02-25-2010, 10:45 AM
I agree with Russ. Although I do not intend on incorporating mine into a larger layout.When I was designing it,I had a few specific criteria:1.Small
2.Portable
3.Easy to run and work on.
These arose from the fact that I live in a small house(half a double) and the only space I had was in my bedroom but it is also small but given it's size,2'x8' it fits nicely on top of my dresser.
But as Russ suggested I also did a lot of track and switch testing before any ballast or scenery was added. When everything worked to my satisfaction I proceeded with the rest of it. This paid off because now I have something that runs good and is fun to run.The only thing that needs some work aside from the obvious detail work is I have to refine the way that I am going to operate the layout.
Let me just add this-I have gotten a lot of useful input from the guys on this forum.Many of them have been doing this a lot longer than I have and the tips,suggestions,comments,etc were a great help. I learned a lot from these guys and I'm still learning.
Have fun with it.
Bob