When I was about 3, we were heading west on US 24 somewhere near St. Mary's, Kansas.  My dad had caught up to a steam locomotive heading along tracks.  I was fascinated by it and have been ever since.  Fast forward to 1959.  My sister's boyfriend had purchased a couple of Athearn kits and assembled them at our house.  I was hooked.  I started collecting what became known as BB kits and I still have all of them.  We had a 4x8 table for an earlier Lionel O-27 train set, picked out a plan, and with the help of my dad and brother-in-law, started to build.  Had that basic layout until we moved overseas for a brief period.  life happens and have not had a layout since, but still have all of the rolling stock and structures.  

One source that heavily influenced my approach was "HO Railroad That Grows."  I really like the idea of building a basic plan and then enhancing it, all the while, keeping the layout operational.  I'm considering modular construction that can be dis-assembled easily.  

After considering various railroads, locations, and eras, I've settled on loosely modeling the UP Kansas division    between manhattan, KS and Salina, KS, sort of between 1955 to 1965 centered around 1962.  The major departure is that I also will run SP on the same tracks, which never occurred in real life.  

And. That's the point.  Have fun with it!  And thank you for allowing me to share.