I just loved these pictures Steve sent in.
Just goes to show, where there’s a will, there’s a way.
I’m short on space but my beloved would strangle me if she came home to the below.
Steve, I think you need have a look at Ted’s woodwork plans and build a cabinet for that sofa!
Many thanks for sharing!
Best
A
Latest ‘ebay cheat sheet is here’.
A novel idea
Very interesting. My wife is letting me use two walls of her home office for my railroad.
“Sofa – so good!” But is it finished? Please couch your reply in easy to understand terms … OO HO !
nice & good Idea
I build 00 and N gauge layouts as a hobby and not ever seen one like this, most of what i do are 6×4 + for people that have a hole room 2 put it in, and 2 see one like this were there is not a lot of space work’s very well.
It’s very pretty and a great idea. In my case, I’d certainly be known a a couch potato if I had a sweet little layout like this.
Remove the sofa and the rest of the furniture in the room and go for it.
very nice. got a rv bed over the driver seat trying to make it my lay out. need help to lay it out. can you help?
Might as well continue into the kitchen so the wife can put a beer on the train for the return trip!!!
Jim, I have a 6 X 7 layout suspended from the ceiling over my King size bed. The winch is in the closet. Works perfect.
I wonder if in your R.V. you could do the same over the dining table. Perhaps a 3 X 6 . The winch could be in the clothing or bathroom cabinet.
I have a “N” with 11.+ diameter track. So, am able to make three circles in lenght and two in width.
You can reply if you wish. fgayon@tampabay.rr.com
Where did you get your back ground pics
Yep,good idea…my cats would love it,lol.
Is this his idea of an “Arm Chair Engineer”
i love it first time seeing anyone do it like that nice work
What a great idea; I love it, Steve. Well done. Maybe I’ll adopt it for my layout. 40 years since my last one!
When is the divorce.
Steve if I tried to duplicate your set up, my wife would divorce me.
excellent it is amazing what you can do in a small space
Steve,
Now just install a 55″ big screen TV with the latest sports package and a refrigerator and you’d never have to leave the livingroom.
Way to go, Man.
Al,
Model railrading is a Christmas season only experience in our home due to my wife’s intolerence of any permanant setup. I created a snowy layout on a 4/8 sheet of plywood several years ago that my older boys spent many a Christmas holiday endjoying (pre-teen years). Each year it had to get put back in the basement crawl space with all the other christmas decorations and so has become worse for the wear. My youngest son (14) is asking me if we can put together a new layout with a Christmas/winter theme as a father/son project. Traditionally our layout has a family Christmas tree involved (wife hasn’t changed her rules) and we would like to try something challanging that has multiple levels but still has a Christmas tree in the center of the layout (I am talking about a 7 foot artificial tree). I am hoping to build something that can be erected and taken down with only a little trouble. I want the lattitude to (if I choose) leave it set up in the corner of the basement (sans Shristmas tree) during the non-holiday season. I want to make sure it is not too overwelming to haul back up into the living room each Christmas season. Any suggestions for layouts, or photos to share would be helpful.
Thanks
Kevin
Love It. Especially the surround sound speaker. Does it double for train sound-effects? I would hide it as a boulder. Have a small 1 BR apartment that I share with the Ms. Haven’t put one together yet still pushing the boundaries to see how far I can go.
DIVORCE would definitely be on the cards for me, even if I came inside the house.
i would like to get mine out of the small bed room and do what has been done here the wife would kick me out and it snowing lol
Nice one! I have an 8’x4′ layout in my front room! Lol
I love the comments. I have been laughing for a 1/2 hour. Seems we all have the same problems. Women with no sense of humour!
Bye the way Dave. This is a great site and I appreciate all of the tips, comments and ideas. I live north of Toronto and it’s snowing and dropping down to minus 30 C tonight. The wife has gone out to a meeting and I’m putting together a proto 2000 covered hopper kit. Life is good.
What do you mean, “women have no sense of humour”? I bought my husband a slot car set, and put it up in the living room on a 4×8. He then bought me my first train set that I had wanted since the age of four (I’m 76). That went up in the sun room, and the hot tub cover is full of supplies with which to build structures. We’ve since acquired an additional 93 (yes, that is ninety three) engines and cars from a man who wanted my son to put them on ebay. We have added a room to the house. No kidding, we had the carport enclosed for a train room. We are excited. No sense of humour? I laugh every time I enter the living and sun rooms! No one has more fun than we. I can’t wait to get that hot tub back, though. We can burn candles, sip wine (we’re old; not dead) and view the train room.
I had my HO on the living room ceiling built like a bridge it was 14FT by 13 FT on 6 inch wide 1 inch thick wood it gave us a 6 ft 5 inch clearance to walk under it . Itwas single track the one wall I used shelf brackets and had a town with sidings ect when I took the metal down off the ceiling I had plans to put it back up but my partner died and Ive never done it its hanging up out in my shop building .I now am building out of 1×1 by 1/8 angle steel a out door G LGB railway it will be 24 inches off the ground to be able to mow under it will post pics if I ever get it done
Awesome…..Great job………..Is it finished?
GREAT JOB!!! BUT MY WIFE WILL SEND ME IN THE GARDEN!!
Blue Tack leaves greasy stains on walls! Lots of blobs holding up your scenery. Nice idea though…..I’m just looking at my sofa. lol
I warned my wife before we got married and gave her the choice before I gave her the ring… My reward? I have had a layout of one size or another in every location we have lived in for the past 28 years! Two have been in spare bedrooms, two in the master bedroom, two in the living room, one in the dining room on an edge table.
Just asked the wife if I can start a similar project !!
however the answer is not printable on here ;0
Hi Kevin , build your layout on 4 x 2 feet boards that join together then it becomes easy to transport. That is how we build all the layouts at my rail club for easy transport to shows.
Creativity, good sense and humor. Model railroaders
should run governments! We’d all be a lot better off!!
js
My wife would kill me.
my wife would leave me lol
Has anyone thought of a layout that hangs on the back of a door? I am looking at an idea of utilizing some velux window hinges and a 6 foot x 2 ft 3 inch board on the inside of a cupboard or bedroom door.
I thought of one on pulleys descending over the bath (Convenient seat next to it) but thats impractical. Any advice welcome.
Keep them coming! D/
A nifty and practical solution, for your trains. Now push the envelope a bit and build err. I mean plan a branch line out to the ottoman, or maybe the coffee table. Using a 1×4 board thats detachable. Or maybe a car float, to the island @ coffee table or ottaman. Let her think the Island project is her idea. Coffee table island setup could be built as a piece of furniture. But above all A.O.T.W.
kevin,,circular,and light weight styrene foam sheets 2″ thick cut into modules to suite the tree easy to store and should be in great shape next year johnA
Made N/gauge railway with two engines going either way for my boy when he was 4 years old, he lost interest after a few months so I took over, now he’s over 46 those two engines are still going and given me lost of pleasure over these years. Was 4×2 now 16 x 12, over 60 loco’s well now retired gives me something to think about apart from caravan holidays. Everyone should have some kind of a hobby. Well what ever you do with your time enjoy as life too short not to. TC
Love it! Add a spur to the kitchen and build a beer delivery flat car. You’ll be set for football season (either US/Canada or,as we say, Soccer)
I have not built my layout yet. I have too many other projects and chores first. I want a 4×8 layout, probably hinged to a wall in my garage. I had a 4×4 layout that we set our Christmas tree in the middle. HO gauge for 15 years and switched to the largest gauge(don’t remember what gauge. It got too heavy so I threw it out. I’m 80 years old and My next project is finishing a kit car. Ford Cobra.
Nice warm living room, your a lucky guy only the shed for me.
Brilliant railway well done.
Luckly I was a real estate agent and when remarried my second wife took to model rail roading, hence the negotiated air rights over her household office desk for part of an O gauge layout.
Great job there Steve, own i have seen the first pic of your lay out. Thanks for showing it. Now back to your second showing of your layout. Great job.
Keep on trucking and keep it on the rails.
SDG St.Petersburg Fl USA
When we built our current home, I made sure my wife was happy with the layout and then told her I only wanted one room for my trains. after 17 years, my 22′ X 22′ room is still waiting for a complete layout because life has a way of intervening and derailing the best intentions. Now all I need is some good train buddies to help me ‘get ‘er done” as they say on an American TV show. Any helpers out there in North Carolina close to Charlotte? Keep on tracking!