For 5 years now, my modeling efforts have been confined to what is better suited for a closet. A 9'-6" x 4'-0" space really confines what a modeler can do in HO Scale. It has caused depression, anxiety, scale change consideration and brought me to the brink of packing it all away indefinitely. Over the past weekend, my wife and I discussed the lack of storage space in our home. Our house isn't small by local standards (1,350 sq.ft Ranch), but it features no basement, small closets and a very little back yard. Without a basement, spare bedroom or real estate for an outbuilding, it was time for the trains to go. At 1:30 AM, an idea popped into my head: Why not build an "outbuilding" inside the garage? Do what? Inside the garage? Are you crazy? Wait, let me explain first! We have a cinder block 2 car garage with a gravel floor, the cost of concrete here prohibits pouring a solid floor. So, what I plan on doing is building a structure about 13'x10' into a back corner of the garage. This will give me a dry, insulated space for a layout at a fraction of the cost of an outbuilding and a few more square footage. The size of the room can vary, I'm looking at a 13'x10', but I have the flexibility to do a 16'x8' or a 14'x9' or the like. The garage is 24' deep, but I don't want to eat up all of one half of the garage. So here is what I've come up with, Upper Level: Lower Level: The Lower Level is pretty well developed. I'm drawing a blank with some of the empty area on the Upper Level, specifically in the upper right corner and over top of the helix to the left. The area of WV I'm modeling isn't known for coal mining, mostly Timber, Natural Gas, Carbon Black & Aggregates, so those industries are all options for traffic generation. I feel like I could do more with the track plan on the Upper Level. I'm away from my Track CAD software all week, but I'd like to try incorporating the ability for continuous running on the upper deck (even if it is partially hidden) so I could leave a train running while I work on a kit or something. Comments, Questions, Suggestions, Criticisms & Ideas are welcome!
It looks like you can only have one train running on the layout as there's no place for two trains to pass each other between the end points. Is the enouch room for a siding on your helix?
I suppose operations would be somewhat limited by the lack of a passing track midway between Elizabeth and the mine at Kanawha Drive. I probably focused on 30" radius too much in this plan with the goal of reliability and appearance. All of my cars are 50' or less, and they all negotiate 23" radius without problems. Perhaps I could try a double track main. Sent from my PantechP8010 using Tapatalk
Pat Keep the 30" R curves because the trains will look better on the wider curves. But your 50' cars could easily run on 18"R curves. My layout is based on the Los Angeles Junction Ry. It has a place w/ 85 degree curves (10" R HO) & a No.3 switch. Laid 1/4 circle down & was able to run a 4 axle switcher & 40' boxcar around it both ways w/ no problems. Tried it w/ a 50' boxcar but it always derailed. >)
I did get to play with the plan this morning before I left for work. On the Bottom level, added a second track from the mouth of the tunnel just below the switch to the Natural gas facility all the way to the yard at Elizabeth. Seems like it would work pretty well (28" radius in one place), it would definitely hold a full train. I'll play this weekend and re-work the Upper Level with a passing track and possibly a loop for continuous running. Of course I'll post those up after then.
I did something similar to what you are describing with the garage. I used the back half of the garage and kept the front for work shop and storage. The garage had a concrete floor but was in very bad shape so I built a raised floor, then framed the wall and ceiling. This created a attic above the train room so installed vents around under the eves and a turbine vent on the roof. This helps keep the room cooler in the summer. June 2013 October 2013 Started this shortly after retiring and it took about 6 months on and off to complete. It's worked out really well so far working on modules and building a layout. I doubt we'll ever move but if we do I'll be able to rip it all out and make it a garage again.
I modified the track plan adding a second track on most of the plan. Green is Main track, Yellow is passing track. I would like to have a few more diverse industries to make use of my extensive boxcar fleet, but I feel like that plan is getting close to being too "busy" as it is.
