My background in short form - got back into o-gauge around 1995 when the wireless controls started coming out. I thought they were the coolest thing, and being a gizmo kind of guy, could not resist. Have done many layouts of all types and for all reasons. Many temporary. Many for display at parties and festivals. We love seeing the kids light up - even if they are sometimes older than I am! I have been told many times by many people that I should really look up this forum. Just never got around to it even though I have visited the site many times, I figured now was as good a time as any!
Well, we are finally wrapping up all of the other projects on the "master project list" - most of us can identify with that challenge. As such, we are really putting the push on the Train Barn. We erected the barn when we put up the other barns and the house at our new home some 15 years ago. We did so with the full intention from day one that it would be exclusively for our final (at least for this home) o-gauge layout. Time, Work and Life having thrown their best at us over the years have kept this project at bay until of late. My best guess is that finishing the "infrastructure" of the layout and building will hopefully take no longer than 3 years. We have quite a collection of engines and cars as well as buildings and the rest. I am a firm proponent in the "get it up and running as soon as possible" philosophy, so that is the goal by 2021. The concrete floor is going in this spring before my concrete guy gets too busy, so the push is on for first thaw to complete interior building infrastructure (laying out of bathrooms and kitchen for underground plumbing, laying of underground electrical, and footings and posts for interior support of second floor structure). After that, finalize order for floor trusses, install same and subflooring. Then interior walls as required (should be minimal - mostly open for layout) and staircases to second floor. Then insulation followed by interior electrical and ceiling and wall sheathing. Those of you in construction will understand that, although not insignificant, these tasks are not as huge as they sound for someone in the construction field. Anyways, then the fun can begin (thank goodness).
Now to the Master Plan! Simply put, the upstairs (with all of the windows) will be completely open except for a basically mandatory 4 foot wide perimeter aisle with the layout taking up the remainder. The general organization of the first floor will be kitchen and bathrooms on one end, garage/multi-use room on other end, with central portion of first floor housing the "bottom" of the layout. Imagine the center (approximately 20' x 40') of the second level flooring open to the first floor with the layout winding its way up out of the "bowl" to the more flat layout entirely around this "opening". Although not strictly decided on, I envision a type of "valley" or "canyon" approach to the geography with waterfall on one side and multiple bridges spanning the layout. To put some scale to it, the entire barn is 50' x 88' x 18' tall. I anticipate the "usable" dimensions for the layout (and interior aisles to be determined) to be in the ballpark of 40' x 80' with approximately 8' x 40' additional on the first floor that is overlapped by the second floor. As most of the building structural has been decided upon, my goal in between "this and that" is to crunch out a basic layout design. Most of this will be dictated by the obvious necessity to establish a "climbable grade" so that the trains are able to travel the entire layout. Once that is reasoned out, the different "district usages" can be established and envisioned. Once that is firmed up, track turnout locations can be prepared for to access these districts so we hopefully don't have to tear up track later to add them. This way maybe we can get the trains running on the main lines even though everything is not entirely laid out.
As far as the intended uses for the layout, we will probably have one or two "train parties" per year. During these "showings", we will most likely be running the trains in defined "loops" to avoid unintended interactions. Hopefully, we will be able to design "under table" storage/staging yards within each of these loops so that the trains may be rotated within their regions to interject some variety for those visitors who may have a shorter attention span than others. I realize that this would not be a desired "point to point" design, but it would definitely be more manageable while entertaining a large group with probably 6 to 10 trains running at a time. The "prototypical" train operations will have to be reserved for much smaller gatherings and for folks with a much more intent interest in the train operations than the average.
This has been a long time coming and we are getting very excited! I know that the description above is a pretty blank slate with little direction provided, but we are always open to the ideas and dreams of others, so let them fly!
Just so there is no misunderstanding about exactly how "certifiable" my wife and I actually are, below is the wedding cake that she and I "built" for our wedding reception. Her Mom baked and decorated the (4) 2-layer portions of the cake so that they matched the details of the "fake" portions of the wedding cake. We had 5 Lionel Trains running around the cake(s) including a Gold Anniversary Hudson on the lower level to match the gold trim on my wife's dress. The cake assembly ended up at about 9 1/2 feet tall and 14 feet square. So, yes - we are as crazy as it takes! But everybody seems to have a great time!
Bottom line, this is going to be the definition of a "long term project", so please don't be upset if "milestones" are slow in coming! But they will be coming and I will be very excited to share them.
That is so cool!
