Layout Size

[Fazy]

Been eyeing up my dads garage for years and then the other day he said "oh you could build a layout in here couldn't your? "  out came a trpe 27'6" x7'3"  now how can I fit Leicester in there. 

[96RAF]

The bonus of having a 'standard' garage, or better even, a double length one like fazy is that they are not really wide enough to put a modern car in, not if you also want to open a door to get out, so they become junk rooms, hobby rooms, home gyms or get converted to living areas.

Even prefabricated garages are the same width.

Why have architects never cottoned on to this.

[vimal_indrasoma]

 I think it's a difference in the way their mind works - mine asked me how big my car was so I went out with a tape measure and found out how long my old Toyota was. Now I have a new garage which is 1 foot longer than my car. That's 6 inches from the wall tp the front number-plate and another 6 from the rear bumper to the garage door. I need laser sights (OK, my headlight beams) to position my car correctly. Luckily I've become quite good at this.

[Yelrow]

There are 2 schools of thought here. I was always told if you must garage your car, you need to wipe every inch of it dry, as otherwise probs occur. The other school is leave it out, and wind will dry etc. I have never garaged a car, despite having the facility. My Discovery, here in france, sits out in all weathers, as does our peugot 205. I have ample space to garage both, but cant face wiping them both down. Conversely, both ride on mowers, are always hosed clean, and left to dry, before putting in garage. curious aint it. john

[96RAF]

When I had a garage I could just get my car in and was driving to work at 0-dark o'clock in winter it was a definite bonus not having to scrape the windows.

now we have subtlety sidetracked this thread, where now...

[37lover]

RAF96

I think I can offer a nice transition to bring us back on topic! I am fortunate to have a large garage that has a 2m wall to the right side of the double door on the facade. The previous owner built a log store and workshop behind the 2m wide wall stretching to the rear of the garage, where there is a pedestrian door. I rebuilt the log store [making it a bit wider and insulated floor/walls,etc] and this now is home to my 3m x 2m layout. On another thread I mentioned that I had recently made two holes through to the workshop and have built a Wye junction in  there to turn my trains around.Garage has never seen a car; full of mowers, benches, empty aquarium, garden furniture awaiting refurbishment, bikes, old wardrobes, etc. I even spent a few months last year digging up part of the front lawn to extend the gravel parking areas [kids live at home so we have four cars out there in all weathers].

[vimal_indrasoma]

 Oops.

I think I should have gone on to mention that while my garage is short, it is in fact wide enough for TWO short cars (one of which I don't have). The extra area is home to bicycles, mowers, bags of fertilizer and so on, in other words totally wasted.

I have been toying with the idea of using it to house a more complete layout, either suspending it from the ceiling on pulleys, or (more realistically) hanging it off the wall on hinges, preferably on spacers so as to allow the layout to have some depth.

If anyone here has seen suitable plans in one of the magazines or books, I would be grateful if they would post the title and year/month so I can see about getting myself a copy.

Being more of a Meccano/Airfix person, I have a significant gap in my knowledge of advanced Model Ralways, and nearly no reference material on the subject, so any pointers in the right direction would be appreciated! I can manage rough carpentry and a soldering iron, so I should be able to follow the average magazine article. Hopefully, I won't end up with an open-air garage.