Thursday, March 3, 2016

Finally getting close to my first layout...

 My dad passed away early in 2014, so last summer I went home to help my mom clean out the house and get it ready for an estate sale. One of the things I found in the garage was the original 4x8 train table my dad helped me build way back in 1974 or so. It never got a layout built on it because I never could decide on a track plan, but it's in my living room now and I'm getting ready to build - after all these years...

One thing I know, O Gauge is out. I've gotten into Lionel trains and toyed with the idea of building a 4x8 O gauge layout, but after putting down an oval of track and seeing just how crowded it would be I'm back to HO - at least for my 4x8 layout.

I haven't decided on a track plan yet, but I know I want:

  1. Nostalgia - I want a layout that brings back lots of good childhood train memories, of either real or model trains.
  2. Continuous running - I'm more of a rail fan than an operator, so being able to put the trains on the track and just watch them run is a must have.
  3. Portability - Since my layout has to share the house with the rest of the family, I need to be able to move it to different areas if I need to (or if my wife says I need to).
  4. Semi permanent - I need to be able to keep the layout set up all the time (keeping #2 in mind). I don't want to spend time setting up and taking down every time I want to run the layout.
  5. Realistic scenery - I've seen layouts with fantastic scenery that looks totally unrealistic. I don't mind a toy train look, but I do want at least some realism. The expert model railroaders are probably shaking their heads at the idea of a "realistic" 4x8 layout...
  6. Realistic operations - now the experts are REALLY shaking their heads, but i think realistic operations are possible even on a 4x8 train layout. After all, John Allen started his Gorre and Daphetid on a table even less than 4x8, and John Armstrong featured at least four 4x8 layouts as examples in his book Track Planning for Realistic Operation...
  7. Fun - I don't want a track plan that takes up to much money, too much time, or requires too much "seriousness."
I have a few plans in mind and I've started digging through all my stuff to see how much track I have. I'm going to build it with Code 83 Atlas track since I think it looks better than Code 100 but it will still run my Tyco train stuff without any problems. Can't wait to (finally) get started...