Train Rooms, How Big is Yours?

[steinjr]

i think i have the smallest room here! It's about 9x10 - the smallest bedroom in my house.

5 people have clicked on "smaller than 8x10", which is smaller than 9x10

E.g. my layout room is 6.5 x 11.5 foot = 74 square feet - a storage room/workshop room with an around the wall shelf layout, above benches and under storage shelves. Layout surface is about 42 square feet:



Btw - if you don't see the layout plan above as a closed loop, click on the link below to see the plan - the forum cuts images sometimes:
http://home.online.no/~steinjr/trains/mo...ouse40.jpg

A photo showing how the layout shelf between the storage shelves/work space below and the storage shelves above:


The layout I started on before the 6.5 x 11.5 foot room became available was on a 20" deep and 7 feet long shelf in our living room - about 11 square feet:





If you want to see really small, have a look at Carl Arendt's micro layouts website: http://www.carendt.us - they have layouts that will fit in a shoe box - guess it is true that there is no such thing as "too little room for a layout"

Smile,
Stein

[nachoman]

i think i have the smallest room here! It's about 9x10 - the smallest bedroom in my house.

5 people have clicked on "smaller than 8x10", which is smaller than 9x10

wow, i didn't even see that option!

[jim currie]

16X24 and no pics because it looks like the great LA earthquake

[deckroid]

My current room is the garage that we cannot use for cars. It was built in 1922. However, we are building a new house this year. I have been taking notes over the past 3 years and have come to the conclusion that when the wife says "the basement can be used for your trains" what she doesn't add is "at least a portion of the basement can be used for your trains... we might need a spare room or a toy room or storage..."

So, when we talked with the builder, I asked for a basement in the detached garage. He was most gracious and didn't smirk too badly. As of last Thursday, the basement of the garage is 26 x 36. We need to get thru a few more meetings to get it all worked out, but that's a size I can live with.

I was thinking of using the stairs as the Walk In portion, so the tracks could run along all 4 walls. But its not set quite yet. I tossed the idea of a toilet and sink out there for cost, but included a sink w/cold water in the garage. Gotta have some place to mix hydrocal.

George

[cedarcreekrr]

I built a new garage that is 30x33 with a bonus area up top. My wife want the for an apartment for this area. I planned on a train room it would have been 33x20 :cry: . So I have settled for 20x30 are on ground level. This area will include the layout and shop. I plan on having movable sections so I can park my car in the winter.

[Trucklover]

Cool guys!!

Speaking of garages, what is the "standard" size garage? Is there such a thing as "standard" sized garage? Im talking about garages that are attached to the house

[RobertInOntario]

I use part of a bedroom in our basement that is about 14x15'. Right now, I've set up my two small layouts (4x6 and 3x4) in there, so I'm practically using half of the room. I occasionally have to stow the layouts against the wall because this room as to double both as a spare bedroom for guests and as my train room. It's great, though, to have everything safely set up in one room. Rob

[Russ Bellinis]

Cool guys!!

Speaking of garages, what is the "standard" size garage? Is there such a thing as "standard" sized garage? Im talking about garages that are attached to the house

On tract homes it all depends on the builder and his architect. Houses built in the 1940's typically had a one car garage, in the mid 1950's they went to 2 car garages, then in the 1970's and 1980's, at least out here in Cali they started building many of the houses with 3 car garages or even a third bay that was 12-14 feet tall and extra long for rv parking. We had a house on the San Francisco Peninsula when I was growing up that was two story with the garage under the house. The main living space was on the top floor and the lower floor consisted of a large family room, a bedroom and bathroom and garage. The garage was wide enough for 4 cars with a 2 car door. If I had that house now, it would have some partitions installed to house a nice railroad room, and an adjoining but sealed off workshop for modeling or wood work.

[Trucklover]

On tract homes it all depends on the builder and his architect. Houses built in the 1940's typically had a one car garage, in the mid 1950's they went to 2 car garages, then in the 1970's and 1980's, at least out here in Cali they started building many of the houses with 3 car garages or even a third bay that was 12-14 feet tall and extra long for rv parking. We had a house on the San Francisco Peninsula when I was growing up that was two story with the garage under the house. The main living space was on the top floor and the lower floor consisted of a large family room, a bedroom and bathroom and garage. The garage was wide enough for 4 cars with a 2 car door. If I had that house now, it would have some partitions installed to house a nice railroad room, and an adjoining but sealed off workshop for modeling or wood work.

Thanks for the info Russ, i to have noticed here in Cali that most people have either a 2 car garage or a 3 car in track homes. I have a 2 car garage, and before we bought the house the people that lived here before changed the extended 2 car garage into a normal 2 car garage and added an office. The Right side of the garage used to extend all the way to the back of the house, while the left side could house a normal 4 door car or barely a large SUV lol. The right side could either house 2 four door cars, or a larger truck or SUV, but they chose to sacrifice the extended size for an office. My girlfriend on the other hand has a 3 car garage on her house, with one double door and then one single door. Thats what i hope to have when i get a house lol

[Russ Bellinis]

Josh, generally a garage makes a terrible place to build a layout. The doors tend to let in a lot of dust and dirt because they don't seal. You drive cars in and out and the exhaust tends to blow soot all over everything. They are great breeding grounds for every bug known to man or at least all of the bugs in California. None of this stuff is good for a model railroad. If I were looking for a house to have a model railroad in I would look for a house with either one more bedroom than I would need, or a house on a big enough lot that I would have room to build a building in the back yard to house a model railroad. The other possibility would be to get a house with a detached garage and build a second floor above the garage for a layout room.

[Trucklover]

Josh, generally a garage makes a terrible place to build a layout. The doors tend to let in a lot of dust and dirt because they don't seal. You drive cars in and out and the exhaust tends to blow soot all over everything. They are great breeding grounds for every bug known to man or at least all of the bugs in California. None of this stuff is good for a model railroad. If I were looking for a house to have a model railroad in I would look for a house with either one more bedroom than I would need, or a house on a big enough lot that I would have room to build a building in the back yard to house a model railroad. The other possibility would be to get a house with a detached garage and build a second floor above the garage for a layout room.

those are some good points and ideas Russ. I like the idea of having a detached garage with a train room built above it. Im also thinking of building a shed if i get a large enough backyard. It would be insulated and have electrical outlets for power and ceiling fans..... I would want to put drywall inside instead of normal sheds plywood walls, the insulation would be inside the wall frame with the drywall covering it just like a normal room in a house. Im thinking this will cost somwhere between $5000 and $8000 to get a big enough shed, electrical hook-up and insulation....

[Russ Bellinis]

You can get those prefab outdoor sheds for a back yard that are assembled on site. Install any plumbing or electrical and then go ahead and drywall it your self, or use tongue and groove plywood panels for the inside walls. The advantage of plywood on inside walls of a train room is that you can secure benchwork to the walls with screws anywhere you want to instead of needing to find the studs like you do with drywall. Before I retired from Carrier-Transicold, they set up a service agreement with Sysco Food Service to maintain their City of Industry refrigerated fleet. Sysco has over 500 refrigerated trailers at the City of Industry location, so we had a full time mechanic assigned to the Sysco location. We got one of those sheds 10 feet wide by 20 or 30 feet long to house an office, and parts room. It was wired for electrical service and compressed air. Those sheds are probably among the least expensive type of construction that you can get, and they look a lot nicer than the cheap sheet metal diy sheds.

[Trucklover]

Hmmmmm thats a great idea for using plywood on the inside for securing benchwork purposes Thanks Russ, ill have to re-member that for sure

Ive seen metal sheds, and i will agree with you, pretty much anything is better then a metal shed lol, well except for a plastic shed, those are also another story lol. Metal and Plastic sheds are good for yard storage, but i wouldnt set up a permanent train room in one lol