When I was building my last layout in my childhood home in South
Dakota--probably my Sophomore year in HS, I did some surgery to the
walls. I'm surprised my parents didn't flinch when they saw what I had
done. I pretty much did what Ed has done, by just cutting tunnel
portals into the basement walls. I also had to dip down to run under a
fuel tank, so the track went from 'normal' height down to about 12".
Back in those days even the standard trucks we had made for one heck of
a run-a-way. Can't image what needle point axles would do now.
When we brought my present house--early 80's, interest rates were a
big deal, so I needed a home with 'in place' house note. We found a
home, that was basically good, but with two major shortcomings--(I'll
justify my purchase because most homes built in Texas don't come close
to actually working out that well--but that's another lengthy discussion
IMHO). The kitchen was very small and nothing would work for a train room.
I was able to build the train room myself (with the help of other S guys
and one paid helper). To keep up my part of the bargain, the kitchen
addition came a few years later. The kitchen was about 1/3 the size but
cost 3-4X the cost of the train room. I didn't do a perfect
construction job, but the contractor we used on the kitchen made more
mistakes, but both have endured a couple of hurricanes, so I guess
they're doing their jobs.
Anyway, I've pretty much decided to follow what Bill had done. I have
only a couple of screws holding the layout to the wall. The background
is screwed against it but drywall repairs for screw holes aren't a big
deal usually. So after my demise, turning the room into something else
shouldn't be too big a deal. When I added a staging yard in an
adjoining room, I installed a 4' removable bridge in the doorway. The 6
track stub end yard is simply a shelf system by a company called
Elf--really good stuff! So that entire section of the layout could be
removed in a couple of hours. That idea of the shelf was a good deal in
that a computer table is below the shelf, and books reside above, so I
haven't taken up any floor space and only about 16" of height--hard to
argue that I'm wasting space! I still might have a couple of photos in
the PhotoTraxx photo files section.
When Bill talks about the Nazi type homeowners associations--it goes
both ways. Our longtime next door neighbor was a divorced lady with a
now, grown son. She was killed in a nasty car accident. Also she had
let her house's appearance 'coast' in preparing to move to a retirement
home elsewhere. After her death the son just let the house set, now
after several years back taxes and neglect have put the place into a
very sad state and its just a few feet away. Our subdivision dates from
the early 70's and many of the rules have been neglected and were never
designed for changing times. This is all something to consider when
adding to or making changes to your home and your expanding RR property,
furthermore just picking a property can be important due to various rules.
Bob Werre
Bob Werre
Well Ed, you are right and wrong. While I COULD change the whole area to
accommodate one set of buildings, I WON”T do it. This BTS tipple
would be
replacing another that l started years ago (sound familiar?) and
might still
eventually finish. One of the deals I made with myself (and with
Sandie’s
input) is that the trains would remain within their originally
designated
space. Additionally, there would be NO physical change to the house
structure – no screws in the walls, no paint on the walls, etc. . My
last
train room looked like Swiss cheese when I took down the railroad,
and she,
anticipating my death before hers, wants nothing like that happening
this
time. So the layout is free standing and put together with screws. While
it might take a couple of weeks to dismantle, other than the
depressions in
the carpet, there will be no scars. Re: adding on to the house, the HOA
(Home Owners’ Association) will not allow that. We can’t even change the
paint color without going through all kinds of hoops. This might sound
rather draconian, but it is one of the reasons we moved into this
development – we don’t have trash next to castles. And at 2750 square
feet, this house does NOT need to be larger for just two persons (and a
cat). The railroad has enough space...
So, maybe the ultimate answer is I REALLY don’t want this item as
much as I
want to keep things under control...
Have fun!
Bill Winans
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