It took me a very long time to "just lay some track" as one fellow TB'er told me awhile back... does this happen to you too? It is just an experience thing? Does it go away? Or do you still get shaky when laying down that first section of rail?
I've just started putting track down which part of the reason was I needed to purchase it piecemeal to keep the cost down. I did find that I was revising and revising and revising my layout plan. Posting it, asking for comments, revising it again, rinse and repeat. Finally I just had to start actual track work. If I need to make adjustments, so be it.
Amen! This happens in the 1:1 world, too. Railroads are always adjusting a bit of track here, smoothing out a curve there, adding length to a passing siding somewhere else.
Unitrack (and similar like Truetrack or Finetrack) is great here. At the extreme end you don't even need a plan to start laying down track - just do it, run some trains, and decide what you want to change tommorow.
Yes. It certainly happens. I have experienced it more than just once. The cure is simply getting started. Boxcab E50
Yes and no. I understand the concept but with Unitrak I know I can always change it. I am also something of a risk taker by nature. Then again, I also have a tendancy to sketch / re-sketch and from experience eliminate what I know I will not finish. I can see where using cork roadbed and flex track would drive me nuts trying to finalize a design. My biggest issues have been over scenery and wiring. With the scenery there really is no reason not to "just do it". Worse case I can just remove it. With that conclusion I started shaping pieces last night. I expect by 11:11AM on 1/1/11 you will see vids of trains running through tunnels. Um, er, if I stop long enough to post them.
I usually don't struggle to put down rail. I usually only sketch out the basics and let the route fall where it may beyond that, but inevitably, I will hit a point where something becomes hard...usually this has to do with wiring. I'm missing a piece I need, or it didn't work out as well as I hoped, or, even more often, I need to build a panel, just using the single power pack will no longer work. At that point, things ground to a halt as I block myself by not wanting to do the hard part.
Yup. And no, I never get over it, from a small T-Trak to a layout. The cure is simple, start with a pot of hot coffee, ad one Pentrex video (Perferably based on the prototype your modeling) then start cutting. Remove all mobile handheld devices, computers and distractions. I find once I start laying track, I become a mad man. It's like moving something heavy, hard to stop but once it gets moving...... Jim
True Statement ! The hardest piece of track to lay is the very first, after that the Genie is out of the bottle and your just not going to get it back in the bottle. I sometimes will be up all night laying track. Then I will spend the next 2 or 3 weeks wiring it up. I still try to keep at least one track open so I can run a train while I'm working. Kinda keeps me focused on what I'm trying to do. And yes, sometimes you do have to stop and re-figure how or were the train is going and it will get there. That is the best part of having the design in your head, you don't have to tell anyone you made a mistake if you need to change something. I say "just do it " It will be fun, I will have fun, and it is a lot more fun than SUDOKU. Remember, this is a hobby, have fun, play trains.
Analysis paralysis can happen at any stage of construction. Hence the reason for http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?t=115363 Looking forward to the next party to get me off my duff and "get er done" Brian
I went through a long period of bad health that precluded me from actually building a layout. This enabled me to spend a lot, emphases on lot, of time planning and planning and planning and even more planning so when it finally came time that I could actually lay some track. . . Some might say I got carried away with the planning.
Holy Cow sd90ns!!! That's one complex array of track. I have to go back and stare at it some more to figure it out. Pretty cool though,I'd like to see what is connected to each end of the picture. Dave
