Our Layouts - Photo Thread

Gary S.

Senior Member
Hey Guys,

I think it would be good if each of us posted a couple of "overall" views of our layouts/layout rooms. This would give us more insight to who each of us is, what we are interested in, and I would get to know you guys better. Just back up from the layout and give us an overall shot of the room.

I would be interested to see all the different interpretations, perceptions, wants, desires, and imposed limitations of what each of us thinks a train room should be. And don't be embarassed of all the junk and clutter, that just goes with the territory!

I'll post a couple layout room shots tonight or tomorrow morning.
 

nolatron

Member
Here's my computer/layout/hobby/"office"/misc stuff room :)

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(older pic showing the desk)
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Along with the shelf layout, you'll find my desk running my Mac Mini and windows box. These mainly act as servers for a weathercam, weather station software, streaming railroad radio, FTP backups from my websites, and other misc stuff. There's my shelves for Railroad magazines, books, computer cd's and cables/junk, my R/C cars usually line over in a corner under the layout, and my "workbench", which is usually covered with an assortment of stuff. :)
 

Gary S.

Senior Member
Here's my layout room, which is actually my garage. Yep, I ignored the advice about not putting layouts in the garage. The main reason is because I wanted a large shelf-type layout with large industries. And anything less was just not what I wanted. So, I'll be battling the dust and temperature issues. So far, no problems. The shelves have been up for over a year now. Instead of using dimensional lumber for the frames, I ripped some 3/4 plywood into 1x2s and used that. And the shelves have 2" foam contact cemented to that. I have not experienced a single bit of warpage-expansion-shrinkage.

The right hand interchange yard is a removable module because it goes across my electrical panel. We can still park 2 vehicles in the garage, and because of the layout height, there is plenty of storage room underneath. Overall, I am pleased with what I've got, of course, if it was all air-conditioned, it would be even better, but you gotta work with what you got.
 

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Gary S.

Senior Member
the rest
 

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nolatron

Member
Great looking area Gary. I *almost* did the same thing but I decided I probably wouldn't like working out in the hot/cold garage on the layout.

If the garage was insulted and A/C, perhaps.....in the future.... You know, the garage is RIGHT next to the office. A little hole (tunnel) in the sheet rock...Hmmm..sign1
 

Gary S.

Senior Member
Roger, how about an overall shot of the room?

Nolatron, so far I am happy... although I did sweat quite a bit this summer when I was working on the layout. Hey, a couple of fans, there ya go.

Thaks for posting the pics, guys!
 

CNWman

CNW Fan
Well, my layout's just a litle 4X8 table, so one pic kinda shows it all.
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This is an old pic, back from July (and before I got my P2K's and the Conrail unit). Nothing's changed, though, it's still the plains of plywood:p
 

Gary S.

Senior Member
Are you going to pull up the track and put foam on the entire layout, or just use it for hills and such?

I used 2" foam on the entire layout, and it sure makes it easy to put in ditches and streams and such.
 

Gary S.

Senior Member
Here is a typical photo of the wiring for the electromagnet uncouplers and the switch throw mechanisms. The DCC bus is in the far back.
 

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Gary S.

Senior Member
Thanks Mikey. I'm sure anxious to get some scenery put down, I am growing tired of viewing that vast expanse of brown paint.
 

Nomad

Active Member
That really looks good Gary. Especially underneath. I could never be that neat. I get in to big a hurry to see things work.

Loren
 

Gary S.

Senior Member
That really looks good Gary. Especially underneath.

Doh! I knew I was doing something, wrong! I've got to reverse my thinking... isn't it the TOP that is supposed to look good??
sign1

Thanks for the kind words Loren! The wiring underneath probably took about 30 hours, and that is not counting making the switch mechanisms and stuff. Gee, come to think of it, if I was to add up all the time spent on electromagnets, buttons, time delay circuits, turn-out switches and throw rods, terminal strips, soldering, running wire, for the "infrastructure" of the layout... man that was ALOT of time.
 

cnw1961

Member
Gary, I join in :wave:. The first picture shows my "layout room". Unfortunately this small corner is all the space that is available for a layout in our house. So my layout can’t be longer than 12 ft. Would be nice to have some more space to build a longer shelf layout. But then on the other hand, I think a big layout room like Wayne’s would scare me :eek:ops:. It would give me the feeling that I’d never be able to finish my layout.

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The work bench works as a "storage bench" most of the time. When I am working on structures I do that in my office downstairs. The desk in my office is so big that even I don’t manage to mess it up.

The layout consists of two 6' x 1 1/2' modules. I used 1/2" plywood and 2" x 3/4" lumber to build the modules and shelf brackets to fix them to the wall.

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Gary S.

Senior Member
Kurt, I love your area! Yeah, it could be bigger, but it looks like you made excellent use of what you had. And your layout looks super too. The colors look good... I am finding myself being attracted to layouts that make use of lighter rather than darker colors, and yours is nice and bright and well-lit. I will strive to maintain a similar base of colors as I proceed with my layout. Right now, my brown paint over the foam is fairly dark, so I will need to use lighter colors for ground foam and such.

You used the same shelf brackets I did. They work great, but are expensive.

thanks for adding to the thread!
 
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