Greetings. Going to try my hand at my first layout after a 40 year hiatus from when I was a teenager. Since my wife won’t let me use the dining room, I decided to build a wall mounted/fold down 5’ x 9’ layout in my office. I have seen a few samples on YouTube, but not much else seems to be available. I tried searching this forum as well, but nada. Can anyone here point me in a better direction for ideas, tips, and tricks?
Thanks in advance.
Gills
Welcome to the forums!
Though I don’t have a place to send you for further information, I do have a couple of suggestions.
Think of a fold-up layout. If you fold down your scenery will be subject to damage by each person that walks by the layout. Your perminant scenic elements would have to meet the standards of the depth of the “box” you fold into. Obviously trains would have to be stored along with buildings, people and vehicles that you don’t secure permenently.
Use the space below layout level for a similar lookinig box, which would be a storage cabinet for loose items.
Sorry I don’t have a more definite plan for you.
Goof luck,
Richard
Another option, possibly more attractive in terms of dual use of the room, would be an around the walls layout that need not be folded out of the way, it is out of the way all of the time. A 9’x5’ tabletop layout with walking space around even just two sides takes up a lot of floor. Plus whether folded up or down 5’ occupies more than half the vertical space on at least one wall and needs to be at least six inches “thick” at all times if you have any scenery, bridges or tunnels.
A one foot wide shelf layout intrudes only two feet into the room (one foot on each wall) but could be 40’ long in the same sized room. Plus, shelf layouts allow broader radius curves by exploiting those little used corners of the room. You can cheat on shelf width in the corners to get extra space at little cost in the dual functionality.
The only lift out or fold up/ down section crosses the doorway although a point to point style layout avoids that problem.
Finally, a modular shelf layout built on adjustable shelf supports can be raised out of the way by re-setting the supports at a higher point allowing the modules to be stored above normal head height. That does involve a lot of work but then so does a fold up/down table top design. A layout can even form one middle shelf of a bookcase library style around the room in your office. The train track can run above your computer workstation…try running trains while you “work” in your office.
Around the room modular construction shelf layout is the way to go for dual purpose rooms. Bonus of using narrow shelves is less scenery to build…
If you do a modular around-the-room layout, some of the modules could be built to Free-mo standards; and you could take them to set-ups and run trains with all the rest of the folks.
That’s what I’m hoping to get to on one wall of my office, someday.
Ed
Hello All,
Answering a few questions will aid the great folks on these forums assist you in realizing your goal.
What scale are you considering?
By
Are you referring to an office space in your home, or will you be contacting H.R. and building engineering?
What size/shape of the room are you dealing with?
If this is a home office is there closet space available?
Even with the lightest weight materials, a 5’X9’ pike is still a weighty proposition (pun intended).
Years ago there was a thread on these forums about building an N-scale pike in a roll-top desk.
My reply was this could be done by having half the pike fold up and in the desk portion- -think reverse trundle bed.
The center pull-out drawer could support the “leaf” and the drawers on the side could provide storage for motive power and rolling stock.
Electronic components: booster, power strip, et al, could be mounted under the desk in the knee space.
In my house, “She who must be obeyed” has decreed that I can only use the space on the top of the bed in the computer/spare bedroom/train room. The pike sits directly on the mattress with previously no under pike access.
The B.S.&P. R.R. II is still a 4’X8’ pike but I reworked the frame from 5/8-inch Medium Density Fiber Board to an open frame with 1/4-inch plywood. Reducing the weight considerably.
Now, after clearing the pike of motive power, rolling stock, and the booster, I have devised a system of pulleys and hardware to securely suspend the pike over the bed.
To “camouflage” the underside a fitted sheet is attached to the underside of the new framework- -like a canopy bed.
If you are considering a fold-down pike- -like a Murphy Bed- -the height of the extended platform would be quite low to the floor, if you are pulling down the 9-foot side, unless yo
I built a 4’ x 8’ x 4” fold out for my kids HO scale trains back in the mid 60s that worked pretty good. I built a 1” x 12” box frame against the wall and used a pair of (1” X 3” Oak) supports attached to the middle of the 4’ ends of the layout as a hinge point. The other end of the support attached to the bottom front of the box frame. I made a pair of slots or guides for the corners of the layout to go up and down. To raise the layout you pulled the 8’ side out from the frame and the layout folded out and down into place and ended up at about 28” from the floor which was perfect for young boys.
They had to remove all the structures before closing it up. Later I made a second 4’ x 8’ x 2” that attached to the top of train layout for a HO slot car layout. To set up the slot car layout they simply snapped the locking clips to hold the slot car layout to the train layout and that kept the slot layout in place. Dual purpose and worked well until we moved 8 years later.
Mel
Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951
My Model Railroad
http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/
Bakersfield, California
Aging is not for wimps.
I was aiming for HO scale. I went with 5’ x 9’ as I read somewhere that adding 1 foot to each dimension of the standard 4’ x 8’ sheet make a large difference to what can be done in terms of curves and track.
Office=Home office.
The room is 18’ x 12’.
There is a closet in the room on the 10’ side. There is a window on the other 10" side.
My calculation of the weight of the board and the aluminium frame is around 125 lbs. I think the studs will hold that weight spread out over 6 of them.
I have considered the overhead option, especially since structures and other scenery could be left on the board at all times. The rooms does have 10’ ceilings, but the whole pulley thing seems a bit complication for my pea brain.
Gills
I have played around with suspended layouts in the past but these fell out of favor with me and my kids fairly quickly due to insufficient room around the layout when lowered and the need to add the legs and lower or raise the layout and remove the legs every time you want to use it or put it away. I had already ruled out a fold down layout as the mechanism needed to fold the layout neatly against the wall AND raise it to a comfortable operating height when lowered is beyond the skills of most DIY’ers plus you must remove everything loose or too tall from the layout prior to folding it up and replace all the loose or too tall objects every time you want to use the layout. Obviously, this includes all the trains, too. I didn’t have to remove anything from the suspended layouts and they still fell out of favor.
Having recently built an around the walls layout in my garage that I thoroughly enjoy, I heartily agree that an around-the-walls shelf layout would encroach less on the occupied portions of the room. A shelf layout would always be ready to work on or operate and you can walk away from it whenever you want. A point-to-point around-the-walls layout would also be more realistic and more fun to operate, especially since there will be more room for your friends and family to join in the fun. The modular idea sounds good, too.
Being an office, I suspect your preference would be for continuous operation. One cool thing could be to model something in N or HOn30 and build a 2X3 layout that could serve both as a layout and a working table. Basically, the layout could be covered either by a glass or a wood cover, and serve the dual purpose.
It may depend on the type of business you run and how you use your space. Is there a lot of room? Will you meet clients in your office? An around-the-room layout will likely take a lot of space, or be too high in the air to be interesting. For me, I just can’t see how practical a fold-up layout can be…
Anyway, just a thought.
Simon
Years ago. .many. Many. Years ago. I remember seeing something about using a Murphy bed. Just without the mattress. It gave the depth needed and all the equipment to lift. Something worth looking into
shane
Thanks for all the responses. The one about the shelf layout got me thinking about the whole thing and I decided to go with 4’ x 12’ permanent layout along the back wall, which is the only one not having a door, window, closet, etc. One end of the layout might actually come out 5-6’ for the last 4’ of the 12’ run. Now I just have to design the layout!!! Thanks again. Gills
The problem with a 5x9 fold down layout is you have to take everything off when you fold it up which is annoying.
It might be much more satisfying to build an around the walls layout with a lift up bridge where the entrance door is. In fact you would make the shelf fairly narrow for 2 or 3 of the walls such as where the home office desk is, even a 6-inch shelf. Then you can have one wall with a shelf something like 18 or 24 inches wide, depending on the space. That way you could have a continuous run, reasonably wide radius curves at the cornders and an area where you could have a yard and some switching.
MR had exactly what you wanted many years ago in the magazine. Looked like a cabinet when folded up and had a good plan as I recall. I am totaly guessing but I would say 70s or 80s and maybe the 60s.
Folks have found that they can’t reach more than about 30" into a scenicked layout with damaging elements near the front edge. So a 4X14 rectangle with a long edge against the wall might be problematic.
But if you build in more of a dogbone style, narrower in the middle, you would be able to reach more of the layout. Or you’ll need access holes/hatches.
I always encourage folks to see the space, not a rectangle.
Good luck with your layout.
Byron
Hang an arced 6" extension shelf off the front side of each end and you’ll get room for 24" or maybe even 26" radius return loops.
Then you’ll find you can “wasp waist” the middle 5’ or so of the layout shelf down to a nifty 20" or even less. Dogbone or water wing shape.
That gets you more space in the middle of the room plus plenty of scenery space in the loops at each end.
Bonus you can make it look like a double track line and if you’re brave you can fit crossovers into the double track section and create the dreaded reversing section needed to run trains “the other way”.
Draw lots of alternatives before you start to build. Graph paper and pencils are cheap and drawing time is a lot less than ripping out and rebuilding…
Murphy bed double is that perfect 54" wide giving room for 24" radius return loops. Length is a tad short but since you’re not actually building a Murphy bed you can make it as long as will fit and use the same folding mechanism.
The last paragraph is the best advice. Paper is cheaper and easier to alter than 2x4s and plywood. Wish I had thought of that in the past!
A fold UP layout can be built that will hold buildings. When my boys were young (about 35 years ago) I built one for them, it was probably a 4’ x 8’.
The first thing I built was the part that attached to the wall. It consisted of two 1" x 6" x 8’ boards fastened together along the long edge in an L shape. At each end I had triangular 1" board to reinforce the long boards. You could put one or two in the middle if you want. Fasten this to the wall at the height of the finished table.
I then used sturdy hinges to connect the 4’ x 8’ plywood to the long outside edge of the base, so that the table will swing up. I put an eye bolt in the two outside corners of the plywood and two metal hooks on the wall about 4’ up from the base. I fastened a chain to each eyebolt and hooked it to the hooks on the wall at about a 45 degree angle. To raise the table just unhook the chains, raise the table and rehook the chains so that the table hangs out from the wall at a small angle.
If you fasten your structures to the table top and they are less than 5.5" tall they will clear the wall. If you want taller structures you will need to a deeper base or let the table hang out at a larger angle from the wall. If you are worried about the table getting bumped and pushed back agains the wall you can add a wooden stop to the wall or table so that it protects the structures from getting pushed back against the wall.
I now have a shelf layou around the wall of a bedroom, which I like very much.
Agree with your decision to build a permanent layout. Byron has a good point as far as accessability. Dogbone and/or access holes will make the far reaches of the layout reachable.
I recall that one, c. mid 60’s IIRC, it was a TT scale layout built in a 4’ x 8’ x 12" -ish box that, when stored, appeared to be a floor-to-ceiling cabinet, which was hinged at the floor so it would swing down for operating. All trains retreated to the the yard/staging tracks located on the floor piece, before the cabinet was raised up to its storage position against the wall. Clever design, and easy to relocate if needed!
Jim