09-29-2011, 06:02 PM
I'm not sure why you're determined on a rectangular space. When I finally moved out of my parents' place, I had an apartment with what was basically a smallish walk-in closet. I didn't have all that big a wardrobe, and there was a second closet, so you can figure out how my mind worked. I wound up with a shelf layout on a piece of 1x8 on shelf brackets.
It seems to me that when you're young and pushing on the hobby, you aren't going to wind up with anything close to what you can do when you're ten years older and making halfway decent money with more of a life. I don't think there's a whole lot of reason to try to build an empire in 4x8, 9x11, or whatever. I know you're thinking about the Northeast Corridor or whatever, but that's not a reasonable expectation for someone just starting out.
Especially at the relative age where I think you are -- early 20s -- and living at home, I would be doing things with a scope of maybe one or two years out, since you really don't know where the economy and careers are going to take you. 9x11 at your parents' place (which I assume is where you're scoping things out) is assuming a whole lot. I built something in my parents' basement, but then my parents had to sell their place.
In addition, why not assess your own current talents and interests? My impression is that you're a pretty capable scratchbuilder and customizer of rolling stock. Why not spend your scarce time on something like that, and not put too much effort into benchwork that's gonna go to the landfill at a certain point in the not too distant future?
You can do push-pull and limited freight switching on a shelf layout. Heck, even Amtrak switching. Just my thoughts.
It seems to me that when you're young and pushing on the hobby, you aren't going to wind up with anything close to what you can do when you're ten years older and making halfway decent money with more of a life. I don't think there's a whole lot of reason to try to build an empire in 4x8, 9x11, or whatever. I know you're thinking about the Northeast Corridor or whatever, but that's not a reasonable expectation for someone just starting out.
Especially at the relative age where I think you are -- early 20s -- and living at home, I would be doing things with a scope of maybe one or two years out, since you really don't know where the economy and careers are going to take you. 9x11 at your parents' place (which I assume is where you're scoping things out) is assuming a whole lot. I built something in my parents' basement, but then my parents had to sell their place.
In addition, why not assess your own current talents and interests? My impression is that you're a pretty capable scratchbuilder and customizer of rolling stock. Why not spend your scarce time on something like that, and not put too much effort into benchwork that's gonna go to the landfill at a certain point in the not too distant future?
You can do push-pull and limited freight switching on a shelf layout. Heck, even Amtrak switching. Just my thoughts.