Thanks so much N and I think I will just let things simmer for a while and see what I decide to do next. Thanks so much, Mike
So, your next video will be of you sitting there, pulling out hair while mumbling 'what should I do, what should I do?' Or flipping a coin, best 5001 out of ten thousand?
Well... I know I've ditched layouts BEFORE they were finished... so I would rather hope I would KEEP a finished layout around for a long while. As for the 'million dollar question'... I think you would SPEND that much if you keep tearing down finished layouts over and over in a lifetime! My thoughts are that layouts should be modifiable (is that a real word?) so that we don't get too bored with them. I saw an article in N scale magazine where a modeler made 'removable' sections of towns and industries in order to change-up the characteristics of the layout somewhat. I like that idea as a way to keep the layout evolving without having to completely redo the layout... SPECIALLY all the electronics (wiring).
Good point. A lot of us these days don't have the budget to be able to put money into the local land fill.
I got my 3x7 foot N Santa Fe East Texas piney woods layout about 90% percent, and held a hundred or so 1-man operating sessions. This was to be one part of a dream/ monster layout representing several aspects of the Santa Fe within 75 miles of Houston, in a "train house" at least 30 feet by 30. Too-sharp curves let me to dismantle the layout and start over. But it looked less likely I would ever win the lottery and have a spare $100,000 over living and retirement expenses to build that 30x30 train house. Should I redo the same basic theme in a little more space, broader curves, better standards, and re-use all my structures, trees, region-specific rolling stock? Or should I build a different segment of that "master" plan? A downtown big-city passenger terminal with freight station, downtown warehouse district and through freights just passing through, with no big freight yard? An out-in-the-country scene modeling only through-train operation with a couple of passing sidings and interlaced traffic? A big-city freight yard where traffic is sorted between several points-- but everything just goes to and from staging? I decided to model just the island seaport, the end of the line. Galveston, Texas. This will fill my spare bedroom. Been working on it on and off 6 or 7 years, more off than on, nothing running yet. Some nice scenes, but staged/ mockups... I'm 70 now and don't expect plan ever to be completely finished, but building with lots of mockups, and with kits which will be replaced by more detailed models after things and running and "first layer of general appearance" in place. Then more real models and then more detailing. If my hands don't get any shakier. I am more worried about not finished enough, rather than ever getting too finished.
Ive been to Galveston many times it begs to modeled in any era now the is the gvsr next to the up next to bnsf all within a 1/8 of a mile of each other
Mike: While you are holding out why not build something like this: [video=youtube;3ma1oPqjJew]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ma1oPqjJew[/video] or this: [video=youtube;tHE4AQbHvuM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHE4AQbHvuM[/video] Either will keep you occupied for awhile. Or buy a Picaxe microcontroller and identify places you could use it on your layout Al
Thanks GO that is where this was actually headed . Making people think about (what if ) i finish. I have done crossing gate and many of the suggested things and some are just too hard to do. Thanks Guys for all the suggestions , as I have said , I will just sit back for a while and wait this out. Thanks so much , Mike
Has been an interesting thread to follow. I have never been to the point of losing interest or total frustration with a layout. Usually other issues have reared their head way before any of those ever had time to manifest themselves most of the time involving relocations. What I do think is that some people, in the rush to get locos running, plan poorly both in the present and for the future. Being a lot older now and having spent a lifetime of being in the what if mode, and planning for that what if, has affected my thinking some. The current layout planning reflects my desire to both downsize and be operationally simple. And I am doing something different in starting right in the middle almost of what will be a small room sized layout. The current section I am working on is planned to have some revisions later. At some point some of the present trackage in places will get removed and that area become a roadway as I get to the point of building the next section or sections. Future builds can occur on either end and be tied in. And because of my advancing age and other issues if it comes to the point that I cannot achieve the construction of the other sections so be it. I will be happy with what I have done and room for changes and modifications will always be a factor.
One aspect I am now considering during this extended planning phase for a new layout is the detail aspects. 1. Interior lighting for some structures. 2. Placement of vehicles and figures into scenes. 3. Signage for buildings that are now without. 4. Weathering to enhance, not just for sake of weathering. Of course the first business is to get a layout and trains running, then install the boxes of structures from prior home layouts.
I am on a different trajectory here. My goal is to finish the layout and spend years running with lots of folks as guest operators. The game in my mind is to see if we can match the ATSF timetables and the volume of merchandise in the cars that gets delivered or dropped off.
I'm just curious for the discussion at large. My starting point is that tearing up a layout seems like a waste. Tearing up 5 seems even more so. I also understand the journey aspect. And the point is to always have fun doing what YOU want to do. But if a person's personality is such that he/she will always be on a journey tearing up layouts (which is fine), why not build them modular so that you can at least sell/donate them to someone else. You obviously would not be able to recycle stuff- but unless you have Unitrack that is not glued down with no scenery glued to or touching it, I have found that most other track does not recycle very well. Just a thought...... coming from a guy who has not built even one layout yet. Who also has a job that moves him around a lot requiring modular anyway.
Ron, I assume you are talking about me. No problem with that. Here is the deal with me. I started this hobby at nearly sixty. I never cared for diesels and was always intrigued by steamers as I saw them roll by near my house as a child. While getting to sixty years was interesting, hobbies like model railroading were never in the cards. I was a mountain climber and a ocean sailor most of my life. Finally I got a couple of 'how to' books and built a layout. Friends seemed to think my scenery was okay, but how about running some trains for us? I always felt relieved when something made it around the layout. Not sure at which point it was, but one day it dawned on me that, 'you really don't give a crap about trains' you like to build scenery. So, probably on May 1, I will dismantle this one and begin again. Some will say I have some 'scenery' talent and maybe they are right. Trains? Don't ask me. I could be building wargame scenery or something like that and it would all be the same to me. I just 'have' to build, trains are simply props. Modules. I have built a bunch for others. No room in our house for keeping any, but modules are a good point. Cheers, Jim
