How to best use this room??

Nazgul

Active Member
Here's what I have to work with:
My first thought was the ol' 4x8 or 4x10 table along the 21' wall but there's a better way to utilize this room. I need to keep some room for the kids and a TV. I was thinking the TV up against the stair stringer wall out of the way. also I obviously need easy access to the water main/meter. Any help would be appreciated.
 

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johnny b

Member
Well a bar at one end with a stage and brass pole at the other end for the strippers !!!!!!! As for how to lay a train out in that much space I wouldn't know where to start either .
 

FiatFan

Member
What about an 18"-24" shelf layout along the 21" wall? Another possibility would be multi level with a helix next to the meter/pipes.

Tom
 

SAZ

New Member
You could try an L shaped dog bone type layout along the 21' wall and the 11'4" wall. The area between the closet and pipes/meters could be access to staging - and access to storage closet and pipes when needed.
 

JeffGerow

New Member
How about a yard at the bottom of the stairs (perhaps with staging under?) leading along the long wall (could even have a penninsula come out at some point) -- then turn before reaching the pipe closet out into the room for a "blob" -- a turnaround spot. You could even have a helix out in the middle of the room to get to the staging yard mentioned earlier.
 

Nazgul

Active Member
First of all I'd like to thank all three of you guys (Tom, SAZ, and Jeff) for taking the time to respond. You've all have excellent ideas and I now have plenty to think about. I'll try to doctor the picture with a footprint of possible Track(bench) work.
 

Nazgul

Active Member
Here's my first attempt. FYI...the area under the stairs is unusable.
 

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no TV

Looks like a room with some challenging potential. But here's my tongue in cheek opinion - kids watch way too much TV these days. Put the TV under the layout, WAY under. Then if they really want to watch they've got to sit crouched beneath the benchwork. Rig it so it only plays railroad vids or DVDs anyway.

But seriously, good luck with your planning. Compromising between family needs and hobby interests is tough. In my case, storage vs. trains. Somehow stuff just shows up out of nowhere. I think its multiplying at night when I'm not looking. Funny how the space has become the catch all for anything else in the house that doesn't have a home.

I'll take a closer look at your plan and give you a more serious response later...

Galen
 

Nazgul

Active Member
Thanks Galen, I know exactly what you're talking about. Any further thoughts would be appreciated.
 

cidchase

Active Member
Nazgul, do you want continuous running (loop) or point-to-point/switching?
It is HO, correct? Can the closet please go away??? How high do you want the
top of the layout?
 

Nazgul

Active Member
Cid, I knew someone was going to ask me about the closet. I'm willing to entertain the idea of the closet "meeting with an unfortunate accident" if it's worth it. to answer your other questions...it's HO, My two boys want to be apart of all this so I'm thinkin we need to have the ability to run continuous but Dad would like switching to at least get the feel of real ops. MY boys are 9 and 12 so the height is going to be on the low side. I hope that helps.
 

Triplex

Active Member
Remember, don't expect to have more than 30" of reach! This means a shelf can be up to 30" wide, and a table section away from a wall can be 5' wide. It'll be hard to reach the lower right corner of your plan if you can't get in next to the wall in the pipes/meter area.

I think we can come up with a better shape. Exactly how far from the bottom wall can the layout reach?
 

Nazgul

Active Member
Triplex, I see exactly what you mean...now to answer your question. If your asking me how far the layout can go towards the center of the room from the 21'-0 wall (bottom), I'd say 5' max after it gets away from the bottom of the stairs. I hope that makes sense.
 

Russ Bellinis

Active Member
How often do you need to access the meters and pipes? It looks like you could gain quite a bit more layout by using the wall between the "pipes and meters" and the closet. If the need to access the pipes and meters is just occassional, you could make a lift out section to bridge around them or even a "L" shape section on wheels around them that could be unhooked and rolled out of the way when you needed access.
 

Nazgul

Active Member
Russ, I've lived in this house for over 3 yrs and have only needed to get back there once. so it would be very rarely. The water main cut-off is back there and water meter. however I can tell you that 15" is the most anything back there is away from the wall.
 

JeffGerow

New Member
As you think about continuous running, use the minimum radius to help you plan. The absolute minimum is 18" making a 3' circle. It's MUCH better to go larger, 30" is nice, 24" is passable -- it depends on whether you want to be limited to 40' cars with small steam and 4 axle diesels. Also coupling and uncoupling is posssible on broad curves. If you like passenger cars, or modern freight, go as big as you can.
So now those two "blobs" sticking up into the room, where the track will be able to turn around, range from 3' across to 5' across to fit the radius. Cut out some boxes in scale and see how much of your room you are willing to cover, and how far out into the room you can get before you turn around.
I agree with generally covering up the pipe closet -- but I wouldn't use a removable section -- if your water shut off is there -- when you need to shut off the water in an emergency, you are not going to be very kind to scenery that you have to move. I think I'd maintain a good clear crawling space to the closet and enough space in front of it to stand.
 

Nazgul

Active Member
Thanks Jeff, all good things to keep in mind. I believe the crawl space with room to stand is the best way to deal with that area. I'm very glad I posted here...without experience to know what's possible, imagination becomes sorely limited. Again thanks.
 

zedob

Member
Hi Nazgul, is the room already finished and can you take a few pics and post them here?

Whatever you do, plan to utilize the space under the layout for storage. Storage, clamps and electrical outlets all have something in common, you can't have enough of them. My "office" with computer and all of the other ancillary BS resides under my layout. If I hadn't done it like that, one or the other would not exist. The bottom of my layout is at 49.5", which is perfect for a desk top set at 30" high. The desk had to be special made because it's only 16" deep. It's a little tight, but it works.

If you do want shelves under the layout, build them seperate from the benchwork and put them on wheels, if you can.

I've seen some nice co-mingling of family stuff and railroads. It just depends on how creative you want to get.
 

Nazgul

Active Member
Here's some pics:
1. At foot of stairs/long wall on right
2. looking back at stairs/long wall on left
3. Water meter closet
4. stair wall and door
5. storage closet
hope it helps
 

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