The space that is the place...

I have previously described the space I have for my eventual layout in a prior post. I'll try not to repeat that post too much here. The space is pretty much as I described it in that post, with two rooms connected by a common wall. The initial space available is about 11' by 27'. Currently, there are three closets along one of the long walls and bookshelves along the other. In addition, there is a sink on the long wall next to the closets. Within one closet is a crawlspace access, which needs to be maintained. However, the closets and sink can be removed from the space (eventually).

Layout Space

On the other side of the bookcase is a family room which can double as a crew lounge. However, the bookcase needs to be retained as is. I am not opposed to that at all, as it provides a lot of space for my train books.

The second room is the garage. It is a four car, double tandem garage, about 38' deep and 24.5' wide. There are four support posts running down the center of the garage. The left wall has the electrical panels for the house on it, and three windows. A sump pump is located in the upper left-hand corner of the garage. The water heater is currently in the center of the garage, along with a workbench (not shown). The water heater can be moved, and the workbench is not needed. On the right wall, along the shared wall between the spaces is a sink and a second washing machine. Also on that wall, but below the door to the initial layout space is the radon venting system. 

Right now, the garage is to be home for my wife's boat and her classic car. The footprints for these items are shown. Right now, the rest of the garage is being used for storage, but that will not need to be the case forever. In theory, that half of the garage is also layout space - although the boat also requires some space for the workshop to maintain and refurbish the boat. Right now, that space simply does not exist. 

The garage faces the rear of our house, with the driveway wrapping around the side of the house to climb a hill to the street. Below the driveway, there is another 9' or so of flat ground before we have a retaining wall that separates the back yard into an upper and lower area. The lower area leads to the Corps of Engineers line, and beyond that, the lake. 

Because we lack the space in the garage for the boat, its trailer, the classic car, the shop area necessary to support the boat, let alone storage yard tools or either of the cars my wife and I regularly use. Because of the configuration of our garage and driveway, the boat actually has to be manually rolled out of the garage and brought to the side of the house. In fact, even backing cars in and out of the garage is a little tricky with the nature of the driveway. 

So, my wife and I have been discussing an eventual idea to build a new garage off the old one. This new garage would extend into the driveway and provide three new stalls for cars/boats. This design would change the garage to a side loading configuration, which I believe will be no more difficult to pull cars in and out of and will likely be easier. The idea is shown below.

Possible "New" Garage

This concept converts the entire current garage to a layout area and a workshop area. The new garage would provide storage space, and space for the boat, the classic car and at least one of our other cars. The extension is not imminent, but it is possible someday. Even if this is not quite the concept that we go with, it seems conceivable that eventually half the garage will become available for a layout. So, I started exploring possible configurations for that space. 

Initial Garage Configuration

In the above configuration, I tried to maximize the amount of the existing garage retained for non-layout purposes. The dividing wall in the garage needs to avoid both the door to the rest of the house and the window on the opposite side of the room. This turns out to require some sort of offset in the wall to make this work. However, with this configuration, the layout side of the garage becomes approximately 22' by 24.5' or about 539 square ft. Combined with the space in the initial layout area (297 square feet) the total layout space becomes approximately 836 square feet. Throughout my arm chair planning, I have consistently desired approximately 800-1200 square feet for the layout (plus a lounge, dispatcher and shop space), so this total is on the low end of what I have always envisioned.

Working with this space, I developed a preliminary benchwork configuration, and sketched out the lowest level of the layout representing Denver Union Station to the Big 10 Curves. 

Initial Layout Benchwork Plan

From here, the layout would reverse itself at the Big 10 curves and retrace its path on a higher deck, ultimately wrapping around the room to connect to a third deck. Lapping around the room again, that third deck would re-enter the initial layout space above North Yard before plunging into the helix and staging. This gives me a layout with one nod under. The nod under would need to be removable, and there would need to be another removable section to provide garage access. Not ideal, but perhaps feasible. 

Because the shared wall between the space is full of plumbing for most of its width, I finally resolved to simply run the layout through the existing doorway. This unfortunately does result in a pinch point for those following their trains, but it and the nod under are each only faced twice during the run of a train, so I think this too is feasible. 

So, I have a concept for the layout and a benchwork configuration for the space. What about the layout? Next time, I will start describing the development of the track plan for this configuration and walk you through the considerations and changes I made as I developed the plan.

Cameron Turner