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Spacemouse had excellent advice. I am pretty much doing the same thing he recommended... I have an L shaped 8x8 layout (4x4 space cut away from one corner). I started this to get a small layout running for my kids, and to learn how to do things like wiring, laying roadbed, ballasting, etc... and all the while in the back of my mind planning a large 20x15 along the wall expansion this coming winter. The most important thing that I have learned so far is to NOT take shortcuts or be lazy when laying track (and everything that leads up to it). The benchwork and track are the foundation that your model railroad are built on, just like your basement walls are the foundation your house was built on. If the benchwork and track aren't any good, you'll be lead to untold fits of frustration down the road... As far as layout designs, I think www.thortrains.com is the site that I originally went to to get some ideas, and essentially I combined two of their layouts into one and customized it a little bit to suit my needs... But there were certainly some good ideas on that site. Also, if you can financially swing it, DCC is the only way to fly these days... But if you wire your layout properly and purchase loco's that are dcc ready, you'll have an easy migration to DCC down the road if you don't want to start out DCC right away.
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