Paradise in the Basement

I like things like "spell check" and proper grammar...😁

Mark in Oregon

Arnold, I knew you would show a photograph of one of your ball parks.  My slice of paradise is intended to be a slice of “Almost Heaven, West Virginia” in my basement.  That is why I like the Western Maryland Railway in West Virginia, where we lived at one time.  Though my only scenery is the backdrops, I still was able to make a truncated version of the WM coal drag as I saw in print battling the Blackwater Canyon (Black Fork) grade.

My little paradise is in a spare room on the second floor. It’s not one scene or section. It’s the whole environment and the moment I open this door, a weight literally lifts off my shoulders and I’m transported a million miles away from the office, the world, and all that is in it. I’m literally in that paradise you refer to, Arnold. Seriously, there are times that I just take a break and sit on my stool without even turning on the layout and I feel that I’ve been recharged. It’s that good for me. I totally get what you are saying, Arnold.  Enter here-

Excellent room, Strap Hanger!  I know what you mean, I can just sit on my stool with my railroad all around me and things are better!

Arnold, you nailed it, paradise in the basement, I agree our train rooms are great places of relaxation and simply forget everyday issues. A place of calm, no worries, just a place to unwind, watch our little world that is pandemic free, and running our trains gives us a great bit of satisfaction. Great thread… Happy Railroading Everyone

Almost as good as paradise by the dashboard light, depending on one's point of view.

Mark, I tip my hat to your “Rocky mountain High, West Virginia”, as I wake up in my City that never sleeps, top of the heap! Only a fellow train guy understands that feeling we are talking about. Arnold nailed it by calling it our little Paradise.

Edited to reflect that I would literally kill to have LeapinLarry’s excellent man cave basement pictured above. Unfortunately, no basements in Florida. Thanks for rubbing that in, Larry. LOL!

@Mark Boyce posted:

Arnold, I knew you would show a photograph of one of your ball parks.  My slice of paradise is intended to be a slice of “Almost Heaven, West Virginia” in my basement.  That is why I like the Western Maryland Railway in West Virginia, where we lived at one time.  Though my only scenery is the backdrops, I still was able to make a truncated version of the WM coal drag as I saw in print battling the Blackwater Canyon (Black Fork) grade.

Mark, you are well on your way to creating a masterpiece of a model railroad.

@RoyBoy posted:

Almost as good as paradise by the dashboard light, depending on one's point of view.

RoyBoy, you gave me a great idea. I'm going to play the section of that great song by Meatloaf when Phil Rizutto makes the call, while the train is rounding Yankee Stadium.

Phil was playing shortstop in the 1956 World Series when Don Larson pitched the perfect game:

Its just a corner carved out of our small basement but it beats some of the alternatives. 😁

I need to take some new pictures. This is from about 3 years ago.

Bob

Looking forward to my new layout in the new houses basement, Going home to the motherland,

Pennsylvania!  the state has a few idiots but they are my idiots.  Go Phillies!

Thank you Arnold and Strap Hanger!!

Bob, 14 switches?  That's an awful lot crammed into a small space.

you are so correct it is a slice of heaven /paradise i call mine the train cave,,,,,i hate the phrase man cave,,,,train it is,,,and tonight i was like i'm not doing nothing,,,but plodded down and magic,,,,2 hrs later came up for food !

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

RoyBoy, you gave me a great idea. I'm going to play the section of that great song by Meatloaf when Phil Rizutto makes the call, while the train is rounding Yankee Stadium.

Phil was playing shortstop in the 1956 World Series when Don Larson pitched the perfect game:

Arnold,

Nice thread as always, but wasn't Gil McDougald playing shortstop that day?

@Sean007 posted:

Arnold,

Nice thread as always, but wasn't Gil McDougald playing shortstop that day?

That is very possible, Sean. Gil was another very fine player. I will Google Phil to check when he retired.

Sean, you must be correct. Phil played in very few games in 1956, and did not play in the World series that year.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

That is very possible, Sean. Gil was another very fine player. I will Google Phil to check when he retired.

Sean, you must be correct. Phil played in very few games in 1956, and did not play in the World series that year.

Thanks Arnold - I thought that I had recalled Scooter talking about the game one time during a Yankees broadcast.

Anyway, right now my little slice of heaven is in one side of my garage!

@coach joe posted:

Bob, 14 switches?  That's an awful lot crammed into a small space.

A lot is a relative term Joe. I've actually got 16 now since I added a manual FT for the engine yard and the third spur in the main yard.

I take pride in the use of "crammed" too.

Pastoral paradise in the basement:

Wow, Arnold, you really hit a happy nerve!   I frequently find an excuse just to "...gotta run downstairs to get a _________...".  Sometimes what ever I was supposed to be getting is long forgotten and I get engrossed with the various vignettes around the layout.  Enjoying certain accomplishments, reviewing one thing or another maybe even quietly running some non sound trains.  (Two rail running is essentially silent)

Years ago the wife wanted to move from our former home but I resisted.  I finally gave in when she agreed to a ranch & that the RR can have run of the entire basement.  No strings attached.

Little did she know...the washer and dryer came upstairs and there is a lock on the basement door for little feet.

Ranch houses can have twice the basement area of a 2 story home with similar square footage.

Yes Arnold, Paradise is only 13 steps away!

If my childhood playground named Claremont Park in the Bronx were ideal, it would have had more sports facilities (and trains) such as this!

But then again I lived within walking distance from Yankee Stadium and the Macombs Dam ballfields so what more could I need!

Hard to believe that living there I grew up a Dodger fan!!!!!!!!

...so the perfect game wasn't a fond memory at the time, but you have to appreciate greatness:

Jim

Jim, your football field is a fabulous slice of paradise.

Speaking of that World Series perfect game, Sal Maglie (the Barber) also pitched a great game that day for the Dodgers, and he might have won but for Mickey Mantle's homer and great catch in deep left centerfield. You also have the Dodgers glorious victory in the 1955 World Series.

A wonderful book about the Dodgers, Ebbets Field and life in the 1940s and 1950s is Wait Till Next Year by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

Arnold

Arnold,

That great catch by Mantle was off the bat of my hero, Duke Snider!

I was spoiled in 1955. That was the first season I was old enough to be a real fan, and the Dodgers won! I missed all the previous Dodger losses in the World Series that Brooklyn suffered through.

That is a great book by the way. She also had some great commentary in the Ken Burns "Baseball" series on PBS.

Here's another example of creating our own paradise - the Hellgate Bridge in a much more scenic location - with steam! (and with apologies to my birthplace of Astoria, Queens - location of the actual bridge)

Jim

Great Post Arnold!

Welcome to my “paradise”.    My happy place is a 13’ x 19’ train room with a 6’ x 13’ shop area accessed through the door adjacent to the mountain.    This room is in the lower level of our town home.   My wife does not like it when I call it the basement.     It's a walkout so I guess it technically is not a basement.     We moved in eight years ago and I started from scratch in January of 2014.     I know that we all would die for more real estate, but I am happy with the space even though it can get a little crowded  when I entertain visitors.    In reality, it is "my world"; a collection of childhood memories and it functions just fine for me!    When I am there, I'm magically 15 years old again even though I'm in an  80 year old outfit.    

My pictorial tour:

Cheers, Dave

Jim Policastro, your train room is amazing and yes a great way to escape the outside world, great scenery, beautiful trains, truly a Paradise in your home, Darlander, your layout is amazing and your small miniature world of trains is well done, a great escape from the world we live in, yes this is our paradise, train heaven. Thank you Arnold for your creative thinking. Happy Railroading Everyone

Wow, great “train” caves everyone (love that term).  You ny baseball fans need to blow this up and hang it near your stadiums -

What gorgeous photos of spectacular layouts. You folks, indeed, have created your own paradise. I encourage you all to share your layouts as much as possible so the World will be a better place and more like paradise.

@Strap Hanger posted:

Wow, great “train” caves everyone (love that term).  You ny baseball fans need to blow this up and hang it near your stadiums -

Great idea Strap Hanger.

Darlander,

What a paradise! I really admire what you have done in your space. Very tasteful and not overdone.

Dave

Awesome post!! and awesome Paradises!

Paradise down by the water, thanks to Mod Podge:

Up to this point my paradise has the worlds most expensive scenery, LUMBER!  You folks are light years ahead of my domain.  Really great photos.

The basement layout is out-of-sorts right now, waiting for a few repairs and a repower with a couple of new Z-1000s. In the meantime, a lot of recent acquisitions have piled up on it which will need to be cleared away. Hoping to get back to operations soon:

PD

From yesterday’s running session with a few of my dear friends/family (before we hit the bottom of that last bottle of vino). I like to think of this as Paradise by the dashboard lights (photo taken by my guest) -

@Strap Hanger posted:

From yesterday’s running session with a few of my dear friends/family (before we hit the bottom of that last bottle of vino). I like to think of this as Paradise by the dashboard lights (photo taken by my guest) -

Strap Hanger, speaking of Paradise by the DashBoard, were you rounding third, and did you make it to home (plate)? LOL

And are you hoping for the end of time? LOL

Your layout looks like a very interesting one that is full of fun.

Lately, what has taken me to Paradise has been running my best modern locomotives with speed control.

Here we have my one and only Legacy with whistle steam:

More Paradise: here is an MTH Proto 3 NY Central RS3, made for JR Junction Hobby, hauling oil tankers through a small town in Upstate New York:

This is my little slice of "basement paradise"  in Northern Va.  I started this train room in 2015.  However I built the double helix in Flroida about 5 years earlier.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Strap Hanger, speaking of Paradise by the DashBoard, were you rounding third, and did you make it to home (plate)? LOL

And are you hoping for the end of time? LOL

Your layout looks like a very interesting one that is full of fun.

LOL!  Thanks Arnold. Too much libation last night to round any bases, LOL! Love  your fun layout as well. It was nice to see the dockside section in the photos above. I’d have no problem hanging out in your basement with that layout!

While I an focused on a small niche in the hobby, I love to see folk's layouts be they small/large, simple/complex, traditional/scale!

My wife and I are currently living in an apartment while our retirement home gets built, so ALL of my trains are carefully packed away and are in storage.

Hasn't stopped me from playing with toys, however.  While my trains are away, My little paradise is the 12'x8' 1:32 digital slot car set in my office bedroom.

Jim

Still under construction, but at least trains are running and I can imagine what it will look like all fleshed out with some scenery, buildings, etc.   I guess we can call this a basement, but I think the tax man thinks it's living space because of the walkout.

I parked a few things on the TT, got to have a place for the Wienermobile!

Moving forward with the freight yard expansion.

@boomer0622 posted:

This is my little slice of "basement paradise"  in Northern Va.  I started this train room in 2015.  However I built the double helix in Flroida about 5 years earlier.

Wow Boomer - Great action!!    

Cheers, Dave

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Still under construction, but at least trains are running and I can imagine what it will look like all fleshed out with some scenery, buildings, etc.   I guess we can call this a basement, but I think the tax man thinks it's living space because of the walkout.

John, you have a great space!  Anxious to follow your progress!

Cheers, Dave

John, you do have a nice space, even at the current level of completion and functionality, your layout is very pleasing to look at without scenery. Do you plan on having a scenic background along the wall?

Joe

Joe, I'm thinking of building flats with my cloudy sky backdrop that I have waiting in the wings, that would be along the second level.  The grade has a yard behind it, so I haven't decided how that would be done yet, I'm actually mulling over the possibility of stacking another yard above the existing one to add more yard space.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

Still under construction, but at least trains are running and I can imagine what it will look like all fleshed out with some scenery, buildings, etc.   I guess we can call this a basement, but I think the tax man thinks it's living space because of the walkout.

I parked a few things on the TT, got to have a place for the Wienermobile!

Moving forward with the freight yard expansion.

John, I think the lower level of your layout in your 1st above photo will be great for a subway. Arnold

You can never have enough yard space.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

John, I really like the curves in the bench-work and the upper platform.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

John, I think the lower level of your layout in your 1st above photo will be great for a subway. Arnold

Well, I could put a subway on the inner loop there, the outer loop is part of my mainline.  The track closest to the edge is my shop maintenance track, I can fire up locomotives there and drive them out onto the mainline for testing.

@ironman1 posted:

You can never have enough yard space.

Truer words have never been spoken, I wish I had planned for more yard tracks from the beginning.  I think no matter how many times you do this, you never cover all the bases!   Hopefully with my freight yard extension and maybe stacking three more in the back, I'll have sufficient yard space.  Not really enough, but sufficient.

@jd-train posted:

John, I really like the curves in the bench-work and the upper platform.

You can thank @Tom Tee for that, he came up and talked me into some expansion and all the fancy fascia.  I can't begin to thank him, it really is way nicer than my initial plans, it's nice to have great advice in time to use it!

Smoker's Paradise:

More smoker's paradise:

Can you guess what my favorite locomotive feature is?

Paradoxically, I'm a non-smoker, but I used to smoke a pipe about 50 years ago when I was in college and law school.

@Arnold D. Cribari

Arnold:

This is a GREAT thread!!!!! I am a little late to the party, but, here are some of my photos of the layout over the years. Currently, the layout is pulled apart and undergoing MAJOR renovation. I hope you all enjoy this retrospective of the Great Northeastern Railway, The standard Railroad of the basement.

Arnold, I think I am now suffering from second hand smoke!!!!  Do you know a lawyer??? 

@Arnold D. Cribari

Arnold I always enjoy your topics and the inspirations to us all to enjoy what we have and how good we all have it.  With all the "doom and gloom" that is spread in the world and sometimes in our own hobby, you always manage keep a nice bright inviting glow above the train table in the basement!!

For years I've had a leak in my basement when the washing machine goes into its rinse and spin cycle. It turns out that the leak happens because the pipe needs to be replaced with a wider one where the water exits the washing machine and empties into the pipe. I have a relatively new washing machine that causes the exiting water to flow with more pressure than the original pipe can accommodate.

For a while, I thought that this leak could be incorporated into the layout as a geyser or waterfall with real water, enhancing the paradise aspect of the layout and basement.

More recently, I've grown sick and tired of this leak, that results in dampening a nearby switch track and puddles on the basement floor. I have a good dehumidifier, but am tired of mopping up puddles and wringing out towels a couple of times each week.

Real water, dampness, and excessive humidity don't go well with electric trains.

Today, I am thrilled to have a good plumber in my basement to replace an inoperable sump pump, replace the above-mentioned pipe with a wider one and fix the leak.

A dry basement will definitely make my layout more like paradise.

Arnold, Your paradise will be like Heaven when the water problems are corrected!!

My West Coast 2200 foot two story home has neither basement nor high enough (5’) attic, so my layout shares "Paradise" space in the first floor family room.

@OddIsHeRU posted:

My West Coast 2200 foot two story home has neither basement nor high enough (5’) attic, so my layout shares "Paradise" space in the first floor family room.

Hi OddIsHeRU, I have the same issue. West coast homes, at least in California, typically don't have attics or basements! I also have a two story house with no basement and a attic that is only good for some storage. My layout is also in the living room and is shaped to fit into the bay window. People watch from outside all the time, especially at Xmas when the tree is setup in the middle of the layout. Very nice looking layout by the way, thanks for sharing it. Happy modeling!

Richard and WesternPacific2217, I think you both did a great job building very nice layouts in limited space.

Unlike both of you,  I do have a layout in the basement, but I only have a half basement, so my layout space is also limited.. In order to make my layout more interesting, the trains run around three walls in the playroom and laundry room in the basement. My favorite thing about my layout is I tunneled through the wall between the playroom and laundry room so the trains leave the playroom and return through that tunnel for a nice dramatic effect.

@Arnold D. Cribari posted:

Richard and WesternPacific2217, I think you both did a great job building very nice layouts in limited space.

Unlike both of you,  I do have a layout in the basement, but I only have a half basement, so my layout space is also limited.. In order to make my layout more interesting, the trains run around three walls in the playroom and laundry room in the basement. My favorite thing about my layout is I tunneled through the wall between the playroom and laundry room so the trains leave the playroom and return through that tunnel for a nice dramatic effect.

I really like your baseball field, nice job! I'll bet it looks totally cool at night with the flood lights on! I wish I had a basement! :-(

Great thread Arnold!  I really enjoy the beautiful "train caves' and layouts featured here.

My tiny slice of paradise is only 16 in wide by 8 ft long.  Its a seasonal layout (comes down in the spring and summer and back up for the fall and winter) that occupies a section of our den.  This is my first O-Gauge "layout" and I hope to have time to expand it this season.  It has two key features - a coal tower scene and a depot scene.  It's an admittedly modest pike, but brings me hours of enjoyment none-the-less.

Here's the coal tower scene with a line-up of Pennsy power.

Here's a couple of pics of the depot scene.

@WesternPacific2217 posted:

Hi OddIsHeRU, I have the same issue. West coast homes, at least in California, typically don't have attics or basements! I also have a two story house with no basement and a attic that is only good for some storage. My layout is also in the living room and is shaped to fit into the bay window. People watch from outside all the time, especially at Xmas when the tree is setup in the middle of the layout. Very nice looking layout by the way, thanks for sharing it. Happy modeling!

I'm losing it!!! I forgot to mention that the name of my layout is "Paradise", so named after Paradise, California. So, Paradise in the Living Room. Southern Pacific had a branch that ran through Paradise from Stirling City to Chico (25 miles) to transport lumber to the Diamond match plant in Chico. It's a bike trail now. I wanted to pay tribute to all those folks that lost their life's (85), homes and businesses in the November 8, 2018 Camp fire that almost completely destroyed Paradise, Magalia, and Concow (20,000 structures burned to the ground). My Dad lived in Magalia for 30 years until he passed in 2010, and I would visit every month. Unfortunately my Dad's old house also was burned to the ground. I'm sort of glad he wasn't around for all that! One of the fun things I did with my Dad was The Feather River Canyon, just 20 miles from Paradise. We would fish, watch UP and BNSF trains negotiate the canyon, and be total bums in such a beautiful place! May Paradise, Magalia and Concow rebuild and live on.

Great topic as always @Arnold D. Cribari! Love all of the photos of the layouts and rooms, especially @Mark Boyce with his WM layout! I have not been on the forum in a while so here is the latest on my slice of paradise! Hope you all are having a great summer.

Chris, thank you very much!  I have been pleasantly surprised at how many folks call out my under construction layout for a like.  I am itching to get some scenery built.  I've seen several of your videos, and you defiantly have a paradise layout room.  I have two daughters, now 30 and 28, and they still are an influence on my train hobby.

Chris 1985, beautiful train layout.

Chris,

It was such a pleasure to be taken on a video tour of your train room, trains and layout, which are, indeed, a slice of paradise.

What I found special about it was seeing how gorgeous you keep the entire room, including your couch and  what is under your train tables, as well as the layout itself.

You have everything so neat, clean and well-organized.

I call layouts and train rooms like yours Divine Perfection.

Arnold

Here are a few shots of my last layout, built in a garage converted to living space and now dismantled.  The lower (outer) track ran Flyer and two upper ones were 027.

Looks great, @TrainsRMe  Do you plan to build another layout.

@TrainsRMe posted:

Here are a few shots of my last layout, built in a garage converted to living space and now dismantled.  The lower (outer) track ran Flyer and two upper ones were 027.

TrainsRMe, outstanding layout, thanks for sharing it.

@Chris1985 posted:

Great topic as always @Arnold D. Cribari! Love all of the photos of the layouts and rooms, especially @Mark Boyce with his WM layout! I have not been on the forum in a while so here is the latest on my slice of paradise! Hope you all are having a great summer.

Hello Chris, AKA RBP Trains good to see you post in OGR. I watch your YouTube channel whenever you add content and you're always entertaining, and I'm a subscriber. I had to laugh out loud at the video where you had been up most of the night doing something to your piece of Paradise, and you looked about ready to pass out! LoL Now that's dedicated to record a video after and all night model train binge. Thanks for all the fun videos, I know it's a lot of time and work to make them.

For me, this Paradise in the Basement thread has also become Paradise on my Smartphone. I always visit this Forum on my smartphone.

For some of you folks, it is Paradise on your Computer, or Paradise on your i-Pad.

I congratulate all of you who have posted such gorgeous photos of your layouts. It will be nice to revisit this thread and contribute to it, periodically, over time.

As we continue to make adjustments to our layouts as our concept of model train Paradise evolves over time, it will be nice to share additional photos with each other.

For me, one thing is very likely to remain: Baseball & Trains, but I may do things in the future to improve it:

Arnold

Arnold, all the shots you've shown us are great, but I just love your baseball scene with all its details.  Thanks for starting this thread.

Some pictures of Paradise in my Basement

@John E K posted:

Some pictures of Paradise in my Basement

Great set up! Thanks for posting, what are the streets made of? Track plan?

@BobbyD posted:

Great set up! Thanks for posting, what are the streets made of? Track plan?

Thanks. I brushed on the streets - Craft Smart Dark Gray acrylic from Michael’s. The track plan is a layout featured in CTT March 1994 with two extra sidings. I need to draw it in a proper layout program to share.

Here are some photos and a video of my project this morning renovating the area in and about the new black hose and white pipe:

Arnold

PS: My next project will be white clouds along the white pipe, so stay tuned.