Need inspiration for 22x54 layout

I'm designing a Atlas O layout for my clients 40'x18' room now.   I also designed my club's layout which was about as big as your space.   You can reach me ken_holbert@yahoo.com and I'll be glad to design a plan for you.

Think about using a mini split ductless unit for HVAC

I would love to have that kind of room size to worry about.

The table height of 30" sounds pretty good.  I would definitely try to control the humidity and the high end temperatures.  Living in Texas, I'm not familiar with cold temperatures, but the heat will accelerate the rust if you have significant humidity.   I would assume in your part of the country you do have significant humidity. 

You could take the trains and some accessories back in the house but the track would still be exposed.

If you can plan it out well enough, run your wiring drops before putting down the table top.

Allan,

Twenty-two foot width is great.  Wish I had that to work width.

What is the ceiling/peak height in the center of the room?  If your roof has a 1:1 pitch (45° slope) it would be about 14' to 15'.  Based on this, you could do a 4' wide table around the walls.  The 1' area at the junction of the table and ceiling is not very usable and you can easily reach 3'.  This will allow you to do a double track 140' loop mainline with the largest curves..

If you use 4' wide aisle then you have room for 6' wide peninsulas in the center in the middle of the end walls.  One could be a yard and the other a passenger terminal.

Throw in some stations and industries, a few passing tracks and sidings, and you have an operating railroad.

Get yourself a copy of SCARM (paid version) and begin to plan while you finish the floor, walls, and ceilings, add lights and power, and HVAC.  And google layout plans and look at the image.  Don't worry about the scale.

Jan

Thanks everyone! The roof is roughly a 45 degree slope. I originally wanted the old barn style to give more room width wise. The garage is about 40 feet wide, but the way the roof is sloped, it would be 22 feet wide if the 30" tall tables are standing on both ends.

If you are planning on using the space under the layout for storage, would 30" be comfortable for you to access in future?

Get the HVAC taken care of first.  Condensation in an unheated space can be a major headache.  Many years ago, had my woodworking equipment in an unheated detached garage.  Woke up one cold morning to find a light coat of rust on all the cast iron surfaces.  Caught it quickly and was able to easily remove it from large, flat surfaces.  Can only imagine the havoc it would have created on trains.

Allan, you might find this layout plan of interest, commissioned by Rick Arestad.   The plan was discussed here on the forum, and was refined and enhanced through this forum topic Arestad Layout Plan.   This is a 26' x 40' layout space, and the purpose and operation figured heavily in the design.   Its a 2-track mainline with O-96 minimum diameter, and a 3rd "High Line" mainline with O-72 minimum.  It features a 30" turntable and nice big yard, and I particularly like the two town designs where a train pulls-off the mainlines to switch industries.   

If you are interested, you may contact me at kenhoganson1@gmail.com.  If you look around the forum, you can find a great many other layout plans that I have shared on the forum, most recently the Chippewa Central and NorthWest Minnesota plans at NorthWest Minnesota.

Allan,

As others have said, the design of your layout will depend a lot on your attic infrastructure.  For example, wherever you put your HVAC equipment will require you to leave space to service that equipment.  You also have not described where your electrical panel will be, whether or not there are any windows in the attic space, or even how you access that space (along which wall or in middle through pull down ladder).

A second key factor is how you plan to run your railroad.  Do you plan to run your trains mostly on big loops while using the yards to make up and break up said trains?  Or, do you want to mimic real railroad operations (implied by your request for an industrial branch) by running through freights, some passenger trains and way freights? 

With the space you apparently have available, I highly recommend reading a series of articles written by Ralph Ellison many years ago called "The Art of Model Railroading."  His theory was to treat model railroading like a theatre performance, using the track and buildings as a stage, the trains as characters, and a rudimentary timetable as the script.  His accompanying layout design included two end-point yards with a division-point yard between them and several town stop points along the way.

Whatever you decide to do, keep us informed.  There is a lot of good help here on the forum and on other model railroad fora.

Chuck