01-09-2009, 01:34 PM
Go Big1 Wrote:I voted for "somewhere in between". My layout to be will be located in my shop (the unfinished area of the basement), but my shop has many uses (furnace, hot water heater, 2nd fridge, sump pump, shop table, storage, etc). Therefore while the room may be good sized, I really only have room to build a U shaped layout that will be about 12 feet long, and 5 feet deep on the ends (2 feet deep in the middle).
Mike, those "other uses" can really play havoc with layout plans. I built my own house, and designed it with all services on the ground floor - the basement was mine, all 1100-or-so square feet. Then my wife decided that she preferred the laundry room to be in the basement. Of course, I also needed a small area for a shop for working on and painting trains. When I had the appropriate partitions in place, I built the benchwork for an around-the-room layout in what was still a pretty good-sized space. Before I could get any roadbed in place, though, it was decided that the kids needed a rec room, shrinking layout space to what it is currently.
I'm reasonably happy with the layout as it is, but were I to build another, I think that I'd simplify it somewhat. If I ever get that second level done, it should be interesting to operate, although it would have looked better with longer runs between towns and less severe grades.
Wayne