November 2017 UPDATE. FINALLY. A Glimmer of Light at the End of the Tunnel.

Nice! Good luck with that project and keep us informed with your progress.

Itaybe costly but in the end it's worth it.

That will be quite a massive space! Should make for a really nice layout. We will be watching for pictures of the progress and also good luck with the project. 

My goodness! This will be something.....looking forward to the pics of your progress!

Peter

Space ... the final frontier! 

Good luck. That's a great space...

Good luck!  Awesome space!

Yee Haa!  Good For You Mark!  Once things get started, it will go quickly.   Another thing to be thankful during the Turkey Holiday Season!!

Chief Bob (Retired)

Looks like a labor of love. Best of luck.

Hi Mark,

 Congrats on the start of your layout, please keep the progress posts coming. This is a thread i will keep my eye's on. 

Thanks, Alex

Hey guys. Thank you for the kind words of inspiration. I'm looking forward to the build out. I forgot to mention that I will be using Mianne Bench Work for most of the layout. I will keep posting updates as they happen.

Mark

I am a big fan of Mianne, great stuff. It will be exciting to see how you end up configuring all the Mianne benchwork. This makes your expansion and layout even more interesting for me. Please post plenty of pictures.

I'm feeling the "forever" pains as I look at the solid month of 2-3 hours a day to complete the subroadbed/risers on the upper dogbone, then .... roadbed ... then track .. .then wiring .... 

Mark,

Is your layout going to be upstairs?  The floorplan seemed to suggest that.

Jan

Kerrigen. You are correct. If not more!!

Jan. Yes the layout will be on the second floor. We will be using engineered joists and trusts through out for the open floor space as well as the anticipated load that an O Scale layout will produce. The plan also includes a separate 100 amp breaker box for the layout room with electrical "kill switches" and fire extinguishers at various locations. Just in case. For power I plan on using 3 MTH Z4000 transformers to power the 4 main lines and engine terminal and the open staging yard areas. Command Control consisting of Lionel Legacy and MTH DCS throughout.

Mark

Good for you Mark! Take your time and enjoy the "journey".

Simon

Good afternoon everyone. The FROG and the 2 car garage are finally gone. Step 1 was to remove all of the drywall from the interior walls and ceiling then the roof and exterior walls were removed by cutting 10ft sections at a time. The trenches are dug for the footers. This week we have to lower the sewer line and prep the trenches (rebar) for the concrete. The plan is to pour the concrete by Wednesday if weather permits. Been thinking lately that I must be crazy for demolishing 1/3 of a perfectly good house! Nope!! Pictures are below. Thanks for taking a look.

That looks like quite a project and is coming along well. Please keep us posted on your progress and with pictures! Oh, and good luck with it all too.

Looking Good Mark!!!   You are well on your way!!   All the best on the construction phase!!   Please post progress pictures!

Chief Bob (Retired)

That will be impressive, but where will you park the cars!

Wow!

Peter

Mark, fantastic news. Keep us updated, Enjoy Building your new Layout Area and as you know, folks on this Forum can be of great help. Happy Railroading.

Hi Mark, I can't believe it but I'm excited for a guy I only know on the internet. 

Your property looks beautiful already but your drawing shows  you are thinking out of the box and I like the effect it will have on not only a dynamic train room but your homestead in general.

Good luck with everything and I look forward to your progress reports.

God, you must be kicking like a racehorse on the home stretch!   

Excellent,  Just one thing I would stay away from Atlas turnouts and go with Ross.

Looking impressive so far, Mark.

Looking great Mark, enjoy your build.

Alex

Ahhh...  PROGRESS!

Thanks for showing us how you're coming along Mark.

Hello everyone. Thank you so much for the ecouragment and kind words. As I type the plumbers are relocating our sewer line and will have us up and working by the end of the day. If the weather  holds up we will pour the concrete either Thursday or Friday of this week. Next Monday should see the start of laying block and framing should start by end of next week. I will continue with updates / pictures as time permits.

Mark

Mark,

Today is the first I saw your build topic!  Congratulations on getting this project started!  You will certainly have a nice space for your layout once the building is complete!  I certainly wish you the best on this project!

Mark

Hello to everyone. Well it's been about 1 month since my last post. The footers are poured, the block is laid and the framing has begun and is quite well along. Tomorrow the plan is to tie into the original house. The first room on the first floor will be our new workout / game room and to the left will be our new 3 car garage. As before the room over the workout / game room and garage will be my train room. My train room works out to be a little over 2,100 square feet. I'm overwhelmed to say the least. I did not really understand how huge this project is until the framing started. Photos are below.

congrats!

When you look back it will seem like a blurr.

WOW, that's some "expansion", bigger than some houses!

LOL WOW Bigger then my house! But great looking!!

Wow, that's a lot of action for one month!!  

Yup, bigger than my house too; but I'm pulling for you Mark!  If you can do it, then why not do it!  I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with all that space!!  

That is going to be really nice! 2100 sq ft is huge for a layout space, that will be a great space. And also bigger than our house. Good luck and please keep us posted with more pictures of the progress.

Mark it looks like you are making rapid progress despite the less than stellar weather the last few weeks. Hope that things continue to do well. Thanks for sharing.

Bill Webb

WOW!   Lots of progress in the few months since you started this project.   It's looking awesome!

Chief Bob (Retired)

Hello to All,

Well it's been about another month and a lot has been accomplished. All but a few windows has been installed. Left the one window out on the second floor in order to have access to stage drywall. The first floor windows are being installed as the pigeon stoop is installed around the first floor perimeter. The roof is on and shingles are in place. We are dried in for the most part. This week we meet with the electrician and mechanical (HVAC) for placement of outlets, light fixtures and the air handler which will be placed in the attic. Photos are below for your viewing pleasure. The end wall, looking South will we my display wall. Not sure at this time if I will make my own shelves or buy something pre made. Thank you for taking a look.

Mark

WOW is all I can think of right now.Nick

Wow!  My 3 bedroom split-level home is 1800sq.ft.