This stuff can be overwhelming if you think about it.

[Jetrock]

QUOTE: Just how much money are american college students spending on beer these days anyways (especially considering most of them are still not of legal drinking age to begin with) ???

I wouldn't know--I'm 36, and my undergrad days were quite a while back. I had no trouble at all securing beer (as well as more potent fluids and substances) while under 21. Things might be different now, but somehow I doubt it.

Andrew: We are not in disagreement--we both suggested building a switching layout, as well as prioritizing expenditures. But I would maintain that there are better times than other to get into a hobby--when one has more money, free time, and attention. A college student typically has a shortage of all three, but of course that doesn't rule out the possibility of hobbies. I had my share of hobbies in college (other than figuring out ways to get booze when I was under 21) but often had to choose between hobbies and schoolwork. If I chose the hobbies too often, my schoolwork suffered.

[robengland]

My wife gave me trackage rights in the study so I can move up from the cold damp basement. I'm going from a one-car-garage space to a 9x11 room that i have to share with desk, computer etc. And I'm glad of the reduced space. The larger layout downstairs has ceiling, backdrop, lighting, workbench, shelving, benchwork, most of the track laid, wiring, DCC CTC.... but the project was just getting bigger and bigger. I'm an impatient kind of guy: much as I enjoy the doing I also want to have results. So a nice little round-the-room shelf layout in the study is looking much more achievable, even if there are some tough compromises to get there.

It will be doubly achievable because it is so accessable now. The basement is accessable only from outside, so going down there is something of an expedition, especially now in our winter when those southerlies come straight from the Pole and hammer against the garage door. In the study I will be able to pop in for 15 minutes any time. If I can't sleep I can slip down there.... I built a couple of buildings on a table in the porch and it was remarkable how much i got done just snatching a few minutes here and there.

Something to think about. Even if the layout is in a less accessable place, consider having a workbench somewhere in tha family areas.

[Doug Goulbourn]

That's the great thing about our hobby; you work at your own pace. So what if you don't get that structure finished in an evening? As was said, sometimes even the "shake-the-box" kits can take time as one decides on a paint scheme or possibly a slight kit-ba***o personalize the model. The whole point is to have fun.

Doug

P.S. Joe, that is a great rendering of that bridge. I've enjoyed your work in the model press for some time now and have always found it interesting and inspiring.

[jfugate]

Doug (and others)

Thanks for the compliments on the bridge. I'm pleased with how it turned out, and it's a real highlight of the layout.

In the vein of busting large layout projects up into affordable chunks ... one of the things I've thought of doing were I starting over (and getting older) would be to give serious consideration to building my next layout using a sort of modular - David Barrow domino technique.

In other words, bust the layout design up into independent modules 2x4 to 2x6 in size, and build the layout in comfort at the workbench, one module at a time. It would allow you to do a little bit of benchwork, little bit of trackwork, little bit of wiring, little bit of scenery, little bit of detailing. The downside, of course, is it would take longer to get enough done that you could run trains.

You could, I suppose, also fill the room full of benchwork modules, then pull a module at a time and lay track in comfort at the workbench, put the module back, then move on to the next one. Nothing says you *have* to totally complete the module before you put it back in place in the layout room.

But the basic idea would work even if you don't have space right now. You could build a couple modules for your eventual dream layout. Or even build your dream layout this way once you do have your space.

[Anonymous]

Joe - another similar way to go is build a module at a time, and have just a cheapo loop of track going around the walls connecting both ends - it doesn't even have to be modules, just enough to support the weight of a train.

This way, you only have to do even the carpentry for one module at a time.

I'm probably going to build a 2 x 8 "module" in this fashion. If I add more to it later, great. If not, great. But I'll have a loop of track attached to it so I could be running trains from as close to day 1 as possible.