Around the room, ridiculous ?


Secondhandmodeler

Secondhandmodeler

All new now!
I have been working on a plan to go all the way around my new layout room. The idea of a large table was brought up by you fine folks, but the wife likes this ideas better. Don't ask me why. She saw a show on TLC where somebody did a train around the room for a kid. She thought that was a neat idea. She has a substantial amount of books that she would like to display. I'm thinking of placing bookshelves below the long extensions of the layout. The areas that have to accommodate her office will be dealt with in a different manner. I'm hoping that the only imposing areas are the lift out and the lift gates. The reason for the projecting bench work at the top of the room is to minimize the length of the lift gates. As I have said before, this is our 'messy room'. The angled entrance to the bathroom is not even that important. The bathroom has another entrance from the master bedroom. I don't want to block the entrance, but there is another way to access it. I know I could add a lot more operation, but the idea is to have a long run in a rural setting. I'm adding a small town that was a source of grain and passengers. Granted, it wouldn't warrant a full size passenger train, but I don't plan on running a full train. I'm actually combining the C&NW area of downtown Mankato with the rural run that was Milwaukee Road territory. My question is this, is this a totally ridiculous idea? It's not complete, but am I on the right track?
rediculousaroundtheroom.png
 
I am still somewhat of a noobie at this, but I think it is more than do-able. I think it will actually turn out really good too. I believe that with the right motivation(and the right plan) anything is possible.
 
Thanks for the vote of confidence. I guess I got tired of my trains chasing their tails on my 4x8. It didn't seem very realistic. The book shelves may end up dictating the height of the layout on one end. I was hoping to avoid any grades, but it's not out of the question. I need to figure out how to make the swing up section. I'm thinking of making a pedestal to rest the two halves on. I have some learning to do!
 
Corey,

What I'd be worried about here is that you'll simply have your trains chasing their tails on a longer track.

If you want more operations, see what you can put in between Minnesota Lake and the yard (I assume that's the bathroom entrance?

With 10 feet of centerspace, you could easily have a central penninsula as well - perhaps put your staging there and have it wye out in both directions at the current Minnesota Lake location? That way the left and right walls could effectively be separate branches, operating largely independently of each other.
 
I like what you have. My 2 cents would be to add a passing siding.
Good luck to you! Nice to have that space for layout like that very cool. Make sure that your layout has a purpose for servicing and delivering your merchandise or materials etc.

Alco out!
 
Jeff,

Underneath Minnesota Lake and the wall to the right will be the office area. We are buying a 72" desk for my wife to make a mess on. My computer has to fit in there as well. I had thought of adding an online industry in the area between Minnesota Lake and the yard like you mentioned. I also have to fit a tv somewhere.
 
around the room has many advantages and it is what I chose after several tabletop layouts.

Larger radius is possible
Longer straight sections
Only one side needs to be sceniced, making access holes easier
Less walking around to follow the action

And in my particular case, it made layout photography easier as the depth of any scene is a lot less and camera positioning is a lot easier. It also avoids backlighting from the lights on “the other side” (which in the case of an around the wall layout don’t exist).

My workbench slides under a section of the layout.
 
You've sure got plenty of room to add more industries with the expanded layout. I think you're not going to be happy losing that space up by the bathroom and I'm still leery of the idea of a large liftout section when you're talking about benchwork which is freestanding and not attached to a wall.
 
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