New "Man Cave" Layout - Now With Pictures - updated 02/27/14

12' X 20', hummmm slightly larger than a one car garage.

136' turntable, big engines. Lotza big mainline plans.

New house. Maybe time to renegotiate ratio of man/woman square footage. Sounds like you have been short sheeted.

Seriously, this is not much square footage with which to work in 0 scale using big class 1 equipment. Stuff is going to get real tight real fast. This is not an uncommon type of request.

Is there a basement to run the trains around the wall and give the center area to family/laundry use? A nice fascia and platform skirt will help it blend in with "her" space.

Your 12' X 20' has a total square footage of 240.

That is about the same square footage of a 2 1/2' wide shelf around the average basement of an average two story house. If a full basement is in the new house than consider trading the 12' X 20' for an around the wall shelf. Then we all can get some plans up for you.

Big stuff works & looks best on wide "corner of the room" curves.

If you are really limited with this small space maybe reconsider using smaller equipmemnt. tt

I'd suggest a "less is more" approach. Do one two-lap mainline with passing sidings and industries around the walls. You can easily support a 48" radius (O-96) on the ends and have room to shift the track/scenery to make things interesting. You can even cut in a peninsula for a yard or industrial/street-running district. Command control would allow for the running of two trains.

Just a thought.

You are going to be shocked at how quickly that space shrinks when you start trying to fit in your desires.

Doodle with it for a while... then if you just can't seem to get it all in... consider downsizing your "druthers".

Best of luck on the house purchase and to be sure: 12' x 20' is more space than many of us have for our toys!

Andre

All,

Thanks for the advice. I think it will be fun trying to come up with a layout design I'm happy with. It will be a while, but I will post updates as I get through the various stages of development.

Allan,

I went through this about a year ago and changed my original plans about 4 times after starting construction. It's not easy. I would definitely consider and/or recommend you look at doing an "around the room" perimeter type layout. Using this type of layout allows you to still use the center of your man-cave as a room to hang out with your friends/family. If you fill the entire basement with trains, I think you'll find that you have just limited its use severely and that you have no space to sit back and enjoy the trains.

~Eric~

Congratulations on getting the space!

These suggestions may sound silly as they are not really train suggestions...

Lighting, make sure you select and install plenty of light upfront, hard to add more later, but you can always dim or reduce the lamp size

ventilation - good source of fresh heated or cooled air make the room more comfortable
a comfortable place to sit... this is great when actually reading directions or figuring out something a comfortable place is worth the space

a tv and DVD player, either to watch TV while working on the layout, or to play back that collection of train dvd's that don’t go over well in the family room....

These have been nice things in my train room that, while I didn’t think of them at first have been great making it more comfortable when I work on the trains.

Of course everyone has their own desires, just my suggestions.

We are in Texas, so no basement. Luckily the house has two living rooms plus the bonus game room which is the man cave. I am going to start with the around the room layout since that is what I have here at my current house going around above the doorway in a similar sized room. My wife and I already talked about putting the second stereo system in the man cave with a TV and all my UT stuff. I may install some track lighting since it is easy to get above the room via the attic.

quote:

Originally posted by C&O Allie:
We are in Texas, so no basement. Luckily the house has two living rooms plus the bonus game room which is the man cave. I am going to start with the around the room layout since that is what I have here at my current house going around above the doorway in a similar sized room. My wife and I already talked about putting the second stereo system in the man cave with a TV and all my UT stuff. I may install some track lighting since it is easy to get above the room via the attic.

Just got back from Dallas a few hours ago and we're looking for the same type of home configuration. Definitely consider around-the-walls with a lift bridge.

With 2 Living rooms plus the bonus room, I'd be looking at this:
IF the Bonus room you got shares a wall with a living room, I"d shoot for a 2-3 wide shelf along the wall in that living room to connect into the man cave with tunnel portals. It lets you run bigger curves and that makes a massive difference.
And it's a great conversation maker when entertaining. Just start a Big Articulated dragging a long freight and leave it running the loop slowly so it is not loud. Pretty soon someone will see it and be amazed.

Otherwise I'd be working on a swap for the smaller of the two living rooms as I'm sure that will be bigger than the bonus room.

Me, I'm in a 180 year old New Englander. I am stuck with an un-finishable basement to build in.

A variation of the twisted folded dogbone layout that I posted earlier in this thread 22x14 double mainline layout

I've squeezed that design down as much as I could and it will barely fit in a 20x12 space. Grades of 2-3% required to make 7" at the crossover. There is about 30" access isle in middle depending on your benchwork. Assuming the opening to the room is near one of the corners then this layout could fit your space.

Obsidian,

Thanks for the track plan - that looks like a fun layout.

I started my layout - I had the week of Thanksgiving off, so I got all the first level bench work done. I am waiting on my Ross 4-way switch to arrive so I can start laying out the track.

This first level will be two mains, three spurs for freight cars, and a small diesel engine yard. There will be a lead up to the main level which will be two mains with a 4 track passenger yard and a turntable for my steam engines. This will have a lead up to the third level which will have a two track swooping over the passenger yard and around a city scene. In the city will be an 0-27 Elevated.

Here are some pictures of the bench work:

Control/Work Area:



All the Trains:



The First Leg Sets:



Putting the first corner together:







The Display Shelves:





The second corner:







The third corner:



The fourth corner:



The Walk-in Bridge:









My Supervisor:



Starting the Plywood:

Hello Alan, What a great start to the layout. But I gotta' ask you. Where did you find all the straight 1 by's? I've looked in the big box stores for dimentional lumber and all I can find is crappy, knotty, and warped (wood)? When I lived in Chi Town, I went to one lumber yard on Pershing Rd.and bought #2 dim. pine, (small or no knots). It's what they called "screen stock" and it was perfect. Judging the lumber we have here in NW Indy, it must be all from new growth trees. I don't feel like going thru hundreds of boards off their racks trying to find something decent.

I got the wood at Home Depot. It is 1x4x8 KD WW Premium. The skew number is 761542312395. The boards were not all perfectly straight, but the way I did the legs (L-shaped) brought them into alignment. Most had a slight bow on them, but the leg assemblies were heavy enough to square them up. I figured if they were slightly out of alignment, the plywood would cover it up.

Glad your making progress Allan, I see, however, that you are tripping over your stuff. Can't you negotiate any temporary storage space while you at least get the benchwork up? Your wife sounds formidable!

A little late now, but I think I would have painted the walls first, unless that's the color you are going with or you are adding pre-mounted backdrops.

I look forward to seeing your progress. Do you have a track plan you can post, or did I miss it?

Thanks Will. Actually, much of my boxes were in the "soon to be" baby's room. Now all my boxes are now nicely stacked under the bench work. I will have to pull out stacks when I start wiring the track.

I have a track plan I will try to attach tomorrow as it is on my work computer. It is somewhat rough, but since I am using Gargraves flex track, I'm not worried about it not being exact.

Hey, first child? That's great news- congratulations. The first kid has a way of putting everything else into perspective.

Yup - first child. Due in April. The wife said I have until then to work on my railroading empire. I'm glad I have two weeks off around Christmas to work on it.

When that baby comes, you'll forget everything else, anyway.

Here is a rough version of the layout. The tracks leading up and down from the main level will be a double decker trestle. The Turntable is visible for reference on the upper and lower levels. The upper level has a fourth level Elevated.

Upper Level

Lower Level

Wow, you sure are getting your money's worth out of that space! I'm not sure from the diagrams how the transitions from level to level work. There doesn't seem to be room for the grades.

Busy you have been. Looks nice does the man cave. Much work to do you have.
Talk funny this way when Yoda I see.

Pictures you must post when man cave complete.

Larry

The grades will be about 17 feet in length, so while steep (~3.5% grade), they will only be used to move freight trains up to the main level or passenger trains down to the lower level.

Allan,

I could not see any of the pictures - just the 'Red X'.
I did look at other posts that use Photobucket, and they were fine.
Hope to be able to see your pictures soon.

Alex

Alex,

I'm not sure what the issue is as they show up fine when I open the post and the pictures are marked public in Photobucket.

Here is a link to the pictures.

I guess its a little late to suggest that the backdrop should go up before the table work starts, huh?
Seriously, great work so far. Looking good.

Rod

I'll second Rod's suggestion regarding putting up a backdrops now. At least paint the room sky blue so you can add clouds. Makes a world of difference in the appearance of your layout. Don't be like me and have to take up all of my track, scenery, wiring so I could paint room. As it was everything that I didnt remove from room got a dusting of white paint when I added clouds. Check my Youtube page to see before and after adding backdrop pics in my "cave".

Ken

I'm planning on putting the backdrops on the main level (one up from this level) as this level won't be scene. I will use thin plywood to make the backdrop and paint that. Then I will install it on the main level. I don't want to paint the walls at this point.

C&O Allie/Allan,

From my experience, you might want to consider painting any wood that will run across the window opening, Flat black. This should include uprights, etc. that can be seen from outside.
You can purchase artist canvas by the yard at an artist supply store, this can then be painted and hung on the wall, just another idea instead of plywood.

You also might consider painting all of the table top plywood prior to installing. This will make the layout look more presentable, as it maybe in that state for sometime if a little one is imminent!

Best of luck.

Hello Allan. I may be coming to this dance a little late but here are some observations.

I will try to say what others may be thinking. I am not being negative but have a lot of experience in this area. You have a decent space but as other's have said, it will fill up quickly. I looked at your three plans and all I see is track everywhere, not a whole lot of room for scenery, buildings, etc. That is OK if all you want to do is run trains on plywood but I think that will get old rather quckly.

Can you get access to those windows that show on your pics once the benchwork is finished?

Keep in mind, with all that wood passing by the windows, it will be visible from outside the house unless the blinds are closed all the time.

Will the lift out / hinge area have two levels of track on it? If so, that is going to get very heavy to move or swing out of the way, not to mention alignment issues with all that track.

If the main level is to scale, there does not appear to be a whole lot of space to move around or have a friend or two visit, especially around the turntable. Will you be able to completely access the lower level to clean track and fix derailments?

I would cover the nice looking carpet during construction........

Finally, I would scale back the three levels and start with something a little more manageable. I think you are going to get overwhelmed rather quickly once you start stacking levels and laying track and wiring everything.

Sorry for all the bad stuff, actually just trying to offer some positive suggestions from my 50 years of building layouts.

Donald

quote:

Originally posted by Tom Tee:
12' X 20', hummmm slightly larger than a one car garage.

136' turntable, big engines. Lotza big mainline plans.

New house. Maybe time to renegotiate ratio of man/woman square footage. Sounds like you have been short sheeted.

Seriously, this is not much square footage with which to work in 0 scale using big class 1 equipment. Stuff is going to get real tight real fast. This is not an uncommon type of request.

Is there a basement to run the trains around the wall and give the center area to family/laundry use? A nice fascia and platform skirt will help it blend in with "her" space.

Your 12' X 20' has a total square footage of 240.

That is about the same square footage of a 2 1/2' wide shelf around the average basement of an average two story house. If a full basement is in the new house than consider trading the 12' X 20' for an around the wall shelf. Then we all can get some plans up for you.

Big stuff works & looks best on wide "corner of the room" curves.

If you are really limited with this small space maybe reconsider using smaller equipmemnt. tt

toms comments in his post are so important,its worth repeating.-jim

Mixer man, In Texas there really is noit such a call for basements. Ground water seapage and such. We ca go up but down is really a Expensive option.sure it would be nice till it floods as does WHEN it RAINS.sorry had to goto Ditc. to find out how to spell rain. James

Allan,
No problem seeing your pictures now. Looks great.

You will not regret the through holes for wiring. I drilled between three and five through each and every horizontal inner member of my layout, and have used most of them already even though I am a long ways from being done with the wiring.

I second the suggestion of not waiting too long before you add a backdrop, if you plan on having one.

Keep us informed!

Alex

Some have commented on the small size of the room. Unforunate that not everyone has 40'x50' layout space or even a basement.
Sometimes better layouts come in smaller packages.
Yes 12'x20' might be small for some. One of the best hi rail layouts around is Norm Charboneau's layout, the main island part is only 10'x22' with an added engine yard off the to the side. There are many more examples besides his mid sized layout. Some of them are right here on the OGR forum. Yes around the walls will give you more mainline.
Best of luck.
George

Can you get access to those windows that show on your pics once the benchwork is finished?


3rail, you read my mind not a great idea as once those levels go up any troubles with windows or blinds a real challenge a 12" offset from windows would be a better thought.

and yes before continuing on rethink all that track and create industries that the trains can support the old thought of less is more approach.

trust me been there done that lesson learned roundy rounds make johnny a very dull boy! only my opinion, $oo

Hi all - I got a week + off over the holiday season, and got lots done on the layout. I have the two loops on the lower level done and wired. All swtiches are now in place with swith motors installed and I have started the three spur/storage tracks.

On the bridge, and for one Gargrave section on either side, I set up a relay running through the bridge locks so if one disengages, power will be cut to the 3 track section.

Here are some pictures of the layout:

Looks great. I like your slide out drawer for your legacy. Where did out find that?

George