Here goes...my layout plan.

[Kimble]

Where do I start?

The Physical Space
I have a small house, a colonial, with a an unfinished basement. There is not much room for a layout and as my basement doubles as my workshop. Any layout would get very dirty.

I do have a sun room with a full, connected foundation. The walls, and the ceiling are tongue & groove. It measures 13 x 7 feet (roughly) and 6'9" floor to ceiling. The inside walls are 1 board thick - no sheet rock or studs to contend with. I can put a door in to keep out the workshop mess. The only drawback is the oil tank is in the corner.

That's my space. I've given myself 11x7 feet for a layout with a little extra nook by the oil tank.

The Scale
I want to model HOn30. Living in Maine, we're lucky to have a rich narrow gauge history. I live in Portland, the home of the Maine Narrow Gauge Railway & Museum and the WW&F is just an hours dive north. With HOn30, I could fit more trackage in with smaller min radii. I could have a point to point shelf layout. I've even I've bought an HOn30 engine (SR&RL #24) in anticipation.

However, I have a 5 year old son who who is my buddy when it comes to trains. He loves big locomotives and long trains. He'll couple four engines and all the cars he can to his Thomas the Tank Engine wooden Brio train set. For him, HO would be the scale to choose. He'll also want a "loop" to see the trains run round and around. I figure I could do an 18" min radius, but 20" would be better. I have some passenger cars my Dad built in the 40's that I'd love to run.

So, I've decided on an HO/HOn30 interchange based upon the Maine Central and Sandy River & Rangely Lakes depot in Farmington.

My time period will be 1930's Maine. Agriculture, lumber, wood turning products and textile mills.

This link
http://web.mac.com/rcarignan/iWeb/Layout/
has pictures and a sketch of the layout.

Thanks,
Rob Carignan
Portland, Maine

[SpaceMouse]

The plan is nice and simple, but you do need access in your blobs. You can start working on the benchwork design as far as I'm concerned. You can put any of your industries back in that corner as far as I'm concerned--add to your switching.

Do you have any concerns?