Layout in a crawl space?


C

CbrandonB

Member
Hi all,

So my father in law has given me a huge portion of his Great Northern collection. I had wanted to build something in our garage that would raise and lower and store it "up" on the ceiling, so to speak, but I have other hobbies that would probably make this not work very well (reef tanks... IE, the humidity in our garage is always really high). I was thinking the other night (which is generally dangerous) and realized that my crawl space may be a possible space for a layout. Our crawlspace has about 12 ft ceilings on one side and about 6 ft on the other side of the house. IE, plenty of headroom.

Trust me, I understand this is much less than ideal. It may not work at all. But here's my thought: Its this or nothing. Its in the crawl space or in boxes in a closet. :( That's a bit of a sad realization, but I think about how fun it might be to have a track going all the way around our house... that could allow for some really, really awesomely long trains just for the fun of it. :) I think if I were to start, I'd start with a single line around part of it and see what happens. The biggest challenges may be moisture and the temp changes may cause track issues, but I can't help but think it may be worth a shot, mainly because its my only chance unless I tote all of my stuff to the club down the road. But I believe they're a bit secretive and not real open to newbs. I could be wrong on that, though, and should dig into more, but still.

Thoughts?

Brandon
 
That's something that I have never heard of before. An interesting project. It would give you a huge space to operate in, but like you mentioned, mother nature could be a big problem. Temperature changes wouldn't be good for track and moisture could be a big problem, but with the opportunity to have such a big area sure is a temptation. I sure wouldn't leave any locomotives or rolling stock exposed to these conditions.

It's a shame that the model railroad club in your area seems to turn you off. I have no club in my area, but have visited numerous clubs in my travels. Some can be great and I have also seen some torn apart by politics, but this I think is a very small percentage of the average.
 
Yeah, I'm thinking I may give this a shot. I agree on leaving anything down there, I wouldn't want to, either, and would probably develop a case to easily transport items down and back.

To be perfectly clear, I've not seriously pursued the local club. Its a really, really nice club layout in a 5,000 sq ft building I think and is very close to my house. I really need to officially pursue that, but I also have so many other hobbies, I don't want to really pursue it if I can't stick with it (I'm on the BOD in other hobbies, so that would take priority).

I think I'll have a gander in the crawl space tonight and see what may make sense. :)

Brandon
 
I say go for it. Much better than a garage. And with 12 ft ceilings and plenty of headroom, that will be ideal.

You could get one of those portable AC units to keep it cool during the summer months.
 
When you say, crawl space, I get the image of a dirt floor sloping on a 45 degree angle, low ceiling with lots of insulation, pipes and wiring hanging down from the visible floor joists and you have to be on your hands and knees most of the time with access through an air vent outside on the side of the house and a single 60 watt light bulb to light it.
 
My "crawl space" is quite large as the back of our house slopes down. If nothing else, I'm thinking about doing a full layout in just part of it. I think its worth exploring, with knowing there are going to be challenges. I think I'll just have to try it to see if the challenges are worth it or not. :)

Oh, and we have three 60 watt lightbulbs. Haha! :D

Brandon
 
Can you post a photo, what do you have for floor and walls? Ours had old flagstone rocks that were exposed and a dirt floor.
 
Sure! This is a vapor-barrier covered dirt floor with some HVAC hanging here and there and cinder block walls. It ain't pretty, but I still think it may be better than nothing. :)

Brandon
 
How much have you budgeted for Dehumidifiers, AC units and insulation? The heat can warp your track, the humidity can warp your wood. DON'T keep your engines & Rolling stock in that environment for long. It will rust out your equipment. I have first hand knowledge of such bad choices.
 
I don't have anything budgeted for dehumidifiers, AC units, or insulation. I am not expecting to be build a full layout, completely detailed in there. Nor am I looking to finish the space in any way. I am looking for some space, ANY space to run some trains from time to time.

Did you have your trains in a crawl space for a while? All of my locomotives are in a spare bedroom close (I think I'm at 83 or so now... whew!) as are most of my passenger cars. I worry about the stuff I have in my garage with the humidity out there.

Brandon
 
I had about 25 Bowser Steamers with Helix Humper mods or NWSL motors and gearboxes and many Athern cars in a "Shed" underneath the sun deck. It DID have AC, and a teeny space heater, but the big problem was humidity. In summer (in the DC area) it gets up to the low 90's with 80% humidity. when we weren't in the shed the AC was off. In the winter it could be 25 degrees or lower, and only when the space heater had been on for a few hours would it be OK in there. Bad for us, that the roof started to leak and ruined the scenery and warped the Homosote we had coated with a water sealer. Now my dad has his layout in the rec room and no more problems but we lost about 45 Peco turnouts, Tortoise switch machines, and had to replace the electric motors and re-oil everything. I don't want to think of the scenery, trees, and wood buildings lost.
 
Before you build any thing put a remote themoter down there to see where the temp stays if you can get on that show humidity. too. leave it down there a month and log the reading. reveaw the logs at the end of the month and ask yourseelf is the reading good enough to not damage your layout over time.
 
Y3a said:
I had about 25 Bowser Steamers with Helix Humper mods or NWSL motors and gearboxes and many Athern cars in a "Shed" underneath the sun deck. It DID have AC, and a teeny space heater, but the big problem was humidity. In summer (in the DC area) it gets up to the low 90's with 80% humidity. when we weren't in the shed the AC was off. In the winter it could be 25 degrees or lower, and only when the space heater had been on for a few hours would it be OK in there. Bad for us, that the roof started to leak and ruined the scenery and warped the Homosote we had coated with a water sealer. Now my dad has his layout in the rec room and no more problems but we lost about 45 Peco turnouts, Tortoise switch machines, and had to replace the electric motors and re-oil everything. I don't want to think of the scenery, trees, and wood buildings lost.
Click to expand...

Oh, man... I hate to hear that. That is rough!

marriedshades said:
Before you build any thing put a remote themoter down there to see where the temp stays if you can get on that show humidity. too. leave it down there a month and log the reading. reveaw the logs at the end of the month and ask yourseelf is the reading good enough to not damage your layout over time.
Click to expand...

Good idea! Shouldn't be too expensive and could possibly tell me if it just absolutely will not work.

Brandon
 
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