrong with the deal, I’ll be out no later than June 15. Only bad part was I spent a lot of time in Dec - Jan putting in scenery (basically did about 100 sq ft of scenery) just so I can make some videos and slides of a “completed” layout before hauling it to the dumpster. [:(]
Still, be interesting to see where I end up for a new layout space. One potential new house says it has a 15’ x 39’ “family room” that I’m sure I could find a use for !!
Stix,
I can relate to the hard work and having to destroy it… I’ve done it a couple of
times before and I am doing it now. the hardest part (for me) is making the
first move. But once I start it becomes less and less painful.
The upside is starting over and building a better layout. I have learned from
every layout and they have gotten bigger and better each time. Best of luck
on your next project!! Dave
I moved out of Richfield in 1965 and tore my second layout apart. I brought it with me to Blaine but never set it up. I did use a few scenery parts in the new layout. Tore that one down as well. Good luck with the next. Staying in the area?
After reading about how many layouts have been dismantled, and how little of that hard work has been salvaged, I’d like to mention my own partial solution.
Back in 1980 I built one module of a proposed modular layout as a free-standing project, after having had to trash a half-dozen earlier layouts due to Military PCS orders. That module has been incorporated in several layouts (and operated without a connection) continuously ever since. It is currently unconnected to the under-construction layout because it is destined to become the terminal of a yet-to-be-built short line. Trains still operate (to and from removable cassettes) according to the timetable - which is one reason the main layout is progressing rather slowly.
Even though we all think, “This is my ultimate layout,” reality frequently disagrees. Having one ‘something’ that is designed for survival does a lot to ease the pain - and the transition to the new layout.
I also planned ahead, when I started my second layout I built it in 2x4 modules. Now on to my 3rd layout I used all the modules in the new one and built more. I expect to sell the house when we have kids and will have to move but the layout will go with me. I tested out the theory when I tore down a wall and expanded the room. While it disrupted the layout for 6 months I didn’t lose much of the work I had completed. As of today I have almost all the 1st level done and about 1/4 of the upper layer (benchwork started).
I’m sort of in the same boat, Stix. We were house hunting in Asheville, NC the weekend before last. We aren’t ready to put our house on the market yet, but if we had been, we found a couple down there we really liked. Our move is looking like the fall provided the economy doesn’t crater.
The bad news is that I am sacrificing a 40x14 unobstructed area that has benchwork, lower level staging completed, and some upper level subroadbed and track. Sooner or later I’ll have to dig out the putty knife, set the impact driver to reverse and begin the painful process.
There is a lot more good than bad to this potential move, but not even having a space to plan to kis driving me batty!
I’m there too, but only after we had slid my layout back and forth on casters throughout an entire basement reno, then only to find that the carpet installer would not work under the layout (which could only be rolled so far). I am about to commence a much better plan, but I will certainly make step one a disassemly-friendly design, starting with a yard-on-a-coreless door.
stix, this is why I would like to find a round robin group as the help would make the rebuild much quiker. Also I probably would not go modular because I want a finished look, not say aits not possible with modular.
select, If the carpet man would not work around the layout he must not have needed the money. I would and have told him to just leave. Make it clear upfront.
Probably good advice Walter, but my problem is I enjoy the design and building phase as much as anything else. I’m not “feeling the blues” over the prospect of starting over, but the fact that I am losing a nearly ideal space with a plan that I really liked…and liked the way it was developing as I cut, glued, inserted screws, laid track and even ran a few test trains. Now if you can find a way to have Scotty transport my basement…
Ah, the joys of this hobby. It really has enough different aspects to make almost anybody happy!
[#ditto][#ditto][#ditto]
With 28 ft of modular railroad already built, and another move in the next year, I’m ready.
I can break it down, put it all in 2 racks that fit in my trailer, and set it all back up again in a day.
ya gotta work smart, no hard![:D]
Thanks for the responses !! I might (depending on the layout area) go sort of semi-modular, at least in that I am leaning towards doing more of an along-the-wall layout where I could put in 18"-24" wide sections maybe 6’-8’ long that probably could be re-used later. But we’ll see, we’re planning on this to be our only move (BTW I’m 47 and this is my first move!!)
I am staying (more or less) in the area, I live in Richfield MN (first city south of Minneapolis) and my wife and I both work for the state in DT St.Paul (about 15 miles northeast from my house) so we’re thinking of moving somewhere east of St.Paul. I-94 opens up a lot of possibilities, actually a lot people I work with live in Hudson Wisc. now. Hudson/North Hudson is possible, also will be looking at Stillwater area. Basically we just really like the St.Croix river valley area !!
Pretty much everything except the plaster scenery and benchwork will be saved. The benchwork is 20+ years old and has been reused a time or two already, I’d just as soon start fresh maybe using something different.
It’s great out here in West Lakeland (north of 94 and east of Manning). Close enough to Woodbury, Stillwater and Hudson, but 2.5 acre minimum lots. Hudson may be cheaper to buy, but that little extra commute daily may be a real pain. Build your own house and get a dream basement. I did. Feel free to email me.
The big problem with Hudson is property taxes !! We love the city, but a normal house (not a mansion or anything) in the new developments south of I-94 have around $3600 annual prop taxes. North of there in the older part of town it’s around $3000, across the old CNW mainline into North Hudson it’s still around $2600. Similar house in MN would be maybe $1800-$2000 taxes.
So…you can get more “bang for your buck” in WI - more house for less money - but the taxes kinda eat away any gain you get. We’re looking tonight at some houses in Hudson but will soon be checking some out on the MN side, really anything from Stillwater down to St.Mary’s Point would be nice.
My property taxes aren’t bad at all considering the size of my house. There are a lot of homes for sale around here. There’s even one right along the tracks on Stagecoach Trail. I could use train buddy in the neighborhood.[;)]
I’m building a modular layout for that very reason. I’m retiring in 3 years and don’t want to tear down and start over. There are concessions that you make with modular but this is my first layout and plan to just expand it when I retire and move.
Wasn’t it Harry Brunk who built his layout in a mobilehome? Thats all that was in that mobile home was his ho narrow guage version of the Rio Grande. I spent a season landscaping in ther Hudson area back in ‘71’ Beautiful country but the winters were too cold so I moved to Anchorage AK. Joined a club up there whose meeting and layout place was in the deisel shops of the AKRR.
