It started out as an exterior

It started out as an exterior room on the back patio.  After adding the addition to the house, The train room is now technically inside the house.  The train room has an interior door to access it.  This is very nice compared to walking that 15 feet in the cold when it was a separate room/door on the back patio.

Various locations at various times.

I have had my N scale layouts in various locations.

1. In the corner of a living room (11.5' x 6.5')

2. In a spare bedroom (10' x 10')

3. In my living room / dining room (18' x 8')

4. In a spare bedroom (14' x 9.5')

The above was due to the fact that all the locations were apartments.

5. I am about to build one in the basement of our new house (12' x 20')

A friend of mine had his HO layout in a room above his two car garage, which was detached from his house. The only plumbing out there was an outlet for a garden house. He chose that because in his house, there was not room enough for an HO layout (he had a room 12' x 12') that would hold his attention for longer than 30 minutes. He claimed that with HO, you need a large space so you can create a layout that you can run a train on where so that the locomotive would not be in one town with the caboose still in the first town. .

Note: My next N Scale layout will be similar to my last two, it will be two levels (200 sq ft of benchwork) and joined by a 48" x 48" x 18" quarry style helix. 

Good luck with your decision Rob.

Mostly basements

Mostly basements.  Rec room in 1972-74.  Garage around 1985-86.  Nowhere 1989-1994.

three locations

First two layouts were in an attic room over a garage. I was young and it was a paradise to me. Looking back it was hotter than hell in summer and colder than,,,,,well, real cold in the winter. Also the side walls only went about 3' before they joined the sloped ceiling. Probably about 9'x14' usable space. 

 layout #3 and #4 where in a basement (one of the very few in California). Needed finishing and had a low beam to deal with....ouch! but was a very good space about 16x18. Stairs were very steep and had to go through two unfinished spaces to get there.

Current layout is in a room built inside the garage. It is small but comfortable with heat and air con. At 71 with some balance and mobility issues that are getting worse its major advantage is I can access it through the house with no steps up or down to deal with. It also has a window to the outside where my workbench is located which is a big plus when I'm working on a project for hours at a time. The space is very narrow which is not optimum but I've adapted to the limitations. It's 7.5'x16'. Biggest problem is that I will finish up the layout one of these days and lose interest if past experiences are any indicator. Considering expanding into garage and building new detached garage when my ship comes in.......it better hurry.

It would be wonderful to have the space that your shop affords but at 150' from the house it would limit all the little back and forth trips I make to my current setup.. If you are younger it wouldn't be a big deal but as you age the distance is something that has to be factored in. Hope you don't develop mobility issues but it is pretty common.

Layout Locations

Historically (as I recall it):

4 inside the home. (2 in basement, 2 in spare bedrooms.)

1 inside a 24' RV trailer. (Tri-level layout w/mondo operation.)

Currently:

1 inside a purpose-built out-building 16' x 20'. No plumbing. Sits about 50' from the back patio door.

1 around the walls shelf layout inside a spare bedroom serving as a combination computer/hobby room. This layout is to be downsized to an L-shaped urban industrial switching layout "one of these days".

Pros/Cons...

Inside Pros:

* Inside the house is best for convenience. (House shoes, or in your socks, or even barefoot w/bathrobe on/etc, is just fine and dandy.)

* Inside is best for inclement weather. (Don't have to traipse through the weather to get to your hobby hut.)

* Inside is easier on the utilities bill. (You don't have additional space needing heat/AC.)

Inside Cons:

* Not so great in regards to construction materials and the mess construction creates.

* In-process layouts tend to gather clutter and look messy. This mess is right there in the home with you.

* Non-basement regions are typically limited to a small spare room.

Out-building Pros:

* The entire space can be dedicated to the hobby if desired without concern for accommodating other functions. (Desks, bookshelves, etc.)

* The construction messes are contained and not inside the home.

* Under the layout space can be used for storage can Oddly, thus the layout itself doesn't tend to gather clutter as bad.

Out-building Cons:

* The walk to access your hobby.

* Additional expense for the heat/AC.

* Additional structural upkeep.

Andre

Attached California garage ...

... in a compact 1948 2BR, 2BA house that has no other available space. The garage is fully finished with epoxy-chip sealed floor, drywall and insulation on all walls and ceilings, plenty of outlets, overhead lighting, a portable air conditioner and a space heater.

Everything in California's suburban postwar homes was smaller than today--baths, closets, bedrooms and so forth. And I use an exercise machine in the garage as well, so I have only half the garage. One advantage of working in an attached garage is that I can leave the kitchen door open and hear what's going on in the house, and be available. I don't think I'd want to be 150' away. Another advantage of this smaller size is that completion occurs faster. If you'll be working on the layout solo, without a round-robin group or other helpers or operators, think about how much you can realistically accomplish in a reasonable time. I designed a layout that could reach completion in five years, and I'm almost there. Starting in 2021 I'll be able to enjoy operating it and upgrading the structures and details here and there.

First layout while in grad

First layout while in grad school was in the garage (16x19' hollow L)

Second layout was in my basement with my first wife (14x26') until she kicked me out and later I divorced her.

Third layout was in my town house basement - 10x18' around the walls.  No bathroom in the basement was annoying.

Fourth layout is under construction now in a 16x33' area in a basement we just finished with a full bath.  Having a bathroom in the basement is nice.

Basement Bedroom

I have had a layout in an seperate out building/shed. It had AC, lots of outlets and despite the AC it was still hot and humid in the summer. Yes it was insulated. It was a pain in the ___________.

The rest of my layouts including the current one have been in the basement. Dry, climate controlled, and I don't have to share the space.

So present space, the room is 12x18. door in one corner which gives me an isle space the width of the door. So at the moment my layout is 10x10 with a 8ft staging yard added on one end.

Down side is I have to share the space with my desk and work bench, Otherwise layout would take up the entire space.

Are questions allowed? What kind of layout do you want?

That may help you decide which space is best.

Jack

In shared space

My layout shares a 16x16’ room with the following:

• Guest accommodation 
• Recreation
• Exercise
• TV + XBox
• Home office
• Model work bench

Being in shared space requires extra discipline about making messes.  However, it also enables me to take advantage of spare moments.  I can easily spend five minutes on a project while waiting for the rest of the family to assemble for movie night, for example. I expect if I had a layout in a shed shed, I would only go out there once or twice a week. 

Cheers,

Rene

Bonus Room Over Garage

My current layout is in a bonus room, 12x22, over the two car garage.  But like Rick's first layout, this one has sloped ceilings with the vertical side walls only 40" tall.  So the layout is built out from the side walls, to make it high enough to comfortably work on. So that danged sloped ceiling really is a pain.  

Al Carter, Mount Vernon, WA

Hay Loft

The railroad is in a space that was simply a platform above some horse stalls and adjacent covered parking in a separate structure  from the house - about 75’ away. As the herd grew the horses got a new barn and the stalls got a concrete floor that became a shop. The loft was enclosed and the pull down ladder replaced with real stairs. This served as a home office/drafting studio for several years. 
 

A drawback is the distance from the house and no bathroom. My wife would have preferred that the layout had a space in or next to the house so we could be closer but it is what it is. Now my train room is also a bit of a man cave with room to hang out, a couch and model table. My guitars and amps are out there if the mood to make noise kicks in. All in all I like having my own space. 

My On30 layout fills most of

My On30 layout fills most of a 11X10 foot bedroom.

People ask me all the time if I wanted something bigger.

It could have been larger, to be honest. My wife even agreed to an earlier plan of mine to get a shed constructed for the layout and placed on the 'back 40' of our property. The more I thought about that, the less of a good idea it seemed. I've known people with layouts that are out of the way of normal occupation of their homes, and the builds on these layouts always seemed to take forever. A friend of mine who designed the initial track plan has a HO layout in his garage which he admitted he rarely ever walked into the room.

I didn't want that. I wanted the layout in a place that was comfortable, easy to get to and in a place I wanted to go. And being as accessible as it is, I was motivated to go in that room and do something almost every day when it was still under construction.

By sacrificing size, I think I now have a layout which is in a place where I went far more often than if it'd been in the garage or a shed out back. I can't imagine the layout would have been done as fast if the layout was tucked away from sight. So if it means it's way smaller than it could have been, I'm just fine with that. And besides this, if I ever had to move, I never could have picked up a large shed and had that moved as well, with the layout inside.

Bedroom then outside

"I need to make a decision

  I had the same problem and solved it by building a layout in both spaces. I have a TT scale layout in the house in a spare bedroom and an S scale layout in part of my shop. My shop is about 50 feet from the house so some stormy days I wish it was closer  but most of the time it's fine....DaveB

What are you going to model?

Rob- I've had a small bedroom, then a basement, then an attic, then a basement, then nothing, now a basement.  Attic drawback was sloping sidewalls- didn't like that,  Otherwise pretty equivalent spaces as all had HVAC to some extent.

I like mainline running and longer trains, so if I was faced with your choices I would opt for the outbuilding 100%.  If your modeling givens and druthers would be content in a 9.5 x 11.5 room then being in the house has its advantages. 

Good luck with your choice and the new build! 

Craig

Ad hoc hobby time

My layout's in our basement, and I agree completely with what Lee and others wrote above about having something in the house to encourage hobby time.  I think it was either Lance Mindheim or Trevor Marshall who once wrote about the importance of minimizing anything - even the smallest barriers - that would discourage working on or operating the layout.   Following that blog post, I made the simple change of setting up my layout power on a switch rather than having to get down on my knees to plug it in, and I found the advice to be a great help. 

It was such a minor thing, but it's amazing how even a tiny delay like that can make or break our willingness to enjoy the hobby when we only have 5-10 minutes to spare.  Short bursts of time REALLY add up, making for a substantial impact on hobby productivity.  As Lee said, I'd go for something in the house every time, even if it meant a much smaller layout.  The longer I'm in this hobby, the more I realize that layout size has very little to do with hobby enjoyment.

Mostly basement

Many years ago my first two were in bedrooms in an apartment.  After that, we always had a house with basement and they have been in the basement.

Biggest need for the basement is lots of lights in the ceiling - my current layout is being built in a 17'x44' (13 1/2 x 36 for the layout) finished room with 10 ceiling fixtures in 2 rows of 5 each.  It makes a real difference over the usual 2 or 3 single bulbs you usually get.  In fact I had extra lights added to all the basement rooms (finished or not).

Paul

Finished attic "bonus room"

Finished attic "bonus room" under a gable roof like the above garage rooms mentioned, with shared space for futon/computer desk/etc.  Layout is at 36" height to better suit ceiling height and allow easy use of roll-around office chair.  Currently 24' long shelf layout with expansion plans under development.  

I completely agree with Lee, Joe and others... the layout has to be convenient to access and work on and operate; if its not, then you won't.  Those productive 5, 10, and 20 minute chunks of time are critical and can't be wasted on travel & set up time.  I do alot of work (rolling stock & loco projects especially) at the kitchen counter breakfast bar; all the tools & weathering gear are kept in open top tool totes in a nearby closet for easy setup & short modeling periods.  In fact I leave everything out on the counter until Mrs. K5 requests a clear kitchen.  Plus I am present for conversations and non-model railroad pop up household tasks (depending on your circumstances, you may NOT want to be present either!).  

To add on a bit, I've also found that leaving the layout ready to operate for the next time really increases the enjoyment & usage factor.  If the layout becomes temporary storage space for boxes etc. or its cluttered with tools & materials, you have to start next time by cleaning up which is a major demotivator to entering the room at all.  

Jeff

Ugly

Now THAT is a beautiful example of using an attic bonus room!

While in high school, a spare

While in high school, a spare upstairs room

Every time after, a basement.

Mike.

Mine has been in the 9x11 spare bedroom for the past 12 years.

I recently decided I would like to have a proper guest room and started a new layout. My master bedroom is a little larger and I decided to put it there. I designed and built a TOMA style section with the main yard on it. 
I discovered that the best location for the yard section is in front of the window that is the fire escape route of last resort. Now I am engineering a swing out set up that attaches to the yard section that will allow it to move. 
 

The craziest thing is that my house has odd sized pockets of free space that aren’t very usable- I have about 3 places I could stick a shelf layout in the main living areas. 
 

I could use the garage for the train layout, but I would rather park the car in there. 
Having the layout in the living space means you have to work on it, I probably would still have a pile of material if I had to go somewhere else. I procrastinate when it’s safe to do so because the project is out of sight, out of mind. 
The snow blower, push mower, and other things in need of minor or major repair are rusting away in my shed and hopefully will be dealt with in the spring. 

RICK S

Thanks my man!  Come run some trains and you can crash on that futon

jeff

Second bedroom. The two prior

Second bedroom. The two prior to this one, the bedroom I slept in. Prior to that, a second bedroom.

My layout: https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/31151?page=27

Always in the basement..........................................

I live in the Chicago area.  Basements are commonplace.  It just wouldn't be the same not having to walk down 12 steps into my own little world. 

Besides, it is nice and close to the beer fridge.

Regards,

Jerry