Amoskeag Northern - Conrail Portland (PRO&C) Line Engineering Thread

[Ian MacMillan]

Well everything is official and we are buying a new house. All we are waiting for is the appraisal from the loaning bank and then it is just the wait for the closing which will be no later than July 26. I had the closing date set earlier but we had an issue with the first bank not being on their A game and I had to switch banks and push my closing out because I would be on vacation in Alaska from July 10-24. I just need to drop a few trees and I will have a lovely view of Mt. Washington and Lake Winnipesaukee from my master bath whirlpool tub.

The house has a lovely walkout 64'x31' basement...that just seems to be missing a layout, so we are going to have to fix that. I have decided to split the basement up into 5 rooms.
1. Workshop - from walkout basement door, houses workshop stuff and the Harley
2. Office - Office and model RR workshop
3. Playroom - Required by order of female of the house
4. Utility Room - Houses furnace and electrical panel.
5. Layout Room - Unobstructed space 10-15' wide by 40' Long.




Currently all the rooms are laid out in one way or another. The playroom, which shares a wall with what will become the layout room  needs to be moved. As it is, it makes this weird space that is only about 5-6' wide. I have no clue why the previous owners did it, but I will have to move that wall into the playroom a tad so that the layout can at least have some room and a minimum of 4' for aisles.

I am thinking of moving the door at the bottom of the stairs so that you do not have to go into the workshop in order to get to the rest of the rooms. I'm thinking of removing the door, walling it off, and then opening up the other wall and have it go into the hallway, and put a a door at the end of the hallway that opens into the workshop. I think it will flow better.

The "train room" does not have any doors at this point as the room ends are just open. I am open to all options as to where to put the door. I want to have a layout with lower level staging, and not too much of an elevation change, so I am thinking a U shaped layout with a few turn helix at each end of the U to get down to staging. The staging would have a through track for continuous running.

The little bump in the Playroom has a spot where a wood stove was. I will be placing a pellet stove here.

I think that the train room with a 10-15'x40' foot print is just about right. Its not too big and its not small. I learned my lesson from my old 22'x45' layout that it just wasn't planned right and was more than I could handle.

Whats it about?
The Portland Line (PRO&C) is the name of the main line that the modular layout's industrial trackage came off of in New Hampton.  Read here for a full run down on how the line was created: http://www.amoskeagnorthern.com/v3/index.php/about-the-layout

Like pointed out on my post in the SIB Engineering Thread, I have yet to decide if I want to go east or west of New Hampton on what I want to model. I do know that I want a double track main line that has been knocked down to single track with long passing sidings. I also would like to add a pretty good representation of the Cascade paper mill (maybe on a slight bumpout into the aisle so you can work around it.

What has DKS for ideas! 

[DKS]

Congrats on the new house! And especially a house with a nice big basement.

It's not clear from your description what all exists in the way of rooms, what doesn't, and what can/can't be changed. So, at the risk of presenting something impractical or impossible, FWIW this is what I'd do with the space (best to get the room arrangement settled before delving into track planning):



Since one ordinarily does not require frequent access to the utility space, you can gain just a little layout area--not that you necessarily need it to be significantly larger, just perhaps more interestingly shaped--by relocating the utility room access within a relocated office. This buys you an L-shaped layout space without sacrificing much playroom area.

Just a thought. Ball back in your court.

[C855B]

It would also be good to know where the support columns are. I can't imagine that it would all be free span across 30'.

[Ian MacMillan]

The image in the OP is how the basement is set up now. The train room is only about 5-6' deep at this point so I would move the wall "south" to increase its size. So the wall that the train room and the play room shares can be moved at any time.

We cant move the office to the bottom right corner as that is where the hearth for the wood stove, and replacement pellet stove, is. I do like how you have it drawn though, unfortunately.

The support columns are set at the exact center , so 15'6". How far apart down the 64' they are I can't remember at this point and will have to check this week. If its anything like my old house its probably around 12' spacing.

[DKS]

I figured. OK, so here's my approach given the givens. I'd see if it's at all possible to move the utility room door, because I see that as having the greatest negative impact on usable layout area. Then, use the lolly column line to form the layout room wall for roughly a third of its length. On the drawing below, I've marked it with arrows, indicating that the diagonal wall section (which is diagonal in order to "soften" the layout's intrusion into the playroom) would be positioned in order to work best with the column locations. The layout room door might also have to shift a little owing to the columns.

[C855B]

The space seems to be broken up in odd ways, not following structural supports which then interfere with otherwise open space. What's the deal with the office not extending to the center line? 10 years ago we had a house with a mostly-finished basement broken up oddly like this, and I wanted to take a Sawzall to the columns.

Anyway, I'm with David's revised version. If possible, move the diagonal as much to the left as you can, leaving about 3'6" of pinch against the office wall.

Bearing in mind that I'm Mr. Deconstruction: is there a purpose behind keeping the "office"? Unless one of you is working from home, it sort of seems like wasted subdivision of space to me. I would take down the current walls and make it a cove facing the stairwell with an equivalent closet space - IOW, rotate the office 90° counterclockwise. This way you can move the diagonal further "west" and also add significantly to the playroom space. Like so:



The one bug I can envision is a sanitary stack hidden in one of the office walls, the problem which frustrated my efforts to redefine the space in our old house.

[S Class]

Maybe, if possible, have the door to the utility room facing south instead of west (i.e down the page not facing to the left as drawn) that leaves that wall free, so you could have a nice buffet unit to store toys, excess crockery or for when you suddenly decide to build a new staging yard or branch line shunting extension along the wall as the first step towards the conquest of the basement MuhaHAHA! 

[DKS]

Bearing in mind that I'm Mr. Deconstruction: is there a purpose behind keeping the "office"? ...I would take down the current walls and make it a cove facing the stairwell with an equivalent closet space...

I can definitely see the advantage of having a separate "office" as a workshop, and if it was me, I'd want to have one, too. For one thing, an open workshop facing the playroom creates the awkward aesthetic of having the workshop environment "intruding" into the playroom. The enclosed office affords much more storage space as well, all of which will remain neatly hidden from view. Plus, everything is safely protected from little fingers, paws or projectiles that may be in the playroom.

[basementcalling]

I figured. OK, so here's my approach given the givens. I'd see if it's at all possible to move the utility room door, because I see that as having the greatest negative impact on usable layout area. Then, use the lolly column line to form the layout room wall for roughly a third of its length. On the drawing below, I've marked it with arrows, indicating that the diagonal wall section (which is diagonal in order to "soften" the layout's intrusion into the playroom) would be positioned in order to work best with the column locations. The layout room door might also have to shift a little owing to the columns.

Looks pretty doable although I would consider how to get the materials for the layout into that room. As configured it looks like you would have a couple standard width doors and a narrow hall to navigate down with plywood or other materials.

If there is space could some staging be placed in the utility room? Always good to free up more space for finished scenes.

The space above the area labeled workshop seems wasted in this configuration unless the plan is to make this a mud room or other dedicated entrance room. Even so, it might not need to be quite so wide.

I would also be sure the door to the train room is far enough from the utility room wall to leave enough space for a loop configuration of some kind. Sometimes architects leave a foot or two between wall and door which doesn't do much for a layout other than provide space for a branch terminal.

New basements are fun. Congrats on the roof over the trains.

[DKS]

Looks pretty doable although I would consider how to get the materials for the layout into that room. As configured it looks like you would have a couple standard width doors and a narrow hall to navigate down with plywood or other materials.

If there is space could some staging be placed in the utility room? Always good to free up more space for finished scenes.

The space above the area labeled workshop seems wasted in this configuration unless the plan is to make this a mud room or other dedicated entrance room. Even so, it might not need to be quite so wide.

I would also be sure the door to the train room is far enough from the utility room wall to leave enough space for a loop configuration of some kind. Sometimes architects leave a foot or two between wall and door which doesn't do much for a layout other than provide space for a branch terminal.

New basements are fun. Congrats on the roof over the trains.

I would envision bringing in bulk materials before walls are finished. I'd also install a 36-inch door for the layout room. A few extra inches on a door can make a big difference (ask me how I know).

The "space above the area labeled workshop" isn't a separate space; it's all workshop. The red line is the lolly column line; see the drawings further up the thread.

[3DTrains]

Pffft - I say ban everyone else upstairs and take the entire space!

[mcjaco]

Congrat Ian!  We're off too look at houses this afternoon, as our forth offer (the first two sucked, the third was from someone that had filed bankruptcy three years ago) looks to be good.  Inspection is scheduled for tomorrow, with our closing on Aug. 1.  YIKES!

Told the wife I have to have at least a sub-basement to have an HCD at minimum....so in other words, I'm jealous!  And I have the same "must have a playroom" mantra as well. 

[DKS]

How far apart down the 64' they are I can't remember at this point and will have to check this week. If its anything like my old house its probably around 12' spacing.

For modern construction, I'm betting every 16'. That would put the columns at the dots (hit Refresh to see them):



If so, I'd move the diagonal part of the layout room wall to the left to coincide with the center column.

[Ian MacMillan]

I will try and get final measurements this Friday when we will be at the house for the appraisal.

I want to keep the office as I like to have my computers and my modeling done away from everything else.  I also use my office to work from home at when I have extensive investigation case loads, storage of firearms and uniforms, etc, so I'd like to keep this all out of sight out of mind.

For modern construction, I'm betting every 16'.

Let's hope so. My old house, which I had built in 2006 had them every 12... but then again it was only supposed to have 2 under the stairs  but the contractor did not read the plans calling for a steel beam and not wood...

Staging:
I want staging under the layout and not in a separate room. My old layout had it in the utility room and it was a pain in the a$$. I would much rather a double helix with it right under, so that you can get to it quickly and it can hold a large amount of trains.

Workshop:
That space needs to stay open as DKS stated its all work shop. It's also where my HD Road King and all its accessories are going so it needs to have room to move around. The single exterior door will be replaced with a french door to make bringing in the bike easier.

[mcjaco]

I want to keep the office as I like to have my computers and my porn away from everything else. 

Fixed.