When the layout has to come down.

It's not pretty.......this is from November 2003 when we signed on the new house and were moving April 1, 2004.

As I boxed things, I delivered them to a climate-controlled storage locker near the new house.

Peter

I dismantled my 1992 built mountain cottage 14x32 operation in 3/08 and the 15x25 1997 build here upstairs in the Condo during 10/09. Not a happy event[s] but it was driven by age, health and the need to locate back to the city nearer necessary med facilities. I trashed most of the mountain layout components except for 290' of Gragraves flextrack and reusable wiring components which I gave a new female O-gauger who was a scenery whiz.

On the '97 Condo benchwork, I trashed partially done scenery, foam/Homasote underlayment, most fasteners and odd shaped wood components but recycled all plywood and 1x4/2x4 structural wood components for reuse as needed for a new, small and final, "senior citizen's" 9x16 attic layout. Plywood with raised glue traces was merely flipped over for reuse. Essentially all wire, wire run retainers and electrical operating components were saved for reuse or donation--TPCs, ASC modules, T-strips, Ross/Curtis switches and the Gargraves flextrack,etc.

Started over small and simple in Feb. '10 and had a train running in a few weeks. But then a health issue applied the brakes and progress has been exceptionally slow since. However, this one willl not be dismantled ...by me!

When I took my layout down in Connectcut prior to my move to New Hampshire a carpenter friend suggested that I take the disassmbled benchwork with me as had been seasoned and not likely to deform as new stock might do.Followed his advice and worked well.

Recently had to get rid of benchwork for my 30  by 30  foot layout. At 86 I don't operate the way I used to.A friend found a person at a club who was looking for the benchwork for a new layout They came out disassembled it and hauled it away.We both were happy with the deal.

I agree with 99% of your views Still Doesent make sense to make it harder than it has to be for those behind.

Upon my passing my two sons have agreed that they will unscrew everything regarding my layout,off to City dump for most stuff and burn the wood out at the Farm. Then they will patch/paint the drywall, have the carpet replaced, rehang the entrance door to the attic that I removed and replace the Plantation Shutters I removed on the one window.

As regards the rail equipment they still have all of my G and HO from the '70s-early '80s in their closets, so the O trains are just more of their problem. Four Grand Daughters--one "Tomboy".

I have moved a lot also for, job purposes mostly,and completely understand Elliot's outlook. Repeatedly tearing down layouts,in my case HO as well as O, gets to one a litle bit--at least to me.

It's not really going to be all that bad, even though the layout is large. We know people who can do it and she's been instructed what to do with the trains and such. The nice part is there will be no rush, the house is free and clear. It takes a lot longer to put up than to take down, especially if it isn't going to be reused.

It was far worse when my sister in law passed away suddenly two years ago. She had been a heavy smoker, the house was under foreclosure, and it was way across town. We even had to put her elderly dog down that same night. What a mess, but we dealt with it.

This topic has drifted a bit from moving to dying. Sorry about that.

Some great ideas and advice! Well step one has been completed. POD has been delivered and filled with layout building materials, Christmas items, household items, and kids toys. This is sure beats lugging this stuff to a self storage unit. Still the trains will be transported by me. 

Another aspect of this subject is, keeping your hobby at a manageable level. There seems to be a lot of inclination towards building the largest possible layout and always wanting more. But a good layout doesn't necessarily have to be a huge layout. At some point it helps to draw a line and decide when enough is enough. If a move may be in your future it makes good sense to design a layout of manageable size that can be more easily moved or dismantled and adapted to a different space.

Gentlemen,

  We tear down our 4X8 Christmas layout every year, it does not phase me cause I know its a Christmas layout, that will be rebuilt next Christmas season, right in the formal living room.  On the other hand it was big time depressing to dismantle the permanent PCRR Game Room Layout, the 5 level DCS layout was up for just over 10 years and 8 months, and I dismanteled it all by myself, never thought of taking pictures as I dismanteled it,  like a couple of you gentlemen did, nice touch for saving the memories, no doubt about it.  Because of all the different responsibilities that go on here in our home now, with the symphony people and my Gun Dog training business, the big train layout will probably never be constructed again taking up almost the complete game room & office, unless I do like Dale H and purchase an old school house building some place, in the neighborhood.  I am however planning a ceiling book shelf layout in the other part of the Game Room.

PCRR/Dave 

My current and previous layouts were constructed in separate-able and movable sections.  That ease of transport and relocation has come in handy.  I  probably won't move again, but may start one more layout when I am close to retirement, and will use this concept again just in case.  My sections are not like identical modules, but are rigid pieces that can be moved by one or two persons fairly easily. 

If I move, or decide to relocate the layout, it moves fairly easily - no starting over for me (unless I just want to start over one more time).

My layout at our last house was 2 sheets of plywood in an L shape with a 1' x 12' shelf across the back for an elevated trolley line:

Once we decided we were moving, I boxed up everything on the layout. All the boxes were stacked on the table to the ceiling. This left some of one table and all of the other table to stack boxes of other things. As things were packed, they got placed on the tables until they were full. Naturally, since all this packing was going on for a month or two prior to us moving, nothing in here was anything we needed on a daily basis (such as dishes or toiletries). Once we closed on the new house, I started moving a truckload of boxes a day from these tables until moving day. It's a lot easier moving lots of boxes when they are stored on a table about waist high.

After most of the move was complete, I knocked the legs off the tables and moved the tops to the new house. About a year later, I put new legs on them and started building my current layout.

J White

Taking down an old layout that has taken many years to construct is indeed a sad affair but it is said that nothing is forever. I've put over ten years into my layout and is about 85% complete. Everything is scratch built except the trains and electronics. I would hope that when it comes time to dismantle  the layout that my son Dan or Doug would take it down and put it back up in their house or barn. If not then the layout will go the way of the rest of them but who am I to complain; some of the best layout creations in the world have met the same fate. The NY Lionel Showroom layouts, Frank Elisons Delta Lines, The O layout at the Museum of Science and industry, The Original NY Society of Model engineers "UCRR" layout, The 1934 Worlds Fare layout, John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid, Norm Cole Sr's Lehigh, and the list goes on