Overcoming Half Basements & Obstacles

I have a small basement too Arnold. Our house is a split-level so the basement is only about half the footprint of the house. When I decided I wanted a real layout again, I claimed the air rights above our file cabinets.

This was day one of construction.

Fortunately, I was blessed with a large basement. Unfortunately, it’s not all “mine”.

Here in the Atlanta area, I can think of two layouts that tunnel through walls. Eric Siegel (Eric’s Trains) has tunneled through several walls in his basement. There’s also a nice HO layout based on the Colorado Joint Line that has a section of the mainline passing through a bathroom.

Curt

It really wouldn't be a true subway without a bit of tunneling!  But, really what it does is serve as the only connection point between my two layouts... one in a finished room in the basement, and the other in the open space outside the room, that is not consumed by heaters, doors, windows, stairs, etc.

I’ve seen lots of layouts built in large spaces that were uninspired and boring.  Some of the best and most creative ones were built overcoming obstacles. Challenges and solutions are a lot of what makes this hobby special.

Guess what is under the green felt blanket in the photo below:

Give up?

It's the washing machine and clothes dryer in the laundry room of my basement.

Guess what the name of the bridge is that is behind and above the washing machine and dryer?

It's the George Washingmachine Bridge!

LOL, Arnold

George Washingmachine Bridge.

I love it!!! 👍👍👍🤣

Curt

@juniata guy posted:

George Washingmachine Bridge.

I love it!!! 👍👍👍🤣

Curt

Curt, my goal is always to edify the Greatest Hobby in the World, and to entertain all my Firum friends. I'm glad to have entertained you. Arnold

How about those of us who, for whatever reason, are stuck with 031 curves and 022 switches, to say nothing of those with 027 curves that I had for the 1st 4 and a half decades doing this hobby?

Are we going to let our tight curves stop us?

No way!

First, speaking of 022 switches, I would not trade them for all of the newfangled switches in the World. My 022s are supremely reliable, durable and fixable and, IMO, the most charming of all switches.

What about those gorgeous Allegheny and Big Boys engines and 21 inch passenger cars out there?

If I ever get any of these enormous, gorgeous and expensive models, I will save them for the wide radius curved circle/oval of track around the Christnas tree or Hannukah Bush!

As far as the tight curves around the main layout, I think of them as a challenge to motivate me to have perfect track work. I have a long way to go to accomplish this goal, but baby, I have never been more excited about achieving it. I want zero derailments on my tight curves by the time I begin my 7th decade, which is now on the horizon.

In the meantime, how I revel in running my switchers and other small locomotives that easily navigate my tight curves, especially when running so slow and smooth on DCS. Here is my favorite at the moment:

That's an MTH PS3 B-6 Steam Switcher.

Arnold

Arnold - the only obstacle I have to additional layout expansion is a certain blonde that I'm married to...

@Don Winslow posted:

Arnold - the only obstacle I have to additional layout expansion is a certain blonde that I'm married to...

What a lovely obstacle to have. Don, you are a very lucky man. LOL Arnold

@Don Winslow posted:

Arnold - the only obstacle I have to additional layout expansion is a certain blonde that I'm married to...

Good point Don. I guess our wives are the ultimate obstacle.

I remember a relatively recent post (was it Mr. Moritz of the NJHiRailers?) whose wife loved it when he bought trains because when he did that, she went out with and bought jewelry. L

I bet she also did that when he expanded his layout.

What a smart woman.

Arnold

A couple of years ago, in progress; add-on to my train building/work area. No basement.

The lift bridge now carries a spur to my 2-track "staging area/coal mine", off to the left. 

There are now blue backdrops.

We moved the heater out from the wall to pass behind it.  Then the tank style water heater was replaced with a Reinni tankless heater mounted in the corner to allow an additional town and yard.

The former rec room turned staging room got riddled with holes to provide passage.

A non weight bearing cinder block wall was torn down.   The walls of the former basement inlaw quarters  were ripped out.  This opened up 1986 square feet in a Tee shaped basement for the trains.

Above and below are off scene staging and off scene  engine turning facilities for three dead end branch lines.

The water meter was raised

Tom Tee, I'm impressed with your approach to obstacles, which is the opposite of mine.

Instead of going through or around obstacles like I did, you tore down or repositioned the obstacles for the sake of your layout.

This gives me much food for thought. Arnold

At some point soon I will be starting an in the basement (house is 110 years old) layout rebuild. I will begin a new post when I get going. Hopefully with in a couple of weeks. I have everything I need  from Mianne  benchwork, track and trains.

PS June 4th is retirement day for me. Time get busy in the cellar!

@Don Winslow posted:

Arnold - the only obstacle I have to additional layout expansion is a certain blonde that I'm married to...

Yes, Don, you MUST get clearance from the head of the "Department of the Interior" for a grant of right-of-way.

Obstacles? Nah.

Believe it or not this is a basement modification add on feature adapted from a basement design for my former train cave.  I got this idea from John Armstrong when he was considering a large buried pipe jutting out from a corner in his basement under ground  to serve two levels of staging.

My situation at the time was a stand alone building needing two levels for passenger tracks at a 42" high and 55" high level.  Five tracks on each level held a lot of cars.

I was all ready kissing the max allowable square footage but the code inspector allowed this because I still was 1 sq. ft shy of the limit.

A concrete filled 8" Sono tube buried below frost line held the far end.

<--Thinking outside of the box

@Tom Tee posted:

Obstacles? Nah.

Believe it or not this is a basement modification add on.  I got this idea from John Armstrong when he was considering a large buried pipe jutting out from a corner in his basement under ground  to serve two levels of staging.

My situation at the time was a stand alone building needing two levels for passenger tracks at a 42" high and 55" high level.  Five tracks on each level held a lot of cars.

I was all ready kissing the max allowable square footage but the code inspector allowed this because I still was 1 sq. ft shy of the limit.

A concrete filled 8" Sono tube buried below frost line held the far end.

<--Thinking outside of the box

That is cool. I'd love to have seen the look on the inspectors face when you told him what it was for.

@RSJB18 posted:

That is cool. I'd love to have seen the look on the inspectors face when you told him what it was for.

I agree - so ingenious!

-Greg

@RSJB18 posted:

That is cool. I'd love to have seen the look on the inspectors face when you told him what it was for.

He did tell him how do you think he got it approved, the inspector had to be a train guy also. Either that or he just thought he was nuts and was laughing so hard he had to approve it so some one would believe him!!!!!!!

Do you have pipes, exhaust tubes, appliances, etc., that you think interfere with you having the layout of your dreams?

Consider embracing them. Pipes and the like can be part of your industrial complex that your trains service, and just might make your layout more interesting. This is what I have endeavored to do in the laundry room division of my layout shown in the video below:

We also had interference with the electrical service panel in the corner of the basement.  The benchwork for a freight yard would have restricted the door to open.

So it was necessary  to raise the box 12 inches.  However that height would put us out of compliance with the electrical code.

To satisfy that issue we built a raised floor in front of the panels for accessing the breakers.

No well thought out plan goes unpunished.   As it turned out the layout got expanded.  The yard was moved 25' around the corner down the next wall and the service panel was totally bypassed by a sweeping curve with a couple of lift out arch bridges.

Arnold - this is a fun topic!  I also want to acknowledge with you that you're not alone with limited real estate.  I do have room for 36", though, so I am able to look at some medium locos.  One of the primary benefits of Lionel trains is the ability to turn in a small area, while having big trains.  If you have room for 72" curves you have room for 2-rail O.  But what I wanted to share was my "low profile" access to the water main for the house.  It is held in place with gravity (the wedge at bottom) and magnets along the sides.  Takes less than half an inch to pull away from the magnets and lift up for access.  (And yes, I tunneled through the wall!)

I love it Tom.

When working on

@Tom Tee posted:

Obstacles? Nah.

<--Thinking outside of the box

One of the obstacles I had was the max. sq. ft. limit in my township.  That is why I used 45 degree angled corners.  The space out side of my 84" radius curves was wasted anyway so why not angle the corners so I can extend the overall length of the building several feet.

Plus the "raised dog house" gave me 36 square feet of yards.

@Tom Tee posted:

When working on

One of the obstacles I had was the max. sq. ft. limit in my township.  That is why I used 45 degree angled corners.  The space out side of my 84" radius curves was wasted anyway so why not angle the corners so I can extend the overall length of the building several feet.

Plus the "raised dog house" gave me 36 square feet of yards.

Hello Tom,

Could you please post a photo from the inside?

I imagine many of are curious as to what it looks like!

Thanks

Hi Kazar,   That was my last residence.  The modules were removed, the cantilever braces were cut back and much of the benchwork was  repurposed in our new place and the new owner  uses the dog house for his lawn and garden tools.   Oh well...