Well, it's finally happening! We just signed up for the long awaited move. We are downsizing from our existing place to a condo. The good part is, I get my long awaited train room, and it's empty and ready to build! It has storage a nice large room for the layout, and even a powder room. Being a daylight basement, it has an outside entrance and even a window. In the back there's an unfinished room that I'll do my woodworking in.
The seas have parted at last! 
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Welcome Home John, welcome home.
Thanks Paul, I'm excited to get moved. It will be a huge task, we've been here for 28 years, and there's a LOT of stuff to clear out! [of course, not train stuff! 
]
I'll have sore arms from carrying all the stuff there, and I'm already starting to pack stuff up, and it's a month before we take possession.
That looks bigger than my basement. I look forward to all the progress updates.
This is great news, a beautiful area for a beautiful Model railroad. Please keep us updated as you build your dream Railroad. This is exciting....If possible, let us know what track you plan to use, what control system, what table height, your largest curve diameter, the basic’s. Thank you for letting us know about this wonderful time in your life. Happy Railroading.
Congratulations John! It's not even my layout but I can't wait! What a wonderful pallet, exciting stuff.
Downsizing? Basement looks bigger than my house. Have fun!
WOW John, I have to say I never seen a condo with a basement that big! You are truly a luck man to have such a great room to build your dream layout! I cant wait to see your build as it goes along!
John, I am very happy and excited for you. It looks and sounds perfect. The outside entrance can be priceless for gaining access without tracking through the house. And a walkout basement is wonderful in that you don't really feel like you are in a basement.
Art
John,
Congratulations! That room looks huge. You can finally transform you carpet RR into what I am sure will be a beauty. Hope you're staying in the area.
Ron Lego
Congratulations John! I was wondering when you would move as you have mentioned it to me when I visited to drop off my coaches for an LED upgrade. I just have to remember to get your new location when I Drop off some repair work after York. I hope it isn't too far from your previous home. Love the room for your layout! Good Luck to you and your wife! regards, Fred in New Hope, PA
Congratulations John. Do great things with it. We all like pictures. Get a move on.....LOL
Fantastic layout room! Ample lighting and electrical access. Maybe a crew room in the area behind the pillars?
And now, back to the happiest chore of your life...moving.
Bruce
wow that is some basement!! good luck!
That room has lots of potential for a great layout. Congratulations John. I look forward to seeming the progress in the future.
Thanks all! 
I'm actually only moving about three miles, and we are planning on an overlap of around 3-4 months so we can make the move incrementally and also tidy up this house for sale. Anyone need a really large house in SE-PA on two wooded acres?
I've been looking around in my shop area and realizing what a huge chunk of work I've carved out for myself! 
It's staggering to think of all the stuff I've accumulated over all these years!
I will finally get to use the Mianne benchwork that I picked up several years ago, though I suspect I'll need to add to it once I have a final plan. I'll get in next month and do detailed measurements to figure out exactly what I can fit in and still have good access to everything. The room behind the columns is where my workbench and computer will go. I figure the tiled area next to the door will be a small social area. I'll have a TV on the wall that I can link to the train cameras, that will be fun.
The adventure is just beginning.
Wow, a finished space as a starting point. You just found my dream condo.
Looks like a great space for you’re layout. Looking forward to your layout updates.
Congrats John! We moved this summer after 22 years in our last place. It's amazing what you uncover!
John ,Good luck with your new home & new layout ,can't wait to see pictures as you make progress & i have no doubt will be a beauty to see !!!!!!!
Congratulations, John! No more yard work and a great looking property!
John, that's a great looking space. Perfect for a layout. Even the walls look good to go if your planning on display shelves. Looking forward to seeing progress reports on your new layout.
Hi John,
Congrats on the new home !!! that's a HUGE basement, make sure you build the layout of your dreams and most important you must use it and enjoy it. Unfortunately it's difficult for you and I to enjoy our own trains and layout.
Thanks, alex
Nice room John. Fun projects are in your future.
Larry
You did NOT just say 'powder room'...LOL!
Congrats and looking forward to posts on your progress.
Very, very nice. Congrats!
Back in February, we purchased a new house due to a new job. It has a finished walk out basement with lots of natural light. Still in the planning phase of my layout, since will be my first attempt at a decent size layout.
Like you, we had over 20 years of accumulation to move. Since our old house was paid off, we decided to take our time and move ourselves and prep the old house for sale on the weekends. The amazing part is, we have hauled over 30 pickup truck loads as we make the 2 hr drive back each weekend, and have that many trips still to go. Haven't even tackled the big stuff in the woodworking shop yet.
jstraw124 posted:The amazing part is, we have hauled over 30 pickup truck loads as we make the 2 hr drive back each weekend, and have that many trips still to go. Haven't even tackled the big stuff in the woodworking shop yet.
WOW, two hours! I'm bummed with the 7-8 minute drive to the new place! 
Enjoy the "empty canvas" and fill it with your dreams!
Very nice John. Enjoy.
gunrunnerjohn posted:Well, it's finally happening! We just signed up for the long awaited move. We are downsizing from our existing place to a condo. The good part is, I get my long awaited train room, and it's empty and ready to build! It has storage a nice large room for the layout, and even a powder room. Being a daylight basement, it has an outside entrance and even a window. In the back there's an unfinished room that I'll do my woodworking in.
The seas have parted at last!
that's a train palace !!!!!
Congrats John, We had a semi full of stuff after selling, giving away and throwing away after 10 years at the old place. The hardest part was giving up my car work space, which I remedied with building a shop nearby. I got the loft to make my train room, and know your going to be making many modifications until find the layout you want. Soon, your going to have smoke, whistles and chuffs galore.
John, I share your excitement and what you have to look forward to. Sounds like a dream come true. I know you’ll enjoy the challenge of building something awesome and I and everyone else looks forward to your progress updates. Best of luck to you and your wife. Jim Gouvis
Looks great John! I can only imagine how awesome your workbench will be.
That’s great John congratulations! The best of both worlds; A big new train room and you can finally sell the snow shovel and lawn mower! 
That's surely a fabulous space, John. Not only do you have a good sized window for venting all that smoke your supper chuffers make but you'll have a smaller one too by your workbench space. Wish you and your wife only the best in your new home.
With such a beautiful canvas of a space, could the makings of an annex possibly be in the future for the North Penn O-Gaugers club?
Btw, how do you forsee your moving and esablishing your dream come true layout leading to a reduction in taking on new customers for train repairs and modifications?
After completely filling your basement area, you can helix your way up the stair case and begin engulfing the upper floor. Family can be moved to a maintenance shed. (all said in jest !!)
John, that is one first class layout room. You now have what everyone wishes for. Please keep us posted as things happen. Best of luck,
Marty
Thanks guys. I am looking forward to finally getting a permanent layout back up.
Chris Lonero posted:That’s great John congratulations! The best of both worlds; A big new train room and you can finally sell the snow shovel and lawn mower!
I also have great deals on the snow blower, backpack leaf blower, lots of shovels, spades, rakes, etc.
John
Congrats and well deserved!!
1. you need to plan a party
2. It is good you are working on the Legacy Booster, you may need it to cover all that space
See you in York!!
Steve
Farmer_Bill posted:Downsizing? Basement looks bigger than my house. Have fun!
John, I thought the same thing Bill just said!! Congratulations!!
See you at York!!
Great looking room John. No drywall/ painting, etc. Just a blank canvas. Can't wait to see what you build.
I think this is the first time I've see columns at the entrance to a work room, does that mean that you have to hold a screw driver with your pinky out?
I too long for the day when I can put "for sale" signs on the lawn mower and snow blower.
Good luck on your move John. It's gonna be great!
Meanwhile, here's an interesting problem for you to cogitate on.
What sensor arrangement would you consider to allow you to identify a particular engine?
As you very well know, we usually just identify that 'some engine' has been detected at some point on the layout, but what if we wanted to answer the question: Which engine is it?
Thanks for your really informative posts over the years.
Ray
Well, you can go for the Lionel LCS Sensor Track and the LCS system. For non-sensor equipped locomotives, you pull a sensor equipped boxcar.
FasTrack LCS SensorTrack 6-81294
REA Scale SensorCar Steel Reefer 6-83519
Lots of folks have adapted the sensor track to non-Lionel track, including me.
OK, Thanks John.
Looks like this is something particular to Lionel. All my stuff is MTH DCS, so it would require a new setup, I guess. Or are you saying I could somehow use this LCS Sensor Track with my MTH locos?
Ray
Your new home looks great! All the best in getting everything moved in soon.
Jon
Congratulations!! Looks like a great train space you will have too. It's also really good you are only going a few miles and have the 3-4 months extra time to get moved and I think you may end up needing every minute of it too. We moved about 4 years ago after being in our old house for almost 35 years. The stuff accumulated in that time was just amazing! Couldn't believe it all fit on our old house. We moved only about 8 miles and that helped, but it took a lot longer than we had figured so the extra time will be great to have! We had movers do all the large and heavy items, they were very reasonably priced too, not bad at all. Should have had them do more.
Anyway I wish you the best of luck and hope everything goes well in your move. Also hoping you enjoy your new train and work spaces. It's a big undertaking, but you will be happy when it is all finished! After that long in one place it will still be an adjustment, even if you really like the new place!
Forgot to add, I think you will really like your Mianne benchwork too! Great stuff!
Hi John: Wow and wow. The room is huge.
Hope you are taking recommendations:
1. Paint the walls a sky blue and paint in the clouds, before you start the benchwork.
2. Oliver Wood Lathe for your wood shop.
Have fun and Good Luck: Gary
that is gonna be some train room John!.....enjoy it!
I am considering how to prep the room before I start the layout, I've seen where others have been climbing on the layout to do the work. I'm still debating on the wall lights, I may remove at least some of those. Since the previous owners just painted all of this, they left paint, so I can patch the holes and touch-up before moving on.
That is really nice John. I've not seen a basement room in a condo that appears so nice in 4 years of being a real estate broker - and we see a LOT of houses!
What is the approximate size of your room please?
Congratulations on the new home. I put a new room on a 185 year old home instead. I know you will enjoy the building of your layout from scratch with all the electronic savvy you have stored in those little gray cells. Looking forward to hearing all about it.
Well, the whole room is around 40 foot long, but the space for the trains is probably around 22-24 feet, there are the two areas at the ends that I won't have track. The one end will have my workbench and parts storage, the other end will have a TV and some seating. Of course, I have to find a spot for our secondary fridge, and it'll keep my beer cold and on-hand.
Right before they sold the house, the previous owners put almost $100,000 into upgrading all sorts of stuff. All the bathrooms and kitchen are brand new. I didn't understand it as they just got market price for the unit anyway. I can only imagine that it REALLY needed it for some reason.
Here's a couple of shots of other parts of the house. All the floor covering everywhere has been replaced, amazing!
The light fixture has to go!
That's a fabulous room John! Congrats!!! Can't wait to see what you have in store for it. When you get tired of moving stuff and prepping your new room, give me a call. I may have something in our basement around that time which will give you LOTS of inspiration!
David
Dave, I don't think I can afford to go the way you went, but I am eager to come up and check it out.
You're always welcome, John.
gunrunnerjohn posted:Well, it's finally happening! We just signed up for the long awaited move. We are downsizing from our existing place to a condo. The good part is, I get my long awaited train room, and it's empty and ready to build! It has storage a nice large room for the layout, and even a powder room. Being a daylight basement, it has an outside entrance and even a window. In the back there's an unfinished room that I'll do my woodworking in.
The seas have parted at last!
Green with envy..Me and my fiancee also downsizing soon(condo and a lake house where the layout is..looking at properties Pa, both Carolinas and central Fla.GRJ you have inspired me
Congratulations John! I'm happy for you!
-Greg
John, that is really a great looking room for a layout. I'm happy for you, its always exciting to be able to finally get that new train room. Hope to be able to keep track of your progress when you finally get started.
Cheers,
Very nice, John! Love it! Like the others have said, plan it all out first, then do it. Are you going to add track lighting overhead? Not having lived in a condo, do you have any restrictions on what you can do to the room?
Also, what is the bump out in the corner for?
Chris
LVHR
John, best of luck on the move and I hope you really enjoy the new place. Building a layout is both frustrating and a lot of fun. I'm sure you know that. Keep your priorities in order and remember that sometimes you need to come first.
Gerry
Thanks guys, I'm looking forward to it. After 28+ years here, it'll be an adjustment to move, I'm here sorting out stuff in the closets that I forgot all about! I'll be working eBay and Craig's List out to unload a bunch of stuff!
Chris, the bump-out is hiding a sump pump, so I have to allow the ability to access it.
John best of luck!
Very nice John. What are the chances that the walls would already be painted sky blue. That bathroom is awesome and big enough to put a layout there too. You can run trains while you soak in the tub with that cold beer. LOL. I'm interested in the leaf blower if it's a STILH.
Best of luck in your new home John.
The new place looks great - congratulations and good luck, I just finished a move and it really was quite a chore!
Absolutely gorgeous! And those additional Mianne deliveries will be so much easier to accommodate with that easy walk-in access! (As well as the expected open-houses to keep tabs on your progress! )
Congrats!
Congratulations John and good luck. Look forward to the build.
Andy
Wow, everything looks fantastic John! Really nice!
Dave Zucal posted:I'm interested in the leaf blower if it's a STILH.
No luck, it's an Echo.
I know this will be a lot of work, but I'm hoping it'll last us a while.
CONGAS JOHN!!!!! Wow you are gonna have fun now!!!! Enjoy!!! Are you still in the same neighborhood?
I'm only about three miles away from my existing house, almost around the corner.
Great looking basement John. Good luck on your move and new layout. Look forward to progress reports.
John,
Great train room, and a beautiful place overall - congratulations!
I hope the 'train room' does not remain so pristine for very long; and yes, by all means - Paint The Walls First, or very early on. That's what I did when I built my layout, and I not only painted the walls sky blue with clouds, but also mountains, terrain, and buildings to serve as backdrop to what I knew was coming.
Looking forward to see progress pictures soon.
Alex
Sadly, it'll be a short delay while I do all the stuff to move this place to that place before I'm allowed to get back to any significant time with the trains. However, that will come, likely in the spring after all the smoke (and snow) settles. It'll be around the same time as the big fire sale for snow blowers, leaf blowers, etc.
Congratulations on a new home, I hope you and your wife will enjoy it! Your pictures certainly show a huge space with much potential! I'm sure you will do it justice!
John,
An all around beautiful house. The 'train room' is almost beyond belief.
Best of luck with everything.
Tony Atkins
Given your handle and mention of a powder room, I will be sending this housewarming gift to hang over the door.
What, me worry?
Alfred E Neuman posted:Given your handle and mention of a powder room, I will be sending this housewarming gift to hang over the door.
You will want to be careful handling what I send back!
If your sump pump doesn't have a battery backup pump I would seriously consider getting one. We never had one until moving to our current home in Aug. 2013, it was a new home. Got a backup pump installed right after moving in. A couple of months after the year warranty was up the main pump failed on Thanksgiving during some pretty heavy rains. The back up pump saved the day. We got the main pump replaced the following week after the holiday. That experience left me wanting a backup for the backup pump!
I have a battery backup here, and I'll likely do it there as well. I don't want any water in my trainroom! Another option is the water powered unit, but you have to make sure that your outlet is not blocked. I might do one of those and just have it shoot outside about a foot, just enough to get it away from the house. The good part is with a daylight basement, that end is at ground level.
Looks like a nice dance floor at the one end.
Dennis
I guess I'll have to move the jukebox to use that.
gunrunnerjohn posted:I guess I'll have to move the jukebox to use that.
Would go great with that Bar you are going to have to build!
Wait a minute! I was going to build a layout, not a nightclub!
Definitely don't want water in the train room! We don't have a walk out, so it has to be pumped up about 8' & out the side of the house. I had the drain run to the back of the property to the HOA's green space. Yard was like a marsh where it was dumping in rainy season. Now their space is like a wetland. Several neighbors have also had problems with their sump pumps, either wetlands for yards or for some their basement has flooded, they had no backup pump.
That really does look like a nice place you have and I certainly hope you enjoy it there. I do like the daylight basement too. Makes it nice and bright. I'll be watching for some layout plans and pictures in the spring! It took me longer than I thought to get going again after moving. In fact, everything move related took longer than I had thought it would. Never again!
Well, I know that there will be a bunch of stuff to "adjust" after moving in, and I'm sure just distributing all the stuff we keep will take serious time! However, at least there is light at the end of the tunnel, and I have it on good authority that it's an oncoming train!
I am still adjusting after over 4 years! But it's getting better! I imagine you probably have a better plan than I had though. Our old house needed some remodeling and we just decided one day to move instead of doing it while living there, so not a lot of planning on our end.
It is still an adjustment though, I'm still looking for things...you probably have that part more organized too. Good luck with it all anyway! It will be really nice when you get that Mianne benchwork set up with some trains running around on it.
Well... organized is probably going a little far. I am numbering the boxes as I pack and keeping a spreadsheet with the contents of each box, or at least a gross description. I'd like to at least know within a couple of boxes where to look for stuff. However, there is simply a LOT of stuff! I figure the train stuff is going to be around 45-50 large boxes. The big engine steam boxes will be separate, but anything like a diesel will be packed with a bunch of others. I'm using 18 x 14 x 12 and 23 x 23 x 16 boxes. I never realized if you pack them in there, how heavy a 23 x 23 x 16 box would be just filled with boxcars! Of course, I have a LOT of non-train related stuff to sort through and pack or dispose of. I'm warming up my eBay account to dispense with a bunch of stuff, and Craig's List will be seeing me as well.
Nice room, John!! Looking forward to seeing the layout construction.
John
John:
Best of luck with the move and I'm sure you will enjoy the great new train room!
In my last house in PA, I had a full walk out basement that included a large finished space, a workshop, an office and unfinished storage. It was a dream come true.
I gave all of that up and moved 2,500 miles to CA three years ago. I used my old trusty "TrainMinder" software and inventoried every box which made locating things after the move quite easy. My article about the move and new layout is (hopefully) due to appear in the February 2018 OGR issue.
Using Mianne Benchwork in PA made re-building in CA with the new plan easy.
You may want to include a liftgate in your plans - mine works great and saves my 67 year old knees from some of the trips into the layout center area. It is also fun to demonstrate when visitors come over.
Enjoy!
We'll be in our new house 3 years come January. When we packed up our old house we numbered and noted everything. It's hard to believe all the stuff that you accumulate over the years that you don't remember accumulating. Between the garage sale and donations to charities we still filled a 4 yard dumpster 6 times with crap. Like RTR12, we're still trying to locate some things we know are here but somehow can't find. Funny thing is when looking for one thing you come across something else you were looking for another time.
I also have 50 LARGE boxes of train stuff I have yet to open. Between the yard and finishing the other half of the basement myself I finally got around to starting the layout last fall. Bench work is up, just starting to lay track.
Anyway, you are definitely styling with that new train room. Get yourself some Doan's Pills, you're going to need them. Good luck and enjoy.
Basement door!?!??
this means we can all sneak in and out to play with trains at all hours of the night!! :-)
Set up some berths under the train table and let us know what fees you charge (food, drink and/or cash) to sleep over for an all nighter train runnin' party
Looking forward to it, I'm here today packing and numbering. I'm going to have to show my wife the post about 50 large boxes of train stuff, she keeps telling me I have way too much. I'm guessing if I use the large boxes, I can get it into around 40-45 boxes.
The lift-gate is a good idea, depending on how my plan develops. I'm thinking about it, but it's been so long since I had a space to put a decent layout that I'm not sure what I'll do yet. I know I want to be able to run all my large steamers comfortably. Once I'm in and I can do an accurate measurement and draft up the room plan, I'll have a better idea what will work in there. I'm generally thinking of having it against the long wall and then have the other three sides open. As to the center, I'll either have it open or have a couple of lift-out or drop-down access hatches to reach stuff, still to be decided.
gunrunnerjohn posted:Looking forward to it, I'm here today packing and numbering. I'm going to have to show my wife the post about 50 large boxes of train stuff, she keeps telling me I have way too much. I'm guessing if I use the large boxes, I can get it into around 40-45 boxes.
The lift-gate is a good idea, depending on how my plan develops. I'm thinking about it, but it's been so long since I had a space to put a decent layout that I'm not sure what I'll do yet. I know I want to be able to run all my large steamers comfortably. Once I'm in and I can do an accurate measurement and draft up the room plan, I'll have a better idea what will work in there. I'm generally thinking of having it against the long wall and then have the other three sides open. As to the center, I'll either have it open or have a couple of lift-out or drop-down access hatches to reach stuff, still to be decided.
Love it! The man hasn't even moved in but the train plans are already coming forth. Good to see you have your priorities right, John!!!! And I meant that!
gunrunnerjohn posted:Looking forward to it, I'm here today packing and numbering. I'm going to have to show my wife the post about 50 large boxes of train stuff, she keeps telling me I have way too much. I'm guessing if I use the large boxes, I can get it into around 40-45 boxes.
...
Just remember, John... those large boxes come in handy, but you (or somebody else) have to lift them when they're loaded too!!!
Congratulations, John.
I noticed the weight of the boxes Dave, I already decided that only rolling stock goes into the big boxes, the locomotives packed in there are TOO HEAVY! I packed one up and realized it was about 100 pounds, so I promptly unpacked it.
Congratulations on your new residence. Many happy days ahead I'm sure.
- walt
That's a condo? That's bigger and nicer than most houses in my area (Including my house.). Where are the other units? Congrats on getting your own space out of the deal.
HI JOHN,
Might have to bring a box or two to sell at YORK? I'll take a peek.
Good Luck with the move and pace yourself. Also lift while bending the knees.
This is an end unit, so it is larger. Some of the stuff we wanted was a 2-car garage and a large basement and no outdoor maintenance.
It's fairly good sized inside, the main floor has 1000 sq/ft, the upstairs around 650 sq/ft, and the basement has around 750 sq/ft finished area and a bunch of storage that's not finished. Interestingly, the largest room in the house is the master bedroom, it's enormous! We also liked the large deck, that's a really nice feature as well.
I'm looking forward to it, I just wish all the stuff was already over there and all I had to do is build my train platform!
I'm thinking of putting all the tubular track and switches in my car and having a fire sale! I'm not planning on using any of that stuff here, so it would be nice if someone could use it.
Have fun John. New adventures await.
Not to worry about those heavy boxes and all that other stuff. There a moving company in your area that specializes in moving model train collections. Give them a call at 1-800 MOVE MY TRAINS. After all your supposed to enjoy the move , right?
Early on I also figured out how heavy the larger boxes could get! I saved those for the movers. They sent 5 young, big & strong guys that made short work of the heavy stuff. It's amazing what those guys could pick up and carry! I did notice that none of them appeared to be over about 30 or so. Probably a good reason for that too. Their prices were quite reasonable too, at least I thought they were. Not nearly as much as I was expecting.
We also sold some things, gave a ton of stuff to Goodwill, Salvation Army, Catholic Charities and Habitat for Humanity. Then I ended up getting a LARGE dumpster (biggest they had) and filled it up as well. People kept coming by asking if we had anything metal in the dumpster. I started just putting the metal stuff (old shelves etc.) in front of the dumpster near the street and it would be gone by the next morning. Saved some dumpster space for other junk that way too!
I still have some things I wish I would have unloaded, but keeping them seemed like a good idea at the time. We labeled all the boxes and what room they came from, but it was still a mess when we got all moved in. Some of the best laid plans... Hope yours goes a bit better than ours did.
We also did what you are doing with less home maintenance. Didn't get a maint. provided place, but the exterior is vinyl siding with only a little trim to paint. Trim is all cedar so the paint doesn't peel like pine does. Then we have a lawn service to mow and shovel snow so it works out to be almost no maintenance at probably similar costs to the added HOA fees for the maintenance provided places. I think you will really like the no maint. part! Almost as good as having trains running!!
We looked a some single homes, but in the end I think this will work out well. I don't need stuff like snow blowers, leaf blowers, mowers, etc. I know what you mean about metal, I have put stuff out by the curb and it doesn't last ten minutes!
I will be getting help for the mass move, no way I'm going to do all that myself. I'll probably stage all the boxes in one bay of the garage and then hire a truck and strong backs to move it. That will happen several times before the final "move".
Nice condo. I can't wait for the layout planning and construction threads.
Very nice John. Have good time designing & building
Ken M
Hi John:
Are you going to use your YouTube Channel, to tell your story about this new layout and train room? Just like anything we do in this hobby, there are pros and cons. You have an exciting story to tell your viewers.
Gary: Hope to see you on YouTube
This is on the larger side of condos, they call them "Carriage Houses". I always thought a carriage house was where you put the horses and carriages.
John, looks like you hit the mother lode. Congrats on your new digs. 
Your condo looks close to the size of my house, and a lot more finished. Looks like a very nice place for a layout, have fun on your recent endeavor.
Thanks all, I'm really looking forward to turning the page.
gunrunnerjohn posted:We looked a some single homes, but in the end I think this will work out well. I don't need stuff like snow blowers, leaf blowers, mowers, etc.
I will be getting help for the mass move, no way I'm going to do all that myself. I'll probably stage all the boxes in one bay of the garage and then hire a truck and strong backs to move it. That will happen several times before the final "move".
We did the opposite, started out looking for a condo/townhome with maint. provided and ended up in a single home. We found an area that had ranches with full basements and that did it for us. Ranches around here are very difficult to find newly built. All 2 story and that sort of thing these days. I got rid of all the snow removal, lawn trimming, etc. stuff, but there is still a lawn mower buried out in the garage somewhere. Don't think it's been run since we moved. Not sure why I kept that now, other than it was only a year or so old?
We also did similar to your plan, filling up a bay of the garage and then moving it. We ran out of room for more boxes a couple of times so I had to make a few trips with the lighter boxes to make room for more. We had about a month to move to the new house, got it quite a bit earlier than we had to be out of the old house. Good thing too, or we wouldn't have made it! That plan should work out quite well for you, a very good way to move, IMO!! Having some extra time also is a great help when moving. The more the better too, it goes by very quickly!
Time does go fast, and I'm going to blow three days fooling around at York.
Well, I'm starting the long process! This is about a quarter of my stuff that's been boxed up or simply put in the pile to go. I have another larger pile in the basement that has to go, and I'm still packing and stacking up here and in the basement. However, making good progress, I hope when I make settlement that I have a large part of my stuff packed and it can be moved over to the new place. That will also free up the rooms so we can start to get things ready for selling this place.
Well John: Do you remember the age old question in High School, are you a Ford or Chevy guy? I am a Ford 150 guy and a 1970 Classic Ford Mustang 302.
Now for the important question as related to model trains. What is going to be your control system for your 3 Rail Trains? MTH - DCS or Lionel TMCC / Legacy.
Gary
gunrunnerjohn posted:Well, I'm starting the long process! This is about a quarter of my stuff that's been boxed up or simply put in the pile to go. I have another larger pile in the basement that has to go, and I'm still packing and stacking up here and in the basement. However, making good progress, I hope when I make settlement that I have a large part of my stuff packed and it can be moved over to the new place. That will also free up the rooms so we can start to get things ready for selling this place.
That's a quarter of your stuff!!?? You got a lot of moving to do.
trainroomgary posted:Well John: Do you remember the age old question in High School, are you a Ford or Chevy guy? I am a Ford 150 guy and a 1970 Classic Ford Mustang 302.
Now for the important question as related to model trains. What is going to be your control system for your 3 Rail Trains? MTH - DCS or Lionel TMCC / Legacy.
Gary
I had a 67 Camaro that was fire engine red with a black top back in the70's. It had a Craig 8 track stereo with Jenson speakers. I drove the 'you- know- what' out of it.
trainroomgary posted:Now for the important question as related to model trains. What is going to be your control system for your 3 Rail Trains? MTH - DCS or Lionel TMCC / Legacy.
I'll be using both, I have a lot of MTH and TMCC/Legacy. I'll also use my lone LC+ locomotive, the Camelback.
DennyM posted:That's a quarter of your stuff!!??
That's why I'm starting early! I want to get all this boxed up before we make settlement on the 22nd, right after that I'll be trucking this over. There's plenty of other things that have to get done, this move is going to be a giant PITA, but I'm hopeful the long term result will be worth it.
Looks like a good time to get that new F150 you have been wanting, with the large bed of course!!
Seriously, it will be worth it after you get moved and re-grouped in your new place. May take a while, but it will be a big relief (I think) and it looks like you will have a lot less to do with others doing the maintenance, other than play with and repair trains that is. You will have more time to make nifty, neat, new electronic devices for them as well!
I can't wait to get started on a real layout, first one in years! Right after I figure out what to do with all the trains to make room for the layout! I think most of the boxes will finally bite the dust when I get the display shelves up for stuff.
I think I'll just use the phone to call a moving guy rather than buying a truck. Some of those larger boxes are pretty HEAVY!
I can help you do a 1/48th scale move. Sent from my iPhone.
Atlas scale model, looks just like my full scale version, the color red is correct.
If you ever come to Detroit you can take a tour of the Ford Plant, where they build these trucks.
Click here. for Ford Factory Tours
Gary
Don't do like I did and stack all the train boxes right where you plan to put the layout! It works great...until the bench work arrives...
John, Just an idea, but it helped(s) when having to lift/move a box. At some point, take time (when you move it) have a bathroom scale nearby and get a weight (at the least, close) of each box, write the weight on outside of each box. That way, you have an idea before lifting each one, and that comes in very handy later. I did this when we moved from Lake of The Ozarks in Missouri to the OKC area, in Tuttle. As much as the individual boxes get moved/relocated before being opened, it is nice to know. My boxes (too many) were moved in two U Haul box trucks and after being unloaded into the garage (half of a two car), they were relocated to the attic, by myself, while I had to work on sites out-of-state for the next eight years. Now, when taking one down from attic and then upstairs to the train room wife had built over new 3 car garage, cannot over state the weight being known is a good thing. Another good thing I did at the time of packing was to include the date items were packed, more information that is nice to have later. Don't ever misplace the spreadsheet, I did on mine. But, as I relocated boxes from attic, I have gone through them, took out items as needed, inventoried the rest and put copy of listing in box (copy off of printer) for later when looking in box, knowing what is in there at a glance. Don't live in a condo, so doing all the property workings and business myself robs me of time, and layout progress, but it is slowly getting done. Congrats on the new digs and beautiful area for your new layout. As others, cannot wait to see your progress and steps getting there.
Jesse TCA 12-68275
Wonderful looking layout room, John. Keep us posted as you build your dream layout.
Jay
gunrunnerjohn posted:... However, there is simply a LOT of stuff! I figure the train stuff is going to be around 45-50 large boxes. ...
Seriously, I think some of us could easily fill a train store with our inventories. The worst culprits -- and I include myself in this category -- are the ones who purchased our trains while DREAMING of that big basement empire or barn empire we'd build in our retirement years. 
If I could do it all over again, I'd spend the $$$ on building the layout as early in the game as possible. THAT then becomes our built-in governor of sorts in spending... because you constantly SEE the trains either on display or in operation on the layout. Storing them away in boxes (for years and years) is an absolute guarantee to over-purchasing in the long run. I'm speaking with first-hand knowledge here -- as my wife will very quickly attest. 
Yep, I wish I had this place first, it would have targeted the spending a bit more. However, I'm here now, so I have to deal with it.
Larry, the 1:48 move isn't going to help enough to make a dent in the task, I'll have to stick with the 1:1 move for now.
The weight isn't a bad idea Jesse, but my plan is to have all the boxes stacked in the entry section and not in the actual train room. I'm also not planning on moving them any great distance, they go down there and stay down there. Also, I'm not planning on carrying all this stuff anywhere, I'm hiring a trucker to move them all over. I'll move the more delicate stuff individually, but the big boxes will be hefted by someone younger and larger.
Great Job Gunrunner John !
Your new place looks great . Great looking train room to boot.
Good Luck on your move .
Wow John, a Condo?
Good Luck buddy, I know it's going to be a beautiful piece of work.
Please keep us posted on how thing progress.
It's a big condo.
So John, just one really important piece of advice. You're not as young as you used to be and you're not immortal. Moving a lot of heavy boxes can be REALLY STUPID. I'd give that a lot of thought if I were you.
Gerry
I'm having someone younger and stronger move most of the boxes.
The long awaited Mianne benchwork is on it's way. UPS says tomorrow I'll have a bunch of heavy boxes, then the fun begins!
gunrunnerjohn posted:The long awaited Mianne benchwork is on it's way. UPS says tomorrow I'll have a bunch of heavy boxes, then the fun begins!
I see you got the liftgate. I love mine and it is worth every penny.
Wonderful news! Now we can watch a master in action!
Great news GRJ! Good luck with it all, but it really is very easy to assemble, liftgate may add a bit of difficulty, but probably not a lot. Well designed stuff!
Take lots of pictures to post for us, that is if you can pause long enough every now and then!
Congrats! If I lived near I'd be over there!
Thanks guys, I hope to finally get started on this project, it's sure taking a long time!
Mike, I doubt the "master" designation applies to this endevor. I'm an average carpenter, and my skills with the scenic end of layout construction do not match my electronic skills. I'll be importing some consulting for the more difficult parts. I can lay the track and wire it without issues, but making it look like some of the masterpieces I see here is way beyond my personal skills.
Did I miss a track plan??? Good luck!!!
No track plan yet, I'm still mulling over ideas about what I'll do. Basically, I made the benchwork fill the available space to give me the maximum flexibility of the layout. I also have to do some thinking about what pieces I currently have will go on the layout and an idea where they might go. This has kinda' been on the back burner as I didn't know when I'd get the benchwork and could actually start, so I've been doing other stuff. Of course, I still have the other stuff to do, but now I have an additional major project in the mix!
Can't wait to see what you come up with John.
Nice!! I'm struggling with a similar situation. Are your layout dimensions 12 x 20 feet? And the platform is 4 feet wide from the center hole?? What are the overall dimensions of your room!? Congratulations and thanks for sharing!
Benchwork looks great !!! Let’s get going on that track plan !!LoL
Remember what we say , always leave a little time for ourselves. !
Since I posted the first video of my new train room , NOT a single thing was done. Absolutely zero progress. 😟
Alex
Here's the dimensions of the table, feel free to offer any suggestions.
I'm actually thinking of moving the liftgate over a bit as I am already planning on an extension at the lower left, I have a 12 foot open area there. Moving the liftgate is no problem now as I just move modules around. The one narrow section at the middle top will get a angled segment to allow more room to make the curves fit there.
This is the whole basement plan. The red is where the current layout will go, and it will also fill that back cavity, too lazy to draw that shape. The green is what I'm going to add for a yard, so I'll move the liftgate over about 4 feet to keep out of the way. The white triangle is also bench for the tracks to the yard.
John, that's going to be awesome! Are you planning to put up any backdrops before assembling the benchwork?
Make sure you post some photos after you get the benchwork assembled. Have Fun!!!
Bruce
I have a simple strip of cloud backdrop, and I'm thinking of putting that up. I am planning a town on the shelf section with EZ-Streets, and I figure the back wall will be the faux building fronts that stick out about 1-2" for the skyline and then put lower stuff in front with the streets.
I've still got a little work to do in removing a couple of wall sconces, I've ripped some stuff out already.
Hi John, either way I cant wait to fallow your build! Looks like a great space and from your other pictures it sure looks comfy !
Plans look great John. I hope that those 3 human figures in the plan are actual people who are helping you. Can't wait to see when things start to get set up.
Will someone please call me when this pile looks like benchwork?
Hah - looks good, John.
Are you using Mianne for the yard, too, or will that be stick and frame construction ?
It's easy John- Tab A goes in Slot B. 
At least its not a book case from IKEA
Looking forward to the build. Good Luck!
Bob
I have more of the Mianne stuff that I was given after my order, so I'll be building the extension with Mianne as well.
Hey John,
What a beautiful space to build a beautiful layout, as I know you will.
If you have any questions about wiring, electronics, lighting etc feel free to ask me. I will forward them to this genius that always bails me out on the forum .....Gunrunner.....lol...
Better than Lincoln Logs.
Once you get familiar with the directions and parts you will be surprised how fast just the benchwork all goes together (not sure about the lift gate?). I think you will find it kind of fun to do after you get a couple of pieces put together. It's not like real carpentry or woodworking stuff and it's all light weight and easy to handle. Oh, and no sawdust!
I would offer to come help, but you will probably be finished by the time I get there, don't want to spoil all your fun either.
The only issue was two of the pulleys on the liftgate got squashed during shipping, so I have to wait until I get those to assemble the liftgate anyway. I'll put all the other stuff together first.
That's not good, too bad there was shipping damage. I think I'd probably wait on the gate anyway. I imagine it will take a while longer and may need a little extra thought? Forgot to say I like the pictures and please keep them coming!! I just like the looks of the Mianne too.
I'd really like to have one of those lift gates myself. Maybe in the expansion project.
Oops, thought of one more thing, use a #3 Phillips screwdriver. They may say that in the directions, but it works much, much better than anything smaller.
John - Whew!! There's going to be a whole lot of railroading going on in that spacious basement! Congratulations on the move and looking forward to seeing photos of your progress!
It has been a long time coming.
I couldn't think of a better way to spend a long Thanksgiving week than building a new layout!
-Greg
Well, I could spend it running trains, but I think I need to do the building step first.
Can't wait to see, looks great
I really can't wait to see it!
Glad to see you finally have the benchwork. As RTR12 said, once you get started it comes together pretty quickly. As I have mentioned I am very happy with it. Also Mianne was great with phone support if you have any questions with the assembly process. By the way those LED lights you installed in my NYC passenger cars look great.
That stinks about the shipping damage John. Seems anymore that there is ALWAYS shipping damage and its not getting any better. Its almost like when you thought you'd seen it all, guess again, here comes some other kind of damaged stuff in.
I hope that they get you the replacement stuff in quick(which shouldn't be long). Can't wait to see what you post here next.
It'll all get sorted out, I've been pretty busy with other non-train stuff anyway, so I'll live. The holidays are always a busy time around here.
I had a couple of hours, so I started the assembly. Not much yet, but it looks like it'll go together pretty quickly.
Lookin' Good, and no mess! Enjoy, it goes fast. Might be the easiest part of the build.
I put in another hour, time to knock off and watch a little TV. The upper deck is on.
It's coming along nicely!!
-Greg
Looking great, John!!
Looking good John
Alex
Looks great John. It’ll go faster than you think, and before you know it, you’ll be laying track. Looking forward to following along.
Andy
Nice work John!
John! What happened to painting the backdrop first?!
John,
The nice part: NO sawdust !!
Fred
Sweet!!! Train meetings for NPOG’s at your house soon... ;-)
Very nice John. Yea- no sawdust
Thanks guys, it's good to finally get started on it.
Traindiesel posted:John! What happened to painting the backdrop first?!
Got carried away when the benchwork came.
BHalfway posted:Sweet!!! Train meetings for NPOG’s at your house soon... ;-)
You bring the beer.
john, quick question. First I was unaware they did upper level benchwork. will the upper level hold our heavy trains? btw looking go so far.
The upper deck is plenty strong to support most anything you put up there. Since it's only a 12' x 2' space, it's going to be a town with a 'Streets track, so heavy won't be an issue in any case.
Looking good John! Your moving right along! I do have to say it looks a lot cleaner then my bench work! LOL
It doesn't have a top on it Mike, it'll get covered with something once it has a place to put things.
Its funny how that happens John, I had a nice clean room but once the top went on it started to collect stuff I didn't even know I had! LOL
gunrunnerjohn posted:
This is the whole basement plan. The red is where the current layout will go, and it will also fill that back cavity, too lazy to draw that shape.
John,
What did you use to model your basement like that? Is that some kind of architecture tool?
John, it's Sweet Home 3D, a pretty neat and free tool. You can draw a plan view and then view it in 3d and rotate it around for different views. Very slick tool for planning, we used it for all the rooms in the new house to decide where to put stuff.
Here's the plan and a couple of the 3D views.
Looking great John, where's the thumbs up emo?
That looks like a very quick way to setup bench work. I may look into some of the prefab bench work when I am able to use my whole basement for my layout.
GRJ, If it's possible to slide the bench work out away from the wall, you can always fasten 1/8" tempered board to the backside of it. Then paint that or use it for mounting back drop poster. That way you don't have to mess up those nice walls and it will also strengthen the bench work. It's about 9 bucks a sheet w/tax. Just a thought.
Dave and Tom, There should be a lot of built in support for a hardboard backdrop on the configuration Mianne sold to John!
The slide in variety is slick, if John wants to make it removable. I don’t think he plans to move again, but I may. I ordered a single level from Mianne, so I need to build support.
The back side of the Masonite was framed like picture frame matting with 2 1/2" strips of 1/4" multi-ply plywood.
The contribution above was an attempt to show the slot idea. Photos above were for a traveling module.
There was also a sturdy corner brace to retain an even curve, otherwise the curve tends to flair out at the top on module mounted curved corners:
For Mianne bench work you could fashion a filler insert panel to provide a flush flat background mounting surface.
Yes, I get it now on the slotted variety for easy setup and teardown. I have moved more times than I would have liked, so moving a layout is on my mind. The coved corner support looks quite sturdy!
And now back to our regular scheduled GRJ layout build...……...
I agree. Nice discussion on background building, if it had its own thread. John already indicated tentative plans earlier in the previous page.
Tom has a tendency to make complex woodworking look easy. It looks like he has more clamps on that corner than I own!
I try to make electronics look easy, but I'm not capable of making complex woodworking look easy.
Dave Zucal posted:GRJ, If it's possible to slide the bench work out away from the wall, you can always fasten 1/8" tempered board to the backside of it. Then paint that or use it for mounting back drop poster. That way you don't have to mess up those nice walls and it will also strengthen the bench work. It's about 9 bucks a sheet w/tax. Just a thought.
Interesting thought Dave, that would be easy. The benchwork will slide right now, it's not that heavy and all the legs have levelers with nice smooth pads on them.
Congratulations on the beginning of what will become a very nice model railroad for your enjoyment, and ours. I suppose it’s to early to ask what your minimum radius will be? To me, building the layout was as much fun as Operation. Thank You for sharing your achievements with us. Happy Railroading.
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