today will be the day my old 4 level layout in a 11 feet by 9 feet room will be taken down. It will be a few years before a new one is started. This one will hopefully be in a building that has a entire floor designated for a layout which will be the size of 24 feet by 24 feet.
On one had I am sad to see this successful experiment on how to build a layout with grades and a helix go, but on the other hand excited about the possibility of what can be build next, I was thinking of a yard that can hold 20+ car freight trains, half of the spiral tunnels, incorporate the http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/272-120535 bridge, as well as one maybe two levels with a dog bone type track layout. If it is two levels then one level will be mountains, the other more farm land. We will see what the final design will look like.
Looking forward to the future.
Frank
PS: I am the kind of person where the glass is always half full.
May I say, you have my sympathy - AND congratulations! Yes, I’ve “been there, done that”, demolishing a 15 year old 11x15 two level HO layout in 2008, replacing it with the “new and improved” current version.
As they say, the first “cut” was the deepest. Man, it was hard to get started on the demo process. But a funny thing happened, my sadness lessened and my enthusiasm increased as I went thru the room clearing process.
For the last 4 years or so of the old layout, I had compiled a “wish list” for the new layout I knew I would build someday. The old one had a few semi major faults, and of course these would be corrected. And I guess the biggest change was the conversion to DCC. Man, that was a hard decision process. But, I am so very happy I did make the change.
Anyway, your new layout will give you an opportunity to put all your learnings and expertise to work, and from my experience, I have to say that building that new layout was truly a labor of love.
