How many times have you reworked your layout?

[cmrproducts]

cnw400

While you are right on the selective compression, the overall design of the trackwork is just as the prototype had it laid out.  Yes the tracks are a little bit shorter but then again the trains being run are just as short.

This idea of running long trains on a small layout and having the engine in one town and the caboose or FRED in 3 or 4 towns away (engine chasing its tail) is not prototypical.  If you must run long trains then set the layout design out in the country where you won’t see the 3 town syndrome.

And just for the record I have a fairly large layout.  It is in a 25 x 75 basement with a 28 x 15 extension which gives me about 2200 sq ft to work with.  I had the room and I knew I would never be happy with a 4 x 8.

So far the mainline is 1000 ft long single track and there is 2800 ft of track (around 42 scale miles) down with over 300 turnouts.  The roster has over 800 cars and usually there are 50 engines on the layout at any one time.

I have OPs every other Thursday night and host Mini OPs once or twice a year which is a Saturday afternoon session.  In the past I have had OPTUDs (OP Till U Drop) 12 hour sessions and have had as many as 40 operators through the day.

So I guess I am quite serious about the trains thing.

I am modeling the Conrail Lowgrade line from Dubois, PA to Phillipston yard which is right outside of Easy Brady, PA on the old Buffalo to Pittsburgh PRR mainline.

BOB H – Clarion, PA

[skiloff]

My dad started with a 4x8 HO when I was young. He sold that when I was 12 or 13 because we moved into a smaller house. I started building my own N scale layout when I was 16. I got it to the point of running trains then I moved out and had no place to put it, so it got dismantled. Fast forward to age 30 when the bug bit again and I did an HO diorama (first scenicking I'd ever done), then an HO 4x6 which got to the point of running trains but no further (its now in pieces in the garage). I made my mind up two years ago that I was going back to N scale so I could have more track in the small space I would likely have for a long time. I've had 14 plans that I've worked and reworked. I'll be starting construction in a couple or three weeks, but I'm still making minor changes here and there. I know if I eventually get my shop/garage (whether from building one in the backyard or moving to a new house) I'll be ripping this one apart and building a larger one, which will hopefully be the one I work on for 10-15 years or longer. I've got about 23 years to retirement and if I've got all my ducks in a row, I plan to get into G scale in the yard. That way I can be out in the yard playing with trains on nice days and inside playing with trains on the not-so-nice days and no matter what day the grandkids come over, they'll have a train to play with.

[CrazyDelmar]

I' ve been through 3 HO, 2 N, and 2 G scale layouts. Currently I have an HO, N, and a 1/8 scale livesteam model railroad.

[cnw400]

So you model scale to prototype?  1 mile = about 60 feet HO... that's a mighty big layout?!  Or a mighty small bit of prototype?!  I don't want to get flamed over this but I don't see how you can " pick a prototype area and the game plan is pretty much set "  without some selective compression, unless you have a huge layout.  Please enlighten.

 Oh well I'm gonna get ripped, regardless...

[ukguy]

I will have to agree with CMR (Bob) on this,  pick a prototype area and the game plan is pretty much set, otherwise there will always be something new and exciting you see in the real world or on someone elses layout that you 'must' add to yours, the prototype doesnt change too often... however I will say that I will always freelance and replan and rebuild many times to come... i like to think of it as scale evolution.... it happens 87 times faster(for me in HO) than the real world.

Have fun & be safe
Karl.

[cnw400]

First layout as a so-called adult, 1973.  Next one 1975.  Next one 1978...1984...1987...2003.  Each was better than the last.  Each was built on what I'd learned so far, and as I went on I realized that wasn't much!  My present layout might last another couple of years, then I'll start another, and this time...

I haven't gotten to the point where I can  say "There- that's it"!  (and I never will).

[Anonymous]

I've only been into this hobby a year but I have redone my layout 3 times but all for good reasons, this was suposed to be my son's train so we started him with a 4x4 set up, no landscaping or buildings just track. he started to loose interest so I moved the track downstairs to the dining roon built a 4x8 table and whent to town on it adding some buildings and landscaping. I wasn't finished but I was moving right along(by this time my sons only interest in the train was once in a while he would want to drive the train), then my husband decieded the train layout took up to much room so I had to move to the shed and since I had to move I reworked the entire layout this time with plans to addon not redo, I only see my self redoing for one reason and that would be if I ever move. 

[cmrproducts]

I stopped this contiually changing the layout by finally building a prototypical layout based on an actual area.  The layout design uses actual Conrail  maps to layout the trackwork just as it was in 1984.  So I don't have to keep making changes and looking for the perfect design as the railroad kind of knows what works and what does not.  So why try and second guess the real thing!

This is where a lot of problems come in trying to second guess how the real railroad would do it.  If you just model the actual way the trackwork is laid out and talk with the real people that ran the line then it is a no brainer.

Most modelers (and I include myself in this) end up most of their lives wasting a lot of modeling only to find out late in their lives that the perfect layout was there all the time only they could not recognize it because of not following a prototype.

We had this problem when the club I am in began their first layouts.  Each week I would come in and some member had found another turnout in a box of junk and decided that we needed another turnout cut into the layout.  There was no rhyme or reason for it.  Did the siding ever get used, NOPE! so why put it in the layout in the first place.  Once the club begain building prototype layouts this problem of just slapping in turnouts where ever there was room stopped.  IF the prototype did not have it then the mode form did not have it.

It was unbelivable how much money was saved over the years once the layout was nearly finshed as there was no need to make changes to it any more!

BOB H - Clarion, PA

[dwhitetop2]

o yes i just recently had to rework mine because my 4 yr. old granddaughter climbed on top of my town area and wreaked havoc. had been thinking about reworking anyway she just made my mind up for me. lol       dave

[johncolley]

LOL Ha Ha Ha, Is this a trick question? Oh, you mean other than the "official" three or four? I am getting there myself, 69 in Nov. I analyzed the situation, gathered my "givens and druthers" and decided to go Free-mo modules! Now I can concentrate on one module at a time, doesn't take a lot of space, and can go to local friends and/or clubs whenever I need an "operations" fix, which is pretty often. On the other hand, since converting to DCC/sound, I have "donated" a lot of equipment and ideas to some very interested kids, who are the future of model railroading, eh? jc5729

[tomikawaTT]

All of my restarts (usually from scratch, in terms of benchwork and items attached thereto) have been a result of moves (frequently a result of PCS orders up until 1982) with the exception of the most recent.

When my wife and I moved into our present home, we both said, "Never again!"  Our next permanent relocation will be to a National Cemetary.

At that time (3 years ago) I was given title to 1/2 of our 2-car garage, and designed my layout accordingly.  It required a lot of compromises to try to cram a ton of interests into a twenty kilogram bag.  Construction was well under way when ---

Slightly over two months ago, my wife informed me that she was willing to leave her car out in the sun, so I could have the entire garage for a layout.  Since I now have a fifty kilogram bag, I can ease some compromises and add two things I wanted but didn't have room for.  Redesign is just about done, and rebuilding is just beginning.

My intention for this to be my last layout does not preclude adding, changing, deleting or modifying part or all of it in the future.  It will be finished when my executor reads my will.

Chuck

[Soldier]

Caellis, unfortunately I asked the wrong question when I asked about costs and modeling. I trust you read most of the responses and noted that the topic took off in a different direction. I should have deleted the message after the first dozen or so responses.

I did not assert that I exchanged rolling stock or locomotives in the message you referenced. In fact, through the many changes, only the lumber was replaced. And that didn't cost an arm and a leg.

After having spoken to a number of modelers, I learned that they keep the same layout for years, making occasional adjustments and enhancements. My changes were structural --- size became a dominant focus to my family who began taking interest in my rec room and its surroundings.  And as I noted above, costs were minimal.

Thanks for reading my messages.

GGB

 

 

[nbrodar]

I'm on my 7th or 8th layout in 20 years.  

I've moved 4 times, starting over each time.  Of the non-move reconstructions, the first one or two, were because of my improving modeling skills.  And the rest, due to my modeling interests changing.

Nick

[BRAKIE]

Only when necessary.It is not my habit to redo things on a whim.

[nucat78]

I haven't finished my current layout & have already re-worked the track-plan almost 20 times & counting.

And I thought I had reworked mine a lot at four times while under construction. 

 

[GearDrivenSteam]

Funny you should ask. I am right in the middle of a tear out. I am changing from a basic double loop roundy round with spurs and a duck under, to a very nice switchback that will be a walk in. I think the more someone learns as they go along, definately affects their finished product. I'll probably get the saw out tomorrow.  

[Anonymous]

Soldier,

'Who can continue to pay for this hobby?'

I noticed you are the member that started the 13 page (and counting) thread concerning the cost of model railroading.

Perhaps if you didn't start over so many times it would not be so expensive for you.

[CP5415]

I haven't finished my current layout & have already re-worked the track-plan almost 20 times & counting.

Gordon

[Anonymous]

1 time. It was recently, and I replaced the worn out cork roadbed, and track with new foam roadbed, and new atlas code 100 track.

[SOU Fan]

On my N scale layout if I do scenery and I don't like it 2 weeks later out it comes. I've done this a number of times.

 

dekruif

[Dave Vollmer]

I'm on my fourth layout in 10 years.  Seems there's always some way I can improve my work.

[Soldier]

Once again I find myself wanting to restructure my HO layout, practically redoing the entire pike. This makes the third attempt in about five years and many more since I replaced my Lionel for HO -- many decades past. The era my MRR represents the late 1930s into the 1940s. 

I don't mean just restructuring portions of a layout: adding, subtracting terrain, or changing an era to be reflected by the layout. I mean starting from scratch.

I began with a layout that was  "U" shaped in my rec room. I added a level, but together the layout became overwhelming; it was too much for me. I tore it down and built an oval shaped layout, then a "T, then an "I" and now I'm beginning an "L"-shaped layout 

At 75 years old, I suspect this will have to be my last. The old bones in my body need Ben Gay rubbed on them daily and an nap at least twice daily. I'm compelled to be satisfied by the 15' x 12' "L."

I've wondered if there are others like me who seem to have or had a short "enjoyment span" regarding layouts? I realize we all want to enhance our visual presentations and invite challenges, but as often as I have?

GGB