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I have always drawn a detailed track plan and visualised the trains running on it in order to refine the location of sidings, industries, etc. In the old days (pre-computer) the track plan was on a poster-sized sheet of paper and I used lengths of string or flexible wire to represent trains. Now with computers I still do the same thing except that the track plan is drawn on screen (I use Microsoft Word or Excel - they have an excellent drawing toolbar that creates graceful flowing arcs and curves once you learn a few tricks) and I now create railroad cars and locomotives as colored rectangles that I can drag and drop on the track plan using the mouse. It has greatly helped me to visualise station and siding track lengths and industry traffic flow. I have always said, as a kind of personal motto or catch-phrase: "If I can't build it on paper, then I can't build it on wood." and consequently, I will not start on the construction of a model railroad without ensuring that it runs (in theory) on paper. Another thing I do in the last moments before falling asleep at night is to mentally run a train from one end of the line to the other. Half the time this relaxes me so that I fall asleep before reaching the other end of the line. The other half the time I end up leaping out of bed shouting "Eureka", scattering bedclothes and terrifying my poor wife as I scramble to switch on the computer and record the brilliant idea that just struck me as the (mental) train entered the (mental) station. I guess each of us has to define his own reality. Crazy? No - just train mad.
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