Looks Like We Just Purchased a Nice Size Ranch House with my own Train Room!

Congratulations Dave I wish you the best ,not to hijack your thread but I'm buying a house to in Upstate New York I'm in contract now it's 3000 square foot Ranch and half the basement will be all mine approximately 750 to 800 square feet I can't wait good luck and keep us posted with pics as time goes on

Congratulations from your Friends in the Hobby, from Tennessee...It's wonderful to have a Train Room, but a New Home (New to You) to You and Your Family is a God Given Blessing.  Please keep us updated with your progress on your Dream Layout in your New Home.....Fantastic News....Happy Railroading.

Gentlemen,

   Was able to take a picture of the new Train Room while I was in the new home yesterday.  I am definitely looking forward to this coming Christmas in the new home, and to having a permanent layout in the new Game Room/Bar.

PCRR/Dave

Definitely looking for some building suggestions!  Not just sure how I am going to approach Engineering this layout.  Over to the left of the picture, which I will show later, is a 14' wall with 2 different doors leading to the 16' x 16' laundry room, which I might be able to run a nice size loop joining the Game Room layout.  All kinds of possibilities, and the rooms are also LED lighted.  Only 3 plugs in the  Bar/Game Room, I will need to install some additional plugs for sure.   Might consider an additional small loop right on the Bar, as in the Movie Donavan's Reef. Which is one of my favorite movies of all time.

Brand new Hickory Flooring, the Log Burning Fire place works perfectly.  I will however turn it into a Natural Gas Fire Place in the future.  Retro 1950's Bar updated to be brand spanking new.  200 Amp Service with lots of additional Breakers, you can see the Breaker Box, door open behind the Bar at the far end.  Real nice retro 50's stone work in front of the Fire Place and under the Bar, for any Bar spillage or Fire Place sparks.  A dream come true Man Cave in our new home for me.

Dave, The room looks great!!  I can't wait to see what you are going to do with it!!  Congratulations again!!

Dave....and now the fun begins. That military train of yours will now be given proper running room!!!!! Congrats.

Rick

#1  Stock the bar. The rest will be easier.

#2 Enlist child labor (yours or others) for (outdoor) yard work and snow shoveling.  This allows for more time for the layout.

Dave,

I know you said on the bar, but, I can see it now....

The guys love watching the trains go by.  Anyway, I know you'll have a blast working it all out and putting it all together.  

Best wishes,

Jerry

You one lucky man there Dave! I cant wait to fallow your build!

Gentlemen,

   Thanks much for all the great positive comments.  It is going to be a while until the Layout Building starts, we do not move into our new home until after July 12th.  We will need to settle in before I will even start planning.  I figure some time after Thanksgiving I will be able to actually start constructing the layout.  

Thanks again guys!

PCRR/Dave

Great plan there Dave! get settled try your new bar and fire place out! Sure looks like a great place to do some planning!  Plus this way it will give you something to do during the winter! LOL 

Dave,

Congratulations.  You are just a couple of miles from me.  Keep me posted as to your plans,etc.  You and your wife will have to come over for a visit to our place.  Bart and Patrick live here in Murrysville too.

Good luck.

Norm

Put a loop of track down and run a train !!

Dave,

Conratulations on your new home!  And also congrats to our Penguins!  Need 4 more wins.

Bill

WftTrains posted:

Dave,

Conratulations on your new home!  And also congrats to our Penguins!  Need 4 more wins.

Bill

You got that right Bill on both counts!

Hey, congratulations! Sounds like you will have a very nice train room there. Good luck with the move and getting going on your train layout. Put your train stuff in the layout room right away and take up the entire room before someone else tries to claim space in there!! Good luck with the move and layout building.

And just a small warning, we moved to a new house almost 4 years ago and I am still recovering (and looking for stuff). We had lived in our previous home for 35 years...I am never moving again!!

Awesome.  Congrats!  Go Pens!

Norm,

   Thanks much, sometime we will have to get together.  We will definitely need to get the Train guys together in Murrysville and run some Trains.   If you are driving around take a look at the new place, 5128 Logan Ferry Rd.  

Gentlemen,

    Thanks much for all the nice comments on the new place, to say the least we are very excited about moving!  Hope all you guys will be able to come to the house warming, I will let you know here on the OGR when it happens!

Go Pens!

PCRR/Dave

OGR house warming!  Count me in!!  I still haven't met a number of local guys in person, including you Dave!

E-Unit79,

   I missed your prior post until I reread the thread, no need to worry about Hi-Jacking the post, we are all friendly here and hope you are enjoying your newly purchased home in NY!  How about some pictures buddy!  Congrats on the fantastic area to build your layout, it should really be fantastic, looking forward to the build pictures big time!

RTR12,

   I already have plans to stack a bunch of Train stuff all over the Train room, so there is absolutely no doubt the Bar & Fire Place will have all the O gauge Trains running around it.  

I am very fortunate to have a Better Half that appreciates my hobbies, from Trains to Double guns to Grouse Dogs to Bamboo Fly Rods, she supports my way of life, and I support hers.  

Just one of her incredible Symphony quality Fiddles is worth more than everything else we own, and the Talent God blessed her with to play it, goes far beyond any talent I possess.  Her 1st words when seeing the room with the Bar & Fire Place was, there is the Train Room you always wanted, you earned it.  

This will be our last move, we will live out the rest of our lives here, we can take all the time in the world to re-find things the movers will definitely mis-place.  Thanks for the warning, I will remember your kind advise. 

Life is great when you have a good Mate.

PCRR/Dave

Do ya think I should push my luck and try to take over the living room with the Stone Fire Place and Picture Window, the Trains would look seriously cool in there, maybe around the Christmas Tree in front of the big Window.  What evil lurks in the Hearts of Men, only the Shadow knows!  He would never stand a chance she would carve him up like a Christmas Turkey.

Great buy there Dave! But one thing is true, you are going to need a big lawn mower! Or somebody to do it for you! Me I like mowing lawn, LOL

Mike G,

  One of my wife's close friends owns the Kubota Tractor business just down the road from the house, was out yesterday lining up a new Kubota Tractor, with a mowing deck and Front End Loader to take care of the work around the new place.  For the most part I will take care of my own property, however I do plan to employ a little help from William next door who has his own lawn care business.  Almost a full acre of land to take care of now.  Plan on a nice size Shed behind the house to store tools and the Kubota Tractor in.

I was very lucky the way this all came together, I wanted out of Churchill for a long time. However it was so convenient that I had a hard time convincing my better half that we needed to move further out into Westmoreland county.  We already had our Ranch Type Log Cabin in Potter County, where I have my Gun Dog and Fly Fishing business, so she wanted to keep our main home just outside of Pittsburgh.  Fortunately she has relatives and symphony friends in Murrysville.  We both wanted a nice size Ranch House on one floor to help safe guard my better half, we are not 25 years old any more, and it seems all the girls in her family have stair falling accidents as the age.   This new home should fully eliminate that problem.  

I know things will be insane moving out of a home we have owned for over 35 years, my wife has so much Symphony stuff, even her own Mirror Glass Ball for the stage shows she use to put on.  Of course I have so much OGR stuff I could fill a moving truck just with it alone.  We have decided to employ a moving company to move the bulk of our furniture, then were will move all the smaller items our selves, hopefully with a little family help.

Come visit me in the nearest mental institution!

PCRR/Dave

Dave I am really happy for you and the wife. We also have a home with no stairs and I wouldn't go any other way. I think you have a great plan on your land care and I also take pride on how our yard looks. Having a moving company is a great idea, just a heads up, the things you really care about that are smaller in size move yourself. We had a moving company and somethings went missing or got broken.

Best of luck and please keep us all posted!

Nice going, Dave.  It's refreshing to see a conservative home that retains its original styling, rather than the McMansions that sellers usually turn such bungalows into for flipping purposes.  If it was located in my neighborhood, on an acre, you'd be looking at over $1.5 million.

Until you've converted an attic into layout living space, you can never fully appreciate the convenience of a finished basement.  Hope you and the missus are very happy there.

Bruce

Mike G,

   Roger the moving our treasured family items our selves.  Moved so many times as a Military CID Special Agent that I learned the hard way that your advise is definitely sound.  

BRWebster,

Bruce thanks for the nice complements, I really appreciate owning this piece of property, no doubt about it.  

No way am I ever going to build or help build another attic layout.  My back still hurts from the one my buddy did long ago.  I am glad our new home has a 1st level Bar Room large enough for the layout I want to engineer.  I have this idea about running the train layout thru the Bar like a big tunnel, coming out semi close to the Fire Place, going straight thru the room, passing thru the door to the next room, looping around and coming back into the Bar Room.  In this way I will be able to make a big 072 loop for my JLC Brunswick Green TMCC GG1, that will pull our Military Train or the big NASA Train.

I am definitely excited about planning this layout, haven't even moved in yet and my engineering mind is working over time on the design.  My wife says I need to slow down before I end up in a rubber room.  I tell her what the heck I can engineer from there there too.

PCRR/Dave

Can you see the Track entering the end of the 22' Bar and exiting on the far end about the 3rd Panel of the Bar.  With an additional small layout on the Bar Top, like in Donavan's Reef.  With my Father's original 263E Work Train fully displayed on the long Fire Place Mantel.  It's going to be seriously cool!  

Booze goes swell with Lionel.

Very nice Dave. Exciting times, have fun with it.

larry

Dave Zucal posted:

That's great Dave. It will be awesome running trains on a cold winter's night with that fire place going. How about the basement? Most ranch style homes have a full open basement. If your's does, once your layout out grows the room, build a helix down into the basement. 

Dave, Is this Helix part of your layout? Very impressive as I've never seen anything like it. How big is this layout and are there any other photos?

thanks,

George, That helix is part of forum member Susan Deats layout in Colorado. I love the large radius of that helix. Very impressive. There are only 2 pictures that were posted on trainfacts.com a few years ago. 

Dave Zucal posted:

George, That helix is part of forum member Susan Deats layout in Colorado. I love the large radius of that helix. Very impressive. There are only 2 pictures that were posted on trainfacts.com a few years ago. 

The impressiveness is the ingenuity of joining the ceiling layout with the table layout with a ceiling hung helix. (and perhaps the shelves)

Dave, you mentioned Potter County. I'm sure you've been to the Lumbermen Museum and saw the shay there. I pestered the curator there several times about restoring old #4. All their money was being set aside for the addition. Now that the addition is finished, maybe they will consider it.  

Dave Zucal,

   Yes I know about the old #4 Shay, my Great Grandfather brought the logs down the Switch Back outside of Galeton with it, he was one of the main Engineers that drove the logging trains, in that era.  It would be cool to see the Museum restore the old #4 Shay, however you are talking big big money, which is pretty scarce in the Potter County mountains right now.

Would love to see it happen!

The Helix could be fantastic, in our new Bar/Train Room, her layout is fantastic engineering.

PCRR/Dave

Clarks historical picture of my Great Grandfather, in Old #4 coming down the Switch Back, with a full load of Logs.  Just outside of Galeton, Pa on the old B&O Tracks. Those particular RR Tracks are gone forever now, Potter County Forest covers them once again.

Hey Dave,

Congratulations - what a great train room. I love a fireplace. And the bar is a nice bonus

You and I are starting from scratch. I moved on Thursday (3 days ago) into our new digs.

Once again - nice room.

Paul

Congratulations. I was a bit confused by the title at first. These threads usually read "bought a really nice train room with a house attached."

Congrats on the new digs!  Can't wait to see the train room evolve.

Jerry

Pine Creek Railroad posted:

 

Do ya think I should push my luck and try to take over the living room with the Stone Fire Place and Picture Window, the Trains would look seriously cool in there, maybe around the Christmas Tree in front of the big Window.  What evil lurks in the Hearts of Men, only the Shadow knows!  He would never stand a chance she would carve him up like a Christmas Turkey.

When we moved I was supposed to get the whole basement and my wife was to get the upstairs which is the same size as the basement, we also have a ranch house. I was then going to let her have some basement space to store her Christmas ornaments and stuff like that. Well, I put all my stuff in the back 1/3 or so of the basement and got it all set up with plans to expand the layout a little at a time as funding became available. While I was planning and waiting to expand, the rest of the basement was over taken by all of her stuff. Now I am in a real pickle here trying to figure out how to reclaim MY space!! On the brighter side, she did give me some space upstairs, I got enough room for my tooth brush, deodorant, shaving cream and razor in the bathroom. 

I would make a play for the living room right away!! Of course that would be while holding on to your other room as well. The lumps only hurt for a little while and they go down in a few days. 

Seriously, good luck with the move and keep peace with the boss at all costs. Looks like you have a real nice place there and I hope you like it even more when you get settled.

Paul,

   Congrats on your new home, were you lucky enough to get a Train Room?  How about showing some pictures of your new digs!

Matt,

   I thought about posting like in that manner, however so many other guys have posted  that way that I switched it up a might.  Hope all is well  in California!

Jerry,

   No doubt there will be pictures as I build!  It will be a while however.  To say things are crazy around here getting ready to move is the understatement of all time.   will be throwing things out for the next month and a half.

PCRR/Dave

Memorial Weekend Gentlemen, may we all remember and honor those who gave us our freedom, and may we all thank God for single everyone of them.

W.A. Buehner - 46th UDT SeaBee Master Chief Diver of the Navy, Guadalcanal the day after the fighting ended.   The 3rd Marine Division call his UDT Frogmen the toughest men alive, today they call them Navy Seals.

"and then I remembered I was holding the Bravest Man who ever lived in my arms" - General Jimmy Stewart.        SGT Audie Murphy and General Jimmy Stewart - Starring in Night Passage 1957.

   Thanks Dave, for sharing that old photo. Being the museum is a non-profit organization, they should be able to match donations with grant money to get old #4 operational again. The tracks for the shed she's in can be extended up the hollow to the left of the museum. I was up in there with a logger who needed more horse power to bring out some large veneer cherry so we teamed up my draft horse with his to get the job done. While in there it looked like a railroad bed had once gone up that hollow. It's state land and I'm sure there's some train loving politicians in Harrisburg that could pull strings to get rails up that hollow once again. We wouldn't have to drive all the way to Virginia to see a shay in operation anymore. Wouldn't that be cool. The museum already knows all the inspection guide lines necessary for dealing with steam because of the steam operating sawmill they run. They just need a train loving curator to get the ball rolling.  Did you grow up in Potter Co.?

I haven't been to the lumber museum since the mid '70s.  That sounds like a good place to take my wife on a short trip.  I don't want to go too far considering the health issues my folks have.

Great photos for Memorial Day!

Congrats on the new Train Room....um....House, Dave. Nice story about your Grandfather too.

There used to be a little diner in Huntington NY called the Hamburger Choo-Choo. The owner was a Lionel nut and he had a set of tracks on the counter and would run your order out on the train. Unfortunately he was not big on sanitation and the place when up in flames due to a huge grease fire in the early 80's.

Might be a good idea for the bar.

Bob