David -
... Can you give us some details about the room size and the track plan? How involved did you get with the design? Thank you for sharing!
The train room itself occupies roughly half of our finished walk-out basement at approximately 37' long by 15' wide, sharing space with our home theatre and a sitting area directly adjacent to the train room itself, along with my wife's office and two "unfinished" storage/utility areas (in which my wife knows EXACTLY how many train boxes reside at any given point in time ). The layout is an island-style design and measures roughly 32' long by 10'-12' in width. While much of the track is well within a comfortable reach of the aisleways, there are a few cleverly hidden access panels for locations that are a tough reach from the aisles.
The track plan (designed with RR-Track) went through several iterations in my mind before I approached Clarke at October 2015 York. Actually, my first conversation with Clarke only involved the creation of a backdrop. But as I looked more seriously at the ideas I had floating around in my head vs. how little progress I made on an earlier layout over a 20-year time span, I thought... "Who am I kidding?" I want to enjoy the layout in THIS life -- not just tinker with its construction at the pace of an iceberg crawling through time! So the decision was made to pursue the whole enchilada around April 2016 York. But it wasn't until October 2016 York that we nailed down some serious specifics and agreed to schedule production for early-2017.
After a healthy number of email exchanges where I sent Clarke several versions of the track plan along with photos of all my bridges and buildings -- accompanied by discussions to fine-tune all that needed to be accomplished, the actual "formal contract" to build the layout was ONE simple page. That's it... no more... and no less. And I assure you, there are very, VERY few people in this world with whom I would enter into an arrangement of this scope defined by that simple of a formal agreement than Clarke Dunham. Our handshake "sealed the deal", and that's the way we moved forward on this project. There was ALWAYS a nice candid, give-and-take way of communicating -- which made a huge impression on me. And never once did I feel the slightest bit uneasy about how the project moved from one stage to the next.
The track plan itself actually has its roots in a Lionel postwar-style layout entitled, "Layout for the Years", which I first read about in an old Lionel publication "Model Railroading", that was originally published in 1958 and later re-issued by Lionel Trains, Inc. in 1990. Being a post-war style layout, it was originally designed for Lionel O-Gauge tubular-style track and switches with an approximate size of 160" x 100". But my preference in the hobby tended more toward the "hi-rail" side of things -- mixed in with elements of toy-like charm and whimsy. And I fortunately had a larger space to incorporate my ideas and concepts.
To that end, I reworked the original track plan for the larger space and employed #4 and #6 turnouts (wherever possible) as opposed to the postwar track plan's O-xx Lionel O-Gauge turnouts. In effect, this part of what would eventually be known as the "Allegheny & Pacific Railway Company" essentially became the new layout's "main level" capable of supporting continuous running as well as simulated train operations with a nice amount of switching maneuvers, since the main level incorporates a double-track mainline with crossovers, passing sidings and five industrial spurs. Then to add more 3-dimensional visual interest to the layout, I envisioned an upper-level figure-8 above the village and through the mountains, as well as a lower-level simple loop below the industrial area and along the river canal -- primarily for continuous running -- which increased the layout's capacity to 4 trains that could be run simultaneously in a "kick-back, relax, and just watch the trains roll" mode of operation.
RR-Track made it easy to continually refine my designs, and I probably could have continued having fun just doing that weeks and months on end in an armchair model railroading sort of way. But eventually, it was time to turn my design over to Team Dunham, so they could better define what could actually be built in the way Dunham Studios builds layouts. That occurred in the December 2016 to January 2017 timeframe. And by February 2017, Clarke presented me with a 12-page document that included all kinds of 3-dimensional views of the project as well as how the project would be divided into multiple modules for construction and transport. Here's one of those views that should give some perspective of the final layout's track plan in 3D (without the backdrops):
So while I was closely involved with the initial track plan's concepts and preliminary design, the final design of what was to actually be built came from the folks at Dunham Studios. And that's basically what they excel at doing! I had suggested some track shelves along portions of the layout. But the final design that included built-in shelving as part of the layout cabinetry for displaying my Standard Gauge trains was all Clarke's idea. Likewise, that's where an entire series of arched O-Gauge bridges I purchased back in 2005 at York would also be incorporated into the layout. It was really pure genius on Clarke's part, because I knew I wouldn't have room to actually RUN the Standard Gauge trains on this layout. But I hated to part with them completely. So this was a splendid way to incorporate a number of my Standard Gauge trains as part of an otherwise predominantly O-Gauge layout -- to be enjoyed in a very unique setting. I should also point out here that this is yet another facet of the layout where Team Dunham's master craftsmanship excelled in spades. Those bridges I purchased back in 2005 were from a company no longer in business (Bridge Solutions), and I only had a couple of very tall support towers for the arch bridges. But the final design called for SEVEN tall support towers that were eventually produced in fine matching detail at the Dunham Studio shops. Simply amazing!
So the Standard Gauge display blends into the largely tinplate-based industrial area, consisting mostly of Lionel tinplate accessories mixed in with a few Korber kits that were brilliantly painted in Lionel blue/orange colors to blend in with the bright tinplate colors; which then crosses over a river canal that transitions us to the more hi-rail / scenic'd portion of the layout including a 30-building Department 56 "Christmas-In-The-City" village set in the foothills of a dramatic mountain -- featuring carved rock, multiple tunnels and full scenic treatment.
As an aside from all of that, I provided Dunham Studios with the track (MTH ScaleTrax), Lionel tinplate buildings, bridges and operating accessories, trackside signals, Department 56 buildings (that date back to my acquiring some of them in the 1980's and 1990's), Z-4000 transformers, Legacy and DCS control systems, and of course a key selection of my train roster to ensure the layout would have adequate clearances to handle all of my locomotives and rolling stock for years of trouble-free enjoyment.
So in March 2017, I rented a 9-foot U-haul cargo van... packed up all the items I could until the van was completely FILLED with "train boxes". And my trusty black lab Zuke and I headed northward about 5 hours to Dunham Studios in the Adirondacks. Fortunately, Mother Nature cooperated was with us, as our trip happened to fall right between two big snow storms that winter -- although I'm sure there would have been worse places to get stuck. Clarke and Barbara's hospitality ranks right up there with the best of our nation's Top 10 Bed & Breakfast Inns!!!
As you can see, 2017 turned out to be quite a memorable "adventure" in many ways. Designing this project's track plan was just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, so to speak. Bringing all the stuff up to Dunham Studios in March; then watching for weekly photo updates on Dunham Studios Facebook page (which documented various stages of the project's development) made for a year of heightened anticipation as the project rolled along at quite the steady pace. My wife loves hot air balloons, so our "official client visit" to Dunham Studios about 3/4 of the way through the project just happened to coincide with the 2017 Adirondack Balloon Festival, which had its best weather to accommodate hot air balloons in the last 15 or so years! And the Lake George area of Upstate New York is absolutely BEAUTIFUL during that time of year!!! Then having the completed project installed in mid-December -- just during the height of Christmas anticipation -- made for an absolutely fairy-tail-like ending that capped off a year filled with LOTS of fun and excitement on my part, and a TON of hard work I'm sure on the part of Team Dunham. The layout installation itself took roughly 4 days on-site, with an extra day on the front end to install the colorful backdrop that quickly captures the attention of visitors the second they walk into the train room. At the completion of the layout's installation, we all agreed that the train room looked like it was designed around the layout -- instead of the other way around. The layout looked THAT much like "it belonged" in its new home!
So now, it's onward to enjoying the trains... and sharing this whimsical wonderland of toy trains with family, friends and other toy train enthusiasts. Even my dog Zuke got a bonus out of all of this. He thinks the Allegheny & Pacific Railway is his new dog house!!! It took him all of two seconds to grab one of the installer's work gloves and get comfy underneath the layout after Day 1 of the installation. See for yourselves.....
David