First, I win the Lotto so I can have both time and money to devote to the dream railroad.
Second, find a place like that house built over a Nike missile base that Tony Koester mentioned in one of his columns some years back.
Third, fill the space with Proto:48. Finance the manufacture of a number of key steam locomotives for a transition-era railroad.
Fourth, the main layout theme would be mailine railroading in the Chicago area, ca. 1946-1955. Also include a section of trolley line, the Chicago “L”, and a couple of branchlines based on whatever strikes my fancy.
Fifth, some features would include a passenger terminal, a shop complex, a working hump yard, and full-length passenger trains running on v-e-r-y broad curves!
My dream layout would combine both mainline operation with long trains, and industrial switching. I would make sure to detail and weather EVERYTHING. I would also love motor-controlled tunrouts, DCC w/ sound, and operating signals. My preferred prototype would include both BN/BNSF and Union Pacific in the 1975-present era.
I dont even know where to start…1st one of the goals in my life is to own a model railroad museum. My ultimate dream railroad would have to be haveing a true to scale line…as in having a true to scale city(s) and its railroad and all. I would of course want this to be in the steam era, but I would want the entire line 2 scale…lol. Maybe Bill Gates could “loan” me some money
The Southern Pacific and Sante Fe from Caliente to Tehachapi Pass. Think of the PAs, the cab forwards, long passenger and freight trains, all in a true to scale layout (which would be about 1000 feet of track - manageable, if there is enough room!)
Mine would fall in the “old Walmart” category, fer sure!
My grandfather worked at Rossford Yard for the B and O in Toledo, Ohio. I would model that unique track pattern in N, at about two thirds the length and width. Thus, the 56 yard bowl would reduce to about 37 tracks, and the three mile length would be only two scale miles (well, maybe length could be half, no 67%) or 1.5 X 33, or about 50 feet long. (That is several yards, the inbound-outbound is only about a mile long, so it would be about 17-22 feet, still enough to run 42-63 car trains).
Rossford was located near Toledo, and I would model an entire city district for switching and transfer runs. However, to allow more roads, I would shamelessy transfer Rossford to Chicgo as Barr Yard (or possibly St. Louis Cone Yard?) so as to have other RR interchange trains show up. I might also extend the useful life of Rossford Yard (closed in 1985) well into the 90’s or even current. On second thought, while I could stomach Seaboard diesels invading B and O territory, I would probably cut it off around 1990, or so.
As you can tell, I haven’t really spend any time thinking about this!
a shelf layout arond a large basement, with other things there too not just the around the room trains.
In N-scale , trolleys and interurbans and electric heavy freight .
much street running and elevated trains a mix of Chicago, Boston , Pittsburg and Philadelphia with a few cable cars thrown in . A real mix of things that appealed to me while growing up in Chicago and visiting the other cities.
That someone would just give me the HO layoutnow in the Museum of Science and Industry downtown. I work on my own layout and think it is a fine thing then I go to the Museum and drool. Still, I am having fun.
An old Wal-Mart would be good, but what about an entire mall with trains everywhere! Since there would be plenty of room, I’d want to go for O or G scale. It would also have mulitple levels with complex mazes of track running through mountans on large bridges with maybe even a rack railway. It would also encompass different eras of railroading and many different parts or the world. Since it would be impossible to see the whole layout all at once you could have different areas representing these different themes without much comflict.
Of course even better would be to have a real 1:1scale railroad. If I could I’d love to rescue many (or all) the the abandoned and derelict trains (especially steam locomotives) in the world and restore them all to run at a railroad museum I’d open.
Ah, dreams. Unfortunately reality sets in and I have realise that unless I become a movie star or inherit Bill Gates’ fortune these dreams probably won’t happen. But hey, you never know, dreams can come true!
Mine would have to be a reasonable representation of Pennsy’s Elmira Branch, with visible right of way from Kendall Tower to Sodus Point, with Williamsport, PA and points south as hidden (lower level?) staging. The plans are all in my head, with multi-level, semi-mushroom design, benchwork deep enough to capture the scenery (especially in the Montour Falls/Watkins Glen area), full-scale model of the Sodus Point Coal Dock, DCC with sound, lots of transition-era power by Bowser and Broadway Ltd. All in HO scale.
Think 5000 square feet would do it? With 18-foot ceilings? After all, it’s just space, money, and enough rolling stock and operators to make it all work, right?
My wife wants a 1500 sq. ft. house and I want a 10,000 sq. ft. basement. I figure something on the order of a pyramid should work. Seriously I am thinking about a corridor PRR layout with operational towers for the train watchers and enough switching for the doers. original plan called for 30th st. to Morris yard on two levels and I have just decided that the area from N. Phl to Fairhill yard just west of Shore Tower has it all for me. GG1’s and other motors, 3 branches, 84 industries, PRSL traffic, clockers, N-S freights. Run diagonally across a 30’x50’ basement should give about one scale mile of railroad that can be modeled in full scale and operated with a 1:1 clock. That 45 degree bend between N. Phl. and Fairhill doesn’t hurt either. A lot of track what with four mains and a local track on each side but a lot easier on maintenace and decisions. I call it the Philly Mile.
The one I’m building right now. 60’ X 30’ multi deck layout set in the mid 70’s SE coal hauler, take off on the Clinchfield. Goal is to have it operational for the Spring 2004 Op Till You Drop weekend we have every year.
The dream layout is one that turns out as you imagined, only better, never needs cleaned or maintained, never has derailments or uncouples, never breaks or burns out, you freinds and family admire it, your spouse loves it, and people pay money to see it so you can quit your day job and devote yourself to it. If it can cook that’s a bonus.
My current layout is my dream coming true.
Oh, sure , I could like it to be bigger and have
more track but if I were to expand as large as I
really wanted , I would NEVER find time to see
it to the scenery phase, just a wooden skeleton.
That would not be as much fun as I have today.
[8D] … would be located inside a retired / refurbished caboose.
Hey Rick, rather than a yacht, the infamous BC Fast Ferries might also be a good option. think about it… theatre seating, visitor parking, cafeteria, washrooms, a command centre, and paying public[:D][:D][:D]
While it’s easy to wish for a Wal-Mart sized layout with all the trimmings and a time machine to crank out the hours you’d need to keep it up and running, I suppose I can ask for a modest dream.
A nice-sized basement/attic/garage to build in–maybe 20x20 feet.
Modeling the Sacramento Northern, primarily the central region around Sacramento but including branch lines north and south, down to Clarksburg, over to Woodland and north perhaps to Marysville/Yuba City.
Featuring some of that lovely Suydam brass, in the shape of Niles interurban cars, and some of my own scratchbuilt versions of the Hall-Scott and other South End cars, as well as a couple MKT brass GE steeplecabs, and a few lovingly-detailed homebrewed SN box motors.
Interchanges with a little bit of active running with SP and WP lines in the Sacramento section, including the R Street industrial corridor, 19th Street, Front Street and maybe just a touch of the Sacramento yard and shops–even in 20x20 I couldn’t begin to do them justice, but a few lead tracks with the rest on a backdrop would be enough for me.
And within Sacramento, enough room for several of the PG&E lines, including lines going to the California State Fairgrounds, Joyland Park and the Solons baseball field.
Well My dream layout is in the process of being built. I have about 3 years into it so far. It is loacted in a 25 x 75 basement that is drywalled and has a drop ceiling. It, the basement, was designed for the layout with no furnace, stairs water heater etc. in it. An exyta row of blocks made the room over 8 ft high to get the drop ceiling in plus lights above the ceiling.
The layout is a later (80"s) Conrail line in western PA and I have over 2700 ft of track down. We operate with Digitrax Radio DCC and there are 500 plus cars on the layout.
Now this might seem to be a maintenance problem but the one thing that I did was learn from others what their problems and did not make the same mistake on this one.
The room is very dry, considering it is a basement, well llghted and drywalled. The benchwork is all 2x3 lumber and OSB/Homasote subroadbed. The track is code 100 and everything is soldered with drop wires at EVERY solder joint. The scenery is plaster with very little use of foam. All rolling stock is weighted, kadees and the plastic wheels are being replaced with metal. The track stays clean as we use the metal polish once. We DO NOT have to spend time cleaning track. We do not have electrical problems as the wiring is #12 stranded with sections with # 8 wire. This is how we keep maintenance to a minimum. As I stated before I have learned from others in the past and was not about to have the their problems.
the whole spare room i’m going to put my 4x8 foot layout in. i’d like to have the whole room but that will never happen until i move off to college and maybe get my own place then get married or something and have a room to myself. right now i just want to get my first layout done.
I am fortunate that I have about 11 x 33 feet available for the hobby. To leave working space for a workbench and to allow access to a sump pump I have “cropped” the layout area to about 25 x 11. Not bad in HO, but not gigantic either, so I am concentrating on industrial switching. If I could confiscate the other half of the basement I would opt for around the walls of the entire 25 x 33 foot room and combine switching with some main line running. I really enjoy the wireless walkaround DCC control and it would become even more important if such a layout were possible. It’s a great hobby even with a 4 x 8 however.