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5 replies

Basement Layout Redo?!?

MikeWalterMikeWalterOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

So I started building a dog bone shaped layout a few years ago.  The table is roughly 14' x 18'.  We have been talking and the wife and I decided we might want to finish our basement in the future.  With this idea, a current storage area will become free and moved to a different part of the basement.  This is great, but now my dog bone layout won't work well in the new spot.  It does open up more room though.  I am thinking 14' wide and could be as much as 40' long, but I'll probably hold off at around 20' for now, could expand in the future.    

With this new space, I am thinking of starting over.  However, the layout will need to be moved / rolled into the new space when the walls go up in the next few years.  My current table is on wheels and does roll with some effort.  Originally I was thinking that building into a new space with walls already up would be ideal.  Then I could make it permanent and screw the table to three of the walls and have no gap from the edge of the table to the wall.  But with this current plan of starting before we finish the basement, this isn't an option.  I am thinking of building the table a few inches narrower than what I think the finished room width will be, then rolling the table in when done.  

Has anyone done something like this before?  What should I watch out for?  Am I crazy?  Did I not provide enough detail for input?

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J JanOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER

You are fortunate in   that having 14 feet available width opens a host of design opportunities.  My layout is 14' wide, a double mainline around the walls with a center peninsula containing a yard.  Across the width I have:

  1.  A 3' table with major station.
  2.  A 3' aisle for viewing.
  3.   A 4' peninsula with the yard.
  4.  A 2' aisle for access and operations.
  5.  And a 2' table with industries.

My total length is 28' , and wish I had more.  There is not much that you and do on a curve except add scenery.  Large diameter curves (mine are O81 to O99) take away from the available length of straight runs. 

My table is modular since I expect to relocate it in the future.  My modules are 2' or 4' in width and 4' to 8' in length and bolted together with thumb bolts and wing nuts.  If you plan ahead, you can expand your layout to fit the available width.

Jan

MikeWalterMikeWalterOGR Forum Member DIGITAL SUBSCRIBER
Jan posted:

You are fortunate in   that having 14 feet available width opens a host of design opportunities.  My layout is 14' wide, a double mainline around the walls with a center peninsula containing a yard.  Across the width I have:

  1.  A 3' table with major station.
  2.  A 3' aisle for viewing.
  3.   A 4' peninsula with the yard.
  4.  A 2' aisle for access and operations.
  5.  And a 2' table with industries.

My total length is 28' , and wish I had more.  There is not much that you and do on a curve except add scenery.  Large diameter curves (mine are O81 to O99) take away from the available length of straight runs. 

My table is modular since I expect to relocate it in the future.  My modules are 2' or 4' in width and 4' to 8' in length and bolted together with thumb bolts and wing nuts.  If you plan ahead, you can expand your layout to fit the available width.

Jan

Sounds nice, would you be willing to share a picture?  I am concerned about the gap from the table to the wall, if I build before the walls are up.  But I feel that it is silly to continue to work on the current layout, if I only end up tearing it down in a year or so.

-Mike

B bigkidOGR Forum Member SUPPORTING MEMBER

If you are going to build the layout, then finish the walls, I like the idea of building the layout so it can be broken down into sections.  Trying to finish off the room with the layout in place is a recipe for problems, even if you leave a space between the table edge and the wall to be finished, it is going to be rough. The best way is to finish the room first, then build, but if you are going to build first make the layout sectional so you can move it out of the way. having finished a basement with things in there (not a layout, but simply things put there for storage), it makes it a lot more work and a lot more cleanup work, too. 

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