Long, Narrow Layouts, perhaps in old Mobile Home Trailers

[beiland]

This quote by a long time forum member Larry, who recently sold all of his s
'stuff', but now has rumblings of new thoughts.....

I'm thinking about building a new Layout ..... Just thinking, no plans, yet.....
The layout will be 24ft long & 5ft wide.
I have permission from the wife to start "thinking" about another layout.

Everything on the new layout will be scratchbuilt. I like a lot of Bridges & Tunnels & Mountain scenes which I didn't have on the last 4 layouts.

.....got me to thinking about a VERY NEAT layout I had once heard of where the fellow moved around quite a bit, and sought to have a more 'mobile layout'. He eventually settled on building his layout in an used mobile home,....long and narrow. I had saved a couple of dwgs on my computer....
View attachment 34669View attachment 34670

I subsequently went to look up his layout and found he had sold it to a friend of his, who in turn donated it to the Cheyenne Depot Museum. Have a look thru this great gallery of photos and their efforts to remove the layout from the old mobile home and place it into the museum:
http://car57.zenfolio.com/p540335402

This would be a great museum to visit
http://www.cheyennedepotmuseum.org/
http://www.cheyennedepotmuseum.org/model-railroad

....and finally a video presentation with music and sound.....likely taken while it was still in mobile home trailer
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wyv3AUsS7Yc

 

[IronBeltKen]

There was (is?) a guy named Cliff Powers with a double-decker in a house trailer. I think he calls it the MA&G (not sure what the initials stand for). It was featured a few years ago in MR's annual Great Model Railroads.

 

[beiland]

Frederick County Society of Model Engineers

These guys have a pretty neat layout inside an old baggage car up in Frederick MD. The photos on their website don't do it justice.

http://fcsme.com/

I haven't been up there in a number of years, but I do have some better photos...if just I can find them...

....these were a couple of nice bridges
http://fcsme.com/photo/photodir.htm

 

[scroggin]

Im thinking about building a new layout have been for the last 4 months or so. One of the possabilities would be to build it in a 40' Container. Has anyone else done that? We have a mild climate so getting too hot or cold wouldnt be a big issue.

 

[OldGuy]

There was (is?) a guy named Cliff Powers with a double-decker in a house trailer. I think he calls it the MA&G (not sure what the initials stand for). It was featured a few years ago in MR's annual Great Model Railroads.

Still around - http://magnoliaroute.com/magnolia_route_001.htm

Cliff was an inspiration to me when I found that I limited to a 14-foot wide area to model. It isn't in a house trailer, but a building that he had built for the layout. When he moved to another house, he hired house movers to move his layout. I had given serious thought of getting a serviceable, but gutted, mobile home to use for a layout, but the local P&Z don't allow them anymore.

 

[tootnkumin]

Im thinking about building a new layout have been for the last 4 months or so. One of the possabilities would be to build it in a 40' Container. Has anyone else done that? We have a mild climate so getting too hot or cold wouldnt be a big issue.

Being from NZ myself (Auckland), I think your greatest problem could be condensation forming (and dripping off the flat ceiling) inside a steel container or building, specially in any area that gets high humidity (like Auckland). Probably need to line it with Gyprock which can be glued direct to the steel (drywall to our US friends) and maybe an additional over roof (gabled for rain/moisture runoff).

 

[beiland]

Still around - http://magnoliaroute.com/magnolia_route_001.htm

Cliff was an inspiration to me when I found that I limited to a 14-foot wide area to model. It isn't in a house trailer, but a building that he had built for the layout. When he moved to another house, he hired house movers to move his layout. I had given serious thought of getting a serviceable, but gutted, mobile home to use for a layout, but the local P&Z don't allow them anymore.

GOOD ONE!,

Thanks for that link OldGuy, that could have been a good option when I was looking at part time trailer court living in St Augustine at one time....large shed out back

 

[railfan]

What a fantastic colorado history layout......and the job they did moving it to a new home! I've roamed extensively around that part of colorado...from central city, blackhawk, up though idaho springs, georgetown, and on to silverplume. An ideal picturesque and historical area to model in steam. After looking at those photos and video....went into my own train room and feel so grateful to have it.....and see visions and potential I never saw before!


Mike

 

[tootnkumin]

My plan is to build an around the walls (and maybe a centre peninsular at the back) in the 34ft x 10ft garage on the end of my house. (could also extend the length another 5ft). Main problem is needing to leave space for 1 car (compact) as it has indoor access to the house. Big advantage is long runs for long trains(yeah,yeah), disadvantage is narrow shelves that restrict curvy lines.

 

[Larry]

My plan is to build an around the walls (and maybe a centre peninsular at the back) in the 34ft x 10ft garage on the end of my house. (could also extend the length another 5ft). Main problem is needing to leave space for 1 car (compact) as it has indoor access to the house. Big advantage is long runs for long trains(yeah,yeah), disadvantage is narrow shelves that restrict curvy lines.

If you had a 2 or 3 level layout you could make a mountain scene over the car & have trains running thru this mountain on the 2nd level. You would only have to make the mountain as deep as a helix would be for the 2nd level.

 

[LoudMusic]

I had designs to build a 3 level layout up one wall of a garage using switch backs. It takes a VERY long wall and I decided I just didn't have the space.

Designing layouts into peculiar spaces is one of my favorite past times.

 

[tootnkumin]

If you had a 2 or 3 level layout you could make a mountain scene over the car & have trains running thru this mountain on the 2nd level. You would only have to make the mountain as deep as a helix would be for the 2nd level.

I had actually been considering the possibility of an unsceniced portion at the garage entry (semicircle return) that could be hinged at either side where the track returned along the walls so it could be lifted to clear the car (car would be parked outside during operations anyway) for entry and exit purposes, but after doing some measuring of the height needed to clear the car roof it seems that an upper track height of 5ft approx would allow for fixed trackwork and the scenicing you suggest. Steel framing (2"x1" RHS) could possibly lower that height a couple of inches and provide the strength needed to span the 10ft width.

Vertical supports up to the garage roof are a bit problematical depending on the type of door used. At the moment it is an unpowered roller door. I was planning on replacing that with a powered panel lift, as part of the renovation to increase the garage's length (Roof coverage is already there, so that's no problem). A panel lift (more secure than a roller type and easier to power) would require being able to occupy ceiling space internally and negate ceiling supports for the track. I guess the only sensible solution would be to only have the upper track extend as far forward as the the door's inward reach along the ceiling. (I'm trying to think of solutions as I'm writing this, you've started the wheels in motion Larry).

If the lower (main layout) track was at a height of say 4ft (a good height for ancient backs and knee joints) and the helix was placed at the back end of the available space, it could be of the open type, such as the one on my club's layout that contracts the circle within itself so that the upper exit crosses over the lower level(See the vid I posted in the "Coffee Lounge"). The lower level would then become a point to point layout with the ability to also become a continuous layout via the helix. (which I have just realised would also need to be configured as both an up and down track helix). Some actual drawing work needed now to find solutions there.

 

[otiscnj]

I once considered buying a condo, with a 9'x25' storage unit. Somewhere I have the trackplan for it-sort of similar to the Cajon layout in 101 trackplans.

 

[beiland]

Still around - http://magnoliaroute.com/magnolia_route_001.htm

Cliff was an inspiration to me when I found that I limited to a 14-foot wide area to model. It isn't in a house trailer, but a building that he had built for the layout. When he moved to another house, he hired house movers to move his layout. I had given serious thought of getting a serviceable, but gutted, mobile home to use for a layout, but the local P&Z don't allow them anymore.

Just looking back thru this subject tread again, and noticed this link is no longer any good. Anyone have an alternative to that particular link...??

 

[beiland]

GOOD ONE!,

Thanks for that link OldGuy, that could have been a good option when I was looking at part time trailer court living in St Augustine at one time....large shed out back

Funny how things go,....I bought a trailer home in that park just recently. Now I want to see if I can build a train room in a portion of the long carport (a 'shed' or 'florida room' under the roof of the carport....at the rear of).

 

[jb7778]

I am also in the planning stages of a very long (36') HO layout that Im just waiting for mod approval before thread appears..

 

[OldGuy]

Just looking back thru this subject tread again, and noticed this link is no longer any good. Anyone have an alternative to that particular link...??

Try this one http://www.magnoliaroute.com/

 

[cajon]

There used to be an HO layout in an old Santa Fe baggage? car parked "permanently" in Oceanside CA. Sometime in late '80s it had to go because the old station was being replaced by a new one. Santa Fe moved that yard a mile 0r north of the old yard. Anyone know what happened to the car?

 

[beiland]

Try this one http://www.magnoliaroute.com/

Great, thanks for that.

 

[beiland]

Funny how things go,....I bought a trailer home in that park just recently. Now I want to see if I can build a train room in a portion of the long carport (a 'shed' or 'florida room' under the roof of the carport....at the rear of).

Been looking at the possibilities of what size 'shed' I can buy or construct for the carport area. I could fit a 10' or 11' wide shed in there with no problem, but no one really makes a 11' foot wide ones. A 12 foot wide one would fit if i move a few supports for the carport outward, and I have a concrete slab that is 12 foot wide. I figure I can buy a used one of these sheds of either 10 or 12 foot wide. these generally have 2x4 stud walls, so interior dimensions for around-the-wall layout attached to these studded walls would be about 8-9 inches narrower.

I can definitely fit a 16' foot long shed in, even perhaps an 18 foot one.

I want to do an around-the-wall, with good size peninsula, layout, .....perhaps even allow for double deck to be added on. Any one have some good plans I might look at for inspiration??