First thing this morning I had a new kit delivered.
It is for a 24X40 pole building that will someday soon house my train layout. Track plans are in the works, but putting up the building comes first.
I will start tomorrow, but Out-back Jack is on the other side of the world so construction here will be kind of slow. It depends on how much help shows up and when. It will take one more truck load for the siding and the floor. I'm hoping the snow will be gone in a couple of days.
Charlie

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It seems common these days for people to think about what they want and don't want in their layouts prior to starting construction. That is a useful planning tool that saves a lot of future grief. Of course, that is still relative to a person's available space, money, and skills. But, what would your ideal layout have or not have, if there were no constraints? Here are 10 things I would want, and 10 that I would not want for my "ideal" layout:

My ideal layout would:
1) Be HO scale. While there are advantages and disadvantages to all scales, I would only settle on something smaller than HO because of space constraints. While I like larger scales, I don't think I could consider any of them my "ideal".
2) Have an area of "floor to ceiling" scenery. I like mountains.
3) Have some kind of water/river scene. I am always impressed when water is modeled effectively.
4) Have both urban and rural scenes.
5) would be approximately 20 x 30 feet
6) would have enough staging yard space for all of my rolling stock.
7) would leave enough floor space in the room to entertain many guests at one time.
8) would be in a room that can be closed off from the rest of the house
9) would still look like a "model railroad". The ultra-realistic layouts just aren't for me. I want to see things a little bit exaggerated. I also want things to look "achievable" and not "finicky".
10) would be set up to be both interestingly operable and have a long continuous mainline run that sometimes travels through a scene more than once.

My ideal layout would not:
1) have any duckunders or lift outs.
2) be in an uninviting location that is too hot, cold, damp, stinky, dark, or noisy.
3) be so large that large areas remain plywood scenery for years
4) Not be too restrictive for era or theme. If I feel like running a different era train, I should feel comfortable doing so.
5) lack weathering. I am not one of those people who requires prototype-specific weathering, but a lack of any weathering bugs me.
6) feature any "straight-from-the-box" rolling stock or structures. I feel that everything should be modified or painted in some way that indicates it wasn't just pulled out of a box an plopped on the layout.
7) have curve radii below 24", or turnouts less than #6. I use plenty of 18" and #4 right now, but I know through experience that having at least 24" and #6 both looks and operates much better.
8) lack LPBs. Although I have never built a layout complete enough to place many people, I find unpopulated layouts boring.
9) use code 100 track. With code 83 so readily available now, and relatively inexpensive, I see little reason to use code 100 for a new layout.
10) be my only hobby or interest.

What about you?

Mishap during Re-railing a few cars

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Phila PA

Foulrift, Tomustang, and myself Enjoyed the break in the clod snowy weather to check out the cement plants in the aria. Here's a few pics of some of the places that we visited.    

   

   

A few photos from my trip to Marion, Ohio last month:















All of the photos from the day are available on flickr.

Hi,

Just came across this forum pretty much by accident and figured I would check it out. You can never get too much info on model railroading. I've been a model railroader as long as I can remember. Just started a new HO layout a little more than a year ago. It's set in the fictional Knox Valley area of northern Maine in the late 50's and 60's. Pictures available at my website - http://www.mainetrains.webs.com/ - I try to keep it current but that doesn't always work out.
I'll be looking forward to learning more about this forum as time goes on.

Dave

I started to work on the area where the foundry is gonna live, so naturally I had to move it out of the way. As I often do, I just moved it to some other place on the layout and go about my business. When I finished working on the area (prepping the "ground" for cover and such...) I clean up after me, and sit down to contemplate the layout...I look over to where the foundry is sitting...and I'm floored..!! It looks GORGEOUS just where it's sitting...









Now, since this is the roundhouse area, it sure isn't going to stay there...But...I'm now thinking of building the roundhouse not as originally planned....



but with a sheetmetal structure....

What do you guys think..??

Been hanging around a while,thought I'd try and load a few photo's of my early '60s CN based "empire.

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I have a pair of these boxcars I probably bought in the late 1990s. While running them tonight, I noticed the wheels are tiny - much smaller than the 33" wheels on my other boxcars. I haven't pulled out the scale ruler yet, but my guess is they are 30" or possibly even 28" wheelsets. Is this correct for this car?