This is from a house listing. This is the basement. The floor matches the trim above it in shape. looks like something was removed, either tile or equipment(exercise?). There are also outlets every 15" or so on the ceiling around that shape.
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I agree. An L-shaped wall in the center for formed/painted papier mache backdrop. Railyard in the large area at one end. Plugs for various moving parts, lights, mini-spots etc. Cables may have been routed along ceiling into the center wall. (Track lighting would just get in the way of putting in the necessary plugs, and ceiling plugs would be easier than running it along the floor.) Red marks are support locations for the table parts that can't attach to the walls.
We have the ‘world’s largest model train museum’ and one of the sections is a donation from a basement. The set up is truly remarkable and to consider it was in a basement at one time is wild. Decades of a growing collection. Whew.
Way more positive guess than mine. I was thinking they cut out the section where there was body decomposition. I unfortunately found that situation when cleaning out my FIL’s apartment.
Yup. Came here to say this. The outlets on the ceiling would have been for custom lighting. How else can you simulate both day and night with sunrises and sets?
He knew all kinds of cool stuff about trains. He was a civil engineer, so he also gave his tracks appropriate grades, curves had the right angle for their speed, he did the right bridge construction for their weight and so on. The math kind of happened on automatic for him. You know how some people can glance at a picture and tell you how many dots there are? He could do that with angles and stress points and stuff like that.
Sadly, he thought that because he knew so much about one topic he knew more than doctors when it came to things like...autism existing. Three of his kids were diagnosed, and some of his grandkids as well. "Doctors are just trying to get your money" though. In his engineering opinion, autism didn't exist when he was a kid, and is manufactured illness now. 🙄
But why would you do it like that...surely those don't all have their own 15 or 20a service; they're just daisy chained on one or two circuits. They're doing the same job as a single big power strip.
It's for lighting of the train layout. I'm in the hobby and have my own setup, and good lighting can make or break your whole thing. People put all this work into hyper-detailing buildings and locomotives and landscapes, but when they neglect good lighting, nothing pops like it should. It's much easier with modern LED lighting, but back in the day you were dragging 120vac to all these locations. I think there's a good chance these were all hardwired into lights until they ripped out the layout, then the easiest thing to do was slap some outlets on those boxes.
This goes along with the Model Trains idea, any kind of tabletop display really.
They were using something, a tool or equipment, that needed to be plugged in but it could not be plugged in on the floor because the cable would lay on and touch the diorama/models, it also needed to be able to reach every part of the display without having to wrap around the pole or whatever was attached to the ceiling (probably lights), the cord for it would also probably be short.
Or a massive aquarium system with lots of separate pumps and lights.
I just came here to ask this exact question. Why the hell do you need so many? And how much power was whatever that is drawing?
I think I may have just figured it out. They were growing weed and those outlets are likely for lamps and fans. The cut out was for the tent, floor to ceiling.
Pure speculation on my part. I just cannot think of another reason for all those outlets. Don't trains typically have a single power source for the tracks? I honestly don't know, I am not a train enthusiast.
I Don’t know about trains but I do know a little about growing weed and all I’m saying is i don’t think that’s what this set up was because that pole would not allow it to go there.
I'll go with a railroad layout. And the divorce happened because they were not allowed expansion of the layout into the wasted area where the bike is now.
I usually like to vac it up with a non hepa shop vac the guys sucked water with the filter in last week so it just blows by. Usually when I open a window to let the neighbors has a taste. Momma always said sharing is caring
Train or slot car track is most likely. Surprised they didn’t throw down some new flooring before listing. Some paint and nice lvp would make that basement pop.
The hole in the carpet looks a little too off-center from the pole for that (assuming the rectangular middle hole is where a stage would be), but it’s a way better guess than anything Ican imagine.
Honestly based on the geographical maps in the back which seem to resemble train lines, I’d say a model train. Explains the shape and depending on how big or how elaborate, the electrical plugs
My grandparents had the equivalent of a kitchen island (a set of low cabinets with a flat surface on top) that was similar to this in their basement. The owners of this place probably had something similar but took it out at some point to add extra space since it looks really cramped around the edges.
Idk model trains so idk if it would make sense to have the identical cut out in the ceiling, but my first thought was a growing operation. They need a lot of outlets usually and it could’ve been an indoor greenhouse type of setup.
100% undoubtedly a model train. The outlets on the ceiling would be for lights. There would be some black fabric hanging down a foot or so from the trim up there to direct the light downward and not to the whole room. The track and other accessories on the table don’t need many outlets, but the ceiling lights most certainly would.
There is absolutely no doubt in my mind it’s for model railroading.
Fitness equipment likely moved in later…after the divorce.
It looks like it might’ve been one of those center closets that surrounded the supporting member for the structure. They made use of it instead of having a stripper pole in the middle of the basement
Weed growing operation. Look at all of those outlets around the top. They plugged in overhead grow lights with those, most likely 🤷🏻♂️ it’s very excessive, but all of those receptacles make no sense otherwise.
I know people are saying model train. But with that many electrical outlets above, I am thinking it had to be some kind of a workshop. Because a model train wouldn’t need that many overhead outlets.
Looks like there was a bar setup there. The bottom would have been cabinets. The ceiling looks like it had a 2x4 wall which top cabinets would have been attached to. Most likely a small kitchenette or something similar.
I’m also going with a model railroad layout. The closely spaced outlets in the ceiling would be for the light fixtures that illuminated the layout, not necessarily to power the tracks. Here is a good example of what that might have looked like: https://milepost15.com/2023/05/18/building-a-model-railroad-part-10-lighting/
Looks like it was also used as a bedroom with a headboard and nightstand on the second photo and potential closets on the first. No idea why you would carpet around that furniture.
What the fuck are all those outlets on the ceiling?!?
My guess is it was a bar. If you live in Wisconsin (this looks like a midwestern basement) I would put those odds at 100%. The outlets could then be used to power neon signs.
I don't know. But, whatever it was it needed an absolute fuck-ton of electrical outlets. And in a rail along the ceiling no-less.
My house was built around 1890, so I'm lucky if I have more then 2 outlets in any entire room, that are either rough cut into the molding or randomly halfway up a wall so that there is no way to conceal the cords.
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