Just got married and moving in to a new place. So the RR ( which I made in two pieces) is temporarily on end in the shop. Wanting to build a heated 14x 28 shed for it next summer. How many times do we end up redoing these things to ourselves? Part of the fun, i guess. So who has built a building just for the trains? In NP brown and sand of course.
I built a layout specific building. 12 x 20. Wish I had gone to 14 feet as you stated as your plan. That extra 2 feet would make a real difference. I put in central heat and A/C, heat is not needed, just turn on the lighting! Here in houston it's the A/C that's required. Plan a work area, ventilation( exhaust) and a small bar sink if you can swing it. Doug H
Haven't built a building just for my layout, although the next destination may be close. I knew when I set out to design my current layout that I would make it portable however. Glad I did. Since I laid the track in 2006, I have moved three times. Once from Northern Illinois to Central Illinois, then from one town to another, then from Central Illinois to Northern New Jersey and within a few weeks, back to Central Illinois. Like I always say on here, life comes at you fast.
I'm at least HOPING to be doing the same within the next two years, badlandnp. That's our timetable for either adding onto the house or (more likely) building a new garage. Either way, my plan is to end up with about 24x18.5 feet. I'm in Minnesota, so if we go the garage route, I'll need both heating and AC for the layout room. In the meantime, I've started building the layout on HCDs. I currently have the track down on two HCDs, making a nice little switching layout. Plan to add two more HCDs in the next year or so (after I remove a basement wall), which will pretty much complete my main city and yards. I'll probably have very little scenery done by the time this layout gets a permanent home, but more than the half of the total trackwork should be completed. Congratulations on the new marriage, and good luck with the building project! Jim
Heat and a/c are definite requirements here in Montana too. Wanting to make the building portable as it has to be in a mobile home park for now, at least it'll be right outside the door!! Thanx for the quick responses!!
How many great layouts have been lost due to being permanent in such as a basement? Too many.... If I was younger, I'd certainly look at a trailer or trailerable type setup.
First of all, congrats on the marriage! You're right...it seems we always find a way to make things difficult with our model railroads. I am in the process of moving right now as well. I've never built an outbuilding for a model railroad, but I have finished out an attic space for one. I may end up building a garage/"mother-in-law" quarters to house a layout when my gf and I eventually make that next step. For now, I'm just trying to find a third bedroom big enough to house an office and my 3x13 layout. I'm resisting the urge to expand even though there will probably be room...so that I don't "end up redoing it to myself" again. I have a buddy that is moving also, and he has (had) a very large n-scale layout that completely filled (and then some) one half of his garage. With some prodding, he is using the opportunity to start from scratch. So this weekend, it came down. I already had work scheduled so I couldn't assist but I saw the after photos this evening....exciting stuff!
With all the time and money that goes into building a layout, there's a lot to be said for designing and building something that is portable and scaleable. I wish that was something I had learned 10, 20 or 30 years ago. Now I'm nearly 50, and instead of having a layout I could have taken with me through countless moves and kept improving over the years, I'm essentially starting from scratch. Keep it portable, badlandnp. There's nothing wrong with starting over if you WANT to start over. But it sure stinks when you have to scrap an established layout because you can't move it or have nowhere to put it. I've done that twice, but won't make the same mistake a third time. And when I say portable, I mean the layout itself, not just the building that houses it (although that's great, too). Eventually you may end up in a home with a suitable basement, and find it easier to have the layout "indoors." Food for thought when you start planning your expansion. Jim
I had one in process at my home in Showlow, but then some less than desirables trashed it and then set it on fire as well as the rest of the ranch. The culprits were caught and it is yet another example of the illegal alien issues faced in Arizona. There are real consequences to this problem.
I HAD THE train Trailer. unfortunately it was a 1970's model that had been made into a storage trailer. It worked great in 3 moves. This winter the roof is all but collapsed under 3 feet of snow. :-( I have a great deal going on a 1989 29' Class A motor home. All steel framework. One small leak in right rear corner...easily fixable. Heat and A/C work great. PLUS...heat and A/C from the dash if needed. And...and awesome stereo with 4 speakers througout. The floor plan is very adaptable to the layout I have planned. I hate moving :-( :-(
Congrats on the marriage! I hope your wife is as supportive of your hobby as mine's been. I/we have been through several moves, and life changing things (health), and just getting unpacked from the latest move a month ago. It seems like each one has come just about the time I was starting to lay track on the layout of the moment...and the layout I was working on was not suitable for the space I was going to. Twice I tried building dedicated train spaces...a 1/2 story loft above a new garage, and a free standing outbuilding. Neither made it past the benchwork stage before life brought things to a screeching halt. Thus is life. I doubt I'll ever go to that extent again. This time around I'm taking a different approach. Rather than starting over from scratch, I'm salvaging two aborted HCD layouts that had been in storage, and building a bridging section between them...making a dogbone. All free standing and designed to come apart and be easily moved. Will it be enouogh to survive life's next curve? I doubt it, but all we can do is learn from the previous curves, and take our best shot. Good luck with your endeavouor.
.HI Sharkman, wow, I used to live in St. JOhns, and came over to Show Low for a club meeting years ago. Still have the place in St. Johns, but have a cabin in Luna, NM just across the line from Alpine. Am moving there permanently in a couple of months. Live in the valley now, and hate it. Last name, Heap
Well, I love the portable layout idea. A divorce cost me my basement 15X15 layout room, so this time it's going to be an 8x12 shed I can load on my trailer and move. In the mountains of NM where I will be living in a month or so, I don't need ac, but a small heater will heat the shed easily. I'm 63, and don't want to have to start over again on a layout so will be starting on a shed in a couple of months. I can't wait as I already have a great layout plan in my hands. In this day and age, with the economy the way it is, if a guy is still working, something portable is a good idea I think. Just make it so it isn't destroyable as Sharkman's, whoever did that needs to be thrown under a train and destroyed as was his layout.
DON'T MAKE IT PERMANENT!! -- MAKE IT PORTABLE, or at least sectional or modular, so it can be moved. I have been in "N" scale now for almost 20 years, and like another poster said......."life comes at you fast". Many of us build layouts with the dream that they will last forever, they seldom do. I have moved about six times since starting my first, and I only was able to haul one!! Things change........job, family, marriage, etc., so make it flexible, and you won't be devastated when you have to destroy it or leave it.
Portability in a sectional arrangement seems to be the consensus here. And that parallels my thoughts, hence the two halves of my layout were designed to come apart. 2 1/2 x 7 feet sections that are a bit too large for getting around tight corners. But, that is easily fixable at this stage. I did mull the idea of a trailer, but nixed it for the snowy/COLD reasons up here in MT. The heat bill would just get un real in a trailer, which I am seeing with all of these oilfield guys living in trailers around here. Which has jacked up the cost of them. Thanks for the input. My ultimate dream would be to get one of those old pasgr. cars I spotted around here, restore it a bit, etc!!!! That would be just the best!!!
Congrats on your marriage. I just recently moved with my family myself a few months ago. But before we started to look at houses I made a pact with my wife I told here she can have any house she wants (within our budget of course) as long as I have a space for my layout. After months and months of looking we found a house that suited both of us. It needed some work all over to suit my wife, she is happy with the outcome and I get a place for my layout with an expansion.
In the ealry 90's I purchased my first home after I was married then divorced in a relatively short period of time. The house was a twin built in 1929. I purchased it from the origional owners who had no children. The house was over sixty years old, but in as new condition. All the origional lighting and plumbing fixtures and all the wood work looked like new. The homeowner in the house attached to mine was elderly and had inherted the house from her mother, she still worked, but didn't have much income. I would help her with minor maintenance and some small repairs as I did them on my house. I thought I would never move. I rebuilt the flat roof garage with very steep roof and a shop addition, it wound up looking like a small country church. I jokingly reffered to it as The Model Railroaders Memorial Chaple. I then spent a year drawing up plans for the Ulimate N Scale Empire after seeing the Reed brothers layout in a magazine. During this time the attached neighbor, had her daughter and grandchildren move back in. The dead beat dad soon followed. The wild and undisciplined grandchildren destroyed the house. The grandmother who was now supporting her daughter, son inlaw and four grandchildren could not afford to maintain the house and the father would do nothing to help. I finally told the woman I wouldn't help her anymore if her son in law living in the house would not help also. By this time I had the basement almost finished and was ready to start the layout. I realized I would have to move before the house next door was so deteriorated I would not be able to sell mine. I moved in with my fiancee and rented the house for a couple years. I'm glad I never started the very large permanent layout. If I had I would probably have never moved. Things did work out well for me in the end. We were lucky and sold the house just as the morgage and housing colapse started.
Its Best Move Yet Hi, After many years of being in the house and having been moved (different house and different rooms) the railroad was evicted and now resides in a 10 X 12 building. I keep it warm with an oil filled space heater and cool with a window AC unit. Yes at times it is inconvenient being away from the bathroom and refrigerator, but I have learned to live with it, by coinciding trips to the bathroom with refilling my drink. On the other hand having the railroad outside of the house has its advantages. I can go out and not have to worry about the phone, being distracted by my wife and dog (neither one want to enter the building). I can leave projects out on the table with worry about the cat jumping up on things. And if I leave a mess, I am the only one that complains about it. I have it wired so that I can get online and research stuff like TrainBoard while working on the railroad. I can play whatever music I want. I just wish I had gone a bit bigger with the building, not necessary to increase the layout size, but then a bigger space would mean a bigger layout.:snicker: Gary
Am kinda planning on keeping the wife since she WANTS me to build trains and a RR home! How could a guy walk away from that? So far the plans are callikng for the 14 x 24 building, heat and ac and a south facing window/door that open on a small covered porch. Already have trusses from a building I tore down, and some wood. Oak stickers and rail ties for a foundation. Next summer shld be fun!! Then it'll be time to bld a RR next winter!!
