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Kathy, I don't confess to being an expert but a few things I have learned in the past 2 years of garden railroading may be of use to you. There is extensive information on the internet that will keep you on the right track for planning your railway and giving you enough knowledge to make reasonable decisions about the plan of your railway. The issue of grade is one that you must look at this way. Do you really see american prototype railroads going up or down steep grades? The answer is no. The reason is quite simple that it is physically impossible to achieve this and therefore efforts must be undertaken to use switchbacks, bridges and very long distances to move a train from one level to another. The problem with model railroading usually doesnt involve loss of life, which I am sure is a concern to the prototype railroads, rather loss of money and enjoyment of your hobby. Trains falling to the ground will break, and will cost you money to fix or replace. Having to always attend to the speed of your locomotive is not usually very enjoyable. An operating layout is one in which you are attending the train constantly and are "playing trains". The railway you described for yourself seems to be of the type you would just turn it on and watch it go. Thats fine, but you can't have steep declines with that type. You have to remember what goes up must come down. The power to make a train go up an incline will be too much for that train to decend the incline, unless it is adjusted along the way, which is not practical. One of the things I knew about before I purchased anything related to this hobby was the cost. That of course is a kind of personal issue. We can all spend our money on whatever we want. G scale trains compared to other scales is more money and thats just the way it goes. Your inital question on where to begin can be answered this way. Purchase some trains so you don't lose interest. Plan a simple layout which will not break the bank. Build your layout so after the inital construction you will have something to enjoy. Realize it will take about 6 weeks to build it. Operate that layout and get to know how the trains work. Design that layout so you can expand with the least amount of disruption to what exsists and add to it for the next few years. Most of us would admit that it would be great to be able to build the ultimate layout and operate it by the end of one summer. That is not reality. Model railroads of any scale take time for the average working person to build, we must remember that this is a hobby. Half the fun of having a model railroad is building it. Some might say that is the fun of it. I tend to like operating them more than building, but once you get going on a project in the garden it sure is fun too. I hope my wisdom has been of some assistance to you. The longest journey is always started with a single step. So, put one foot in front of the other and get started..Good Luck and always have fun. Happy New Year, Peter
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