(WIP) Massive 1:38 scale LEGO train layout complete with towns, roads, roller coasters, and catgirls

Ever since I was a child I was obsessed with both LEGO and trains. When I was just a year old I built my very first creation, which was a small, blocky, multi-colored caboose that served as the catalyst for much more to come. Over the years I had obtained many LEGO train sets including the Santa Fe Super Chief and Railway Express, but I had always desired to have something more realistic and more to scale with real trains. I had plenty of track as well, but nothing elaborate or on the scale of a permanent layout. About 10 years ago I started gathering the resources to build my own permanent LEGO train layout, complete with towns, roads, and landscaping. I'd sometimes set it all up in the family room, as shown below, but I was only allowed to do so for a few hours at a time before being told that if I didn't put it all away, everything was going in the trash...




The problem was that I was still living with my parents and didn't have nearly enough space in my bedroom for anything cool. I needed a house of my own!

Fast-forward to the present, and I'm now a homeowner with a sizeable enough dungeon basement to fit the layout of my dreams and make me go bankrupt in the process. As I move forward full-speed ahead with this project, I'm starting to feel like Will Ferrel's "The Man Upstairs" character from The LEGO Movie...




Firstly, the foundation of this layout will be as many 40.4" x 40.4" tables that'll fit down here and still give me enough room to access my washer and dryer. The reason they need to be this size is because a standard LEGO baseplate measures 10.1" x 10.1" and each table needs to hold 16 of them arranged in a 4 x 4 pattern. A few months back I had picked up a 4' x 8' x 7/8" piece of OSB (oriented strand board) at The Home Depot in order to construct and test my first table for the layout. Figuring their staff was at least moderately competent and they'd be able to cut it down to my specifications while I was already at the store, I gave them the dimensions and asked them to cut a board down to size...




This was a mistake.




The OSB was off by a whole LEGO stud, which just ain't gonna cut it for a train layout this size. Apparently something as simple as measuring has become a lost skill that's neither common sense, nor taught to our youth anymore, so I took it upon myself to get my own table saw and drill press for this project...




Having taken matters into my own hands, my next step was to obtain more OSB. This time around, I only need to get the 4' x 8' boards cut in down the middle so that I can fit the two 4' x 4' halves in the back of my SUV. From there on, it's my job to cut them down to 40.4" x 40.4" in order to perfectly fit 16 LEGO baseplates.




For now I have enough parts to build 6 tables, which will serve as the prototypes that hold the curved sections of the train layout as well as a small section of straight track on either side. Once I get my construction techniques down and work out any kinks, I'll go balls in and build 20 or so more tables. Since I work 13 hour shifts as a warehouse slave loss prevention auditor at a fairly large distribution center every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, my body, mind, and soul are always sucked dry by the time the weekend is over. Since I need something to kick me and the ass to motivate me to do this, I'll try to keep this thread updated as often as possible, which means I'll get back to it either Monday or sometime tomorrow if I have nothing better to do. With my music room finished and my drums set up recently, I'll be juggling back and forth between my drumming/music and LEGO endeavors for a while...


And mind you, I haven't forgotten. As promised, and without further ado, here's an obligatory picture of a LEGO catgirl doing something somewhere:




As the saying goes, one man's cat's trash is another man's cat's treasure...

 

Any updates to this project? Great to passion translate into something truly creative!

 

Thank you!

I had actually abandoned this topic because I didn't think there was any interest here. I post on several Lego forums, facebook groups, and discord servers where there's more people who like this stuff, so I kinda felt like this was a failed experiment. You've given me new motivation to post more stuff though. I've been painting and renovating my kitchen lately, but once I'm done I'll have more free time to focus on this, as well as my other endeavours such as making music.

The layout is a complete circuit now, with two sidings. There's still a lot of work to be done toward filling everything in so that it looks nice and clean, but it's getting there. It'll probably cost a couple thousand more dollars in small 1x1, 1x2, and 1x4 plates and tiles alone, but I've made a lot of progress over the past few months.

 

You should include some videos on your next update! I'd be super interested to see everything in motion Thank you again for sharing!