Layouts: Indoors, outdoors or both?

Focalplane

Western Thunderer
When we decided to base my work and now retirement in southern France I really though this would signal a garden railway. Property prices are purported to be lower in France but that really depends on the location, for example Paris was recently judged to be one of three cities globally with the highest living costs. Rural France can certainly have bargains but again it is a function of supply and demand. Our chosen area is much sought after by les Toulousains, many of whom have second homes, etc. and well paid jobs in the aerospace industry to support their lifestyle. As a result, property with land is hard to find at a reasonable price and building plots are getting smaller, as in the UK.

Our village is also in a “protected area” with strict planning rules. My conversations with the Marie's office didn’t bring up any problems in having a garden railway as long as it was in a residential plot. But we could not find a plot we liked in 5 years of looking.

It was quite by chance that we decided to look at older properties, so called village houses, with a view to converting an attic space into a railway room. Many such houses were in poor condition and not appropriate for two 70+ year olds to take on as a DIY project! But one house had been on the market for several months and we assumed there might be a reason.

In fact the reason turned out to be a delightful home cinema. At 7.4 x 4.5 meters it would make a good railway room in Gauge O. We put in an offer and it was accepted. The deal excluded the equipment in the home cinema.

So not only do we not have a garden railway, we now have a railway room with no windows!

After a year of living and working on Penmaenpool and other loco building projects I have come to the following conclusions.

  • Having a well insulated room in a dry climate is a good thing
  • When it’s a sunny day, and we have 300 days a year of sunshine, it can be hard to be indoors
  • It would be wonderful to run trains in and out of doors but village houses don't have gardens. This is particularly true at this tine of year.
  • Extreme temperature variation can be hard on outdoor railways. The temperature range in the Perpignan area is around 40°C. The railway room has both heating and air conditioned, neither of which are used regularly.
There is one big plus to our new home, the top floor has a retractable glass roof so some modelling can take place in good daylight. Which is where I am going right now!
 
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