Just wondering what you builders all built for your first layouts. I built my first one here at college underneath my loft, and amazingly with a lot of tinkering I was able to run a 3x5 HO layout, of course my loco was an SW, but somehow I was able to run 55 foot ACF hoppers. I plan on building a 4x8 and dismantling the 3x5 for use as an extension. It wasnt exactly pretty but I was pround of myself seeing as how it was my first layout.
Congratulations, Derek, that’s how over 90% of us got started maybe after a couple years of the X’mas tree loop. It is a great hobby and the learning curve is the rest of your life, one step at a time, Enjoy! And share! find a local club or just a few kindred spirits thru your local hobby shop.
The first layout I made was for my grand nephew. It was a 4 x 8 but cut in four sections for storage. It was just a simple figure eight. I built a larger one for myself but there were derailments and other problems so I disassembled it. From the mistakes I made on the old one, I learned to avoid sharp curves and steep grades.
My first one was a 4’ x 6’ HO , i added a 2’ extension and i grew to what i have today. This summer I will be building a 10’ x 10’ HO!
I started my first (and current) 4 x 8’ layout about a year ago. I’m using it as a “learning layout” but will likely incorporate most, if not all, of the buildings and structures in any subsequent ones. With an early transition era layout, I want to make sure that I incorporate all facets of a RR in my steam and diesel service terminals. My newly finished small, automatic Faribanks-Morse coaling tower is an example of that. (For pics, see link at bottom of post.)
Tom
My first layout was 4x8, built following a plan in the back of John Armstrong’s book “Track Planning for Realistic Operation”. It was a twice around with a small yard and turntable.
Never finished it - when my first son was born, my wife made me give up the bedroom.
Enjoy
Paul
My first layout was an HO layout, built around 1974. I don’t recall the size, but it seems it was about 4’ X 5’-6’. A couple of years later I expanded it to about 4’ X 10’ and moved it to the other side of the rec room. I combined it with a road race set that I had bought about 5 or 6 years previously in order to have roads with moving cars. It even had a grade crossing with tracks going across the road race track. Not being able to expand any farther and wanting more tracks, I sold that layout and went to N scale. I built a U-shaped layout about 8’-10’ on the outside and ran it for a few years until we moved. My memory is a bit hazy on whether that layout was scrapped before or after the move, but my next one was three N-Trak modules totalling 16’ long. I kind of lost interest for about 15 years, then recently decided to convert the N-Trak modules into a sectional layout and that’s what I’m working on now with grandiose plans to expand it greatly. (I should live that long! [:)] )
My first layout was over 50 years ago and was an American Flyer ‘S’ scale 4x8. The trains were packed away a few years later and my younger brother built his race track on the other side of the board. Don’t know what happened to the board but I have the American Flyer trains boxed up in my train room and plan to display them on shelves over my new HO layout which will be 24’x25.’
The first layout: Around the table with a circle of Hornby Dublo track, an 0-6-0T engine and three wagons. (Of which the engine still works and the wagons still run).
Ian