Did any one use New England type of "Yankee work shop" used as a train room?

Norm's Yankee Workshop is on the ground floor, no one wants to carry lumber upstairs.

"Ask this old House" does use an "upstairs" style set, but they never seem to carry anything up.

Upstairs loft type rooms do offer more private space and better security than ground level sheds or barns.

A friend who has this type of room, likes the ability to go from home to his train train room over his attached 3 car garage without going outside.

I have a newer New England colonial in NH with a fully finished hvac climate controlled 3rd floor attic, 16'x40'. YEP, lots of stairs but it's the only space for me at this time, it works just fine.

Sounds like a great space for a train layout to me. I have everything in the basement here, but a conditioned space over the garage sounds like a really neat space to have a train layout. Shouldn't have to worry about the sump pump failing and flooding the place up there either. Good luck with your home purchase, hope it all works out for you.

Gentlemen thank you for the replies. I am sorry that have gone back to you earlier but I sick as a dog and flat on back. This the first day that I was able to get back on my feet.

Hi Kris, I use the upper floor of a post and beam garage for the layout. I have found a few challanges

but so far it has been good decision. The biggest issue for me is that there is no climate control so 

working in a parka during the winter is a lot of fun. The biggest impact on layout design is the 

slope of the roof and how to avoid not loosing a lot of floor square footage. The first concesion was

the height of the benchwork had to be limited to 40 inches to ultimately provide enough clearance

for rolling stock on the upper level. The other impact of the roof slope/open rafters was I decided to

use a valance/view block with the switch control panels. All in all I'm happy with the outcome. Good luck

with your house hunting. Mike

Hi Mike

Thanks for the pictures. That is more or less a similar situation with I have with the property I am look at.  I was hoping to insulate it, have a pot bell wood stove in the corner to heat it and an A/C window unit to cool it.

PRRMike posted:

Hi Kris, I use the upper floor of a post and beam garage for the layout. I have found a few challanges but so far it has been good decision. The biggest issue for me is that there is no climate control so working in a parka during the winter is a lot of fun. The biggest impact on layout design is the slope of the roof and how to avoid not loosing a lot of floor square footage. The first concesion was the height of the benchwork had to be limited to 40 inches to ultimately provide enough clearance for rolling stock on the upper level. The other impact of the roof slope/open rafters was I decided to use a valance/view block with the switch control panels. All in all I'm happy with the outcome. Good luck with your house hunting. Mike

Mike:

Thanks for posting these.  My layout is being built in space that's very similar to yours ... and I'm facing the same challenges (slope of the roof, freezing in winter, hot in summer, etc.).

I hadn't thought to make use of the space between the rafters the way you did with the switch panels.  That's very creative.

Thanks again for posting.

Steven J. Serenska