Wow, that's an awesome space

Looks like an unfinished

Looks like an unfinished basement to finish first. 

I was in that position late 2017 but due to some higher priorities, didn't start on the layout until Dec 2019 the month after the basement passed the finish inspection, Nov 2019.  It took us about 11 months on weekends and days off to diy finish it.

I highly recommend finishing before layout building although it can be tempting to skip it.

That was fast

Wow, that was fast! So fast you finished before you started ... uhm, did you mean Nov 2020 instead, perhaps?

Keep ‘em coming!

JSET (name?) - that is a nice space. Guessing at lease 12’x32’ ?? Does the door go the the exterior?

Suggestion would be to start thinking about what layout you want to build while clearing out the space. It is really much easier to visualize with tape or cardboard on the floor before starting the walls and ceiling. 
 

You mentioned a cool ceiling and I’ve always like a dropped soffit style layout so the lighting valance comes down to where the lights are not in your face or behind you. The upper ceiling can be drywall and have basic room lighting or can lights. Don’t be afraid to design the fascia and valance so it has soft curves rather than straight lines.  This is for the same reason we don’t run tracks parallel to the aisle and makes viewing the layout more interesting. 
 

Please share your “givens and druthers”. Nothing we love more than putting in two cents toward layout era, railroad, and operations! 

It's an exciting time for you!!

Happy for you!  Looks awesome! Get that trackplan going! I like that you're studding and insulating. Your heat and A/C bill will actually be lower once it's all done.

Can it be said that finishing the basement for a model railroad is a responsible green effort?!!  Everyone should do it?!!  Maybe the next edition of the building code could require every house to have a railroad in the basement so the energy use is lower......

I like the idea of suspended ceiling in lieu of drywall.  It allows future access for any repairs or modifications to the house.  (Why don't they call it dryceiling?  I mean, it's not a wall.....)  

I took a print of the house foundation drawing, which was 1/4" scale, glued it to a sheet of foamcore, and made a scale mockup of the whole basement design.  Foundation walls were foamcore, styrene rod and I-beam for the center support.  I tried various trackplans and set them in to see how it "felt" when looking from various directions around the basement.  After I decided on what would work, drew it up (crudely) in Cadrail, printed it, glued it to foamcore and styrene so i had a 3D model.  Put Lionel size people in to get a good feel for the viewlines and aisle widths.  It helped me a LOT.

Most of my layout lights will be 4' LED tubes, "integrated" design off ebay.  I chose 20-watt, 4,000 degree fixtures and am putting them end-to-end all the way around.  There are 22 and 24-watt versions, and other color temperatures, but after some trials I liked this the most.  But I have friends who use track lights with LED spots, and also recessed ceiling lights.  Just figure out your wattage so you provide enough power for layout lighting.  Mine's consuming the better part of 15amps when it's all on.  But I broke it into 4 zones, each with it's own switch.  Each zone is just plugged into an outlet that I put in the ceiling (connected to the switch) so I can modify the lights in the future if needed.  Made basement detail design a lot quicker as my railroad is yet to be constructed.  The LED tubes are plugged into these, and make awesome work lights in the mean time while I continue "finishing".

Oh, and you know we all will want lots of progress photos!   Best wishes,

Thank Youuuuuuu!!!

Just downloaded the May magazine and page 28 really brings this quality product to it's knees, LOL. Thank you so much for featuring the Basement Tour. Planning a thank you video that maybe can be featured in June? Ha!

All of your questions are things still in the works.

Never thought of having help doing the layout. I'm just glad there are these resources to help guide and show techniques. When I left the hobby in the early 90's, I was frustrated because I couldn't figure out how to do things and trashed my layout. 

Am planning on documenting this adventure on video and sharing the work here on MRH as well. 

Finishing first

Agree about finishing the rough in, insulation, electrical and ceiling first.
 

That's also why I have a small table top style N-Scale layout planned first.

And don't forget the lighting.

I'd also suggest you install lighting in the ceiling over the areas you intend to build benchwork. Do it now before that benchwork is put up and in the way. That means you must have a fairly good idea of the benchwork. Plan the track on paper or PC and work with that. 

Speaking of lighting

Speaking of lighting, I bought a bunch of 2x2 LED flat panel lights that would drop into the suspended ceiling.

Here is a photo you can see the flat panel LED lights light the room very well.  There is a dimmer on the switch so I can adjust the brightness.  These are 4k temperature.  I installed a total of 156 in the room which is about 33 feet long varies in width from 15 to about 18' wide.  Other than the plumbing and electrical, my wife and did all the drywall, ceiling and floor ourselves.

Drop ceiling suggestion

I would suggest not to use pressed mineral acoustic panels for your drop ceiling. They tend to generate lots of dust over time. The metal grid mounts tend to abraid the edges of the panels where they contact. This is caused by the vibration from the floor above the basement, ie foot traffic and laundry appliances. A better choice imho would be 1/8" hardboard panels or plastic faced batt panels. After over 20 years I have very little dust on my layout. My fellow operators in our group that have acoustic panels have considerably more dust on their layouts.

I would recommend sheet rock

I would recommend sheet rock for the ceiling and walls. It is inexpensive and once taped and painted it will provide a very dust free area. It has the added advantage of being a selling point later for your home. Electrical for the layout can be run after the walls and ceiling are up by surface mounting the wire in conduit. This also has the advantage that it can be changed much easier.

In my case all of those projects are with in my skill set if you are not skilled in those areas you might consider hiring someone for the tasks that you are not comfortable with. The first thing I would do is make sure the basement is dry with no water leaks from the outside. After that I would paint the interior with dry lock paint to seal it and paint the concrete floor.

Lots of work ahead but it looks like a great space for a layout. With a name like mason dixon are you in the great state of WV.?

To add to what Rob said also

To add to what Rob said also insure that the sill plate is sealed to the concrete or block wall. Newer construction has a foam pad between the sill plate and the top of the wall otherwise you can caulk the gap. Wind blowing around the house can bring in a lot of dust and cold air even through a tiny gap.

Great Info

Thanks for all these great ideas and feedback.