05-21-2010, 06:42 AM
Similar to Russ's situation, we have no basements in here southwest Florida ... the water table is generally only 4 or five feet down. The highert elevation around here is at the peak of an I-75 highway overpass! The next highest elevation is about ten or eleven feet above sea level, and that place is about thirty miles inland!. :o
Model railroads therefore exist in the garage (hot, humid - way humid - and populated by a very wide variety of insects, from tiny ants to very large Wolf spiders) or in a "spare"/guest room. Now, with no basement, or attic either for that matter (above the ceiling has all the same attributes as the garage, except the heat is doubled or tripled and the Wolf spiders are larger and jump farther) the space available for storage is slim to none and so every imaginable space is used for storing out-of-season stuff. That artificial Christmas tree and it's lights do take up space!
My own layout is now (finally) about to begin construction in "the other half" of the "Great Room."
(it is currently represented by blue painter's tape on the terrazzo floor.) It will depict "traditional" mountain country, not be an Industrial Switching Layout, but rather a point-to-point, TTTS (terminal town to staging) type of layout. When I was planning, I wanted it to appear to go somewhere, which it will ... just not very far. 
As I think about it, with so many people living in apartments these days, where "free" space is at even a greater premium than in Russ's or my situations. Currently leaning up aginst the wall in the "Great Room" is a 28" x 72" Timesaver layout, which had casters under it and lived, covered, under the bed back when I lived in a small apartment. I used to roll it out and take the cover off of it when I wanted to "play with the toy trains." It all comes down to the most efficient use of the space available. If you plan well, and interesting, full-of-operating-potential layout can be constructed and enjoyed in very small places. We have just all been conditioned over the years by the model railroad press to believe that the goal was, in "wishbook" style, a model railroad empire that fills a 35' x 60' basement, when a smaller, more manageable layout is probably a whole lot more fun! Just think about how long a track cleaning session lasts when you have a basement-sized empire, you are working alone and "the guy's" are coming over tomorrow night for an operating session!
Nawww ... I think I'll stick to something more manageable!
Model railroads therefore exist in the garage (hot, humid - way humid - and populated by a very wide variety of insects, from tiny ants to very large Wolf spiders) or in a "spare"/guest room. Now, with no basement, or attic either for that matter (above the ceiling has all the same attributes as the garage, except the heat is doubled or tripled and the Wolf spiders are larger and jump farther) the space available for storage is slim to none and so every imaginable space is used for storing out-of-season stuff. That artificial Christmas tree and it's lights do take up space!
My own layout is now (finally) about to begin construction in "the other half" of the "Great Room."
(it is currently represented by blue painter's tape on the terrazzo floor.) It will depict "traditional" mountain country, not be an Industrial Switching Layout, but rather a point-to-point, TTTS (terminal town to staging) type of layout. When I was planning, I wanted it to appear to go somewhere, which it will ... just not very far. As I think about it, with so many people living in apartments these days, where "free" space is at even a greater premium than in Russ's or my situations. Currently leaning up aginst the wall in the "Great Room" is a 28" x 72" Timesaver layout, which had casters under it and lived, covered, under the bed back when I lived in a small apartment. I used to roll it out and take the cover off of it when I wanted to "play with the toy trains." It all comes down to the most efficient use of the space available. If you plan well, and interesting, full-of-operating-potential layout can be constructed and enjoyed in very small places. We have just all been conditioned over the years by the model railroad press to believe that the goal was, in "wishbook" style, a model railroad empire that fills a 35' x 60' basement, when a smaller, more manageable layout is probably a whole lot more fun! Just think about how long a track cleaning session lasts when you have a basement-sized empire, you are working alone and "the guy's" are coming over tomorrow night for an operating session!
Nawww ... I think I'll stick to something more manageable!
biL
Lehigh Susquehanna & WesternÂ
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln
Lehigh Susquehanna & WesternÂ
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." ~~Abraham Lincoln