Notes on Designing, Building and Operating Model Railroads

I have just moved to a new state and have the opportunity to start anew on my hobby ‘career’. The first few months of 2009 has been spent packing up a lifetime of accumulated material and efforts, and moving it to a new place in the greater Cleveland, Ohio, area.

From a modeling standpoint, there have been many aspects to consider in preparation for the move. A primary interest is space for a hobby area. I quickly found my model railroad was more than just the layout. Workspace is an important function which can encompass a paint booth, kit and part storage, hardware storage, lighting, and tools. Taking inventory of spaces can and should be a part of the house hunting process. Compromises will need to be made in order to find the best fit.

As it were, my wife and I found a great a house within 20 miles of her new job, which was the primary reason for this move. The home is charismatic and historic, with five bedrooms and nearly three acres of land. As model railroaders, we look first for possible space such as a basement. The new place is lacking in traditional model railroad spaces. The basement functions as the furnace and water utility space, with very low floor joists at head level and an uneven concrete floor. The garage was a decent size, but the garage is for cars in this snow belt. A set of rambling, connected sheds sit behind the garage in poor shape. This shed needs to be leveled, but the footprint is an impressive 20 x 35 (approx.).

So, I made compromises. Long term, there are possibilities to erect a dedicated hobby and workshop on the shed space. To get efforts rolling, I’ve chosen one of the five bedrooms as a model building room. I have realized the compromises made in this move have enabled new opportunities. It seems I have a clean slate. A couple of layout ideas are gathering momentum and I look forward to sharing these here.

Recent motivation and inspiration has come via a Byron Henderson clinic handout from the recent Pacific Coast Region NMRA convention. I have enjoyed his layout design insight and perspectives for several years. You can find the handout on this page of his Layout Vision web site. The link for the “Layout Design Step-by-Step Clinic Handout” PDF file is in the center column towards the bottom of the page. He sums up key points in hardly a page and a half. I have followed a similar process on past projects, but it is great to have it nearby for reference and inspiration. Believe it or not, work has already begun on the new model building room. I’ll have some update posts soon.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 27th, 2009 at 18:54 and is filed under designing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.