The non-train portion of your space

My layout shares the cave with guitars, amplifiers, drums, projection TV and a sewing area for the kids and wife. We all share the cave but I have to say the the layout area has expanded a few times and another large expansion is coming in the fall. If it continues at the rate it has my layout will consume 75% of the usable cave space by 2017.

Basement all one room all trains

One room dedicated to the layout. I have a couple of couches for additional seating, but it is all trains all the time.

Basement is all Trains, I do also have a computer room upstairs.

I have a 11 x 11 bedroom ,all trains in there .

There is no non-train portion.  From the first step into the room, it's all about the trains.  And there's just one chair in the room.

I am very fortunate. I have most of the basement. One room for trains, a smaller room with a 50's diner including the old fashioned car seats, and a TV room that doubles for my wife's exercise equipment (that I have to keep or I lose one of the rooms! Terry

Our trainroom is, 20' X 30'. In this area I have my layout(s) and workbench. We have our large screen TV w/surround sound and viewing area. The room is dedicated to 100% prewar trains. 

Minus the bathrooms (Which could change if I find the right things.), there won't be one room in my house that isn't graced by trains.  But the back room will have a layout on one side, and a computer desk and book shelves on the other.

My basement would be all trains, but my wife said we had to hve a furnace and hot water heater.   Then I decided that aisles to walk in might be needed too.   

If you are a family man or like to entertain, it can cut into available layout space. If you really want a man cave (where only certain animals visit), then a suggestion would be to excavate the backyard, pour your concrete base, arc out living space, then pile stones as high as possible. Light it with candles or run a long extension for a lamp or two, maybe even an old-fashioned B&W TV, a couple of crates in case someone comes to visit, then sit back with your favorite beverage, and congratulate yourself on having gone all the way, something you may not have done for a long, long time!

When we close on our new home, the basement is ALL mine. That's part of the price my wife paid to get me to leave Florida for NJ. I will give her a 6X10 space that really won't fit into my plans for a couch and a lamp so she can have a place to read while I work on the layout. At one point when we were looking at the house, she started to make a "suggestion" about a corner of the basement. I gently but quickly reminder her of our afore mentioned agreement and that idea got snuffed out before it could take root. I'm sure there are battles on the horizon, but I'm hangin' tough on this one.

Good Luck Hogmaster - I just bought a house last week and am already getting pushed to the garage.

Our house has plenty of room for entertaining, so the 54' X 32" basement..... uh, I mean Train Room" is all for the trains.  But with my 'around the walls' layout I still have plenty of aisle space.  

 

Also a pool table, a pub style table with 4 chairs, a couple Lionel and MTH stools with backs, a small dorm sized fridge and a flat screen on the stairs outside wall with accompanying surround sound equipment.  Didn't need a bar, takes up too much room and most of my friends don't drink much anyway.

 

When having the house built I had the option of a small bathroom in the basement.  I thought "Nah, three toilets in the house was enough."  

 

I'm also in negotiations with my wife to move the pool table up to the living room we rarely use to make it a game room.  As much as my wife likes the trains and is involved with layout building, those negotiations are not going so well!  

This is part of the rest of my basement. Mainly my railroadiana collection, computer desk and workout area.

 

 

 

 

My space is divided into two spare bedrooms. One is a workshop \ office with my library, clockwork layout, and displays of clockwork and battery toys. The other is the layout room which is then free of the stuff in the office. The only other thing in the layout room are the racks for storing trains not being operated. No basements in North Carolina. Being a empty nester has it's advantages.

Bruce

 

I Keep my gun safe in the Storm/tornado room, wife agrees to it being there, safest place to keep a safe. I have a small work bench in the garage. and a basement for trains, well 90% trains. not a complete man cave, a sectioned off man cave maybe.

The third floor of my home - a self-finished 8-ft ceiling attic - is all trains, all the time.  I have a 16 x 28 room which houses the layout, an 8 x 10 workshop, and a half bath. Shelves on all the walls, mostly full of train stuff and tools.

 

I have a 12 x 13 study on the second floor that has my writing desk, bookshelves for about 700 books and shelves for my collection of model ships, etc.  I have a 25" flat panel TV and radio in there, etc.

My entire 12x16 room is dedicated to the trains. I had decided to dismantle my old layout and give the space to my sons so they could have a larger video room than the one they currently have, but they couldn't keep their end of the bargain (clean room), so I rebuilt my train table and started my new layout.

Hello guys  hear is my man cave. 1st is my daughters room turned into a train storage. then I have the entire breezeway wear I am building the layout and the garage wear I have the back portion built. I am divorced and the kids are out of school so I have the entire house to build the layout. And my son who lives with me but is hardly home. Now I just need some good days with my leg and everything will be great.

I have the good fortune to have a separate building for a workshop and trains. A previous owner built a 1000 sf building with an open workshop bay, an overhead garage door, an office, a bathroom, a covered porch, and lots of storage space. The workshop was set up right; one end has a U of built-in benches around the walls and the other end has a 230v outlet in the floor for the table saw. I added a ceiling fan, running water in the work area, and a ceiling-mounted air filter. I also had to add a roof-mounted heat pump for central A/C; the previous owner only had a wall unit in the office. The workshop and the train room are both well illuminated by skylights. 

 

The office is now my train room. The space for trains is only 13x13 feet, but it's enough for a small layout with wide curves to at least test run my largest engines in both Standard and 0 gauge. The space is all business; I don't have any "man-cave" amenities except a radio, but I think I will add a stereo and a mini-fridge one of these days. I do have a sort of mini target range; I can set up a pellet trap at the windowless end of the shop and shoot a pellet pistol from the other. No recliner or TV; those are in the main house.

 

The layout under construction a few months ago. Loops are 0-42, 0-63, 0-72, and STD-87.

 

The workshop (about a third of it). Door at right leads into the train room.

"Horn-a-phobia! The most severe case I have ever seen!"

 

From "Saps at Sea" with Laurel & Hardy.

my layout is in two long rooms(after i tore down a wall).the other three rooms(including a small bathroom) im ashamed to say are all packed with train boxes.

 

i've saved most all of my boxes except for switch boxes.its unbeleivable how much room these boxes have taken up.

 

i wish i would of saved the loco boxes only and ditched the other boxes in lieu of making a little more room.

 

my accessories boxes,some of which are quite large, i would love to throw away but i guess its best to keep them for future sale.

 

i've went overboard on cars,both passenger and freight.a big mistake on my my part IMHO!

I'm in the process of Sectioning off a roughly 12x15 room in our basement of our new home.

 

I'll need to share/subdivide the basement into a  Train Room/ Laundry Room/ Utility Closet/  the "Wife's" Space / and a Office ( which is currently in our third bed room)

 

It's my long term project to finish out the basement, But I want the train room ready first so that my boy and I can build/work on the layout together.

I tell the wife that she may prefer to stay in her room because the smoke and noise from the trains may bother her...then take over her space for important stuff for you and your son.

the only non train items in my basement is the furnance and the water heater!

I'm lucky, next to my L-shaped 21x32' train room is my wood shop.

Andy

Half of my room is the train layout; half is my blues bar.

 

These photos date back to early 2007 when I started working on the layout, but they give you some idea what the room looks like today.  (The layout is about 90% complete; only DCS and some detailing left to do.)

 

The room is 14 feet wide X 18 feet long.  The layout is 6 feet wide X 15 feet long (This photo was taken right after we put the Mianne benchwood, 3/4" plywood, homasote together.)

 

 

The room was too small for a wet bar, so we have a dry bar (baker's rack to hold the liquor and accessories and two pub tables with high stools).

 

(The next house--the "forever home"--will have a bigger train room and a wet bar!)

My basement is all trains, with a desk so I can pay my bills(for trains)

For the most part, the train room is just for trains. Only a small corner of the 2000 sqft space has a computer desk which will eventually be used for dispatching, so in a way, that's trains too. The basement has other rooms for other purposes, including entertaining (when completed).

Pat

That blues bar is terrific..brings back memories of my hanging out in similar places back in Chicago..in my younger years, the Checkerboard Lounge, B.L.U.E.S..great memories and many a pitcher of beer went down in those joints until the wee hours. The lighting in your space is also fantastic. I almost expect Muddy Waters hanging out at a table there.

Bruce

Love the mood lighting in the blues bar. Really gives it some atmosphere. 

Bruce --

 

the basic idea for the room came from a visit to the Juke Joint in the basement of the Blue Chicago bar store.  Great minds think alike! 

S/W --

 

Thank you.  The lighting really wasn't that expensive--a blue "rope light" at Lowes for $15, a "writable menu board" from Walgreens for $15, a few neon lights from Spencers and Walgreens for a total of $60 and an Evan Williams neon light, second hand from a bar that I found on Ebay, for $20.

 

I need to take a photo of the trains running while the bar lights are on.  The bar lights provide a "night scene" affect.  Hmm  Maybe something to do this weekend...

Terry,

 

Could you post a photo of your "50's diner" room?  We're starting plans for the "forever home" and a large train room and wet bar/entertainment area are on the list for the basement.  Your diner room sounds interesting.  We're always looking for new ideas.

 

BTW--the Marx Toy Museum in Moundsville, WV has a 50s diner in it.  There's a photo at this link.

 

 

I live alone so I have my entire house to use as I please. Have my trains and other toys all over the house.....no place is off limits.

 

Paul Goodness