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Shed Size


chris
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When I started build my garden railway I already had a big shed in a small garden. Over the last 6 years my railway has slowly grown to take over nearly all of the shed. Most of that growth was to stable the ever expanding depot allocation. The most recent reorganisation was/is to allow for the housing of a station in the shed. I've given up on the pretence that I have a shed which has a railway running through it. I now have a railway shed.

Is my shed big enough? Yes, just.

My shed is 12 by 6 (foot). When I bought it I wanted a 4m by 2m shed, it would have been a better fit for my garden. But imperial still rules in British sheds :(

I'm helping a mate build a railway shed, it's 24ft by 4ft6. It will host an end to end layout, which may branch out into the garden.

When it comes to sheds for garden railways my preference is for a long thin one.

Anyone else got any thoughts on shed size and dimension ratio?

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My shed was alwsys going tp be a railway shed. At 10 x 8 it was the biggest l could afford, over that l could'nt hand on heart justify the expense!

The biggest problem was that most of the rest of the railway existed in some form and would enter the shed at almost floor level. As l didn't think the back and kness would cope it meant sinking the shed about a foot into the ground and raising the track bed up!

Raising the trackbed up was easy(!) but digging a 10x8 hole about 18 inches deep almost killed me and it was suppriseing how much soil l had to distribute around the garden.

Anyway l now have a termius station on one side and a through station on the other with enough room in the centre for a fat man to sit on a swivel chair and play trains.

When you look at it empty you think theres tons of space but that only just gives you enough platform space for an 8 car train. There are grandiose plans, in my head anyway, for a covered section extending out on one side to allow for part of the layout to be used all year round.

If l have one regret it would be that l didn't put any insolation in when l had the chance, already bust the budget and wanted to get on with playing trains.

Still have a garden shed, l'm sure l dont need half the stuff in it !

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Well at 12ft by 8ft my own shed does all that it was originally intended to do. My initial plan was for an indoor station along one side, entering via one end wall and departing through the end opposite. The shed width was of less concern as I had never anticipated an indoor circuit of track - I'm not too keen on the sharp curves that would have been necessary in order to complete a circuit. The type of trains I wanted to run would also not work totally within that space.

I had originally planned on getting a shed 14 feet in length but felt I could do what I had in mind with a couple of feet less. I've not yet regretted that decision. My plans changed slightly with the addition of a terminus station along the opposite wall of the shed but the 8 feet total width allows me plenty of space between the two.

Mine, like Jim's, is not insulated. Perhaps that would be a good idea but it's something I just haven't got round to. I did opt for thicker tongued & grooved boards than a standard shed so it is draught free but some form of insulation would certainly make it a more hospitable place to be during the colder months. And I have still to install proper lighting - yet another thing I haven't quite got round to doing.

I don't know, perhaps it's a complete waste of a good shed when you're using only the bottom 18 inches or so. Maybe I should think of something to do with the unused space above?

I have to agree with Chris, my preference would have to be for greater length before overall width when the shed is being used as part of a garden layout.

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I don't have a shed, I use a room inside my house.

It has 12 x 2 metres.

On the levels 0cm and 24cm it will house the sidings for the outdoor layout.

At the levels 48cm and 74cm it will house more sidings which can be reached from levels 24cm and 96cm.

On the levels 96cm and 105cm I plan to built my indoor layout: inner-city railway station with a hall like Hamburg-Dammtor or Berlin-Friedrichstrasse but next to 4 transit-tracks with 5 further stump-tracks for local traffic.

When everything is ready, train traffic from the train station inside to the train station outside is possible but also only between one of the stations and the sidings.

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Sheds are great they are so easy to extend or modify with only the most basic of woodwork skills, in fact if you can construct a model railway then you can almost certainly build a shed. We started off with an 8ftx6ft shed that was given to us free of charge, it need a bit of work but was basically ok eventually it was extended to it's present size of 20ft x6ft. This was easily done by acquiring another 8ftx6ft shed and removing the back of one shed and the front of the other then inserting a 4ft section in the middle giving 20ft overall. Two steel roof trusses were made from angle iron, one placed where the end of the first shed is/was and the second placed where the second shed started, or either end of the 4ft section if you follow what I mean!!! 3/4inch ply was used for the floor throughout, and a complete new roof made of OSB board was also fitted, and I always fit guttering and down pipes.

Oh yes and it's no where near big enough!!!! :lol::lol::lol::lol:

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We don't see a lot of wooden sheds over here mainly all steel sheet garden sheds in flat packs where you put them together, does get dam hot inside, I am surprised my modules have stood up to the heat and not twisted, I wouldn't put a sheet of ply in the metal garden shed.

How much would it cost for a wooden shed that size is it easy to put up as well, meal shed you need a second set of hands.

Tony from down under

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Well a shed is never big enough, something always comes along to fill it. This is why I'm currently adding a 9ft by 10ft metal shed to the back of my old railway shed. I thought my railway shed / her art studio was big enough until SWMBO moved in before I had finished, giving me nowhere to work while building / finishing the internals of the other half. Currently I'm lining the new part with polystyrene covered by plywood, before fitting shelving, I'm hopeing to get that completed before more art stuff moves in.

As to dimensions, the width is decided by are you having a roundy roundy or a terminus, as mine is roundy roundy, the width is 12 ft minimum as I work in EM gauge and I like less tight turns. Had it been for a small country terminus, then you need board width plus walk room so a 6ft width would do.

As for length that is decided by length of station, available garden space and how much spare cash you have. For my small country station in real scale thats 18ft long, for my major station thats 34ft long!!! Luckily I have a huge garden, but it has meant A LOOOONNNNG time doing bit by bit as cash became available. So the main shed is 54ft long and up to 16ft wide, making the complete assembly 63ft long and up to 16 foot wide.

Metal Sheds / Wooden Sheds, Had it been possible I would have built it entirely out of metal sheds. They are so quick to assemble and don't need maintenance, I have a double garage metal shed for my boat workshop (fully lined of course) there have been no problems with it in over ten years of being up and I live near the sea and have had no problem with rust. However due to SWMBOs light requirements for art work, I had to build in wood and I've installed 13? windows so far.

My thoughts, to assist others

Both wood and metal sheds have to be lined (walls and ceiling) to be comfortable.

Wood had the advantage you can build the layout framing into the walls of the shed, in metal sheds the layout and anything else has to be self supporting..

Neither wood or metal are particularly secure, though several layers of lining material helps prevent people coming in through the walls. (You only need a screwdriver on some metal sheds)

Doors on both metal and wooded Sheds are notoriously easy to break into, all you can do is reinforce them where you can and put on a decent lock.

Windows, double glazing with an extra sheet of hard plastic makes a huge difference in keeping heat in or out, and it improves security, a barred window or in my case shutters on the inside, also improves their security.

Damp, for those of us in soggy climes, remember to put down a sheet plastic damp proof course below the floor it really helps..

Ventilation, mostly to let the heat out, difficult if you have restrictions, but I've fitted an roof ventilator, like on top of stables, with hatches to allow the heat out, when completed it will use a automatic window opener from a greenhouse to control the temperature. Controllable vents could be fitted to any shed.

I've mardled on enough, so hopefully I've not bored you,

See "Ludgershall Change for Tidworth" thread to see some old pictures and map of my shed I must do some more pics soon...

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