YOWZA!

[Colbert]

An incredible layout ! Thanks for the videos.

 

[Kentuckyjed]

Holy C****, that is the craziest layout I have ever seen. Lot of time and talent went into and is continuing. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Colorado Midland Modeler]

Wow! That is a BIG layout! You could get lost in that thing, the footprint reminds me of a corn maze.

 

[Iron Horseman]

Must be nice to have that much space. Though I agree it could be a chore to build, much less maintain.

I have that much space, actually about twice that much space 60' x 90', and it is not that nice. Having designed layouts to cram things into tight spaces all the time it is a total mind re-thinking to design for a large area. I am truly, "lost in space".

Also I started volunteering at the museum in Greeley and realized even if I was able to build this beast, it would then take all the rest of my time just maintaining it. Greeley is shut down on Mondays where 6-12 of us go in and work all day on maintenance items. That epiphany made me stop and re-think my entire strategy. Probably a lot more sofas!

 

[PMW]

I have that much space, actually about twice that much space 60' x 90', and it is not that nice. Having designed layouts to cram things into tight spaces all the time it is a total mind re-thinking to design for a large area. I am truly, "lost in space".

Also I started volunteering at the museum in Greeley and realized even if I was able to build this beast, it would then take all the rest of my time just maintaining it. Greeley is shut down on Mondays where 6-12 of us go in and work all day on maintenance items. That epiphany made me stop and re-think my entire strategy. Probably a lot more sofas!

If I had that kind of space I would only build a layout in a portion of it and have a nice sitting area and maybe a kitchenet (one can dream )

 

[Iron Horseman]

If I had that kind of space I would only build a layout in a portion of it and have a nice sitting area and maybe a kitchenet (one can dream )

Oh, it already has a full kitchen, and lobby area too. Even an elevated section for an observation balcony. It sounds really dreamy, but as I said Lost In Space, and you don't want to know what the heating/cooling bill is. AND oh yeah, over Christmas my children decided to turn on the lights and run around there all evening. 15 lamps at 500 watts each! I've got to get LEDs for it. At least the price for those has become reasonable.

 

[kjd]

The math says current main line is 600 ft long, so double the space, double the main? And it's all two tracks. The poster of the video is a professional layout builder so that will answer questions about if the owner had done it all. At the end he said he spends 5 or 6 days working on it every 6 weeks or so. That works out to about 60 days or 500 hours a year for the one person, if only 8 hr days. If I was away from home, I'd probably work longer days just for something to do.

 

[D&J RailRoad]

I can tell ya, with a full-size basement layout like mine, 2,000 square feet, it's a lot of maintenance just to keep things running. Mine is 6 1/2 scale miles of double track mainline and 14 industries. I started building mine in Jan 2012 and it was a daily job of about 4 -5 hours a day, after I got home from work. It has to be a passion to build something of that size and do it all yourself.
The Wyoming Division Historical Society layout in Cornville, AZ is a huge layout. Verrel started building that in 2011 with 8 employees the first year. After the benchwork was established, he cut 6 of those guys loose and kept Lenny and Allen to develop the track bed and scenery and run the op sessions. They're still working there today as their full time jobs.