Making my garage's loft more comfortable.

Hi all,

I was ordered by the SHMBO to get my "crap" out of her house! So I'm lucky enough to have a large garage being 8m (26') x 8.6m (28') downstairs and a rather unstable loft area available to me. The builder / owner of our house before we moved in, ran his 2nd business from the garage. So the garage has a sub board and many electrical circuits etc, though the loft was never built to a standard that it should have been. So the cost to repair / modify it to the level that a mezzanine must conform to was only slightly less than removing it and replacing it with new timbers. So we bit the bullet and called in the builders.

The "new" loft is the same footprint as the old and apart from the structural improvements was considered "like for like" so the local council was happy to let us be. The area also now has side walls and a return beside the stairs so a much safer place to be. Australia can be hot and suprisingly cold too. Where I live goes from -8C (18F) in winter to a rather unbearable 46C (115F) in summer. So the whole loft area has been insulated with R3.5 bats and the thicker 13mm (1/2") plasterboard was choosen. The loft now more than meets the 500kg / square metre.

So the idea is to get it liveable and dust free for my library of railway books and magazines. Also a TV with player for all my DVD / Bluray discs too (you'll notice a powerpoint high up on a wall). Now I have a garden railway that is some 36m (120') long x 5m (16') so you wouldn't think that I would have the need for another railway, well I didn't think so either but..... We have decided that the area that is between the return wall and the window opposite would make a nice place to build something. I will still be able to have enough shelf space for all my books etc and the possiblilty of an indoor railway too.

So the question is what scale / gauge combination would fill the area of 7m (23') x 3m (10') of the available 8m (26') x 5.4m (18') loft best? Well my friends have already started doodling and I like most of what they have drawn so far, decisions, decisions. So enough rambling and take a look at the pictures, and if you to would like to suggest something just make it fit into the 7m (23') x 3m (10'). I cannot shake the leaning towards BR Southern Railways Region OO scale 3rd rail, oh and I might just have a some stock somewhere. SR 3rd rail, LUG and steam in the early diesel days, hmm we can all dream.







The possiblity to take over the whole loft is also an option with the bookshelves fitting under the baseboards.

Bye for now,

Stephen.

Ooh you lucky devil! I wish I had a space like that to develop as I wished. Perhaps you could take your inspiration from Miniatur Wunderland which never ceases to amaze me.

Which scale? I suppose that depends upon many things. Clearly you have loads of space at your disposal, so that is not a major problem. The rest depends upon your taste. Since you have indicated an interest in BR Southern Region, then it sounds as if you are a "main line" or even a "suburban" sort of guy, in which case I guess the largest scale you would want to consider would be 00 gauge. For me, I like to build many of my models and would find N gauge too small, besides there is a wider range available commercially for 00.

Now should you decide on the BR Southern as your theme, I was brought up in this area and period, so any advice you need...

(As long as you include a model of my old school, Woking Grammar, which is now the local Police Station (It just felt like the local police station in my days! )