My Living Room Layout (2024)

I call it "Simplicity in 6x8".

I painted/weathered the Fastrack to go with the rustic look of the "coffee table" I created.

Today, I am starting to add accessories and buildings.

View from one of my easy chairs near sofa. I still need to stain the decorative table legs.

YOu can see an old ZW and old Type V on the floor I'm using temporarily for testing.

Milk, Ice, Coal. The Coal Loader will be loading M&M's into a dump car for guests.

I've tested and the M&M's travel up and out just fine

Space Port with Nuclear plant for rocket power

Another "sofa's-eye view"

A Lionel 773 Cookie Jar way in the background in the side table

Nice job, I like it.

Richie

Gives no doubt to any visitors of how your household rolls.

Interesting spin on the Coal Loader with the M&M's and Ilike how you weathered the FasTrack. Great job!

Thanks guys! At heart, I am really a Postwar-style O-gauge'r. That aspect of the big hobby has never left me.

Taking a step further my favorite part of all this are the classic type noisy, over-sized, animated accessories.

This layout is in an apartment and coming up with this solution to fit in a layout worked perfectly for me.

The tops of the track sits 21" off the floor. No accessory blocks the view of my large screen tv.

Using boards on the sides with the decorative legs, then staining it all makes it fit in like another piece of furniture.

Not using a skirt around the layout gives the area a more open feeling, and the layout doesn't look imposing in the room.

Again, thanks for the comments. It's all about the fun!

Wow ... that's neat! I like it!

cool and the M&M's

Originally Posted by Amfleet25124:

I was going to say the same thing. Very popular with kids and adults, no doubt. They probably disappear quickly during operating sessions, too.

What Brian said above !!!!!!!! great job !!!!

Alex

Really nice! Postwar style accessories with Fastrack is a tough combination to beat.

Thanks all.

It's interesting, to me at least, that over the past 20 or so years when I dragged out the old trains that were part of my youthful Christmas's how my layout designs have changed.

Forgetting available space for a moment:

I did the typical Ping Pong table 5x9.

I then built a behemoth that was about 25 by 20, that could run 4 trains continuously.

Then another small, then a big....

I always seem to get the greatest satisfaction from the smaller, simple layouts that have stuff going on (accessories).

Don't get me wrong, I love seeing the huge, beautiful layouts that our members here create.

For me, the joy seems to always come back around to these Post War style setups, albeit with modern power and control.

Originally Posted by AXP889:

Good idea with the m&ms; I rarely use mine because the coal goes pretty much everywhere besides in the car, lol. will have to try the candy method

Oh, trust me, the M&M's scatter just as well as the coal. I am working on a shield to go around the front of the bin on the loader. When that thing starts vibrating, the M&M's do a dance and start bouncing out the front as well. I have had to experiment with power/speed to get it just right

Just like my original Milk car that launches the milk cans as hard as it can across the table.... and I love it!

Now That's what you call a "coffee Table"

Good Job.

Thank you!

Also, the table isn't as heavy as it may appear. It's 1x4 framing with 2" pink foam for the table top covered with Woodland Scenics vinyl grass mat.

The four table legs have sliders on the bottom, and the whole table is very easy to push around (for vacuuming underneath)

The side panels are 1x10 pine board simply screwed to the frame.

David: on my coal ramp/conveyor belt combo, I found that Nerds works really well. You are correct in one thing: power level matters. I have the conveyor on a separate power source and have it pretty low, low enough that things do not bounce all over. And Nerds are certainly lighter than M&Ms.

I like your approach!

- walt

Originally Posted by Gary Graves:

Love the living room idea. I wish I could talk my decorator-wife into this. I could run trains instead of watch TV in the LR. Great job!

Gary,

It's just me and my stage gear in my place. I can run trains AND watch Law and Order at the same time. Ha!

Well done!

Peter

I was married for 18 years. Life of a traveling musician got in the way.

Anyway, when I do have a "friend" over, so far they have liked the trains. Not so much because it's trains, but because at 52 years old I'm not boring....just a big kid....their words

works for me!

great job and i have always love Lionel pre and post war accessories the best, It's all good!!

Very
Nice JOB Excellent

!!!!

Alan

So I am relaxing in the metal patio chairs outside the FBO office doing some hangar flying with my buddies when an old C47 enters the pattern for a landing

It's an old C47 plastic model that I adapted to a Lionel Aircraft pylon. I used hard drying plastic putty to attach the metal rod to the plane.

great shot of the Skytrain. I've got quite a back up in the landing pattern myself...