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So I have been moving quickly on my layout, in less then 3 months I went from nothing to a layout with track, and scenery started.  

In that time I have been tossing empty boxes, loose track, and even rolling stock under the layout to get it out of the way.  Now I am getting to the point where I want to start doing some wiring for accessories, buildings, and even more track drops.  Man I can hardly crawl under there!   Guess I will spend the next few layout days organizing under there. 

I might even build some shelves with track on them to store extra rolling stock that doesn't fit on the layout or on my storage tracks in front of it.  

Who else has a mess? 

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Building my new layout in a spare bedroom since one is out of the house and two others are at college. They and the little one wanted more space in the basement for socializing, so I compromised and took a bedroom. Problem is, they all want to store their stuff under the train layout. My stuff is actually pretty limited as my train boxes are all in the attic and accessories, parts, and extra track is in the closet.

My 4x12 layout is in a basement bedroom against an inside wall. My "extra" train items are on cheap shelves under it.

I built the layout using 2x4 legs and framing, and 3/4" osb tables. Why? Because, living in Kansas, it's our tornado shelter as well as my layout. We have lighting, weather radio, bottled water, and a couple pet carriers under there. 

We've had multiple earthquakes this year and it's a mess under there. This topic reminded me that I need to get it ready again for this years storm season. 

I haven't cleaned up properly after our last all day work session and I find that I don't even want to go down there.  It has always had that effect on me.  If I don't clean up during and after work sessions, it kills my enthusiasm for the next one. 

There is nothing worse than going to the workshop or workbench and being faced with a total mess.  Then you spend all the time you allotted for what you went down there for straightening up things.  By then, you are put of the mood to get anything done.  And if you get unexpected company that just adds to the frustration for me.  

Art

Well I guess a stack of boxes is kind of a mess.  My wife just finished making some simple curtains which run down both sides of the new layout (purchased some pipe hangers and simple 1/2" pipe, much cheaper than real curtain rods).  I still need to build the display shelf at the end of the layout in the coming weeks.  Admittedly it will be a good bit of work to move everything underneath when I start the actual wiring....

- Jeff

Scrambler81 posted:

Sadly, when I saw the title of your thread, I immediately thought of my wiring.

 My empty boxes are kept elsewhere, but the area under the layout is used for storage. It is kind of a pain moving things around when I am working on wiring. Maybe that's why it is such a mess.

I can certainly identify with that. 

Yes, I have a lot of stuff under my layout, but it is fairly well organized. One section has a lot of empty boxes, another has buckets full of scenic materials, and a third section has boxes full of trains. That said, there are still some clear areas where I can get to the wiring that needs doing. There are a couple spots that do need cleaning.

I once had a large storage and messy area under my layout. However, I cleaned it out and laid track on the floor and it is now a place to run my post war and conventional engines that have no DCS capability. I have a tubular loop, a fast track loop and hope to add a small standard gauge loop soon. Works out pretty well, but you do need to lay on the floor to get a full view.

 

I do not even want legs under my bench work.  The plan is to keep the  floor clear open for the installation of floor covering once the sloppy mess of scenery is essentially over. 

Train boxes go up between the rafters on lattice work.  Lots of unused cubic space between the rafters and lots of cubic space required of train boxes.  All my engines boxes will fit within the void of 3 X 12's on 16"  centers.

South view East Wall

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Last edited by Tom Tee

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