Hello everyone, it’s been a while since I’ve been around and I just wanted to pop in and say hi. To address my subject line: I’ve recently torn down my layout for the time being to make room for construction in my basement. I had a 4x8 with a 4x5 attached in a “L” shape, but at almost 13’ and even with casters it was still in the way. The layout, for my first try, was coming along nicely after about a year and a half, but then it was decided that I needed my man cave built and the wfie needed her tattoo/craft room built along with a bathroom (that’ll come in handy), and family room. So, what took me a year and a half to get together, took all of a few hours to tear apart. [V] I was lucky enough to salvage most of my track and roadbed since it was not all ballasted. And all the freight and loco’s were safely tucked back into their boxes until a later time.
But now, after serveral months without trains I am REALLY starting to miss them. I’ve come back on these boards to catch up and to look at the WPF and I’ve started reading and purchasing new books such as “Realistic Model Railroad Design” and “Track Planning for realistic operations”. I’m trying to learn from my past experience but also learn some new things while I’m preparing for my next layout. Although these things really do help, and you all have wonderful posts to share, it’s just not the same as turning that power supply on, rolling that little knob up, and watching my GEEP’s pull a mixed freight or coal drag, or work with my RS-2 to sort cars in the yard or drop off a flat car at the lumber yard.
Needless to say, if it’s not too much to ask, does anyone have a way to give me a boost? It’s a real bummer to not have my trains, for right now, but I need to do something. I’ve even dove into my XTrkCad just to play around and run some virtual trains but that only goes so far. This downfall will only last a few more months as I plan to have my man cave/train room comple
Get any table (preferably the dining room, if you can get away with it, hehe), set up a loop and maybe a couple spurs, and run a way freight or jsut watch the trains roll.
I’ve also not really had a alyout the past year or so, but I’ve built two dioramas. That’s another thing you can do; they let you practice everything you’ve been thinking about and they’re great for taking pictures on, especially outdoors!
I was in exactly your situation three years ago. I had built a nice (for me) layout and it was just a year old when wife and I decided (but mostly wife…) that we would finish the basement. When it came time to install the carpet, the team leader took one look and said that he couldn’t work under or around the layout. So, as you did, I immediately spent two hours whacking it all apart.
I haven’t looked back, though, because three months later I was erecting a different open-grid bench and trying spline roadbed for the first time.
You know, my first layout was just a plain old platform because I never considered myself much of a carpenter, but after doing all this framing to build the rooms my skills have greatly approved. Maybe I’ll get me a “Building Benchwork” book too just out ouf curiosity and see what kind of options that opens up for me and try my hand at open-grid.
What I really need is an imagination shot in the arm!!! I’m so blank when it comes to design, but luckily my wife is an Artist and she’s got more than enough imagination for both of us.
Thanks Packers, I’ve actually been working on a plan to run my small original table 4x5 just to do some roundy-rounds, maybe that’ll help. Just need to find some time. Between work and project work at home I don’t have much left.
Go to the Walthers site and sign up for the free monthly flyers. I love getting mine. It’s an excuse to look at stuff, and imagine how you could use it. Besides, a lot of the stuff in the flyer is on sale, so you’ve got an excuse to buy it now and save money. When I see something I want, I e-mail my LHS, he orders it, I get the sale price, he gets the business and I don’t pay for shipping. Your LHS may have the flyers, too. Mine does.
If you’ve got a small work space, pick up a few small kits. Try your hand at doing a structure with some interior detailing. All you need is a tabletop space. When I get a simple 4-walls-and-a-roof kit from DPM or City Classics, I spend a week or two of evenings painting, assembling and detailing it. Jordan vehicle kits are a great way to spend some quality modelling time, and improve your skills while you’re at it. Some nights, I don’t get close to my layout, but I’m still “doing trains.”
Above all, don’t mourn your previous layout. It was fun while it lasted, but now you should think of the lessons learned, and how the next layout will be much better because of it.
Besides reading all you can (don’t overlook the local library), think small !! I moved a few years ago, and what I did is take what is going to be my staging yard, built on 16" wide John Sterling shelves along one wall, added a leg to get an “L” shape. I took my four-track staging yard design and added a turnout to make the center tracks into a run-around track, and set up flats along the back as industries. It also includes a small engine house and an engine ready track, plus a team track on the track nearest the aisle. I pretty soon (using Kato Unitrack) was able to have a working switching layout, handling about 8-9 cars per session.
I don’t know if I’d want to just have this small layout forever, but it’s a LOT better than no layout at all!!
I can feel your pain, you’re not alone! I had a decent layout, but it had some design issues, and I tore it down figuring I would just start over. Well, almost a year has gone by, and I am still without layout. Well, I have a temporary switching layout set up on a 2x8 board, but it hardly classifies as a layout. Some things have gotten in the way…time and/or money for starters. Plus having a number of cats makes it necessary to keep a layout behind closed doors instead of out in the open in the basement. It’s sad, really. I came home today after a long day, and said to my wife “All I want to do is run a train”. Somehow I/we have to make that happen, I don’t think we’re asking for too much! I’ve even contemplating going back to N scale, where I began, but my middle aged eyes told me that wasn’t a good idea. I’ve enjoyed my switch to HO scale and have no intention of going back. Sorry if the above sounds like mindless rambling…I’m tired!
I hear you on having to take a layout apart. Mine was started back in 1992…and has been moved several times. I’m so glad it’s a sectional layout…in that I can take it apart. Granted, I had to cut some track joints, and sever some wires, but I felt that was a small price to pay to keep the layout. Right now, things are set up in my basement, and I can run trains whenever I want. Since I live alone, there’s no wife to worry about wanting to remodel the train room
Some of those photos were taken shortly before the layout came “home” in 2006. Before then, I had it set up in one of the outbuildings at my grandmother’s farm. Quite a bit of work still has to be done, and yes, that’s a full-size number board off an NS locomotive
Anyhoo, it’s nice that I can run trains whenever I want. But, it does get a bit cold in the layout room. That’s when I set up a loop of Kato Unitrack on the kitchen table, and run some N scale freights while the kitties watch
Now’s the time to work on weathering your rolling stock, building some kits, and accumulating the stuff you’ll need when the room is done. Surely there are plenty of projects you can work on at the kitchen table to keep your hand in the game. You don’t have to run trains to enjoy model railroading!
You and I are in the same boat. I have well…had a 8x12, and half of it came down last weekend. Its becoming a 12x12. The kicker is I bought a new GP35 today. It can only run back and forth, since I don’t have a “layout going”.
I agree with Lee. Build some buildings, try some weathering, etc. It kinda keeps you in the game.
I miss running my train as well, but this time it will be better. I’m sure yours will as well [swg].
Here’s what I have going on…Still in the works thou.
My mother threw my 4x8 layout out in the trash when we moved. I was seven and not liking it abit. I had to go without till I was 31 when i finally could start it again. I know the feeling too…
Thanks for the input everyone. Since I wrote this post I have been getting the bug again BAD!! I finished up framing my shop (half trains half Bike shop) and my wifes “tattoo parlor” and got them all lighted and electrified. With that done I decided to take a break for myself from all this work I’ve been doing and throw together a few roundy-rounds on a 5x4 platform that used to be the “L” on my 4x8 I had setup. I spent the day Sunday in the basement where it wasn’t 95 degrees with 85% humidity, and just threw something down, laid the track out, traced it, tacked some roadbed down and put some track on it. By that time I was pretty tired, and although I started on the wiring and blocking I just didn’t have the energy. But soon enough I guess. I bought one of thoese Athearn SW1500 from Atlas and I think the urge to run that sucker has gotten me going again. I think I will take Lee’s advice and maybe dig out some cars that need weathering or work on some buildings. I think what I REALLY need to do is get myself organized. I have stuff everywhere and everytime I need something I have to dig through serveral area’s to find it. LOL
For those of you remodeling, I needed to replace the carpet under my layout two years ago. I got the old carpet out by cutting it in pieces. And I really didn’t want carpet again. Lose too many MTL coupler springs that way. So I replaced it with tile. Without removing the layout. I just lifted one leg at a time and slipped the tile under it. Slow, but it worked. They also had carpet tile I could have used. I moved a hydraulic jack around the floor and lifted the layout maybe an inch [or less] to put the tile in place. Eighteen layout legs, a workbench, and three file cabinets later – no more lost parts on the floor. Now the only parts I lose are from getting the vacuum to close to Preiser people or vehicles. I’m always cleaning out the vacuum’s paper bag to retrieve them – had to retrieve my Speeder today. The bag was nearly empty from retrieving a little yellow Porsche that got sucked up two days ago.
A few years back my 20’x20’ layout was destroyed by a furnace blowback. My wife decided some time around October to test the furnace before the cold weather got here. She pushed up the thermostat and heard the furnace click on and got in the shower to start here day. She told me she heard a “BEEPING” sound but dismissed it as she thought it was a dump truck working across the street. Well come to find out it was the SMOKE ALARM!!! We sumise there was a power surge that took out the control box of the oil burner and it ran full tilt cracking the firebox spewing oily soot throught my house, The train room too the brunto f the damage leaving about 2" of soot on the entire layout not to mention my entire locomotive collection on floor to celing sheving on one wall. So I get the phone call at work and race home at land speed record breaking pace to find the entire township fire department in front of my house with their brand new $500,000.00 fire truck parked in my driveway with Smoke billowing from my windows as a result of the smoke ejectors the guys had layed out allover the place.
After I was allowed back in the house I walked into the layout room and sat there and just wanted to cry. Oh yeah and my insurance company wanted to give me a couple of hundrend dollars for the layout. I pointed to a FSM kit that was destroyed and told the idiot adjuster that that one kit cost more then what he wanted to pay me.
The next day there was an N scale train set sitting on my kitchen table when I got home as a peach offering from my wife. That night we set it up in the kitchen where it stayed up until I got to build the new layout.
You might look inot one of the suggestions I got from a friend to put my new layout in a large shed on the back of my property. I don’t know how much room you have but I have a 12’x24’ shed that would hold a respectable layout. This way you can have your stuff AWAY from the wife and not have it interfere with any of anyone else’s plans
Hi Ham, Quick solution to your problem… I thought most everyone knew this.
Put a piece of a nylon stocking over the end on the vacuum hose allowing some to go inside a small ways. All of your loose articles that get vacuumed up will be caught right there and you don’t have to go fishing through the dirt bag. The little articles you would never find anyway if they got to the bag.
I’ve torn out and rebuilt 5 layouts in about 8 years nows, my current is only 5x8 on rollers so dont feel too bad, just build something anything even if its just a foot square Micro layout, just have fun.
No Mike, no yet. I have some social issues and it always takes me a while to go to new places like that. I still want to, it just hard to avoid a few beers after work on a Friday rather than go to the club. But I’m going to try anyhow. Winters coming, no riding the bike so I’ll need something to do. [:-^]
Give me a email when you are ready. It’s a great club. Nobody is a jerk. Just the average fellow MRR hat likes to get together and run some trains. Sometimes they run nothing and just shoot the bull all night. So when you are ready I’ll go with ya and intruduce you to everyone. They love NEW fellows to come up… And as for the beer thing, you wouldn’t be the first one who came there after more then a few beers, LOL. Take your time and give me a email. I promise we’ll have a good time.
