Which room would you choose?

15x10. O72 in an 8.5' room is going to get cramped.

They are very similar in total square footage.

 

Each has dimensions that provide advantages and dis-advantages depending . . . 

 

My decision would be based on where doors were: they will constrain my use of space and thus would likely be the deciding factor in my case.

I would use the 15x10 room. For 072 you will need a minimum of 7 feet for the circle.  Add in some extra space so the track is not on the very edge of the layout and you will have only two feet left for walking.

the 15 by 10 room has slightly more square footage. (150 versus 148.5).
On the surface, I agree that wider is better.
IMHO, the location of doors, windows, closets, etc. would be the deciding factor.

For me, they would affect the usable space.

Room B...  since it would give you the best curves...but Lee has a point so openings would also need to be considered.

 

Alan

Are the rooms next to each other?  Go around the ceiling and through the walls into both rooms and have a bigger loop. I am into 3 rooms via holes and is great to have trains go somewhere. Not just go in a loop.

The deal is that I can choose one room and turn the other into a guest bedroom.

I'd go with the 15x10 and do an around-the-walls configuration with lift-ups for access.

The doors on room B are better placed for my purposes. Both on one end. I could leave a 4 or 5 foot walking control room space and make the layout 10x10 or 10x11.

 

Room A would have a longer main line but more challenging turn around and tricky door placement.

As Matt suggested, an around-the-walls configuration gives the best use of space, as the example below shows:

 

Jim

The concensus is, with available knowledge (door and other obstructions), Room B,

if you want those wide loops.  If you were doing a point-to-point, MAYBE Room A.

I would first sit down and do potential track plans for both rooms, to see which best

fits what you have in mind.

I would use the 15ftx10ft, use are losing 2ft in length but gaining 2ft in width, this should give you more flexibility as you develop your track plan.

There is a football term that applies here, GO LONG.

All other things being equal, the 15x10 will provide more flexibility for the curves. However, I agree with those who say take the room configuration into account - doors, windows, and closets. It's a rare household that can afford to block off access to storage! My train room is 16x13. Fortunately, all the doors (outside entrance, bathroom, walk-in closet, exit to the workshop) are along one of the shorter walls, so I left a three-foot corridor on one side and wound up with 13x13 for trains.

Michael, I have always liked "around the room" layouts because everything is usually in easy access.  I have had my around the room layout for years now and am in the process of changing my corner curves to 072 from 060.  You might need to install a lift up bridge in doorways, but there are plenty of options for those now.  You can have wide radius curves and run multiple loops which are fairly close to the walls.  By just turning around you have full view of the whole layout and its operations.

 

Steve, Lady and Tex

I would choose room B because of the 10 foot width.  Curves are the limiting factor for so many things that you may want to run.

 

Art

Take B!!!! Not really knowing door and window placement it makes a better around the wall layout.

B

I like the wider room because I think it gives a greater chance of running the spurs to the outside of the mainlines.  This gives the opportunity to store longer sets of cars versus running the spurs inside the mainlines.

 

If this were my decision, I would use layout software, and see what my choices in both rooms could yield.

 

Jim

I recommend the 10x15 round-the-walls as Matt suggested with a lift section or drop section.

Old photo below shows the raw layout benchwork and a hinged drop section for access to a 9x16 round-the-room layout......still unfinished..

 

I would use both rooms. How long do your guest stay? You could easily have a loop of track or staging in the guest room, with the layout in the other.

 

Room B 15 x 10.  Like others said it'll be tough to fit a lot of O-72 into a room that size.  I just drew up a 3 line O-42, O-72, O-82 layout plan for a forum member to go into a 20x14 room.  I'll see if I can shrink it to your space.  Where is the door to the room?  Corner or middle of which side? 

Both doors (closet and entry way) are on the same 10' wall. Each door just about in opposing corners. The 15' walls have no doors. In fact. There are no other doors in the room.

Ouch, a ten foot wall with two doors, each "ruining" one corner of the room for layout use,  is not the best in a long, narrow room.  I had a room like that for trains and hobbies in Pittsburgh back 30 years ago.  Any chance you can do like I did then?  I moved the closet door from that room into the hall outside (from the closets perspective its door now opened on one of its sides, and it was still just as useful). Without the closet access in that corner of the room now, I could locate a big wide turnaround area in that corner, which made the whole layout I had possible. 

Here is a rough sketch. Not to scale.

I would just write off the closet. 

 

Take off the closet door and use the closet space as an area of depth behind the mainlines.  Put a couple of buildings or a landscaped scene like a lake in the closet space.

 

Jim

A brilliant idea that would be sheer suicide in my household: my wife would kill me!

Here's a possible way to save the closet space and add some train space. The closet most likely backs up onto another room or the hall. Wall off the door opening in the room and put a door on the opposite side. It would cost some money, but if your storage situation is like most people's, spending the money would be better than losing the space.

 

Another alternative would be to route the track so that you have either a duck-under or a lift bridge to access the closet. It would be a good place to store empty train boxes or other seldom-used items. Or you could just do what I did and leave a three-foot corridor along the end to open the doors and have a walkway between them, but that does reduce your effective train area to 10x12. As I mentioned in a previous post, my train room has a similar situation and I left a corridor at one end, giving me a 13x13 layout in a 13x16 room. 

I am thinking seriously about your option #2. Thanks....

My attic entrance door for the around the room is located at one end of the room where the drop section access is located. However there are 54" high doors in the knee wall on both sides of the layout. I cut the doors off, fixed the upper portion above the layout framing in place, and now open them below the benchwork to store items in the knee wall attic space---the entrance door, window screens, luggage we never use, some spare lumber,etc, pottery but no trains.

 

You know, there's a technical term for closet. It's called "Staging Yard".

 

By the way, Michael, if you can raise the benchwork height to about 54" you have additional space for a work desk under the layout if you use cantilevered shelves.

This shape gets you 072 continuous run around the room. Put a set of bi-folds for the closet doors. Perhaps change the other door to swing to the long wall. A couple of straights for a lift-out near the closet and entrance.

 

Just a working idea.

different house

Dewey your nicely done layout is of similiar size. What size curves do you have? I'm thinking you can get 081 or larger into this space.

George

My dual mainline curves are 072/084 at the drop section entrance and 084/096 on the other end. This of course is a small layout at 9x16 in a 9x19 room. I am old, lame and in the final stages of train operation but at this stage I now enjoy running trains and viewing static [parked] equipment and structures as opposed to "operation". 

My trains will be short, 4 car passenger consists and 7 car freights, but they will look fairly decent on the wider curves.

 

 

A shelf layout around the room will give you the best run.  I'd go the room that was best suited for a shelf layout.  I run my trains in a room that is around 11' x 8'.  The shelf is about 4'6" from the floor.  I still have 3 bookshelves, a single bed, and a desk in the room.