Looking for advice as I consider a new layout...

Depends on your level of motivation and desires.  Some people drive an hour or so to a club layout but get to interact with other people, not be there in a lonely building 40 minutes from home. Do you need to get away from home or are you looking to stop in on the way home from work? Will the significant other get "suspicious"?  Where do you live? Is the winter weather conducive to driving 40 minutes to work on a layout?  Much easier to head to the basement in a snow/rain storm than trek to the car and sit in traffic?  Sometimes i have trouble just walking out to the barn loft when its nice and warm in the house. Granted its warm in the barn but its cold in between!  Best of luck!

@Farmall-Joe posted:

Depends on your level of motivation and desires.  Some people drive an hour or so to a club layout but get to interact with other people, not be there in a lonely building 40 minutes from home. Do you need to get away from home or are you looking to stop in on the way home from work? Will the significant other get "suspicious"?  Where do you live? Is the winter weather conducive to driving 40 minutes to work on a layout?  Much easier to head to the basement in a snow/rain storm than trek to the car and sit in traffic?  Sometimes i have trouble just walking out to the barn loft when its nice and warm in the house. Granted its warm in the barn but its cold in between!  Best of luck!

that is the million dollar question....traveling to get there....again trading size for access....as far as wife....she will join me much of the time on weekends etc....do gardening and other hobbies for her.   And don't mind being by myself in my train room as that is get away time...I deal with people all day long.....that part is fine....but yes.   It is nice to walk upstairs and work on the trains for 10 minutes or 2 hours...doesn't matter.  

@msp posted:

that is the million dollar question....traveling to get there....again trading size for access....as far as wife....she will join me much of the time on weekends etc....do gardening and other hobbies for her.   And don't mind being by myself in my train room as that is get away time...I deal with people all day long.....that part is fine....but yes.   It is nice to walk upstairs and work on the trains for 10 minutes or 2 hours...doesn't matter.  

I think its a great fit if your wife can also get away and do her thing.  As for size of the layout, i am working on a double deck layout roughly in the same dimensions as yours.  I went into it with a plan however to work on modeling a prototypical area, railroad and time frame.  This was not dictated by the size but my desire to model the area where i grew up, but inspired by my dad;s memories of the past of the same area.  This helped me design the layout in such a large space rather than having no clue what the track plan might be and struggling in that sense.  Maybe something you can incorporate as well.  Regards.

Is there any particular reason why you want to keep your current home?  If I were in this situation, I would buy enough land to build a complete living quarters co-located with the layout, and preferably part of the same building.  (I used to like running my trains in my pajamas )

If you're building the home from scratch, the builder could incorporate a "bonus room", full attic, second living area or whatever you need to call it for appraisal purposes, as layout space.  Electric trains don't like humidity!  If you were to construct a stand-alone building for just the trains, you would still have to run utilities, heat, cool, and insure it year-round.  Someday when the need arises, I believe that the complete home with a large bonus room / second living area would be easier to sell than a utility building with a small apartment.  From a pure cash-flow perspective I believe that you would be better off having everything at one place.  You also said that the land is CLOSER to your office.  This translates to reduced commuting time and costs, etc.

Full 1:48 scale trains (2- or 3-rail) need curves of O72 or greater -- a lot of space.  I would regard 25 x 20 as about the minimum.  For much of the country where there are no basements, it's a difficult proposition that sometimes entails difficult choices like the one you're facing.  My $.02.

I think it will work if you can spend your weekends there. Better yet if the property is on your way home and your looking at 2 short commutes. The new building isn’t going up overnight. If you have a solid track plan and a workshop at home. You could get a lot accomplished while it’s being built. You could have benchwork ready minus the legs. Maybe even get some track laid and wired. Wiring is a lot easier if it’s laying on it’s side and you can sit on a stool and do it. Most of your weekend work could be doing large assembly work where your wife can give you a hand if needed. Which at the end of the weekend really looks like you have accomplished something. Rather than spending the whole weekend doing something tedious under the layout. If you plan on doing some structures. Working part time. Some can take a few weeks to a month to complete. It’s also nice to walk into the train room and not have to deal with a huge mess with multiple projects taking place.

Some really thoughtful ideas presented here. What age are you and your wife if we may ask? Children?   Personally I would do everything possible to NOT have two properties involved - as Ted mentioned above, any compelling reasons to keep the current home?  You said the property is closer to the office. I would seriously consider building a new home and incorporate the train room in a practical manner. I am a real estate broker and a well designed new home with forethought consideration for resale sometime down the line would be your best long term investment.