Train Room Temperature

AC in Summer and heat in Winter so 70-72 year round in the spare bedroom! :-)

In my old train depot the former waiting room also has HVAC so 70-72 also! :-)

Our up-staires layout doesn't get colder than 55 degrees F nor hotter than 85 degrees F. However, when I/we decide to operate, the thermostat temperature is then adjusted for more comfortable conditions, i.e a bit warmer in the winter and MUCH cooler in the summer.

My basement is climate controlled. I'm always cold so I keep it warm. No lower than 74 deg. I usually like it around 77.

When I had my layout in a garage the temperature got down to around 10 degrees some days. And beings my trains were also stored in my garage for about 5 Years I never noticed any issues when they ran. The trains were all the digital trains, tmcc and dcs. 

They went thru extremes from 10 degrees in the winter to 90's in the summer.

Dave

My basement train room is climate controlled.  I keep it at 70 - 72 year round.

Obviously, my house is fully air-conditioned and heated. The basement, where the trains are, is fully finished and a walkout. 

In the months were the windows can be opened, they are and no climate control is used, although that is a short window of time in Washington DC suburbia - usually a few weeks each spring and fall. 

The winter usually sees the heat set in the low-70s. Summer A/C is usually between 60-65 degrees. 

I would be more concerned about the humidity level. I have to run a dehumidifier from late spring to early fall, in my basement, to keep the humidity level between 50-60%. 

That’s a great question, living in Tennessee, humidity can be an issue, however with a Trane System, nothing stops a Trane, we have a year around 72 to 75 degree train room.  Great thread...

Rockyroad posted:

What is the coldest temperature that you run your trains?

We have a Christmas tree set up in an unheated sunroom at present and the temperature in that room on several recent days and nights has been down to the 30s and even high 20s. I have a Lionel LionChief Polar Express running in there, several or more hours each evening, and have had no problems (I operate with the LionChief app on my iPhone most of the time from the warm living room side of the heavy sliding glass doors that separate living room from sunroom). Cool or cold temperatures are generally less of a consideration than extremely hot temperatures and, even more importantly, especially high humidity levels. High humidity is NOT a friend of today's trains. 

Most motor oils do the job best when metal is at 145°-185°

Use a lighter oil for lower temp. use and the wear should be lower.

Electrical flows better at lower temps.

  Warm air hittting cold metal usually leads to condensation. Slowing temp changes is more important than temp. Rust doesn't form as easy at 52° and lower (I think that's the temp anyhow...?) You can toss around the the humidity content math with temp too; the drier the better.

I have my trains in a separate room and in winter mornings it is 35 degrees and I run the furnace to 55 degrees,in the summer I cool it to 80 degrees.

Mikey

RR,

   When I had my train layout in our big Garage in Slidell, LA, the heat and humidity were much more of a problem than the cold ever was, and we did get some cold nights.  Here in Potter County, Pa I had a small layout in the Pavilion just outside the log cabin.  The Conventional Lionel had absolutely no problems, snow on the old Tin Plate Track blowing thru the screens and all.  It gets into the negative degrees outside in the back woods where the log cabin sits.  The old ZW never even got warm, the old Lionel layout all got moved to the new home in Murrysville, Pa, and everything is now in a controlled environment.  The old GP7 Northern Pacific has gotten spoiled, and still runs strong today.

PCRR/Dave

Allan Miller posted:

Rockyroad posted:

What is the coldest temperature that you run your trains?

We have a Christmas tree set up in an unheated sunroom at present and the temperature in that room on several recent days and nights has been down to the 30s and even high 20s. I have a Lionel LionChief Polar Express running in there, several or more hours each evening, and have had no problems (I operate with the LionChief app on my iPhone most of the time from the warm living room side of the heavy sliding glass doors that separate living room from sunroom). Cool or cold temperatures are generally less of a consideration than extremely hot temperatures and, even more importantly, especially high humidity levels. High humidity is NOT a friend of today's trains. 

And what would you suggest is the appropriate humidity?  Thanks for your answer.

Gerry Burns posted:

I would be more concerned about the humidity level. I have to run a dehumidifier from late spring to early fall, in my basement, to keep the humidity level between 50-60%. 

That much humidity is pretty high.  In in the depths of a northwest Iowa winter I keep the humidity around 35%. My benchmark is when after walking across the carpet do I generate static and the dryness of my skin.. Today our average high is 31 and low 13 degrees. Forecast for Sat Dec. 23 is for a low of 7. 

I keep the furnace at 67 and AC at 76. Why give my hard earned to the local utility.

Dick

I keep it below 81 degrees in summer and above 50 degrees in winter, when I an not using the room.  It has its own thermostat and a splitter in the forced air system.  When I am going to go in to run or work on the layout, I use my phone to tell the upstairs Ecobee thermostat that I am home, and it gets it to the desired temperature of 74 degrees in 30 minutes or less.  Here in the Panhandle of Texas, humidity is not a problem.

With a humidity of less than 40% steel parts will not rust. 

Humidity is trickier than temperature when trying to maintain a constant level.  In the winter, with a forced air heating system it you can maintain the humidity level above 35% you  won't get any static discharges around the house.   But you need to add humidity to do this.  A central humidifier in the furnace can usually do the job.  If you have hydronic of electric baseboard heat, then you will need one or more portable humidifiers to do the same job.  So that takes a bit of work to keep them operating properly.  You will have to refill the humidifier(s) daily, at the very least.  And, you will have to change the transfer medium, or at least clean it regularly.  

But, remember, 35% is probably the minimum you need to maintain.  45 to 50% is better for human comfort. You won't have dry or itchy skin if you keep the levels higher.  

In the summer, humidity can be controlled in a basement or subterranean level with a dehumidifier.  35% is generally the lowest setting you can achieve with most residential dehumidifiers.  But, as in winter, that low of a setting is really too low for comfort.  I run both a dehumidifier and a portable heater in my basement in the summer and the train room stays at a nice 45% RH and 72 degrees.  I also run two fans under the layout for 15 minutes, every four hours just to keep air circulation across the floor so humidity doesn't build up in the dead space corners and create a musty smell.  

Humidity is the most important condition to monitor. Ideally a constant 50% year round. In cold climates higher humidity helps both the trains and the operators. I have a finished basement and keep it in the 70's and 50% year round. Low humidity can cause scenery to crack and become brittle too.

Dew point is the combination of temp and humidity that can cause condensation to form under the right conditions.

Last night in the basement while I was running trains it was 65 degrees, with a 37% humidity.  That was with no dehumidifier on and LP gas furnace.  Very comfortable.

My train room is an insulated (attached to the house) garage.  The garage door is also insulated.

In the ceiling I have a 20" x 20" box fan that is reversed to act like an exhaust fan...it pulls a lot of hot/humid air very quickly into the attic where it escapes out the ridge vents. I also have a stand-alone A/C unit and a floor-stand rotating fan. With all of this "apparatus" I still fight to maintain a 65% humidity. In the summer, working in the afternoon, is almost out-of-the-question unless you want to work in your swim suit!   (This is in gulf coast Houston)

Wow, I must be very tolerant of humidity. I'm wearing a coat or flannel at 67° too.

  The most efficient thermostat setting is actually between 68°-72°. It requires less btu to hold that range of temp in most homes. (the amount of wood vs steel vs carpet, etc etc etc; will be the variance)

   You may think that lower the thermostat below that saves money, but it doesn't. You have to consider the static temp of the items in a room and how that effects the air as well; i.e. every item has a temp that it takes the least btu to maintain, the average falls in this range.

Won't take my word for it? Ask your own certified hvac service.

Personal comfort preference is the only good reason for deviating from 68-72°

"My train layout is in my garage (Houston) and it gets down to 50 degrees F." 

"When I had my train layout in our big Garage in Slidell, LA, the heat and humidity were much more of a problem than the cold ever was, and we did get some cold nights."

I live in the Mobile area, and Houston, Slidell (N.O.) and Mobile all share the typical Gulf Coast weather, and my trains are in my 12X24 train building, that is neither cooled nor heated unless I'm using it. It is shaded and insulated, so it never gets extremely hot (sweltering), and my window A/C cools it down quickly. I do not use it every day.

Winter - it gets cold out there, and my space heater takes much longer to catch up than does my A/C. Low-20's weather does happen here (usually it's 35 - 45 - 50 at night), and it may well get in the upper 30's in there on those extreme nights. They are rare.

Never had any temperature-related problems. Some of that stuff has been out there 20 years. Humidity is apparently not an issue, either (a garage would be worse), and I live 20 miles from the Gulf and 5 blocks from Mobile Bay, so... But, again, it's a sealed building.

My room temp is a constant  70-74.  I built my house with my own hands and had the opportunity to pay attention to correctly insulate and plaster the ceiling.   My train room is 26 X 46.   I have every inch of wall covered with baseboard heat.  I never need to turn it on as the room temp is the same in the winter as it is in the summer.  I tell folks who want to build a layout to pay attention to the room first then the layout.  I have a dust free room.  I have a plastered ceiling and the cement floor is covered with glued down carpet.  

Generally a good HVAC system like a TRANE (have had one for twenty-years and still going strong!) will keep the humidity at a proper level unless you are living in or near a swamp!   

Seriously, insulation is also a huge FACTOR!

RSJB18 posted:

Humidity is the most important condition to monitor. Ideally a constant 50% year round. In cold climates higher humidity helps both the trains and the operators. I have a finished basement and keep it in the 70's and 50% year round. Low humidity can cause scenery to crack and become brittle too.

Dew point is the combination of temp and humidity that can cause condensation to form under the right conditions.

Dew point		Human perception[6]	Relative humidity at 32 °C (90 °F)
Over 26 °C	Over 80 °F	Severely high, even deadly for asthma related illnesses	73% and higher
24–26 °C	75–80 °F	Extremely uncomfortable, oppressive	62–72%
21–24 °C	70–74 °F	Very humid, quite uncomfortable	52–61%
18–21 °C	65–69 °F	Somewhat uncomfortable for most people at upper edge	44–51%
16–18 °C	60–64 °F	OK for most, but all perceive the humidity at upper edge	37–43%
13–16 °C	55–59 °F	Comfortable	31–36%
10–12 °C	50–54 °F	Very comfortable	26–30%
Under 10 °C	Under 50 °F	A bit dry for some	25% and lower

When condensation appears on the inside of the windows, you have too much humidity in the house.

Dick

It depends on the type of window. If it is a single piece of glass and it is very cold outside, the glass can get so cold as to condemned or even freeze moisture out of the air on to the glass.  Best thing is to have gauges to measure temperature and humidity.   Better yet is to have recording devices so the temp. and humidity can be seen over longer periods. This equipment to be read and recorded in a PC is fairly inexpensive these days. 

I slowly gave up all my hobbies from my younger days that involved freezing half to death or sweating my brains out.  As I got older, that started taking all the fun out of them.  That's why I love model railroading - I can do it in the comfort of my own climate-controlled basement, 24/7, year round.

As for how how cold my motive power can safely run?  Let someone else do the research.  I have no interest in finding out on my own. 

Paul.

Paul, I am with you.  I keep my room comfortable for me.  Heck, it's why I built it, 'cause I wanted it my way.