My kids are moving out and my wife has the bug to sell our house and buy a new one. Well, she took me by this house and it is really nice and out in the woods away from everything. The house is smaller than the current house. Nice and my wife loves it.
Then the owner shows me the “barn”. 48X70 feet with a second story that is heated and finished. The thing is enormous!! It was designed by the owner as a wood shop but looks like a furniture factory. I feel overwhelmed by the size of model railroad you could build in this thing. G scale wouldn’t be that much of a problem. I shudder to think what I could do with that space. [:p] This suggests an entirely different set of problems that I have never considered before. Is it possible to have too much space?
Yes it possible. Build a layout that fits your goals, maintinance abilty, and budget.
It doesn’t have to fit that HUGE area.
You just have alot more possible space to work in.
I agree, you CAN have ‘too much’. Now, you need to find out how many railroading friends you have around that can help out, both for construction and operation. And don’t forget to leave space for a crew lounge for off-duty people so they aren’t hanging out and getting in the way of crews trying to operate. With that kind of space, you can partition it off to make a lounge area, keep all such activity out of the actual house, which will make the better half MUCH happier, plus partition space off to be a workshop, keeping the dirty partsof the hobby away from the layout, AND still have room for a very nicely done layout.
I am in a similar situation. I am looking into the possibility of purchasing a closed down mining equipment factory on the northside of town. After remodeling it and adding a top floor, I will have roughly 35 X75 of open space for a model railroad. My ambitions is large eneugh I can build one that big. But I am definatly going to need help to run all the trains that a layout that size can handle.
You don’t have to use the whole space for a model railroad.
At least that’s what my wife tells me about our 34 x 24 basement.
I would think the gating factor(s) would be cost of building the thing, whether or not you could assemble a cast of thousands (or at least a cast of several) to help you build and operate it and how much maintenance the beast would need.
By the way. Where’s the house located, what’s the asking price and are you going to make an offer?[:-^][:-^][:-^][:-^]
Yes, too much space is a possibilty. You don’t have to fill the whole basement, or barn, with railroad. I think there needs to be a real possibility of seeing the project to reasonable completion, although I agree that model railroads are rarely “completely done”.
One approach might be to design and build a smaller railroad in one area of the building which could be expanded and added to into other areas. That way you could get something up and running, move on to building scenery and operation and then move on to building the next addition if you want to.
Ask about utility costs and see if you can afford to support the summer cooling and the winter warming in that prospective house.
As previously stated, having a workroom, family room where people can relax and possibly a space for the wife’s own interests.
With the magnitude of that much space it is easy to feel “overwhelmed” and not do anything at all. If it was me, I would break the overall project down to several “towns” and areas such as Yard, engine areas etc and work on it one at a time.
Avoid creating too much “Track” if your trains must travel all the way back to the rear and work it’s way back to you you may actually forget about it as it may take several minutes or more to make the trip. Try to use onboard sound on the engines so you can track em. Of course if that chugging and puffing suddenly stays in one location then you know that engine may have had a derailment before it really becomes a problem.
Consider the wear and tear… Would you be willing to clean all that track, or fix all those cars? For some people workbench time some times exceeds layout time.
If you plan to have several people come out to run your railroad as a operating session, look at your lands. Can you park 6 cars in that driveway and not interfere with normal everyday access?
Does your house have more than one bathroom where you may be able to host 6 or more people in the train room without interfering with the rest of the private living space in your home?
Will you be able to get that 4x8 sheet of plywood up there? Or will your track in the corner furthest from the heater experience too much contraction in the winter? Is the environment stable as far as dust, mold and mildew?
Many things to look at. I only have a humble 2x8 foot with big plans for the future but that 2x8 footer is teaching me what I can use and not use. For example I dont need that 300 car mega yard/division point if I only have 60 cars (half of which is unfin
While I would check out the heating/cooling costs, the main thing is to not create a maintenance nightmare. This means creating a group to help with the layout or keeping the track work relatively simple. With this kind of space you could have long stretches between towns, long sidings, etc and keep the number of turnouts reasonable. Put in an air filter system to help keep the dust under control.
I would also build a couple of return loops on wheels so that as you build the layout you can have one at each end. This provides early operation. And you may decide the layout is big enough before you fill the space.
IF it were me and I could dedicate the space to trains, I would have some of the room for the layout (obviously), a room for the “common” library where operators could store some of their unwanted books and mags for others to read, a room for model building and repairs, a workshop, a room for dispatching and computer operations for dcc, the crew room and lounge, and evenly possibly a very small museum where you and others could display items that are meaningful. This would attract a very good operating crew which you would need to maintain the layout you have and get it built in a reasonable time frame. I would not let this layout be a “lone wolf” layout.
Start small, progress as large as you want as money provides. If you fill it all up to start with, you can’t upgrade as time goes by. Someday, the whole thing will be filled up and all the locals can come run trains on it. I beleve DCC is the only way to go on a large layout. Digitrax is a good company, because it is easy to upgrade systems as time goes by. I have an Empire Builder II that I love using.
Just think: you could have one straight 70 foot section of track (Just like Saskatchewan) and FINALLY get to run that 75 car propane and dynamite freight train at 95 miles per hour. What a dream, what a decision, I don’t think I am capable of making a decision like yours, I wish you the very best of luck. let us know about your decision. If you werent confused before, I’m sure you are now.
It takes a lot of time and money to build something large. Then there is upkeep, maintenance. You know what you can afford. Once you decide how much you want to devote to the railroad, size becomes more relevant.
You can never have enough space to build a model railroad.
My latest layout is in a 25’ x 75’ basement and I would like to have it 4 feet wider, but it as it is it will keep me busy. I already have 2600 feet of track down and am working on the scenery.
Now how many people did it take to build this layout. I had the help of my 2 boys and this was usually only on weekends. All this was done in 5 years. The easy part (bench work and laying track) is done. Now the layout operates and the many building are being worked on one at a time.
We have twice a month OPs sessions and now that the major track work is done on the layout I am the one to do the scenery, backdrops etc. Yes it is going much slower now but this is my retirement project so I really do not have to get a lot done. In 4 years I will retire and finally have the time to devote some serious work to the layout.
As for maintenance if you build the layout as a low maintenance layout using proper techniques it will not use all of your time to keep it running. Take track cleaning for example putting metal polish on the rails has eliminated having to clean the track more than once a year, if then! All cars are weighted, wheels checked for gauge and Kadee’s put on before they are put on the layout. Each one is entered into a database as it is finished so that a maintenance record is kept on each car. If a car keeps causing trouble it will find a new home.
Don’t let anyone discourage you from having your dream layout.
Build a sizeable crew lounge and a nicely equipped workshop. That’ll cut down on the space a little, then start with what you feel comfortable and leave yourself the possibility to expand into the rest of the area. Or use it to show off Railroad memoribilia, etc…
One thing you might consider is offer to host a club layout in the “barn”–this could provide a way to subsidize both the expense and the labor of an individual layout in such a space.
Maybe the issue of large spaces is boiled down to this: for planning purposes large spaces are wonderful. There so many possibilities. But for turning them into real model railroads, they are a lot more difficult. There are a lot of practical issues that must be dealt with, all of which have already been mentioned here.