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Good Morning! Sunday, August 31st, 2014 - the last day of Summer, if we were to follow the meteorologist´s calendar. We are covered with a solid blanket of clouds, with the odd drizzle coming from them. I did not catch much sleep last night. One of our neighbors was having a party, which lasted into the wee hours of this morning. At 2am, I had enough of it and called the police. It took them an hour to get here, but it was quiet thereafter. I guess I have a new set of friends ... While waiting for it to get quiet outside, I gave my model railroading activities some deep philosophical thoughts, which led me to the conclusion , that I am stuck in a dilemma, which I cannot solve. Let me share my thoughts with you - maybe one of you has an idea I have not come up with: Fact is, that I am hard-pressed for space and funds. This certainly imposes a strong limit onto what I will be able to do. The space I have is about 10´6" by 19", any extension makes the layout to intrusive. This space limits any layout idea to a shelf switcher type layout, which I am not really happy with. All of the layouts I built in the last 10 years were of this type, and, frankly, letting a train shuttle back and forth doesn´t really make me happy. I would like to be able to let a train run for a while without having to "interfere" after a few seconds. A "roundy-rounder" type layout in the space I have available could be done in either Z scale or, with limitations, in N scale. Both scales have proven to be to small for my eyes and my hands to do the amount of scratchbuilding I have (and want) to do. Any larger scale limits the operation to switching again. How to solve that dilemma? I have been thinking of mounting drawer slides to the top of the heavy duty wall brackets my On30 layout is currently built on. This would allow me to slide the layout away from the wall and add a staging facility in the back of it. Add two  loops on the sides and I would be able to have a continues running option. The flip side of it is, that the staging yard is out of reach and cannot be overlooked. According to Murphy´s law, this will be the place for something to happen. Not a good solution for trouble free operation. Adding up all thoughts, the only way for me seems to be a shelf-switcher, but I am not happy with it. That´s also one of the reasons I am not happy with my current layout, so taking it down, building a new one and/or change scales and gauge would not solve the issue. Joining a club is no solution either - there is none close by and club dues are prohibiting. I am at the end of my wits. I feel like chucking it and giving up on the hobby, which has accompanied me for over 50 years and has me kept my sanity in recent years. No, I am not a happy camper today. Have a good one!
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