Since we moved 18 months ago, I've been dreaming of the basement
empire and gradually refining the design concept for this monster.
Maybe someday it will really be built. Right now we have the typical young family challenges to both time
and money which prevent me from undertaking such an endeavor.
I've not been able to run trains since we moved. I do not have my own layout, or even a board with
track and when I go to club events, enough of my attention is to keeping my son
out of trouble that it isn't safe to try to run a train at the same time. At
this point it's time to shelve the dream layout and look for the now
layout.
Layout Requirements:
Space: These same time challenges have impacted my wife's chances to scrapbook.
After doing some serious thinking we realized that we need an adult "craft room"
some place where we can leave projects out all the time and work on them when
the kids are sleeping. To create this room, we decided to revamp what had been
our office space. The room requirements were an arrangement for a large desk for
her scrapbooking, retain the office file drawers, computer and printer, floor
space for a fold away bed to be used during the holidays, and the train set.
The space for the layout was about 8 x 12, but had to be shared with the
doorway into the room and the floor space for the guest bed. To leave the
necessary open floor space, I selected an L shape design 8 x 9 feet.
The
challenge would be providing access to the back side of the L shape. If
sufficient aisles were left to access all sides of the layout, then the actually
layout would not be wide enough for turn back curves. However, if the layout was
against the wall then a significant portion of the perimeter would not be usable
for separate scenes. Thus some creativity was required. Since the guest bed is
only used about 7 nights per year, most of this space is available. Likewise, it
is unlikely that my wife would want to scrapbook while I'm having a small ops
session. Thus the space available for operations is larger than the permanent
layout space.
The first idea was fold away or portable sections; however, there
is two problems. First, portable sections add significantly to the complexity of
construction. Second my wife is convinced, probably correctly, that they would
never be put away. Thus portable sections were vetoed. The selected concept was
to make the entire layout movable. Large casters (3" dia.) support each leg of
the layout and thus allow the layout to move as a single unit. The layout is
built to occupy the entire permanently available space. If I just want to watch
trains, then the layout remains stowed against the wall. When I'm ready to do
full operations, then the layout is pulled and rotated away from the wall to
give access to all sides of the layout. The only "connection" to the wall is a
single power cord for the power strip which has sufficient slack for both
positions. At the end of the session, the layout is pushed against the wall.
Layout Height: My wife should not need a step
stool to see the layout. Since, she is 5' - 1", This translates to a
layout height of about 46 inches at most.
Staging: Minimize the need for hidden staging to
keep layout as simple as possible. Where hidden staging is rquired
make it easily accessible.
Continue on to the Track Plan.
|
Givens
| Space
Available: |
Portion of hobby room up to 9 x 8 feet |
| Scale: |
N Scale (1:160) |
| Prototype: |
Loosely based on Norfolk Southern |
| Time: |
Modern, between 2003 and 2005 |
| Focus: |
Coal Marshalling Operations |
| Key Scenes: |
Marshalling Yard, Coal Prep Plant,
coal tipples |
| Controls: |
Digitrax DCC Control System |
Druthers
-
Heavy
Mainline operations
-
Branch
line
-
Lots
of Staging
-
Intermodal
Operations
-
Scenes:
-
Non-coal Industries, Port, Power Plant
Operations:
|