I JUST GOT THE GREEN LIGHT TO EXPAND

Congratulations Basil!!  That is about twice the size I have to work with in my plan!  GarGraves and Ross is my plan too; as I have a bunch of it sitting in the corner of my room waiting for the benchwork to start.  I can't wait to see what you come up with!

Thanks!  But I'm hopeful it won't just be what I come up with.  I could really use some help in designing this layout.

I agree, I worded that poorly.  I made a similar request back in January in the topic I highlighted in my signature line.  Did you take a look at where I started and where it went?  I had some similar ideas that I knew all wouldn't fit, but hoped folks would help me weed out the unrealistic but come up with ways to make some of them work.  I think you have the same hope.

Please take a look at my topic below.  I don't have time to write more now, but am thinking about the items you have in mind.  I don't have the experience with planning software that some others do, but they helped me out.

I'll be back in touch!  I know the forum members will help you come up with a good layout 

Wow, that is great news!   Here is a 12 X 20 plan that you might look at:  This one is Fastrack.

Here is an similar 11 X 17 Atlas-O track plan:

If you're a PC user and not afraid to take a little time to learn planning software, download and install SCARM, it's still free (unless you already have RR-Track or some other software). If you're not into software, then describe the room a little more fully (with measurements) noting the location of doors, windows and any other obstructions along the walls. Also note the minimum radius curves you prefer or that your engines need, any accessories you already have and want to include, etc.

I have the SCARM software and opened it up last night.  I'll also try and draw up the dimensions to the room this weekend to get all facets noted.  I know there is a pipe I have to go around, which I will encase as well for aesthetics.  Also, one end of the rectangle will be closer to 9 feet in width as it turns out.  I'll get that posted this weekend.

Basil, that is great news. It is always better to hear of expansion rather then down sizing or demolition. That is going to be one sweet area for the layout. Send out progress reports periodically....................Paul

Great for you!! The Bureau of Land Management in my house petitioned the Secretary of the Interior for expansion and the petition was shot down, gave the excuse of land grabbing!!! Can you imagine that? Ha Ha!!

Coming up on nearly a year and the basement remodel is under way.  This weekend, the wall to the new train room will be partially installed across the existing finished portion of the basement and the ceiling of the new home entertainment and rec area will be dry walled.

To date, a new electrical panel was installed to expand power capacity in the basement for the new home entertainment area and the train room.  The home entertainment area had a wall built out and it is already dry-walled and taped, not mudded yet, waiting on the ceiling.

I'll take pictures and post some.  It's a slow remodel as we're using the basement while trying to remodel it.  That said, the pace has picked up tremendously and I should have a train room in about two to three weeks.  Then the real planning and work begins!

A little behind schedule on the wall I mentioned in March.  Instead, the front portion of the basement, built as a family area, was nearly completely built out and finished, then the wall across the back portion of the basement was added.  That wall went in yesterday.  I took a video of the area.

Basil, Your plan looks great!  You did a great job on the sitting room!!  I’m looking forward to your progress!  Looks like you have a good helper too!!

Mark Boyce posted:

Basil, Your plan looks great!  You did a great job on the sitting room!!  I’m looking forward to your progress!  Looks like you have a good helper too!!

Thank you!  That family portion took quite a bit with new electrical and dry wall on ceiling and walls.  It was a lot of work, but I really believe it paid off.  The rec area is still a mess because everything is jammed to one side while the wall gets finished.  Once that's done with mudding and painting, I'll move into the train room buildout.  I gotta tell ya, a man couldn't ask for a better helper than that little guy!

Nice layout good luck with it.

BTW

Buy your wife a nice bobble, when she asked you why?  tell her no reason.

Great plan....good luck!

BAZIL,

   Great start with the construction of your Train Room, real nice video.  Just purchased a new home myself, and now have built my own Train Room also.  You might consider a Bar Type Layout near your Electrical Boxes, I am very satisfied the way mine came out, and it gives easy access to electrical Boxes, and the Bar becomes a Tunnel for your Trains to run thru.   

Before you build your floor layouts, consider a over head Ceiling Shelf Layout, around the room, they also make the room look seriously cool!  I inclosed my Electrical Boxes in the wooden slat type panel doors, you see behind the Hellgate Bridge.  Accessible by walking behind the Bar, it really worked out well.

Great start sir keep up the good work!

PCRR/Dave

Looks great! That should be a really nice space for your layout. What kind of lighting are you installing?

bigtruckpete posted:

Looks great! That should be a really nice space for your layout. What kind of lighting are you installing?

I believe I am going to go with recessed lighting.  It's priced very nicely, is dimmable with LEDs and keeps head space nice.  I'm considering some track lighting, but don't know if I will go that far.

Pine Creek Railroad posted:

BAZIL,

   Great start with the construction of your Train Room, real nice video.  Just purchased a new home myself, and now have built my own Train Room also.  You might consider a Bar Type Layout near your Electrical Boxes, I am very satisfied the way mine came out, and it gives easy access to electrical Boxes, and the Bar becomes a Tunnel for your Trains to run thru.   

Before you build your floor layouts, consider a over head Ceiling Shelf Layout, around the room, they also make the room look seriously cool!  I inclosed my Electrical Boxes in the wooden slat type panel doors, you see behind the Hellgate Bridge.  Accessible by walking behind the Bar, it really worked out well.

Great start sir keep up the good work!

PCRR/Dave

 

Thanks for the input!  I intend to do an around-the-room layout, with the center largely open but for a couple of subs, if space permits.  My plan is to first build the room entirely and then have some friends and members of my club come over and sit in the room with some beer while we discuss possibilities and ideas.  I know what I have in mind as a dream layout--Manitowoc, WI to Neenah, WI point-to-point with a main line that actually exits the train room, travels around the back wall on the outside and reenters right near where the opening in the video is.  If the space and planning permit this layout, that is probably what I will go for.  I really want to be able to perform operations, including switching, way freight and transfers for the SOO Line.  The main that would leave the room and come back in at another point is supposed to be C&NW, which did cross the SOO in Manitowoc.  In my mind's eye this allows for some interchange as well.  I do know this will require some compression of the Manitowoc sub as the overall distance is about 40 miles or so, but it gives me some great opportunities for some industry sidings, etc., especially with Valders, Chilton, Shorewood and Herbert Junction.

The only thing I know for sure at this point: I'm going to go slowly and carefully along to ensure everything, right down to the signaling, is properly planned.  As much as I want this layout done, I want it done right even more. 

Great ideas, Basil!  If I had that much room, I would do something similar but with a Western Maryland in West Virginia theme.  As it is, I'm cramming the theme into a small room with turnback loops at the ends.  Wise man takes his time as you say!!

Congratulations,

I remember the day my wife told me I could have the main part of the basement  instead of a tiny room in the basement that I was currently using.  It was the 2nd nicest sentence she ever said to me behind "I do" at our wedding.  lol

So it's been a year, and what a difference a year makes.  I've finally achieved some pretty significant progress on the room build out.  The link is to a a photo album I put together on Google Photos.  I included some pics that may seem odd.  The close-ups of wood panels are areas where I need to have ready access as they are either HVAC or Plumbing.  Thus, wood panels that can be easily unscrewed.  I also included a pic of my "back" area as I added 20 amp electrical, installed outlets and lighting and a counter top that will be my train-focused work bench.  I've still got a ways to go, but I'm very excited about where I'm at.  I've worked on it largely alone but with some help from four friends at different times that have made a huge difference.

Click here for Album

Basil, That is a lot of work you did building a very nice room for a layout!  Do you have a track plan yet?

Thanks, Mark.  I don't have a plan yet. I have an idea of what I would like, but no actual plan.

Basil posted:

My amazing wife just offered up enough space to build an 11' x 23' layout!  I love the scale stuff and run DCS with both Rail King and Premier engines.  I have a dream of a main line for some road hauling action, but definitely desire industry subs and switching.  A yard is a must! I would like to create a shelf or around-the-room layout extending 3' off the walls, with a bridge at one end for completing an outer loop.  If I could get a middle-of-the-room branch, I'd love it as 3' off the walls leaves 5' of interior space and that's too much as far as I'm concerned! I understand I'm probably dreaming on this wish-list item. I don't have a particular line/sub-division I want to model.  I have mostly Soo Line equipment and have been torn between modeling something out of the U.P. of Michigan (where I grew up) or Northeast Wisconsin (where I live now).  Fond du Lac to Neenah or even the Manitowoc Sub is real tempting as well.  I'm a grain hauler, for sure, but want to include lumber and other industries for boxcar delivery and shipping.  Naturally, I want to cross roads so I can have some signals and whatnot. I currently use Gargraves flex track and Ross switches, which I will continue to use so long as I am alive.  I'd greatly appreciate input in building my dream layout.  I don't want to mess this up!

1st order of business, get the permission in writing!  Amazing how things get forgotten in the moments of passion... or rage.

On the serious sign, congratulations and remember to have fun in your endeavors.

Bryant, LOL