DIY Network

Ultimate Model-Train Workshop: Bob Bartizek From "Special Presentation" episode DMUW-S

Bob Bartizek's vision became reality in this ultimate train-room.

Bob Bartizek's Ultimate Train Workshop

When Bob Bartizek learned that his job required his family move to Ohio, he began searching for a new home. Actually he began searching for a new basement. "If the house had a nice upstairs and nice kitchen and all that was fine," Bob explains. "But if the house had a partial basement or a six foot ceiling, it didn't matter what the rest of the house looked like, I just wasn't interested in it.

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Frustrated by basements unsuitable for his dream workshop, Bob designed his own and, in his words, "had a builder put a house on top of it." The new basement would be large: 28' by 52' with a 10' by 12' extension that would do double duty as a breakfast nook upstairs and the setting for Horseshoe Curve down stairs. His basement would have nine-foot ceilings with no visible support posts, requiring the installation of steel beams running the entire length of the house. Bob also wanted a stairway that would lead down to the center of the basement, providing a grand entrance to his ultimate workshop.

An ardent railroad fan, Bob had always wanted to build a large "O" scale model-train layout. His new workshop finally presented the opportunity to create an homage to the Pennsylvania Rail Road. But before he could begin, Bob spent two years painstakingly preparing the basement. Using techniques that could improve anyone's basement, Bob acid-etched and stained the concrete floor to help prevent dust. He also sealed the ceiling of the basement with coats of thick black paint to eliminate dust from seeping through floorboards.

Bob also installed track lighting, electrical boxes and plumbing. He hung dry wall and used curved 1/8-inch Masonite to create smooth corners in his layout room. Once the walls to his workshop, staging area and layout room were complete, he then started process of building the bench work that would eventually become his train layout.

"Nobody that has taken their time preparing a room has ever regretted it," explains Bob of his deliberately slow but steady pace. Bob is indeed a very patient man. Twelve years have past since he began his search for the perfect workshop, eight of those years devoted to building his layout, still Bob estimates he has two years to go before completion. "I come down here and work for an hour or so every night, and sometimes I feel like I've accomplished a lot, other times it seems that I have done very little, but it all adds up."
Bob's extraordinary train layout has been photographed extensively.

To see more photos of his craftsmanship visit www.hirailers.com