"Nooks and Crannies"...What train room obstacles have you worked around to build your RR?

I picked up this quote from another thread to see if others have contributions on creative ways they have worked around physical issues.

Yes, Tom, the essential idea is don't let obstacles stop us from building our layouts.

If we had all the space and resources in the World, that would be great, but if we don't and instead have limited space and many obstacles, don't let that stop us. Instead, persevere and be creative.

I've gotten to the point that I get excited about overcoming, even embracing, my obstacles.

Will demonstrate this with photos later.

Arnold

Tom,

Where do I begin? Vaulted ceilings, which affect the height of benchwork and backdrop work. The shape of the room which affects the benchwork and how I was able to lay track. I certainly have more curves than I would like. The window. If I could build my ideal train room I certainly would have natural light entering, however a window itself would not be an integral part of the layout's scenery. Not sure if there is any way to make this prototypical, lol.

Those are a few of the "major" ones. To piggyback on what Arnold said, I'd like to believe I have overcome those obstacles and a different type of creativity was born to make it happen. I actually feel good about what I am creating despite those challenges. When you can custom fit your layout to a spec that someone else has created that is something to be proud of.

Dave

One of my obstacles:

Pipe/hose in the way, no problem, run train behind it. LOL.

Another obstacle:

Washing machine, dryer and air vent for dryer in the way. No problem. Cover the washing machine and dryer with Green felt fabric and build a bridge (George Washing Machine Bridge) and have train cross the bridge behind the washer and dryer. LOL.

My wife???

Another obstacle, perhaps my biggest one. Not enough space for your dream layout because you only have a half basement, not a full basement, and only a modest-sized playroom, in your basement.

No problem, tunnel through the wall so your trains will dramatically leave the playroom and go somewhere else: the laundry room, disappear from sight, the go through an extended reverse loop and dramatically return to your playroom.

Water meter.

Note blue - gray 36" Datum line.

I claimed the air rights over our file cabinets.

Tom,

Where did it go?

Dave

Keith nailed it - my CEO (wife) controls railroad ROW in my home. Living in California, basements like Arnold's are non-existent, so the railroad is banished to a spare bedroom. Fortunately, we only have 1 child, so the arrangement works out pretty well.

I must say, she's pretty permissive when it comes to my hobby with some great input on scenery.

Very creative thinking everyone!  Where there is a will there is a way to find and utilize more space

I squeezed 2 layouts and displays in an old 2' x 10' closet. I call it "The Alcove".  Pics and details are in my blog post of 9/9/2021 entitled "Two Layouts in an Unexpected Space" on www.Warrenvillerailroad.com

Another obstacle was the outside basement door to the Bilco opening.  The are 3 right of ways, two 110 circuits and many star runs which needed to be addressed.

Lift out bridges are used  for the track and the wire is routed around the door frame in wire molding.

Photos show the magnet and plate, the micro switch to kill the approach track and the square brass dowel for positioning and  track power.  The left  abutment dowel powers the outside rail the right abutment dowel powers the inside rail.

No wire or other connections needed, total reliability.

Bridge superstructure for fragile 40"  Atlas  Pratt Lift out bridge.  I found the Atlas bridge by it's self not to be durable for repeated handling.

These provisions provided access for an HVAC replacement.

Adding 4th circuit for an additional peninsula

Ran out of room in spare bedroom, expanded into hallway using a hoist to raise and lower the yard portion of the layout.

Lots of obstacles for me in what was (past tense) a very limited basement. Thus far I've accomplished: tunneled under basement steps into former workshop; built lift-out bridge in front of utility room door; due to limited space, utilized cantilevered layout sections along walls; and constructed curved layout edges where possible facilitating ease of walking around. Great challenges but resulting track runs are awesome.

It has become my conviction that to make a neat layout you not only have to think outside the box, but instead throw the box away

My wife always laughs, she shows me these videos of houses for sale around and about and when they show one of these huge basements or just a really big room (or one of those places with a room above a barn) and the first thing I say is "wow, could that be one heck of a layout, could recreate a division of the NYC! (She doubly laughs, given the almost non existent pace of building my current layout, all of 9x14 or so). 

So my obstacles:

1)It is a half basement (1950's split special) and Laundry room takes space (in retrospect, would have put the laundry area in a large upstairs bathroom). Had to build the laundry room out first,of course, make it nicer than it had been.

2)Basement has the furnace in it, layout had to accomodate that so along one wall of the 9x14 the layout narrows, to maintain distance to the furnace (it is like 2"). Also had to make one leg of the U shape a bit shorter, to accomodate door to laundry room.

3)Layout size limited to allow enough room to one side and the head end that if the hot water heater goes, can get it out of the basement when it dies, as mine tend to do (we have very hard water, wreaks havoc on the best of them).

4)The inevitable steel posts that run up through the layout. fortunately, they are near the edge of the layout, and I can prob figure a great way to disguise it in some way, shape or form. One us supposed to be near an inlet, maybe a really big lighthouse *lol*

Basements and layouts are proof of the old adage, "Necessity is the mother of invention", which troops in WWII (in cleaned up form) changed to "necessity is a mother"

Where do I begin? L shaped former trailer bedroom because of built in closets and drawers on the Inside L side, 24 inch wide door opening to the kitchen next to the built in closet, only 45 inches from the back wall to that door opening, back wall has built in cabinets as part of the wall sticking out 1 foot and bottom is 40 inches off the floor so layout top is at 32 inches, my layout is L shaped 12 feet across back, 45 inches deep on right side because of door opening, 8 ft across the front then 2 ft forward extension, 4 ft across to left side, and 6 ft deep, layout normally sits tight to back and right side walls, so on casters to be able to roll it 2 ft to the left, front left L section 18 inches forward to front wall, right front 2 ft forward, to do any work on back side, bend and squeeze between the layout table and those cabinets sticking 1 foot out into the room. No basement, no attic, no place else for a layout so make do with what I had for space. When I finish with track laying it will be 2 separate loops all Fastrack O-36 except the inner 180° curve on the right side is MTH Realtrax 0-31 curve to fit in that 45 inch deep end with using Fastrack Transistion Pieces and MTH Adaptor pieces. Where there's a will for a layout, there's a way, even with being disabled and physically challenged!

My 1950s cape has utilities on three different walls, gas on the south west corner, water in the north west corner, electric on the north wall, furnace and water heater in the middle.  Add a laundry room in the mix, space was a challenge.  I claimed the louth wall, fortunately the access to the bilco doors is long covered over.  I am left with a 30 foot leg plus another 11 feet.  What i ended up with is a sungle track loop to loop layout on a shelf.  Stuck with 042 curves, would have loved an extra 18 inches to fit in 054 but it would have killed access to the laundry room.