Finally have a room for a layout!

There is no finer layout than Norm Charbonneau’s.  I’m not sure of his actual room dimensions. His layout features everything on your wish list. He has plenty of You Tube videos as well as magazine features.

I agree, his layout is awesome! I have watched a lot of his videos, but have not seen any layout tours nor have I been able to find an actual layout plan. Maybe I’m looking in the wrong spot?

Plese tell me you plan on wide radius curves

Congratulations!!!! Have fun! 😎

What are your main wants, and what minimum curves do you want? I love drafting up layouts so I could make you some designs

@Dave Koehler posted:

Plese tell me you plan on wide radius curves

Yes, definitely wide radius curves. I’d like to go with 108 or 99

That looks like the ideal condition IMO, especially if the top of the stair is towards the upper end. You can have an around the wall layout and reach everything without the need for a duck under. Congrats on the great space - have fun!

@Sams Trains posted:

What are your main wants, and what minimum curves do you want? I love drafting up layouts so I could make you some designs

That’s a tough question… I would like to be able to run multiple trains on widest diameter I can fit well. I want a turntable with roundhouse, and a diesel shop. I have an atlas double track Pratt truss bridge I’d like to incorporate. I would also like an upper loop that I can run a train continuously similar to Eric Siegel’s. upper level. I know….. it’s a lot of wants. I just don’t have any experience with building a layout…. so I’m trying to learn on the go.

@Godale03 posted:

That’s a tough question… I would like to be able to run multiple trains on widest diameter I can fit well. I want a turntable with roundhouse, and a diesel shop. I have an atlas double track Pratt truss bridge I’d like to incorporate. I would also like an upper loop that I can run a train continuously similar to Eric Siegel’s. upper level. I know….. it’s a lot of wants. I just don’t have any experience with building a layout…. so I’m trying to learn on the go.

It's not bad to have lots of wants, it means you have lots of goals

I'll see if I can do anything. It varies on what kind of turntable you want to use and such. Eric Siegel is a big inspiration to me too, but I would recommend if you want to do something like his layout, you try to do something like his main table. A few ovals on the bottom and top, and in the center you can put the turntable, roundhouse, and maybe some industries and destinations for the trains to go to

I would definitely stick with a layout along the perimeter of the room as much as you can. Having the stairs in the middle is ideal for this kind of set up.

A few questions to help with a design.

• Do the stairs leave the room going up or down?
• From which side do you enter the stairway?
• Is it okay to run trains (under/over) stairway?
• Any windows or other locations you may need to access?
• you list a 40' long room but the dimensions add to 38' 10". Is it really 40', if so how should we adjust your dimensions?
• Please confirm stairs are 5' 3.25" wide?
• Atlas track with Ross switches seems like an unusual combination. I wouldn't have been surprised by all Atlas or GarGraves track and Ross switches.

I wish I had that much room.

Just a reminder the world isnt flat!  you need to be able reach every thing, ideally with out crawling on top of the table!  table top layouts mostly died out in the hobby  mid sixties, and you have plenty of room for a modified dog bone  around the room 30"  deep shelf  layout peninsula's, yards scenery, pretty much anything you can imagine. there are countless books on doing frame work and layout design. do you research.   An affordable way to play around with a design is to get graph paper, a compass, and an Architectual scale, and a pencil , with that you can design any thing.  Computers are nice so are programs , but they have no creativity!

For the room dimensions is it an attic space with slanted ceilings or a regular room?  If attic, actual room space vs floor measurements will differ depending on the layout height and could determine whether the layout goes up against the wall or is more towards the middle of the room.

Here are YouTube links to videos Norm did this past year on the history and design of his layouts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYMpykWGRso  History

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StEzmxcohto  Part 1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rcb6b9trNJA  Part 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSfI0eJYEe0  Part 3

Norm has post lots of videos on his layout scenery and equipment.  There is also a thread on the Forum on his layouts too.  Just do a search.

Jan

Congratulations Tom on such a formidable space. You will get a lot of great ideas here. Initially you may want to consider what needs to be done, if anything , to the room. For example, sufficient amount of outlets; overhead lighting; HVAC; and what you want to do for a backdrop. Since you have stairs consider a strategy for getting the lumber in there.

Jay

@EAW posted:

A few questions to help with a design.

• Do the stairs leave the room going up or down?
• From which side do you enter the stairway?
• Is it okay to run trains (under/over) stairway?
• Any windows or other locations you may need to access?
• you list a 40' long room but the dimensions add to 38' 10". Is it really 40', if so how should we adjust your dimensions?
• Please confirm stairs are 5' 3.25" wide?
• Atlas track with Ross switches seems like an unusual combination. I wouldn't have been surprised by all Atlas or GarGraves track and Ross switches.

I wish I had that much room.

Hey EAW,

The stairs go down

The stair go up and you enter the room on the 4' 10" side

The stairs have a 36" knee wall around the perimeter

Yes, there are two windows up front on the 30' wall on the 22' side of the room

the stairs are 4' 4" wide

Atlas and Ross switches will work perfectly together, at least that is what I have gotten from the forum here as well as youtube.

@Farmall-Joe posted:

For the room dimensions is it an attic space with slanted ceilings or a regular room?  If attic, actual room space vs floor measurements will differ depending on the layout height and could determine whether the layout goes up against the wall or is more towards the middle of the room.

The room is a normal room. It has 8' walls and 14 can led can lights in the ceiling. The floor on the 22' section has two 4 dual gang floor boxes spread 9' from each wall towards the center of the space. The walls have single gang outlets place properly according to building code. The knee wall around the stairs has a single gang outlet on each wall.

@Tranquil Hollow RR posted:

Congratulations Tom on such a formidable space. You will get a lot of great ideas here. Initially you may want to consider what needs to be done, if anything , to the room. For example, sufficient amount of outlets; overhead lighting; HVAC; and what you want to do for a backdrop. Since you have stairs consider a strategy for getting the lumber in there.

Jay

Hey Jay,

The space is climate controlled and has floor outlets in the 22' section and outlets along the walls as well.

It would be nice if the stairs were flipped around. Then it would be perfect, but still pretty great as is.

@Godale03

Here is something to mark up. It has two loops of roughly 130' each around the outside of the room and a branch roughly the same length in the middle.  The middle trackage has slope so it climbs up to cross lower tracks in tunnels. The track is all Atlas. The outside curves are O99 and O108. The aisle ways are roughly 3 feet wide. I added a few buildings for scale. The track is about a foot away from the wall so there is some room for flats. This plan has a lot of room to run trains, more track than scenery and has alot of straight lines ( easy to lay track).  Inside room, some curves uses flex track and O72 curves, as the big curves really consume the space and make access difficult. The roundtable is only 24" as that is all that is in the AnyRail library.

And here I was happy with the 14x12 room in my basement I just finished.  Looks like an awesome space - can't wait to see the progress!

That's an amazing amount of space! Congratulations! You should be able to fit multiple mainlines, multiple levels (if you desire), loco facility, yard, and lots of operation in that amount of space!

Shameless plug - I've created layout plans for a few folks here on the forum in the last year or so. I'd be happy to help you out if you're interested. Feel free to reach out via the email in my profile. Here are a couple examples of my work

For ideas you may want you look to Bob Bartizek’s layout, similar to your space   His website has lots of great info including a trackplan and lots of building photos

https://www.pennwestrr.com

@Mike0289 posted:

That's an amazing amount of space! Congratulations! You should be able to fit multiple mainlines, multiple levels (if you desire), loco facility, yard, and lots of operation in that amount of space!

Shameless plug - I've created layout plans for a few folks here on the forum in the last year or so. I'd be happy to help you out if you're interested. Feel free to reach out via the email in my profile. Here are a couple examples of my work

Thank you! I would love to talk with you about some ideas about how to best use the space!!

Thank you for the ideas and suggestions everyone! This is always a wonderful place to ask questions. Everyone is very supportive and helpful. I don’t think I ever had a single person give me a hard time or put me down for asking a question.
I am definitely not afraid to get my hands dirty building a layout, I’m just having a hard time with actuality getting something on paper, and so far you all have been great helping me with great ideas to see.

respectfully,

Tom

@EAW posted:

A few questions to help with a design.

• Do the stairs leave the room going up or down?

LOL