Someone asked me the other day how long my layout was built to last, and the fact is I’ve never really thought about it… I’m sure there are those that build a new layout every few years or so, and then there are those that are still enjoying the one they built twenty five years ago. My most recent layout is about four years old and I don’t plan on building a new one for a very long time, so I would fall into the latter catagory. I guess it’s one of those things that varies from individual to individual.
My answer is both forever and not long at all. Forever because there will always be some sort of layout there, and not long at all because I keep revising it. It’s a work in progress. If I were ever to finish it, I’d find a flaw to work on, then a new flaw, and so on.
Layouts are like pants. In a perfect world, they would last forever. But the reality is, eventually, we will outgrow them. The trick is to get as much use out of 'em as we can before we grow out of them.
I don’t currently have a layout,but I plan on having one hopefully sometime this year,and this layout I plan on keeping for a long time.I believe as long as you are enjoying what you are doing with your layout then why build a new one.A layout should be built to grow as your skills do and your interests,one should build a layout so if some day you want to exspand it you will be able to So go ahead and build the layout and hae fun with it,that’s what the hoby is all about enjoying model railroading. Steve Church Milwaukee Road Iowa Division
Current layout (3 decks) was started in 1989 and is pretty much all done, although I do make a few changes off and on. At my age, it is probably my last. since I have a garden railroad out back, I have a change of pace if it ever quits raining and gets warm again.
I build all my layouts to last forever, but none has so far. The current layout I’m building is really to test the concept of a shortline railroad built for operations using DCC. If it is successful, then it will be the concept for my retirement layout to be started in a couple of years. Of course if it’s really satisfactory it will become my retirement layout and be extended (it’s built to be moved).
I’m never going to redo my current one, even though I’m not too happy with it as a whole, (4% grades, #4 turnouts on most things, except #6s on mainline crossovers, 22" radius curves, roadbed in the yard and none on the rest of the layout, etc.)
If I ever rebuilt it, I’d be able to work for about 5 or 6 years before I’d move out and go to collage… My next layout will be modular, so I can move it from house to house if I ever move, and if I’m not happy with a section I can replace just that without having to rebuild the whole layout.
I think there is a lot of truth to this. My anwser was going to be more cryptic, something like, “Until you are no longer willing to tolerate the disparity between what it was and what you’d like it to be.” As Dave says, we begin to notice little things, and that we have corrected others a number of times until, finally, we realize we need a whole new slate, so to speak.
Of course, the odd forced relocation, fire, angry spouse, burst water pipe, and a few other things can make our own druthers moot.
I change my layout ever few years. Now, I don’t get to far with them. Maybe like track is down, some small mountains, etc. I guess after awhile I notice its not what I am looking for. I need to really sit down and look at what I would like to do. I am one of those people that can’t make there mind up.
Well, the Canandaigua Southern, the South Shasta Lines and the original O-scale layout in Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry all got past 50! One was a home layout that was being operated and ‘tweaked’ continuously, one was a display layout in a home that was constructed very slowly and only operated for a month of weekends every couple of years, and one was built quickly, then ran in a museum environment every day that the facility was open.
My present layout is expected to be my last, and I expect to last for about three more decades. How long the layout will survive after that will be determined by what my estate does with it.
John Armstrong’s, Canandaigua Southern, used third-rail instead of 2-rail DC, or the more recent DCC. There was a time before the 1950s that most model railroads used live overhead or the more commonly-used third-rail.
The present 6-year old Yuba River Sub is the second such–first complete rebuild–but even now I’m seeing spots where I want to revise. Parts that work very well, other parts that make me think “What were you THINKING?!”. But I think almost all layouts are like that at one time or another. However, this time, any revisions are going to be within the basic layout itself, not a complete tear-down and rebuilding.
For me, it’s a lot like learning a piece of Classical music–you never really LEARN it to your satisfaction, because you’re continually polishing it and discovering places in it that can always use improvement.
IMHO as long as the layout pleases the owner…Also IMHO if the layout is well planned and supports operation then it should last longer then a pair of pants or perhaps a car. Of course that is also baring moves etc.
OK…the 4x8 board is 45 years old. Man, they don’t build plywood like they used to! [;)]
I got a train for Christmas in 1962. (I was almost 5 years old.) My Dad put the oval on a 4x8 sheet of 3/4 ply, sitting on saw horses. Nothing was nailed down, and I changed that around with what extra track and turnouts I had.
Around 1970 or so I got $100 for my birthday, to add to the layout. I modified an Atlas “Blue Book” layout, and came up with my track plan. I got all my track and turnouts, an MRC Dual Power, and an AHM BL-2. (I remember listening to the train reference in Janice Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee” on the AM radio while building the layout). It’s still on saw horses.
I ran that until 1976, when the family moved to Atlanta. The layout sat in my parents basement until my son arrived.
Forward to 1993. The Kid was born just before Christmas in 1991. I was working at a hobby shop, and was closing out on Christmas Eve night. I grabbed a Bachmann set from the window display, and The Kid had his first train set at 3 days old! Talk about starting them right! [:D] I was able to give him the set for 3 Christmas’s before he knew he had a train. LOL
Anyway, 2 years later, The Kid did a “Godzilla” on the X-mas tree track, and it was time to expand our horizons. Got the old layout from the parents house. It didn’t do real good with the move from St.L to ATL, along with the damage from storage.
