The Area

Welcome back, thanks for taking time to look.The Room
The room I have to play with is an interesting size in that it affords me some choices. Well sort of.

With but 2 exceptions our sun room makes for a great place for the new SVRR. The first problem is during the summer it can be too hot to be in the sun room in the afternoons, and there isn't a single blank wall in the place. The sun room was added on to the house about 4 years after we built it, and has what used to be an external window along the only real wall.

The window sits between the sliding door from the house into the sun room and the TV stand. About 13 feet of space. The width of the room is about 11 feet. Due to the arrangement of the furniture, from the same wall to the furniture i have a space about 8' in width. The practical working area for a layout including the layout and walk around room is about 8X12.

From SRO RR - Summitville Branch

Table Size - 4X8 or 8X12

There are those in the model rail community that will tell you to build a layout that is 8X12, and with bench work that is 2’ deep, and have the working area inside. This is actually a great idea as uses the same area but gives you 25% more room for the layout.

I can’t do that in this case as the aisle around the layout is also the path taken to get from house to pool.

So a 4X8 table is my best option. I can push the layout against the window when not working on it giving me a 4' aisle to walk in between layout and furniture. Or pull it away from the window giving me a 2' wide aisle all the way around the layout for easy access to any part of the layout while working on it.

Table HeightNormally I build out my bench to be at eye level with the average adult. And just bite the bullet and use a step ladder for hard to reach work. I like the height for viewing. However, this time I'm going to be building at about kitchen table height.

Because the sun room does function as a gathering place for friends I'm going to make it viewable while sitting and sipping a cold brew. Also this allows the layout to be visible from inside the house through the old window.