No...not that kind.... :oops:
I got this idea while reading Gary S.'s new enterprise - building a layout from the ground up...
So...what's your idea of the "ultimate" train room..?? Here's mine...
It'd be about 25'/30' x 50'/60' , running the full length at the back of the house. It'd have a small partition to house the shop (fully equipped, of course, with an extractor as well), a john, a kitchenette (gotta keep the Cokes cool...), and a utility type sink. A "feet friendly" floor, rounded corners, the walls painted a skyish color, and a nice sound system - NO TV..!! And LOTTSA trains..!!!
Uuuffff...Paradise....
I guess you already know part of mine..... 40' x 20' and all shelf layout.
Point to point industrial switching layout, interchange at each end, with a lift-out bridge for continuous running for layout tours.
Drawers at each interchange to house all the rollingstock that is "off the layout in other parts of the country".
I decided against a bathroom, etc, due to the $$$, but hey, if it is a dream and money is no object, then bathroom and snack bar!
Plenty of light.... 2 x 4 recessed 4 lamp florescents.
5 foot wide aisles.
Will have a TV in there to watch football on Sundays while I work on the layout.
Workshop/mancave will remain in the house where it is now.
Oh.... need to find a like-minded individual or two in the Houston area who are interested in running some trains.
interesting question. I would prefer a room attached to my house, but not in the main part of the house. A basement would be ideal for me if it wasn't too damp or cold. I can't imagine, or wouldn't want, a layout any larger than about 15x25 feet. So, my ideal would be a basement room, 15x25 feet, with workshop areas adjacent. My preference would be to have a house that is somewhat on a slope so that there is a basement entrance and windows to the outside. I would also like to be able to build an around-the-walls style layout without blocking any windows or doors, with no lift-outs or duckunders.
I think my dream layout would be one that is finished or one that I could finish in a reasonable amount of time.
I'd like to have to space though to be able to model a prototype and the locations long the right of way. My current basment is something like 25' x 40' and I think that would be plenty big enough for me to handle. Nothing modern though, stick to the 40's, 50's. Double track main line, with passing sidings and the like to hold 50+ car trains. Oddly I'm not a big fan of open water, but I love harbor and water scenes. I'd like to be able to model some reasonably large ships (freight tankers) and sailing vessels as part of the layout. I've come across plans for a CN Ferry called the Canora which I'd love to model and include in operations.
So many ideas, so many cool things to look at and model. This really is a great hobby to be involved in.
It would take a room 1.61
miles long to model Long Island (yeah, the whole island) in 1/87 scale......
*
That fantasy will just have to remain.....a fantasy.
I guess a room large enough to do justice to the Sumpter Valley Railway, in HOn3, and enough life...left, to complete it.
in the meantime, I'll keep working on my modules....sailing ship models...Sci-Fi kitbashes, and junkbuilds....navy ship models....etc., etc., etc..
*.......and more years to build than I can ever hope for.
To have Warren Buffett's layout
I would like a simple folded dogbone in a basement---with a six track main...1 N, 1 Marklin AC, 4 standard HO in DC---and a double ended 6 track 300 car capacity storage yard. Each end would have 48 track open air turntables to display all my motive power---and no scenery. I've done it all in the hobby and now I just like to tinker and see how well they can be made to run, whether it be TYCO or Overland brass.
I'd like a room large enough to accommodate a long mainline run with multi-track staging yards out of site at each end. Oh, and I'd like access to the room to be by stairway that entered the middle of the room so the layout could run uninterrupted along the walls.
Ralph
"Oh, and I'd like access to the room to be by stairway that entered the middle of the room so the layout could run uninterrupted along the walls.
"
I like that! But at my age an elevator would be better than stairs.
Scubadude, that is soooooooooo funny! too cool.
Todd
tomustang Wrote:To have Warren Buffett's layout
Actually I would be satisfied with Micheal Gross' layout. A short line would be fine, I don't need a full Class one! Actually, I'm going to build a switching layout in my house, I belong to a modular club where I can run long trains for fun that are not necessarily entirely prototypical, and I hope to join the La Mesa club at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum to run more prototypical trains on Tehachapi on a weekly or bi weekly basis. I like Santa Fe passenger trains as well as switching freight, and the modular club allows me to run a Super Chief, and then at La Mesa I could model the San Francisco Chief.
To be able to have my hands build what my "brain" sees!!
I would like one long enough to justifiably feet a real commuter operation.
When you think about it, that's hard. Unless you model the old MUs (MP54s, DL&W), or those short cars, there is no space for a train on most layouts. A modern commuter car is at least a foot long in HO scale, and some of the larger trains are 12-14 cars long (though 6-8 are more common). Even going with the absolute minimum of a six foot long station platform, you still need TONS of track in between to make it so that the train isn't arriving in one station as its departing another, and having one or two stations wouldn't be as fun.
not to mention this stuff needs broad curves. I looked at making an HO scale version of the PRR Union Junction and Rahway station in Rahway, NJ, and it would take at LEAST 22' to include the whole thing, and that's without additional mainline to space out the other stations.
my fantasy train area would be at least 50-60' in one direction, just so I could model a segment of the NEC, and i would make it wide enough to have space for any number of branches and other lines that cross or depart from the corridor. For example, I'd love to model the North Jersey coastline coming off the NEC at Rahway, with both diesels and electrics coming through regularly.
Russ Bellinis Wrote:tomustang Wrote:To have Warren Buffett's layout
Actually I would be satisfied with Micheal Gross' layout. A short line would be fine, I don't need a full Class one! Actually, I'm going to build a switching layout in my house, I belong to a modular club where I can run long trains for fun that are not necessarily entirely prototypical, and I hope to join the La Mesa club at the San Diego Model Railroad Museum to run more prototypical trains on Tehachapi on a weekly or bi weekly basis. I like Santa Fe passenger trains as well as switching freight, and the modular club allows me to run a Super Chief, and then at La Mesa I could model the San Francisco Chief.
Besides the class one rr
I think at least a 30X30ft layout would be enough room for me, but we all know when you get what you want you always want more afterwards
