On the money!

I am currently building my ideal layout. 

The room is 22' x 14' and the scale is HO/HOn3. (the measurements on the plan are in metrics)

It is meant to be built by myself and be used either by me, or up to three-four operators.

It will take time to complete, but as I enjoy all aspects of the hobby, it is allowed to do so.

This is for just running trains (hence the dual loops), operation (some staging allowed) and most of all for looks. 

My Thoughts

Here are my thoughts on my "Ideal Layout"

It would probably be somewhere on the order of 20 ft by 20 ft, maybe a more linear shape like 25 ft by 10. But most of that would be open aisle space in the middle.

I like scenery and I like building stuff, so it would have a high scenery to track ratio, I do like mountains so it would be mountainous with tracks running alongside cliffs and rushing streams with a bunch of bridges. Probably be a mining/logging layout in On30 with switchbacks leading high up into the mountains. Would like to have a continuous running option. and an oceanside port at one end leading up to mines and logging at the other.

I am not enamoured by operations but I do enjoy it occasionally, so being able to have some sort of timetable or sequenced running of trains would be nice with switching at either end.

I envision it as being built on narrow benchwork, 8 to 12" wide for most of the way snaking around the room rising in elevation and widening out to 20" or so where there is the port and mines. Should have some staging tracks, ideally at both ends.

Obviously I haven't fleshed this out at all, just speculating on what I would do if I had more space and money available!

I described my journey in

I described my journey in another thread "I must admit I was an armchair modeler".

https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/36873

My ideal was roughly in a room 12' to 15' x 22 to 25'.

When I built it, it was in an 18' x 8' room and since my move, the new one will be in a 16' x 9' room.

So, not much different.

My Dream Layout ran

My Dream Layout ran point/loop to point'loop, filled half a basement, and had an almost 200 foot mainkline run around 3 walls and a peninnsula, on 2 levels with an nearly constant grade. The base was foam on steel  "2x4" studs, pop-riveted together. I had the framework built, and was just beginning to lay track when we had to move. Oh, well...

Then came the divorce on top of all that...

Now, I'm going to be heading into Assisted Living, and my space and budget will be miniscule.  My Ideal is going to be T-Trak modules about a foot square I can work on  in my lap, made from foam core with 1" foam insulation tops, and I'll be lucky to get the public area once a month to set everything up. I have several modules now...   enough I can do a double track oval...  and am working on some end loops and other-than-90-degree turns to do a long free-form dogbone I could set up on 3-4 tables.

You talk about Texas Syndrome.... I don't even have Vatican City.

Same As Will...

I'm building it. Here's the thread:

https://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/node/35951

As for your question number 3:

Though I highly encourage visitors to see the layout (and later I hope to host friends for operation), I have zero desire to receive help with the layout.

Admittedly, I'm anal about building a layout. I want to do ALL the work myself. Whether that's for the good, or for the worse, I want it to be MY work. This actually covers all aspects of model railroading, whether it's layout construction and all it entails, to rolling stock, engines, and even structures. I don't purchase equipment that someone else has weathered (unless I purchase it to strip and redo), or structures someone else has built... none of that. My stuff, my work, my mistakes.

This isn't something new with me, either. I've always built all my layouts on my own. From my first one in the early 1960s (when I was 11 years old?), to the current one linked above.

To me, a layout is a personal journey of personal expression that's best enjoyed by me alone. I really enjoy sharing via forums/etc, but I want to be the one doing the actual layout work.

Early on in my life I learned that I am quite the loner when it comes to my interests and my life in general, and I'm fine with that.

Therefore, in regards to point 3, a layout for me has to be within the scope of being built by me by my lonesome.

Andre

Mine is my ideal for the most part

My On30 layout is generally what I have always wanted. I never wanted a basement-filler (yes, really) and always wanted to model the RR I do. I picked a fictional branch line of that RR, but I guess my ideal layout would be only a slightly larger room and being able to do floor-to-ceiling scenery for the Doe River Gorge outside of Hampton, TN (which is the only section of the former ET&WNC that still has 3-foot rails in place). The rest would be switching ops in stations around that area, places like Hampton, Elk Park and I'd like to represent the twin Rayon mills at Elizabethton, TN. It'd all take place before they pulled the line up at the end of 1950.

It'd have to be indoors as I have seen layouts in buildings away from the house and I want something that I don't have convince myself to go. I'd be fine with a 10X20 foot room so I could put a crew area at one end and make one end of the room look like a depot platform (preferably incorporating the door where you enter the room from).

All slow running and lots of stops, just like the real thing!

Ideal

About 50% bigger than what I have currently (7.5' x 17') and would have a dedicated shop next to it with a laundry tub and toilet. Insulated, finished interior and air/heat. Attached to house on ground level (no stairs or steps).

 The layout details would take care of themselves.

I'm with you, Brent

I think my ideal space would be about 25-30' long and 10' wide with 4' minimum aisle and 6-7' aisle for much of it. 12"-30" wide shelves along both sides.  That would give me 60-70 lineal feet to work with.  I think that would be perfect.

,,,

My ideal dream layout would be on the order of 40x40 to allow for the industries I want to model in regional sequence with each other.

If all came to a point, however, my minimum ideal layout would be a 10x10 around the room with two ten foot switching districts with ten feet of nowhere separating them.

Multiple decks would certainly give me more room to play, but in such a small space where helixes are space goblins and time warps, I'd have to seriously consider designing the helix in such a way that it would be lobed and open air so that the move from lower to upper decks is actually part of the run.

Scheduled priority one trains don't stop between yards if it can be helped.  All other trains follow in accordance with their class.

Ideal Is now

The ideal layout is the one you can start building and enjoying now, in whatever space you have available now.  Anything else is just a dream.  Perhaps a slightly less impractical dream than the “dream layout”, but still a dream.

Ideal? Dream?

Don't have any idea if my layout is "ideal" or "dream".  I have numerous blog postings and a website on what I'm building now.  Its what I have.

Ideal changes as one's life changes.

For now it's my S scale CCT layout , about 420 sq.ft. of L shaped layout space. Walk around design with about a 100 foot mainline and a 40 foot branch line. Approximately 40 turn outs. DCC controlled. At some point in time I'll probably move to a smaller space and either build an S scale Harlem Transfer layout or a Pennsy branch line with my TT scale stuff.....DaveB

Re #3

I forgot to answer question 3.

For the old layout I had 4 people helping from time to time and one fellow helping regularly. Not counting my lady.

Since my move I have discovered that 3 of the 45 have health issues. One for some reason does not want to even talk to me anymore, so I am down to one fellow who says he will help, but it is summertime and his busiest work season.

So, it is down to myself and my lady, but she has to look after her 86 year old mother, so we have one day to work on the layout together, if nothing else comes up.

I has been a slow rebuild so far.

I'm building my ideal pike

I'm building my ideal pike now. It only took me close to 50 years to figure it out. You don't know what you want till you know and someday, somehow, you just know. It's a tongue twister but it's true. At some point you brush aside all the voices telling you what you should do or what's correct, prototypical or otherwise, and you just do.

I wish for a little more room, maybe another 10 feet on each leg of my 10X13 L but that would be the max and it could be less or no more space at all if that's what fate dictates. I just know that the "Blackwater & Blue Ridge RR" is the most fully realized trackplan, concept and story that I've ever had and it's about time too. Circumstances and space may change but I will building this railroad till the day I die. That makes it the ideal "layout".

30 Minutes

Lance Mindheim has some interesting comments on his blog about how long is satisfactory for operating a layout:

https://shelflayouts.com/2019/06/the-thirty-minute-three-hour-rule/

I think I agree with his time estimates, on my own 30 minutes is enough, as a group 2 to 3 hours. So when it comes to building a long run, maybe we don't something that long after all? If it takes too long to get from one end of the layout to the other we won't run trains.

Food for thought...

I wish...

I wish I owned a little house on a few acres of land with zoning for mobile home trailers. I'd buy an old single-wide, knock out all the interior walls (but keep the bathroom!). When I filled that up I'd buy another and splice 'em together in an L shape. No dual-decks or helices, just infinite sprawl along the walls, and just keep adding on.

That's my version of TOMA - one trailer at a time, lol. 

Trouble is, I'd have to live way outside of nowheresville, and that's not what I want either.

That's my dream

Well, I think mine is ideal

1) I'm building a 13x36ft layout in a basement.  It could be bigger (I have the space), but this enables me to do what I want.

2) Having collected stuff over the last 20+ years, I have most of what I need - including a lot of lumber salvaged from my last layout.  Since building this layout will take 2-3 years, I can afford the rest as I build - mostly things like some more lumber, maybe some more wire, roadbed, etc.

3) This will be built for operations.  If desired I can add some track hidden in another room for continuous running.  Scenery will be fit in as possible, but is not a primary goal.  I am the only builder and likely the only operator.

It will be a point to point short line in S scale.  There will be a terminal and interchanges at each end along with 4 intermediate towns.  Main line is approximately 200 ft through the terminals.  It will follow the Maryland and Pennsylvania RR in the early 50's as much as possible.

Paul

Trailers?

Dear East,

Trailers? I would have thought 2nd-hand containers (20 or 40' x 8 x 8) would have been a logical option...

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

I concur on the three hour time

The Friday evening group I participate with follows this time, and it works out quite well. 

As far as operating on a railroad by myself, I don't do that even on my own railroad.  I do, however, re-stage my railroad between sessions as required.  That takes me about eight hours to accomplish over a few days. 

Regards,

GNNPNUT

 I compare to winning the

Awe, that's not what the lottery advertisements say - they say "hey, you never know".  From what I recall, it's the poorer segment of the population which has been duped by them and buy the most lottery tickets.

Your 3 parameters pretty much go without saying

Right, so by that definition, I didn't have an ideal layout for some years.  I lived in small apartments after a separation that eventually led to a divorce.  I didn't want a tiny switching layout so I nothing for about 15 years.  Just "dreams" or plans.  I didn't build a layout until 2014 when I moved into a townhome with a 10 x 18' basement room.  I would not call it an "ideal" layout but I built what I could fit - it was good practice and I could run some trains until it was time to move.

Now I have a 34 foot long odd shaped space in a basement I am finishing. The layout I am planning is much closer to what I would call ideal.  The basement is about 2 months from being finished and then plan on beginning construction.  Here is the plan below:

Trailers over Containers

Good idea about the trailers. Entertained similar fantasies.

Containers are a steel box with no bathroom, HVAC, and are not wired for electrical, and no plumbing.

Trailers come with a bathroom, HVAC, electrical, plumbing, and hopefully ya won't have to rebuild the thing from the floor up including the roof.

It does occur to me that with the stories about clubs loosing their space, would an old trailer or even a double wide work?

Jack

Nice Plan

That's a nice plan Graffen,....reminds me of the one I started out planning based on the Anon & Muss
https://forum.mrhmag.com/post/help-please-design-a-dbldeck-layout-in-its-own-handhouse-shed-12207028

If only I had an additional 2 feet more width to my shed, I might have fit it in.

Long Thin Layout

posted about a year and a half ago...

dream layout

How about some ideas about just running along the walls of the living room, down the hall and back again?

Some of us are getting old and tired. In HO it would only take about a 12" wide right of way. At a height of about 36", we could roll around in an office chair and reach almost everything to operate and maintain. (Still need the kitchen table for serious model building)

Some bridge/gate building would likely be needed. Again in smaller scales, they would not have to be super engineered. G scale is a bit more complex and more serious engineering would be necessary, Can't block door ways or bathroom access.

Dead rail operation would be cool. Some creative staging/storage/display yard approach?

When we were young and more flexible as kids, we could stretch our 3-rail trains all over the floors of the house. But the "aw mom" pain of picking it all up before dinner was a bummer.  Now we are older, blinder, achier. But maybe more discriminating and picky and creative. And after half the fun of building it would come the year round climate controlled environment and ease of just deciding to run a train...

Now, the art of right of way negotiations....