new man cave/train room

Quite a project. Build yourself a nice room that will pass inspection by CA code. The trains should have a couple of dedicated AC circuits and perhaps some pot or track lighting for the layout area. 

If you just want trains in the building as it is, then you only need the power circuits and some dedicated lighting circuits. Air conditioning might be useful.

Moonman posted:

Quite a project. Build yourself a nice room that will pass inspection by CA code. The trains should have a couple of dedicated AC circuits and perhaps some pot or track lighting for the layout area. 

If you just want trains in the building as it is, then you only need the power circuits and some dedicated lighting circuits. Air conditioning might be useful.

thanks sounds good

HVAC; comfortable, versatile flooring; 2 or 3 20-amp circuits; LED lighting in various forms (shop lighting, spots, floods) - all dimmable, if possible; shelving; Mianne benchwork; TV (playing feeds from trains); Legacy system.

That's a good start.

You have a blank canvas ... good luck!  

Add a ac/heater circuit, a wet bar & microwave & a Full Bathroom.

Then you are ready when your wife/gf/mother/so kicks you out for spending all your time there.

From a train layout design point of view, think of a 24" shelf around the perimeter. That leaves the interior space for people space. The trains are entertainment, like the video screen, seating and such.

That's a 132 linear feet to stretch out some really long trains. 

If you fill the whole building with a train table, I believe that will find the room used very little. 

I designed something like that for someone that converted a 20' x 25' garage - he built a really large screen for projection video, had a flight simulator/racing simulator in one corner, a bar/utility/work table with stool seating, a big comfy sofa and chair. He started with way too much train space. The room was really used for entertainment. 

A table of that width still provides plenty of room for highly detailed scenic items and not an insurmountable amount of space to do it in. I love watching F1 races with him and the trains are gliding around. We snack and have refreshments and the trains are gliding around.

Here is one 3D concept - the reverse loop was eliminated as was the second level - it dominated the people space too much. This view is from the entrance of the room. The tables were narrowed to 24" as 30" intruded on people space - yards were eliminated as the table needed to be close to 40". Some Inglenook puzzles were put in and only required an additional 6". The track ran through the bar/utility table to leave an aisle/seating space on that wall.

I hope this gives you something to consider with your vision of the room.

Fastman,

Man cave/trainroom may require different ideas/plans.  If the man cave is the dominant expression, I would recommend an overhead layout.  It keeps the trains in full view, but, completely out of the way of your guests.  This wasn't that hard to build.

Moonman always has good ideas.  Then again, if you can find the extra space, why can't you have both?

Just a few ideas to consider.  Good luck and best wishes.

Jerry