Well that is sort of the big question isn't it? There are many ways of answering it. And remember the saying, often repeated, that a layout really never is "finished." But which alternative sounds best to you can depend on many factors, such as where you live, what other modelers you know, and what you yourself like best about the hobby.
First there are guys who "finish" a layout and almost immediately start in on another layout, sometimes re-using stuff from the prior one, sometimes starting fresh - even in a different scale. What they like most about the hobby is building the layout, and if they aren't doing that, they aren't having fun. Some of those guys join clubs so they can always be building.
Second there are guys who see to it that they never finish their layout, or take a hugely long time to finish it. It is a constant process of improving and tinkering.
Third let's not forget the guys who have no layout at all but spend their time building kits, learning skills, and other non-layout activities. The phrase "arm chair modeler" is not really applicable to those guys because they can be very busy in their workshops on model railroading. Some of the finest and most exacting model builders in the hobby have no layout and never will. They just have no interest.
I reserve the phrase armchair modeler for the guys who get the magazines, go to meets and buy stuff, but don't get to the building phase either of models or layouts. Don't sneer. They are helping subsidize the hobby for the rest of us so bless their hearts.
I've saved the fourth one for probably the best result: you operate it, alone or with friends. Having fun operating enters in to the actual design of the layout, which is where John Armstrong's book Track Planning for Realistic Operation comes in. Just running a train around an oval or other continuous loop can be amusing, for a while, and can entertain visitors, for a while, but a layout actually designed for operation can be more challenging than that - making up trains in a yard, running freight and passenger trains on a schedule with discipline so they don't collide, serving local industries with loads or empties or both, getting those loads or empties to the yard, starting the whole process over again. Even a fairly small layout can have realistic operations that can take several guys the better part of an evening or afternoon. "Solo" operations usually focus on making up a local freight train and serving industries with it.
Operation does more than influence the track plan, but also what locomotives and cars you acquire, what structures you build, what era and locale -- really, everything.
Operation does not have to be the rulebook-bound paperwork blizzard that some advocates actually like it to be and describe it as, which scares some folks off. It can be surprisingly simple. And for the beginner almost no part of operations, be it yard master or engineer or brakeman or even dispatcher needs to be done solo but can be done in pairs, making it perfect for a beginner to learn at the side of someone with experience.
Finding an opportunity to try operations on an entry level basis usually depends on having an NMRA division near you which is active. Sometimes an LHS has a sort of hot stove league of guys who sit around and that too can be a place to ask for an invite.
A well designed (not necessarily large, but well designed) layout can support operations for the rest of your life if you want it to. I've seen it done.
Dave Nelson
Once folks have a completed layout, they often start running it like a real railroad, called "operation".
The idea is you make up trains in a yard, then deliver and pick up loads and empties from various industries, and take them elsewhere. This could be another location on the layout, or to a staging yard which assumes they are being delivered to another RR and forwarded to somewhere else in the nation. Trains also can orignate from staging assuming cars from far away are coming to places on your layout or are running through your location to another RR on the "far side"
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Hello community!
I am new to model railroading, and am looking for some input from the community. Basically, I am trying to decide if I want to really dive into this hobby. I have a very basic setup right now (couple trains on a 4x8 sheet of plywood), but I have been thinking a lot about expanding it, and actually modelling something other than a basement sheet of plywood! My question/concern, is once the layout has been built, what do I do with it? I realize it will probably take years to be complete, but then does it just gather dust in a corner? What do all of you do with completed sets?
I apologise for the open ended-ness of this question. I really want to do this, but am having a hard time justifying the expense and how much room in the house this will take up. Thanks in advance for your help!