audi posted:If the magazines only showed C B L photos this hobby would have perished with the Space Age.
It is always the unattainable we want, in layouts or anything.
This is true, and even the great G&D had photographs of its "under construction" sections. (For us lesser mortals)
audi posted:If the magazines only showed C B L photos this hobby would have perished with the Space Age.
The magazines practically NEVER show CBL layouts, so where is the balance of coverage?
Panther97 posted:I definitely belong in this club! I finished half of my basement and had to stop for reasons beyond my control. Thus, I have a toy train layout thrown together in a half-finished basement!
I don't see anything "crappy" in that layout room. It's very tidy !
Mark Boyce posted:....Some day I hope to build the O Gauge Appalachian Railroad, but for now it is all in my imagination.
Sometimes the layouts in our imaginations are the best kind! We get to revise and improve them anywhere, anytime, and at no cost!
Mark, it doesn't look crappy to me. The unfinished ceiling is a minor detail when the layout itself is so well finished off with backdrop and everything.
I would be interested to see the track plan ...
Lionel Grandpa posted:Mark Boyce posted:....Some day I hope to build the O Gauge Appalachian Railroad, but for now it is all in my imagination.
Sometimes the layouts in our imaginations are the best kind! We get to revise and improve them anywhere, anytime, and at no cost!
I've built some remarkable layouts that way.
As a long time member of the Brotherhood of Crappy Basement Layouts, I say change nothing. I'm a member for all the reasons Jerry pointed out. While I have quit some clubs over the years,I plan on going to the grave as a member of this fine organization.
Does the Brotherhood extend to "California Basements" aka the garage? Basements were hunted almost to extinction after WW II out here and in other parts of the country.
This all brings to mind 2 tropical plants societies I belonged to back in the 80s and 90s. The members would get to drinking at our Summer barbeques, then start arguing about the upcoming Christmas parties. When the 2 clubs finally folded, I realized that I could lose that kind of "entertainment."
I borrow a title from an old cartoon to describe clubs of this sort:
"The Golden Temple of the Calathumpian Protesturnical Dingbat Prophet."
I came up with the name, and the acronym. CBL is a good one, it reminds me of NFL or MLB.
If one were really into it, one could custom paint a CBL livery, on tenders, cabeese, and passenger cars. I can see it now "The CBL Lines" and "linking the crawl space to the water heater", a CBL named passenger train, "The Dust Bunny Express"
I live in CA and have a Crappy Attic Layout (CAL). I have to climb a pull down stairway to get to my toy train heaven.
NH Joe
AGHRMatt posted:Does the Brotherhood extend to "California Basements" aka the garage?
Sure does.
jerry
Continuing Craig's thought, If we had railroads using the CBL we could swap out the "L" to be "Lines" without changing anything i.e. CBL could be "Crappy Basement Lines" which are operating on the CBL: "Crappy Basement Layout". By George we've got it. Now all we need is a good custom painter.
Dennis
Tom Tee posted:Along that line let me throw down the gauntlet. How many of you proud CBL members built your Rat Rod layout with used lumber? Now that's real bragging rights!!
I am proudly building a fairly large layout with almost all odds and ends. Just a few sheets of ply and a few sheets of Homosote. All the rest, left over scraps. Note differing laser set plywoods.
Dennis posted:
Continuing Craig's thought, If we had railroads using the CBL we could swap out the "L" to be "Lines" without changing anything i.e. CBL could be "Crappy Basement Lines" which are operating on the CBL: "Crappy Basement Layout". By George we've got it. Now all we need is a good custom painter.
Dennis
Tom Tee,
I've used scrap lumber for layouts since I built my first back when I was about 12. I have scrap lumber right now holding up the temporary layout in our married daughter's old room, and I have some scrap lumber on the Ceiling Central RR. I will have to make a gut wrenching decision once I build the 'permanent' layout in our other daughter's art studio when she moves out. 
That decision will be where to spend money on good seasoned new wood, and where to recycle. I already plan to use some of the shelving she said she will leave behind.
Dennis,
I like Crappy Basement Lines! 
Incidentally, the recycled art studio is in the basement, and it is a crappy room for an art studio. Therefore, it should be just the ticket for a crappy basement layout.
Yes, I have used a lot of saved lumber from other projects and my old layout too. I also have used a lot of salvaged wire. I'm a saver. That's what makes my basement so crappy.
Dennis
Well, I simply have to say, I Do Not like the word Crappie....Do not get upset, I simply like Unfinished Basement!!!! Unfinished Garage???, Now you can continue this thread....All Railriads have a Beginning, but, Never an Ending....Happy Railroading...
CHOO-CHOO MIKE posted:As a long time member of the Brotherhood of Crappy Basement Layouts, I say change nothing. I'm a member for all the reasons Jerry pointed out. While I have quit some clubs over the years,I plan on going to the grave as a member of this fine organization.
That counts since you'd still be below grade. I imagine with the right scale (N or Z) you'd be able to "take it with you" thus anyone can be a member through perpetuity. 
I also like Craig's various creative CBL train line offerings.
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