So here I have a room in the house that measures 11 some odd feet by almost 9 . The wife wants to use it as a multipurpose room and says I can still do a layout, but it must be elevated. Hmmm that got me thinking running a line around the ceiling is rather dull if you ask me, so here is my idea. I plan on doing a " staging area" on one end of the elevated area . Not going to get crazy but I want a few trains to pass around on occasion and be able to change them up. So we have unsceniced staging area on that side. Now I can use the one side to drop down just enough that I can use a step stool to see it with ease( the joy of being 6'4) but I don't want to just have a small yard to fiddle with so I have thought about basing it off the Birmingham switching district. The small yard for interchange with the mainline, while I bring a branch so to speak down some more so I can see switching operations flat footed. I figure this will work till I can get the garage finished ( yes the superintendent of operations , my wife, understands it needs to be climate controlled and done up right) or get moved in a few years to a new location. I don't have any fancy layout planning software so I can't really toss a track plan up here. But if I ever nail one down I will get it posted. I don't think I am biting off more than I can chew ( yet) and want to keep it HO scale because I can take equip,ent over to other HO scalers layouts. But if it looks insurmountable, a nice HCD with wings should fit the bill. Thoughts?
"I don't have any fancy layout planning software so I can't really toss a track plan up here. But if I ever nail one down I will get it posted." Pencil/paper/compass works fine. Just figure out how to bridge the room door. Doug
I'll concur with Doug. I've even used styrene radii templates when sketching out a layout plan with a #2 pencil, and so far, so good! How many inches off the floor do you plan on having everything? It sounds like 68-70" is probably a good "eye level" view for you. Feel free to start sketching and post your ideas when ready. Best Regards,
When planning with p&p create some templates for track turnouts and possibly for some structures. Pick a drawing scale and create the turnouts, parallel trackage, etc. I ad on hand some vellum with blue lines and could easily see the templates when slipped underneath the drawing paper. For me. I used a 3/4" = 1 foot scale since the 1/16 marks equaled 1 inch.
Well the majority of the route will be above the door frame. The end that will be scenic will come down roughly to that 70 inch mark. The wife really needed these ikea bookshelves ( no she didn't, but I aint gonna tell her that ) so that's the main obstacle in this room. Sadly this is the only room that I get a land grant to. I have thought about doing a Gumstump style for that drop down. That and I have that track plan from the Birmingham area that I can play off. I think the best advice is the template idea Oldguy posted. I have sketched stuff up and tried to cram way too much into the space allotted . Thanks for all the advice. I will get something drawn up and hopefully uploaded ( converting to files on an iPad has been frustrating ) soon!
I built a "Gumstump" only expanded it to 2'x8' and enjoyed it more per squuare foot than anything I have ever had. All it takes is half dozen switches and a bunch of imagination and you are on your way.
I didn't know what a gum stump was so I looked it up on the Bing search engine and found the Gum Stump and Snowshoe RR. http://www.carendt.com/small-layout-scrapbook/page-38a-june-2005-special-edition/ There is a track diagram and several photos included. Joe
