I started design work on this layout when we moved to our current house in December, 2005. After years of not having space for a layout I'm very fortunate to have not only a great 4-car garage with a large workshop area, but also a finished loft above the garage with a ¾ bath (i.e. shower, sink, toilet) . The garage loft has been perfect for my office (I work from home) as well as my dream layout.
A sketch of the garage loft is shown below. North is the top of the drawing.
The largest room is on the North side of the loft -- its about 19' 2" x 19' 8". The main layout is in this room. It's a conventional double deck, around-the-walls set up. The layout shelves are generally 2' wide, and aisleways are 3' 9" wide or greater.
The one peninsula on the layout is about 7' wide with a narrow 3'-wide hidden area in the middle for access. This area is nicknamed "The Box" because it is built out of four 5'6"-high walls made of 2x4 studs, including bottom and top plates, with the whole Box firmly anchored to the floor. It was built this way to allow the upper deck to extend over the peninsula. Access to "The Box" is via a 32" crawl-under -- not something I intend to do go into very often. (The kids love going in there, though.)
There are small window alcoves on the center of the West and East sides -- on the East this is part of the bathroom (with shower).
The South side room is smaller than the North because the South side includes a closet, part of the bathroom and a hall way along the staircase.
For the first few months after we moved in I worked on the layout design. I knew pretty quickly that the West window alcove would be used for the helix connecting the levels, but I was trying to find a way to add staging without using the South room, which I'd set up as my office.
In April, 2006, I began room modifications, including moving a built-in desk out of the North room, removing extensive wiring the previous owner had installed, and painting the room a sky blue. By July layout benchwork began. By December the lower deck benchwork was in place, including "The Box", and about 55% of the lower deck track was down and wired. By then I realized that effective staging was going to require tunneling through the (non-supporting) wall to the South room and changing the direction of the door to South room.
And there I got stuck, and let the layout gather dust while working on non-railroad projects. Eventually, in mid-2007 I figured out the necessary measurements I'd need, got out the hand saw to cut drywall, and built a finished open "window" in the wall, including window frames. Then I repainted the South room a similar blue color and started on benchwork for staging. By December 2007 I'd finished two of the 3 staging tiers (more on that later) and had the trains running in a nice loop.
Then, as I started thinking about the 3rd staging tier I encountered a tough design problem. Once again, my progress on the layout stalled for several months while I found other projects.
Finally, in September 2008 I decided to stop letting these kind of challenges get the best of me. An honest look at the layout made me realize that the staging area, as built, suffered from severe design and implementation flaws. The only solution I would be happy with was to tear it down and start over. I spent September-November drawing up plans for the new staging, while working in parallel to reorganize the garage loft, including building more storage and getting rid of clutter.
On December 14 the old staging came down. As I write this I've been spending much of the last two months rebuilding staging. My next post will include some pictures and describe the staging design.
No comments:
Post a Comment