Building the "Perfect" Layout Room

[ncbqguy]

A point to think about......

....Inkaneer commented that the larger the layout the more the maintenance..... which is generally true.

However, one could build a larger layout with narrow shelves (i.e., not a great deal of scenery behind or in front of the tracks) for most of the railroad and strongly resist the temptation to pile in turnouts.

This would give you a railroad with some running space in between towns..... and for the most part, plain old track doesn't cause maintenance headaches, turnouts do.

Railroads are linear things..... and with DCC which projects you into the cab of the locomotive, you don't really take in Grand Vistas when you are operating.   Even a conventional railroad like the Reid Brothers' Cumberland Valley System breaks down into scenes that you'd see from the cab of the locomotive when you're running a train.   It is only if you get out of the train or away from the trackside railfanning vantage point and get into a helicopter that a higher scenery to track ratio becomes important.

Another advantage of a long, narrow railroad is that it is faster to build..... shelf brackets and simple modules that can be bench-built instead of extensive legs/stringer benchwork.   And everything is up front with no reaching to get to a derailed car or work on something.

Charlie Vlk

[John]

I agree 100% Charlie ..

[Bob Bufkin]

John, that sounds like your layout.  Most of the problems does seem to happen on a turnout somewhere.

[John]

John, that sounds like your layout.  Most of the problems does seem to happen on a turnout somewhere.

[inkaneer]

A point to think about......

....Inkaneer commented that the larger the layout the more the maintenance..... which is generally true.

However, one could build a larger layout with narrow shelves (i.e., not a great deal of scenery behind or in front of the tracks) for most of the railroad and strongly resist the temptation to pile in turnouts.

This would give you a railroad with some running space in between towns..... and for the most part, plain old track doesn't cause maintenance headaches, turnouts do.

Railroads are linear things..... and with DCC which projects you into the cab of the locomotive, you don't really take in Grand Vistas when you are operating.   Even a conventional railroad like the Reid Brothers' Cumberland Valley System breaks down into scenes that you'd see from the cab of the locomotive when you're running a train.   It is only if you get out of the train or away from the trackside railfanning vantage point and get into a helicopter that a higher scenery to track ratio becomes important.

Another advantage of a long, narrow railroad is that it is faster to build..... shelf brackets and simple modules that can be bench-built instead of extensive legs/stringer benchwork.   And everything is up front with no reaching to get to a derailed car or work on something.

Charlie Vlk

But Charlie, maintenance is not just about fixin things.  There is also the routinue maintenance dirt, dust, pet dander, etc. all needs cleaning.  That nice Appalachian forest  doesn't look too good covered with dust.  Neither does that nice river you spent all that time on.  And sitting down going through the contents of your shop vac looking for trees or detail parts is not most people's idea of fun.   Then there is the layout room itself.   

[Bruce Bird]

I think if you build a narrow shelf layout like Charlie mentions you will indeed have less to clean and less to maintain.  I manage to use a hell of a lot of thinned Elmers on scenery items so when I vaccuum the layout the details don't end up in the bag.

Keep the lights on a separate circuit from the layout power, and if you plan on having special lighting for the layout you might want to have a 'regular' circuit for the 'regular' lighting set up for a bedroom.  Ater leaving it can be used for a ceiling fan or a desktop light circuit.

Nice to see you on here, Charlie!  Greeting from central Illinois!

Bruce

[inkaneer]

I think if you build a narrow shelf layout like Charlie mentions you will indeed have less to clean and less to maintain.  I manage to use a hell of a lot of thinned Elmers on scenery items so when I vaccuum the layout the details don't end up in the bag.

Keep the lights on a separate circuit from the layout power, and if you plan on having special lighting for the layout you might want to have a 'regular' circuit for the 'regular' lighting set up for a bedroom.  Ater leaving it can be used for a ceiling fan or a desktop light circuit.

Nice to see you on here, Charlie!  Greeting from central Illinois!

How much less do you want?  You could just skip the scenery altogether and just have track.  That will make the routinue maintenance simple.  Just run a vacuum cleaner over it.  I know of people who have done exactly that and for that reason.   Or you can just plop down some Unitrack.  That would be the ultimate in flexibility and simplicity.  But add some scenery and the complexity begins.  So how much complexity do you want or don't want?   Also, how wide is your shelf?  A three foot wide shelf is about the limit of one's reach.  A two foot wide shelf is no wider than an Ntrak module.   A one foot shelf imposes its own limits on additional trackage and scenery.   So it becomes sort of a balancing act of finding the right mix that one is comfortable with.   Most of the time people who build layouts do not take into consideration the upkeep and simple maintenance requirements before hand.
 
Bruce

[Hyperion]

Okay, let's hop on the 'maintenance' issue.  Specifically -- Dust.

Any good ideas on how to minimize it?  My layout/modeling room is always sealed off from the rest of the house with a door that's only open for the minimal time it takes me to enter the room (to keep the dog/cats out) and even after living in the current house for 4yrs, things that haven't been moved in all that time have only the slightest amount of dust on them.  It'd be a sealed room, not a basement, so things like drop-ceilings would be unnecessary.  Any useful 'dust attractors' out there?  I've got no qualms running a small air cleaner if it's actually useful for trapping dust rather than actually just blowing it around which would only be worse.

My paint booth is a big 250CFM Paasche unit and I've never had even the slightest issue with any vapor/residue resulting from insufficient suction there.  In the past it's been vented out of an insert I built for a window (which allows a small amount of dust to enter), but as I mentioned, I'll be doing a proper vent for that now.

I think I will go the stained concrete route as mentioned previously.  I believe the lack of carpet should help control the dust immensely.

[inkaneer]

Okay, let's hop on the 'maintenance' issue.  Specifically -- Dust.

Any good ideas on how to minimize it?  My layout/modeling room is always sealed off from the rest of the house with a door that's only open for the minimal time it takes me to enter the room (to keep the dog/cats out) and even after living in the current house for 4yrs, things that haven't been moved in all that time have only the slightest amount of dust on them.  It'd be a sealed room, not a basement, so things like drop-ceilings would be unnecessary.  Any useful 'dust attractors' out there?  I've got no qualms running a small air cleaner if it's actually useful for trapping dust rather than actually just blowing it around which would only be worse.

My paint booth is a big 250CFM Paasche unit and I've never had even the slightest issue with any vapor/residue resulting from insufficient suction there.  In the past it's been vented out of an insert I built for a window (which allows a small amount of dust to enter), but as I mentioned, I'll be doing a proper vent for that now.

I think I will go the stained concrete route as mentioned previously.  I believe the lack of carpet should help control the dust immensely.

My wife bought a new house.  Everything we need is on one floor.   There is aa second floor with two bedrooms and a bath and extra room that is only used when my daughter and her family comes in from out of state.   You would think that underthose conditions the upstairs would not get dusty.  You would be wrong.   Dust is like crap.  It happens.  Where I used to work we had a "clean" room.  Everyone there had to have a special pair of shoes that they wore only in the "clean" room and then only with paper "booties" over them.  On a regular basis the "clean" room was [you guessed it] cleaned.  Now you can minimalize the cleaning needed and staining the concrete will go along way but don't think you can eliminate the need for cleaning.  Dirt happens.

[DKS]

Considering that up to or over half of ordinary household dust consists of dead skin cells, it's pretty hard to escape the problem.

A friend of mine created a "cocoon" for his layout, which he deployed when he was doing dusty kinds work. The system consisted of polyethylene sheets rolled onto tubes hung from the ceiling, with one end of each sheet attached to the valance. When he needed to seal up the layout, he unhooked the rolls and they unfurled to the floor. After a while it became more trouble than it was worth, so now he just keeps a shop vac on hand.

[fifer]

Yes +1 for pocket door and in my room I have A/C into the room in the center with NO return in the room and keep door closed. Also use allergy type filters in the A/C.
The no return keeps the room under pressure some of the time which keeps more dust out.
Even though it is a room out of half the garage I rarely have track cleaning issues.
Mike

[m301]

Try using a stove's overhead exhaust instead of the laundry tube exhast. It'll have a built in fan and cost a little more but you'll be happier.

[wm3798]

My room in the attic is typically sealed off with a door.  It's sheetrocked and insulated, and there's a window a/c unit that runs on low pretty much all the time.  I do get a thin skim of dust, but I also try to keep the trains running on a fairly regular basis, which is probably the surest way to keep your railheads shiny.

On occasion I'll take the handy vac out and sweep up along the ROW, but otherwise, It's not that much of a chore.

Lee

[Bsklarski]

Yes +1 for pocket door and in my room I have A/C into the room in the center with NO return in the room and keep door closed. Also use allergy type filters in the A/C.
The no return keeps the room under pressure some of the time which keeps more dust out.
Even though it is a room out of half the garage I rarely have track cleaning issues.
Mike

Yes, that is something I did in the basement of my old house, I had an enclosed room and with a coal furnace in the next room, keeping positive pressure into the hobby room pretty much kept out all the the dust

Also don't forget not only to use metal for your vents and duct work, but don't use a blower with plastic blades, ect.