Photos?

Pictures and maybe video before the destruction?

drJolS

I will try,  But I think it

I will try,  But I think it will be more a sad thing for the owner if he fully understands what is going on.  I do not think it is his decision as much as the families making a choice for him.

Video and photo's

Sad Day

Sorry to hear about your friend AZBaja, I hope it wasn’t too emotional for him. It’s sad when something you love has to be taken down because you can no longer enjoy it due to declining health. It serves as a reminder to us that life is fleeting and we should enjoy the time we have together.

Love ya Brother, Ron

Good on you Az

These kind of situations can be extremely difficult for the family members. I've been involved in several similar circumstances involving large installations of recording equipment and the family has no idea of what to do. Commonly the space is needed for in home care of the elder family member, or the real estate needs to be sold to cover all the medical expenses so time is of the essence. Add in the emotional attachment of the builder of the layout, studio etc and the family members already overwhelmed with more pressing matters and it can be a complicated web.

 Anyway, it is times like this that the good guys step up.

Layout recycling?

Can any of the layout be saved?  Sometimes it's possible to cut up a layout and "recycle" it.  I was thinking if that were possible there might be a wounded warrior or an older veteran living with Parkinson's disease that might appreciate having a layout or a portion thereof.  I don't think layouts should go to landfills.

Like Rick said bring in the good guys.

Robert

It took our team of 8 about 4

It took our team of 8 about 4 hours to cut this long time operational layout out and put it all in a 20' roll away dumpster.  The NYC based operational layout was in a 2 car garage.  

Things I learned,

Glueing down track with RTV, Silicone, caulk  or whatever that is DUMB,  Doing the same for Turnouts, do not do it.  If you plan on saving track from the layout at some point do not glue it down.  Lots of track broken trying to get it up.  If anything pin the turnouts in place so those might be saved.

Metal Benchwork aka "C" Channel framing 2x4s, metal wall studs.  Do not do it.  The metal bench work was built then the top flat layers were added over the metal framing hiding all the screws that were used to build the metal bench work.  Then the wooden top surface was screwed into the metal framing.  So you could not get to the screws to separate anything.

Every sheet metal screw was sharp and ready to poke, cut or scratch you from unseen areas.  What could of been saved and removed with a sawzall was not possible with the metal framing.

By the way cutting metal framing with a sawzall,  Loud and painful to the ears.  And after that you have more shap pointy areas to cut, stab and slice you open.

We packed two pickups, some cars and a mini van with boxes of train cars & equipment.  Had to move a full size lighted switch stand that is crazy Crazy HEAVY!  after taking the lights off it took 3 people to move it.  should of been more but no space for others to move or hold it.

Ladys in the group will go through every thing, catalog it all and get it set for resale on the used market at some point.  That is the nice thing about being part of a group.  Things like this can be handled when needed.

Looks like the family moved them out of their home over the last few weeks and are in the process of preparing the home for resale.

From what I know this is something like the 4th or 5th layout maybe more that the groups has taken down over the years,  including MMR #7 Ed Ravenscroft - Glencoe, Skoki Valley Railroad.  For reasons other than starting over.

This is the 1st time I got to participate in this type of group activity 

Sadder Still

While it is very sad to see a layout come down due to death or illness (or other problems), in some ways its is sadder when someone has an unfortunate event and they haven't had the opportunity to turn their "collection" into a layout.  At least with the person that had the layout, they had the enjoyment of building and operating it and often were able to share it with their friends and family.  A couple years ago modeler passed and left a basement better stocked than many hobby shops, full of boxes of brand new cars and locomotives,some never opened, for that layout he was going to build, but never got around to.

There will be another layout disposition in the area as one of our contingent (and a former co-worker of mine) has passed recently. 

Sad to hear of your friends

Sad to hear of your friends declining health AZ. I have done some of those myself and it is always a bitter sweet experience. One it is nice to help someone through a task they can not do themselves, but it is sad to see something someone put so much of themselves into destroyed.

Two thumbs up for helping someone in need.

Building in its Own Shed

I know this is not possible for many of us, but some of these difficulties of 'disposing' of a layout is exactly why i decided to build my layout in its own dedicated train shed.

A number of years ago I helped several club members dismantle several layouts, (one due to a death, one due to a move). The one due to a death was a VERY detailed, marvelous layout that eventually could not find a buyer or donation. It was such a shame to have to cut it up. I salvaged (purchased) the waterfront scene from that layout.
 

 
I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate that scene into my new layout. I have several suggestions offered by some gentleman on this forum, but have yet to fully plan out my lower deck of a dbl-deck layout. (At one point I was going to sell that scene to a brass collector, but I just could not part with it yet).

It was those experiences that suggested to me that my new layout would have to be built in its own dedicated train shed. So if I pass away (now75), or move again (hopeful not) the shed can simply be slid out of the drive way and taken where ever. The shed and the train layout will become ONE.

12x16 Handi-house shed

When I retired from years of

When I retired from years of railroading and we re-located, back to Minnesota I brought a simple, HO, fold up (fit nicely in the back of our SUV) module with me to our new, condo home. This prototype, wye module was the beginning of a new layout in our finished basement. Having this simple module helped me build a simple around the walls railroad which was easy to construct, easy to maintain, easy to operate,...and easy for my family to remove when I one day pass away. I had the benchwork and trackage all constructed within the first year of our move and though there have been some small adjustments after three years it's still pretty much the same as designed. Photos attached.

One of the reasons, I wanted to get the railroad up and running quickly, was illustrated by an elderly (85) year old, friend who I had known before we moved from Minnesota and whom I saw occasionally, at a modeler's, weekly, lunch. One day, during lunch I asked this modeler what railroad he modeled and he replied:the Great Northern from Minneapolis to Spokane. I said that was quite a distance you must have a large layout. He shocked me by replying that he didn't, YET have a layout only equipment for it. It was then that I determined to have my railroad up and running ASAP.

I think Joe's TOMA , concept offers a lot of advantages regarding layout design and construction.easy to build, maintain and enjoy operating, along with flexibility for mobility and expansion. I believe that we as modelers do, too much planning and trying to solve all the design problems before we ever begin construction and because of that many railroads never get built. Start small and simple...then after trains are operating... expand.

Note regarding dismantling and re-use of layouts. I have done this more than once and was offered a large piece of a deceased, friend's railroad which I designed and helped build. I took the layout portion at the insistance of the family and inserted it into my railroad...but try as I might it never fit. After a year returned it to one of the family members with graditude. Attempting to re-use other's railroads which never were designed to be a part of our's rarely works. Best to sell off the equipment and structures for pennies on the dollar and put the rest in the dumpster. BTW, selling railroads also does not work, either. When we left my last railroad job I gave most of my railroad to another modeler who re-cycled the track and switches (wasn't glued or ballasted) and threw away the benchwork, foam. Railroads, are personal and hard to get rid of.

This is probably, all, "old news" to most of us, so please ignore my experience if it is.

Barry

Saving/Moving layouts

I think Barry states a very obvious fact in that most layouts end up in a dumpster but that's not how it has to be.  I was reading a back issue of NGSL Gazette and Charlie Getz wrote about some layouts that have been saved.  The MR N scale Clinchfield project layout has been moved several times.  A portion of Irv Schulz's layout was saved and is at the NMRA headquarters along with a portion of Whit Towers layout.  Even Malcolm Furlow's fantasy narrow gauge layout was saved.

This is where TOMA comes in where we should all make an effort to build something that can be moved or reused in some fashion.  AZ's comments about steel studs shows that while being an alternative way of building benchwork it doesn't work for disassembly.  I've thought about gluing track down to foam tape (athletic tape) rather than gluing track directly to the plywood so that it could be taken up.

We all need to keep the future in mind and how your work could achieve some immortality.

Robert

Thinking about the full layout life cycle

HUGE Layout moved

Just happened across this posting from a day ago, on another forum. What a huge and detailed layout to dismantle and ship overseas !!!
 

Bok...

I always thought that your layout was bigger than that.

Now here is an

Argument for a shelf layout.  We all dream of the 2000 square foot empire, but having a layout that can be moved quickly might help everyone involved.

BOK

Barry can speak for himself, but I believe the wye module is the part of his Kansas layout he kept as the seed of his MInnesota layout.  The Minnesota design he had described is an around-the-walls plan with staging that gives plenty of people room around the layout.

Hi Bremner: The wye layout is

Hi Bremner:

The wye layout is one I brought from Kansas to be used at proto meets to allow modelers to learn how to switch like the prototype. When we arrived in Minnesota (it easily traveled in the back of our SUV) it was part of my now larger layout but I needed more flexibility in design so it is currently in storage.

BTW, I always appreciate your N scale posts because I was an N gauger for 40 years  and you do nice work. I still have a bit of it left maybe for a micro layout?

Barry

Years of work in now in a dumpster in about 4 hours

It is odd but we worked from top down so the layout is upside down in the dumpster.  All the flat stuff is underneath all the support structure is now on top.

Hi Graham: You are right it

Hi Graham:

You are right it was part of the larger Minnesota railroad but it didn't fit the current design so it is storage,

Never the less, it did meet my specifications for a simple (4 turnouts), fold up, easy to transport, proto-type based model. It could easily be a corner, module in an apartment, sized room, around the walls railroad.  It also was a "hit" at the meets where it was displayed and operated causing many modelers who thought it initially, very, simple ...quite challenging.

Barry

Tearing Down, Selling Off

I plan on donating two

I plan on donating two peninsula sections of my layout depicting iron mines to the local museums/ historical societies of the regions depicted ... Ironwood, MI and Bessemer, MI. They are each stand alone and not too large so one Sawsall cut should be enough to free them from the rest of the layout. As for the rest of the layout, after salvaging the buildings, it will probably end up in the dumpster. The layout will live on in the many photographs I took over the years.

Disheartening

 That is so disheartening !

a John Armstrong Observation

Yesterday I was sorting thru some old documents, etc I had saved, and I ran across this old (1995), "Conversation with John Armstrong" from Model Railroad Planning.

At the end of the article he is asked,

"One last question. If you had to move and wanted to salvage part of the CS for a new layout, would you save the yard, and build new staging?"

John's reply:
" Oh gosh. I think I'd probably just lie there and die. There are some things you just don't want to think about. "